Privatization
The great public authority swindle: Part I
Politicians learned early on how to bypass the voters.
This is the first of a two-part series examining the undemocratic, corruptive and profligate nature of public authorities, in Nevada and around the nation.
A mid all the allegations that surround the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority year in and year out, the issue of the LVCVA’s unique legal structure always seems to escape attention.
The Federal Land Stranglehold
- and What Nevada Can Do About It
The federal government's tight grip on Nevada's land is causing economic harm – and, in many cases, genuine hardship – to local developers, workers, renters and would-be homeowners.
LVCVA: The Larcenous Vegas Convention & Visitors Authority
The Las Vegas Convention Center is an artifact of Mob-era predation and should be sold to the highest bidder
Around 1955, in the still-early days of the Mob in Vegas, the guys running the joints realized that business could be a lot better. What was needed was some way to get more visitors to Southern Nevada.
The Private Sector Would Do Better
Nevada’s big school districts don't make the grade in business terms, either
Evidence just keeps stacking up: Nevada’s two metropolitan school districts are too large and bureaucratically ingrown to do their jobs.
Morally hazardous
Why social or medical ‘insurance’ from government will never be a square deal
Television police dramas rely all the time on the concept of “moral hazard.”
A restaurant burns down, or a corpse turns up, and one of the first things detectives do is track down the insurance company.
Social Security & Partisanship
Our politicians need to get past their partisanship, to achieve needed reforms.
The silly season with respect to reforming the Social Security retirement program is in full swing. Democrats and liberals claim there is at worst a minor financial problem that can be fixed. Republicans and libertarians think the system is broken financially and offers perverse incentives to participants and politicians.
Nevada Education: Laying the Groundwork
Education is Nevada's greatest budget priority, comprising nearly 55% of the state's budget. Even though Nevada leads the nation in terms of percentage of money spent on education, results on standardized tests remain near the national average. Such a performance record would put any investor in the private sector out of business. This study outlines three major problem areas - the economies, politics, and accountability of education in Nevada. The author recommends reforms that would improve the level of education in Nevada.
Babbling Little Girls? Or Markets?
By now, Las Vegas homeowners have received their August bills from the Las Vegas Valley Water District. The Water District has divided its customers into water groups—A through F. Included with the bill is a flashy color-coded glossy card that lists when a homeowner may water his or her lawn, depending on the time of year.
Privatize the Public Lands
The federal government has owned and managed land in the United States almost since its inception. The Louisiana Purchase and the conquest of the West put huge tracts of land in its hands. Most of those lands have been sold or granted to states and to individuals, but many lands—one-third of the land area of the United States—still belong to the federal government. Those lands include natural wonders as well as vast, desolate, nearly valueless regions.
What is the Real Problem?
Why the multi-year wait for new power in Northern Nevada?
For several years, Northeastern Nevada leaders have been explaining to state lawmakers, the public utility commission (PUC) and the Guinn administration why the deregulatory green light should be given to the proposed Ruby Gas Pipeline and power plant project.
