Budget
The truth will set you free
Knowledge about use of tax dollars is essential to freedom
Knowledge about use of tax dollars is essential to freedom.
Inadequate? Or ineffective?
Adequacy lawsuits are not the way to improve education
Funding lawsuits will not improve education.
The 2009 Nevada Legislative Session
Review & Report Card
How did Nevada lawmakers address the state's mounting economic challenges in 2009? By imposing the largest series of tax increases in state history.
Nevadans deserve honesty from IFC
Constitutionally suspect body schemes to soak taxpayers even more
An unconstitutional body is using unconstitutional means to provide political cover for a tax increase in 2011.
PERS reforms do not go far enough
Legislature fails to meaningfully address escalating retirement costs
Will you be on the hook for someone else's retirement?
Highly combustible situation
Firefighter union blocks road to reasonable spending reform
The union representing Clark County firefighters is holding its breath and stomping on the budgets of other departments. To rein in costs, the county has turned to its various public-employee unions and sought concessions in the annual cost-of-living wage increases called for by previously negotiated bargaining agreements.
Won’t get fooled again
The stimulus’ ineffectiveness could sink Obama’s other plans
There's no shortage of reasons for limited-government adherents to detest the massive federal stimulus package that was enacted in February. But there might be a silver lining to the stimulus after all: It just may be the magic bullet that kills both cap-and-trade and socialized health care.
Support for tax hikes relies on economic fallacies
Spending restraint was always the superior option
Economists frequently disagree with each other on nearly every issue. Often, it seems there are nearly as many economic paradigms as there are economists. Yet most economists can be characterized as belonging to one of the major schools of economic thought — whether Austrian, monetarist, Keynesian or Marxist. A recent article by Elliott Parker of the University of Nevada, Reno, in which he advocates for increases in state taxes and government spending, places him neatly in the Keynesian mold.
What rule of law?
Legislator signals intent to circumvent the Nevada Constitution
Arguments that the U.S. Constitution is a "living" document have always been intriguing. The expression "Living Constitution" has often been invoked to justify activist jurisprudence by alleging that the meanings of the Constitution's words change over time. Just coincidentally, the changes in meaning always appear to align precisely with the personal viewpoints that judicial activists want imposed on society — even when those viewpoints directly conflict with the Constitution's formerly established meaning.
Are you invisible?
Who are state lawmakers really working for?
Historically, they were called "public servants." In Nevada nowadays, however, government employees increasingly are the public's masters. The servant? Increasingly, it's you. Consider the state Assembly. Of the 28 Democrats making up the two-thirds majority that controls the Nevada Legislature's lower chamber, 20 are current or retired government employees — or make their living from tax dollars the government allocates to their non-profit corporations. That's over 70 percent.
