Earlier this year, Florida’s Republican Governor and legislature proposed to privatize all 26 state prisons. SB 2038 would have allowed privatization if a private company’s bid was at least 7 percent less than the state’s current cost. The bill would affect nearly 4,000 state workers. Projected annual savings exceeded $16.5 million. Despite union opposition, the bill … Read More
A few weeks ago Congressman Barney Frank (D-MA who is retiring from the House this year, gave a memorable interview to New York magazine in which he criticized President Obama for aggressively pushing health care reform. Frank says he warned Obama the Democratic Party would pay “a terrible price.” Apparently Frank was not alone in counseling … Read More
Montana, home to some of the world’s best fly fishing, is also home to the country’s most far reaching law protecting their stream and river commons. The catalyst was a 1984 ruling by the Montana Supreme Court that any river or stream capable of being used for recreation purposes such as fishing and floating, can be … Read More
It’s hard to make this stuff up. Last year the Michigan legislature passed a bill that gave the Governor the right to seize control of a city and insert a manager that had the authority to fire all workers, abrogate all contracts and privatize all public asset, all without the advice or consent of elected officials. … Read More
In These Times. April 26, 2012 “Congress created this manufactured crisis…, and Congress must solve this,” declared Sally Davidow, spokeswoman for the American Postal Workers Union (APWU), which has resisted congressional efforts to curtail USPS service and eliminate hundreds of thousands of jobs. This week, Congress took a step toward solving the USPS’ problems—but postal workers’ … Read More
The US Post Office needs money. As this chart shows, US postal rates, at 45 cents for a first class stamp, are the lowest in the world, often by far, excluding a few small island countries. Yet Congress, the Postal Regulatory Commission, set up by Congress in 2006 to oversee the Post Office, has proven unwilling … Read More
In the 19th century, small private companies in U.S. and European cities supplied water only to those who could pay a premium. Then came epidemics of cholera and other waterborne illnesses, which vividly illustrated the widespread stakes for public health and human life and invigorated the political will needed to make a shared commitment to universal … Read More
Tax Day 2012 is upon us. And given the centrality of taxes as an election issue, it would be accurate to say that Tax Year 2012 is upon us. To inform the tax debate, the Citizens for Tax Justice, one of the most competent of any groups on this subject, has provided the data rebutting five … Read More
A few days ago 26 states argued before the Supreme Court that the health law’s dramatic extension of Medicaid coverage constitutes unconstitutional federal coercion. “Congress easily could have designed an act that encouraged rather than forced states to expand their Medicaid programs,” their brief submitted to the Court argues. “By making a conscious decision to deprive … Read More
