Housing Market Resilience and Affordability in Houston, Texas
The median price of a single-family home in Houston dropped 8.5 percent compared to January 2008, according to the Houston Association of Realtors. But Houstonians are still much better off than many...
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Shot by the Sheriff
Immigrants have plenty of reasons to fear authority in Arizona. Border Patrol Agent Nicholas Corbett shot and killed an unarmed illegal immigrant at point-blank range in 2007 and remains on the force...
View ArticleHave Capital, Will Travel
Interesting story in today’s Washington Post about newly unemployed financiers taking some time off to travel the world. But these young jet setters aren’t just filling the nightclubs of Ibiza, they’re...
View ArticleGov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's Failure
Reason magazine You can’t really argue with Arnold Schwarzenegger’s political success. In 2002 the California Republican Party, still suffering from the anti-immigrant fervor cooked up by former Gov....
View ArticleCan Mayor Bloomberg's Pedestrian Mall Work in Manhattan?
New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg proposed turning parts of Broadway in Manhattan into a pedestrian mall last week. It's a quaint idea, but a difficult one to pull off. Whether New York can do it...
View ArticleSecond National Commission Gets It Mostly Right
Public Works Financing Last winter I critiqued the very ambitious report of the National Surface Transportation Policy & Revenue Commission. While that body's report underscored the need for...
View ArticleWhen Will the Recession End?
The U.S. Department of Commerce estimated that national output fell 6.2% during the last four months of 2008, a steeper decline than many expected. The preliminary estimate released earlier indicated a...
View ArticlePay Up
Almost any economist could tell you that health insurance mandates increase the price of coverage for everybody. But by how much? Thanks to research recently published in the Forum for Health Economics...
View ArticleSo, Can We Date Conservatives Again?
This past weekend, the American Conservative Union hosted its annual CPAC meeting. Attended by thousands of young self-identified conservative activists from around the country, it’s a good place to...
View ArticleHow Much Will the State Budget Deal Cost Californians?
In an attempt to address its budget deficit estimated at $42 billion, California recently enacted a budget deal consisting of significant tax increases, spending cuts, and, of course, more borrowing....
View ArticleThe Fairness Doctrine: One Battle Won, But the War Goes On
In somewhat characteristic performance last week, the Senate voted to close to kill the controversial Fairness Doctrine, then, shortly afterward, opened to the door to its potential return.In the first...
View ArticleSurprise! AIG to Get Even More Taxpayer Money - $30 Billion More
Back in September 2007--both what seems like ages ago and just yesterday--when the government said it was going to bailout troubled insurer AIG, a number of anti-spenders said that it wouldn't just be...
View ArticleInside the Black Box of Climate Change
Environmental educator Jane Shaw has an interesting article on the professional harrassment academics receive when they voice skepticism about the science behind climate chnage. Tenured professors who...
View ArticleWould the Government Admit Failure?
Economist Bryan Caplan asked an interesting question on his blog today:All ideology aside: If the government had followed a laissez-faire policy for the last six months, and output, employment,...
View ArticleThe Liberaltarian Jackalope
In late January, for the third time since Barack Obama’s historic election, a group of Washington, D.C., writers and think tankers, roughly half liberal and half libertarian, gathered for an evening of...
View ArticleHow Big Government Infrastructure Projects Go Wrong
The recently enacted $787 billion "stimulus" program appears to be the down payment on a sweeping "new New Deal" that will include many other ambitious government programs—including the possible...
View ArticleHouston Considering Privatization of Convention Center and Marketing Activities
According to the Houston Chronicle, officials in Houston are considering the possibility of consolidating and privatizing the city's marketing functions:A committee set up by Mayor Bill White is...
View ArticleHouse Democrats Seek to End DC Voucher Program
Last week the House Democrats passed a spending bill that would end the DC Scholarship program after the 2009-2010 school year. The Washington Post examines the Democrats real motives in defunding a...
View ArticleThe Health-Status Insurance Solution
"Health care reform that reduces costs while expanding coverage is no longer just a dream we hope to achieve—it's a necessity we have to achieve,"declared President Barack Obama as he announced his...
View ArticleIn Defense of Investors
A tip of the hat to Houston Clear Thinkers for these Point-Counterpoint videos drawn from the 1991 film Other People’s Money. You’ll find them remarkably relevant in the current economic policy debate....
View ArticlePrivatization in Virginia Hampered by Government-to-Government Contracting
In a new Bacon's Rebellion column, John Palatiello points out an important loophole in the Commonwealth's procurement law giving exempting "inter-agency transactions" (basically, state contracts with...
View ArticleCalifornia Officials Abuse Expense Accounts, Travel in Style on Taxpayers' Dime
During a time when taxpayers are financially stretched thin and pinching pennies to get by, here is a story that should make you mad, especially if you live in California. According to a recent Los...
View ArticleJindal And The Debate Over Volcano Monitoring
The news and blogosphere is full of back and forth jabs and plenty of high horses over Gov. Jindal singling out volcano monitoring as an example of federal spending that maybe should not be a priority....
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Housing Plan and Cramdown on TALF
Yesterday, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke outlined more details of the government’s long-promised “TALF” (Term Asset-backed securities Loan Facility) program designed to resuscitate the...
View ArticleGovernment Skews Market, Foreclosure Rescue Linked to Drop in Mortgage...
