The Suburbs Are Growing Up
I've seen several articles since the Great Recession arguing that the the housing market has fundamentally shifted away from typical suburban "sprawl" and toward cities. People are no longer interested...
View ArticleThe Bogus Constitutional Arguments of Arizona's Ultra-Restrictionists
Defenders of Arizona's harsh new anti-immigration law are going on the offensive: They are fanning out on TV, radio talk shows, and newspaper columns arguing that there is nothing nefarious about this...
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Our Unsustainable Debt
America’s financial situation is unsustainable. In 2009 the federal government spent $3.5 trillion but collected only $2.1 trillion in revenue. The result was a $1.4 trillion deficit, up from $458...
View ArticleDebate: FCC's Net Neutrality 'Third Way'—The Wrong Way to Go
The Federal Communications Commission's attempt Thursday to place the fast-moving broadband and Internet industry under a regulatory regime designed for monopoly-era telephone service is as misguided...
View ArticleAs Governments Face Bankruptcy, Study Claims Public Employees Are Underpaid
A recent study published by the Center for State & Local Government Excellence and the National Institute on Retirement Security argues that state and local government workers are undercompensated...
View ArticleCA Will Probably Vote in November to Fix Loophole in Tax Votes
1.1 million signatures were turned in to qualify an initiative for the November ballot that would close the loophole allowing some tax increases in CA to pass with only a majority vote. Read more here.
View ArticlePublic Employees Get Manicures, Lap Dances on the Job in L.A.
Here's something from the "Your Tax Dollars at Work" file that should make you mad whether you live in L.A. or not. A recent Los Angeles Times article discussed a KCBS investigation that revealed...
View ArticleHigh Speed Rail in Japan: Lessons from Shinkansen
The San Francisco Chronicle has an useful article on the lessons from Japan's high-speed rail system called the Shinkansen. Japan now has five lines connecting this very urban and dense nation.While...
View ArticleThe Bounds of Silence
Last month New York Times legal writer Adam Liptak said two recent Supreme Court cases "suggest that the Roberts Court is prepared to adopt a robustly libertarian view of the constitutional protection...
View ArticleThere's No Lying in Baseball
Boston Mayor Tom Menino recently delivered one of the most atrocious speeches in the history of oration when, during a dedication to hockey great Bobby Orr, he not only referred to Boston sports greats...
View ArticleTxting 2 Cut Gov't
Keen-eyed, youthful Republicans have noticed that kids these days love sending $10 to Haiti and voting on American Idol and sexting and stuff. So Rep. Eric Cantor (R-Va.) and a few of the other less...
View ArticleCongress Sets Hearing on National Infrastructure Bank
The U.S. House Ways & Means Committee's Subcommittee on Select Revenue Measures is holding a hearing on whether the U.S. should create a national infrastructure bank. The hearing will start at 10...
View ArticleA National Infrastructure Bank Can Provide Important Benefits If Mission and...
Prepared for presentation to:Subcommittee on Select Revenue MeasuresU.S. House Committee on Ways and Means1100 Longworth House Office BuildingWashington, D.C. Chairman Neal, Ranking Member Tiberi,...
View ArticleFirst Lady Recommends Health Impact Assessments for New Housing
The White House Task Force on Childhood Obesity recently released its report and recommendations for getting kids off the couch and into the streets to exercise and shed those extra pounds. Without a...
View ArticleNet Neutrality Advocates Get Silly
The many statist groups that want the government to regulate the Internet under the guise of "network neutrality" have gone off the deep end, hyping a student marketing competition as an industry...
View ArticleCongress Accelerates Out of Control
When the news broke about alleged safety defects in Toyota vehicles, official Washington was appalled. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood accused the company of being "safety deaf" and said "they have...
View ArticleLeave the Gamblers Alone
Some of us like to gamble. Americans bet a hundred million dollars every day, and that's just at legal places like Las Vegas and Indian reservations. Much more is bet illegally.So authorities crack...
View ArticleElena Kagan on Free Speech, Executive Power, and Judicial Restraint
Speaking to reporters last month aboard Air Force One, President Barack Obama dropped a strong hint about his plans to nominate Solicitor General Elena Kagan to replace retiring Supreme Court Justice...
View ArticleFalling For the Myth of Cleggmania
Wow, some of you Americans really got the British election wrong.Reading the frequently frenzied pre-election commentary of America’s liberal hacks, you could be forgiven for thinking that Nick Clegg,...
View ArticleOMG California Now 8th Most Likely Economy to Default
A ranking of default probabilities puts California 8th on the list. More likely to default than Iceland and Iraq!That gang of idiots in Sacramento better wake up soon and look at some real solutions.
View ArticleThe 10 Percent Rule Applied to Municipal Reform
Back in January, I introduced a rule of thumb that I had developed for strategic management decisionmaking I dubbed the "10 percent rule". The idea is that any change that results in 10 percent...
View ArticleThe Wrong Kind of Toyotathon
Tales of runaway cars have a long history. The first sudden acceleration study by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) was done in 1978 and the agency had conducted more than 100...
View ArticleIs the Cure Worse than the Disease?
A little more than a month after the passage of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, President Obama's trillion-dollar overhaul of the nation's health care system, the administration has...
View ArticleThe Poet Versus the Prophet
I got to know the poet Allen Ginsberg towards the end of his life. Not very well, just a nodding acquaintance, but after he died I attended a memorial in his honor at the City University Graduate...
