Fiscal
What leftists want
More control over your life
Let's suppose for a moment that American voters were suddenly able to read the minds of leftist politicians. What would we learn?
Axing the public’s lawyer
Assembly Speaker behind freeze on child welfare dollars
Assembly Speaker Barbara Buckley worked energetically in both the 2007 and 2009 Legislatures to kill the ability of the Clark County District Attorney to represent the public interest when children are being abused, a review of legislative minutes reveals.
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.
Larceny by any other name
The so-called ‘progressive’ agenda: Theft
Google the word larceny on the Web, and there, within the many definitions that come up, you'll find the sad intellectual plight of modern America. Multiple sources define the word as "any wrongful taking of property." Others define it as "any unlawful taking of property." Note the distinction: between wrongful and unlawful. While some people believe that taking others' property is simply wrong, others believe it's OK if some government law permits it.
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.
Exit fee
Government wants to fine you for dying
The Greeks believed that the mythological figure Charon was charged with the duty of collecting taxes from the dead in order to allow them to pass to their final resting place in Hades. Similarly, the federal government would like to assume the modern role of Charon, imposing an outrageous tax on individuals in exchange for allowing them to pass to the other side. President Barack Obama has quietly included the largest increase in the death tax in American history in his 2010 Executive Budget.
Raising the minimum unemployment rate
Minimum wage hike will penalize those it supposedly is intended to benefit
This is a time of serious economic recession in Nevada. Out of every 100 workers in the Silver State, 11.3 are currently unemployed. Yet, the federal government appears to think that is not enough and is driving for a change that will wind up putting even more people out of work. In order to comply with a forthcoming hike in the federal minimum wage rate, the State of Nevada will raise its official minimum wage on July 1 from $5.85 to $6.55 for businesses that provide approved health benefits and from $6.85 to $7.55 for businesses that do not.
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.