More details on the White House plan to rescue struggling homeowners were released today. This USAToday/Reuters report has a rundown of the new details.Interestingly, the article points out that...
View ArticleObama's Charitable Taking
In his speech to Congress last week, President Obama promised to "go line by line through the federal budget in order to eliminate wasteful and ineffective programs." Although the process was not...
View ArticleL.A. Eyeing Privatization, Asset Leases to Close $983 Million Budget Shortfall
According to the L.A. Times, the L.A. city budget shortfall is getting worse, and Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa is exploring asset leases and privatization to help close the gap:Los Angeles could face...
View ArticleMerging Local Governments Usually Doesn't Make Economic Sense
As cities and counties find themselves strapped for cash, we shouldn't be surprised that they think they can save money by merging services. Unfortunately, the evidence shows they most often won't....
View ArticlePrivate Investment Upgrades Oakland Port
As reported by Reuters, Ports American will be making a $150 million investment to update a section of Oakland, California's port as part of a 50-year deal to operate there.The Port of Oakland will...
View ArticleSacramento School District Restricts School Choice
In Elk Grove, California ...On Tuesday, trustees voted unanimously to cap the number of students who can transfer from their neighborhood school to another through open enrollment at 5 percent.Last...
View ArticleWill The Stimulus Kill Smart Ideas for Rural Broadband?
The Wall Street Journal yesterday reported on efforts of Tim Nulty, a former World Bank and Senate economist and 35-year veteran of the telecom industry, to bring fiber-based broadband to a rural...
View ArticleWhy I Miss Bill Clinton
If Barack Obama achieves nothing else in his presidency, he may do something that once seemed impossible: give a lot of people who aren't crazy about his party a new respect for Bill Clinton.Clinton,...
View ArticleAre We All Socialists Now?
A specter is stalking America—the specter of socialism.The once-neglected S-word made a big comeback during the presidential campaign of 2008, and has now become a staple of American political...
View ArticleCigarette Taxes Jump the Shark
We all know that smoking is a tough habit to break. A worse, addiction, it seems, is lawmakers' dependence on cigarette tax increases when they need to raise some quick revenue. As I noted in this...
View ArticleMercatus Center Issues 50-State Freedom Index
The Mercatus Center at George Mason University has issued a new report by Jason Sorens (SUNY-Buffalo) and William P. Ruger (UT-El Paso) ranking states on a variety of measures of personal and economic...
View ArticleFear Is the Economy's Biggest Problem Right Now
The most cancerous aspect of the economic crisis today is not toxic debt, the credit crunch, or even the terribly misguided government bailouts. The most deadly challenge we face right now is fear.As...
View ArticleFebruary Jobs Report
Ugh...it is ugly. Don't click on this link unless you've had your morning pot of coffee.Bottom line: -651,000 jobs (biggest number since 1939, when data was first kept). Unemployment rate of 8.1%....
View ArticleLee County, Florida Looking at Pragmatic Solutions
A recent study by Reason and my colleague Bob Poole recommended some interesting potential solutions to the Lee County congestion problems. An article in Naples Newsprovides a good summary. A couple...
View ArticleIt's Not New Money
Instersting to see the list of earmarks in today's USA Today article. The listing included at bottom of the article is most informative.Regarding transportation funds: what most folks (and my guess is...
View ArticleProblems with the Federal Budget
In an excellent Wall Street Journal op-ed today, Hoover Institution fellow Michael Boskin breaks down the problems with President Obama's budget:Mr. Obama's $3.6 trillion budget blueprint, by his own...
View ArticleCall Congress! My Internet Privacy Has Been Invaded!
There I was, browsing the Web for information about video editing PC software, when, shortly after reading a product review for the basic version of Corel’s VideoStudio, I received an e-mail from...
View ArticleBudget Doom Highlights Need to Right-Size Illinois Government
Per the Chicago Tribune, a new report by the Civic Committee of The Commercial Club of Chicago finds that Illinois "is on the verge of a financial meltdown, and hard choices will be necessary to...
View ArticlePlanning, Housing Foreclosures, and the Recession
Planning critics Randal O'Toole and Wendell Cox have stumped for planning's role in causing the housing crisis for a long time, and their insights have been largely ignored. USA Today, however,...
View ArticleFixed-Cost Contracts in Federal Procurement: Good or Bad?
The Obama administration has targeted cost-plus contracting a key federal procurement no-no, and the recently-passed stimulus bill places a clear emphasis on fixed-cost contracts. However, the reality...
View ArticleZIP Cars
Interesting article in today's New York Times Magazine about Zip Cars....those cars you share.Worth a read.
View ArticleGlobal economic growth penalizes US
Duke University executive in residence Vivek Wadwah has an article in the Washington Post that makes two crucial points worth repeating about US immigration policy. First, US immigration policy...
View ArticleAn American Beer Revolution
In 1980, there were less than 50 breweries in the United States. Today, over 1,400 craft breweries help the U.S. produce more styles of beer than anywhere else in the world. A new Reason.tv video...
View ArticleFlorida's New PPP Project
The Wall Street Journal reported today anothe new PPP project for Florida.In a deal struck last week, a Spanish-led group will be paid as much as $1.8 billion over 35 years to design, build, operate...
View ArticleCritique of Obamanomics
Laura D'Andrea Tyson, Cal-Berkeley public policy professor and member of the White House Economic Recovery Advisory Board set down her best defense of Obamanomics in the Wall Street Journal today. And...
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