View ArticleIntercity Bus Satisfies Customers
Last August, I noted on this blog how intercity bus services such as Megabus and Bolt Bus provide very competitive, cheap, and technologically accessible transportation between major cities. The...
View ArticleCalifornia Governor's Revised Budget Still Lacks Needed Reforms
California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger unveiled the May Revision to his state budget proposal today. The projected deficit dropped slightly to $19.1 billion from the $19.9 billion estimate in...
View ArticleGreen Banks Are Not Infrastructure Banks
On Thursday, May 13th, Congress asked a number of elected officials and experts to provide testimony on the potential and limits of a national infrastructure bank before the U.S. House Ways and Means...
View ArticlePolitical Games With Senate Banking Bill
The Senate continues to debate amendments to the financial services bill this week. With more and more signs pointing to enough votes for the bill, the Democrats have been able to take a bit longer...
View ArticleThe Truth About Gun Sales to Terrorists
Months before he loaded his SUV with propane tanks and fireworks and drove to Times Square, police say, Faisal Shahzad went to a firearms store and bought a rifle. It was found in his other car at...
View ArticleCap and Scam
Were you aware that Americans have a collective obligation to stop kicking challenges to the next generation and join the White House in supporting "sweeping" and "transformative" legislation? I...
View ArticleOh, You Mean Those Quotas
In March, I wrote a column detailing a number of credible accusations made against the New York City Police Department (NYPD) for instituting a quota system for arrests and for stop-and-frisk searches....
View ArticleA Libertarian Rebel
The new Ridley Scott film Robin Hood, which has opened to mixed reviews on its merits as entertainment, is also drawing some critics' political ire. In New York's leftist weekly, The Village Voice,...
View ArticleThe Kerry-Lieberman Scheme for Carbon Rationing
Last week, Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) and Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) introduced a discussion draft of their American Power Act, which aims to address the problem of man-made global warming by...
View ArticleAnnotate Everything
Are you ready to get a warning from the Center for Science in the Public Interest about the evils of high fructose corn syrup every time you buy a Coke? Would you like to share your thoughts on the...
View ArticleFrom Banning Books to Banning Blogs
The Obama administration has announced plans to regulate the Internet through the Federal Communications Commission, extending its authority over broadband providers to police web traffic, enforcing...
View ArticleVat's Next? A Review of Possible Tax Increases
Tracy Mehan does a pretty thorough review of the trail balloons, thought pieces and just plain musings on tax increases and tax reforms percolating around the Beltway.The front runner, at least on the...
View ArticleRough Ride in the Middle East
The Strong Horse: Power, Politics, and the Clash of Arab Civilizations, by Lee Smith, Doubleday, 256 pages, $26For years the tag line on Lee Smith’s articles said he was writing a book on Arab...
View ArticleSenate Fails Government-Sponsored Rating Agency Reform
Al Franken’s famed Saturday Night Live character Stuart Smalley was fond of the phrase “trace it, face it, erase it!” In the recurring sketch, Franken’s Smalley would inadvertently mock the self-help...
View ArticleConstitutionally Dangerous
It was bad enough when states began locking people up because of crimes they might commit in the future. Then in 2006 Congress copied the idea, enacting a law that allows the indefinite civil...
View ArticleAnd the Enlightened Tyrants Will Lead Us
In a recent interview with a Spanish newspaper, famed director Woody Allen reportedly declared himself "pleased" with President Barack Obama's presidency."I think he's brilliant. The Republican Party...
View ArticleWatch Out, Facebook
Facebook thinks I'm into graffiti. A few weeks ago, when the social media network overhauled itself for the umpty-hundredth time, it transformed the information page in my profile into a list of links...
View ArticlePre-Crime Policing
To hear them tell it, the five police agencies who apprehended 39-year-old Oregonian David Pyles early on the morning of March 8 thwarted another lone wolf mass murderer. The police "were able to...
View ArticleHow Should Justices Judge?
In the confirmation hearings for Elena Kagan, Americans will hear a debate over how to interpret the Constitution. On one hand are conservatives who preach strict adherence to the framers' intent. On...
View ArticleConfiscating Your Property
In America, we're supposed to be innocent until proven guilty. Life, liberty, and property can't be taken from you unless you're convicted of a crime.Your life and liberty may still be safe, but have...
View ArticleEverybody Loves Rand
In what Politicocalled“the first clear statewide victory by the disparate national tea party movement," Rand Paul, a Bowling Green ophthalmologist and the son of libertarian-leaning Rep. Ron Paul...
View ArticleWhatâ??s a Diploma Worth?
Every schoolboy knows that education leads to worldly success and material reward. “If a man empties his purse into his head, no man can take it away from him,” Benjamin Franklin’s Poor Richard...
View ArticleHonolulu's Solution to Government Corruption? Regulate Private Contractors
The City of Honolulu contracts out its parking garages to private operators. Usually, that's a good thing, as long as the contracting is on the up-and-up. That's apparently not the case in...
View ArticleLeave Them Tubes Alone
As there is no real problem with the Internet, it's not surprising that some of our top minds have been working diligently on a solution.In a 2001 interview (one that only recently has gone viral and...
View ArticleHOT Lanes and Toll Tunnel Could Alleviate Congestion in Honolulu
Honolulu congestion ranks among the highest in the nation, with a travel time index higher than many metropolitan areas much larger. According to the Texas Transportation Institute, the Honolulu...
View ArticleThe Faltering Euro
The Euro keeps tumbling as international investors are loosing faith in the Eurozone. The currency has so far fallen 14 percent against the dollar this year.There is fear that contagion could trigger...
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