Patrick R. Gibbons
More bad bailouts
Housing prices in Nevada have been falling like a rock – which is not surprising, since they previously rose like a rocket ship. Current homeowners, mortgage brokers and real-estate agents want to stop the falling home prices, and politicians are too eager to "help."
That old Trojan Horse
Calls for education spending hikes are based on dubious statistics.
Nevada faces a steadily worsening economy, thanks in no small part to poor federal regulatory policies that are driving up inflation and destroying the value of the American dollar. This problem exacerbates Nevada's already massive budgetary shortfall, which will continue to worsen as the dollar continues to weaken.
Education palace
University of Arkansas education professor Dr. Jay P. Greene asks, in a recent blog post, "Why are schools so expensive?" That's a very good question to ask here in Nevada. Jay also made a great point on how it's not buildings that teach kids – a lesson our policymakers should learn, since a healthy chunk of Nevada's education spending is going toward building new schools.
Running in circles
Imagine a dog chasing its own tail. Why does it do that? Does it actually think it will catch the tail? Now imagine 150 of Southern Nevada 's top political and economic leaders running in circles, chasing their own tales of woe and the wonders that could be – given enough tax money. It's an image that gets you to the essence of the recent forum hosted by UNLV and the Brookings Institute in Las Vegas to consider recent a Brookings policy report.
Culinary Union to offer fries with latest whopper
In an effort to support Barrack Obama, the Culinary Union has resorted to telling outright distortions of the truth.
Fundamentals of our economy
In this video, UCLA economist Lee E. Ohanian suggests that the fundamentals of the US economy before the bailout were strong.
Imagine ferocious spending of your money
Brian Greenspun, publisher of the Las Vegas Sun, is one of 50 trustees of the Brookings Institute, a center-left think tank in Washington D.C. On Sunday, a story on the front page of Greenspun's insert ballyhooed the arrival in town of a Brookings expert to lead an invitation-only "get-together" of 120 Southern Nevadans with U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid Tuesday.
We told you so
"Credit is frozen." "Interbank lending has frozen." "The government must do something to free up credit." "The bailout will free up credit and get this economy going." We have heard it all. And we at NPRI warned it was all bogus.
Growing green
The Las Vegas Sun trotted out some bad economics this week in an attempt to prove that "green energy" creates growth. NPRI explores some of the true costs of green energy mandates.
Facts are meaningless
Homer Simpson, a sage for modern America (as sad or as promising as that might be) once said, "Facts are meaningless; they can be used to prove anything." If one's facts are sourced from Nevada's own government, then Homer may be more correct than we would hope.
