Are Republican Governors Truly Representing Their Citizens on Health Care?

Date: 16 Apr 2012 | posted in: From the Desk of David Morris, The Public Good | 0 Facebooktwitterredditmail

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

Book Burning Hoax Results in Huge Support for Michigan Public Library

Sometimes it takes a truly imaginative hoax to jolt us into realizing how much we value the public. That’s what happened in Troy, Michigan last summer. Nationwide, over 90 percent of public library money comes from local property tax dollars.  Thus every time a public library needs money it has to go to the voters.  In … Read More

Wisconsin To Stop Doing Cost-Benefit Studies Because They Find Public Is Better

Back in 2005,  Wisconsin state agencies were found to be spending more contracting out for services than if they were done by existing public employees.  In response the legislature, with bipartisan support, passed a bill requiring agencies to conduct a cost-benefit analysis before privatizing large public contracts. By far the biggest state government outsourcer was and … Read More

The Data Says That Privatization is Worse

The next time a privateer tells you how awful government is and how wonderful private corporations are, send him a copy of In the Public Interest’s one pager, Five Myths About Privatization.  Complete with footnoted sources, it is a refreshing rejoinder to the non-footnoted narrative that has regrettably come to define the American zeitgeist. For a … Read More

Post Offices: Too Important To Be Stamped Out

Star Tribune, April 9, 2012 In this piece in the Star Tribune David Morris speaks out on the need to stop the tidal wave of post office closings that will occur when the Post Office’s self-imposed moratorium ends in mid May. Last year, 3,600 communities, about 90 in Minnesota, were notified that they’ll probably lose their … Read More

Why Voter Photo ID Is Wrongheaded In One Page

This one page flyer from the ACLU cuts to the heart of the issue. For example, “Despite a massive investigation by voter ID proponents, there were only 160 voter eligibility violation cases filed in 2011, and only 140 convictions. All of which were felons voting before they were eligible. 2,700,000 votes were cast in 2010 primary … Read More

Data Finds Arizona Private Prisons Are Poor Investment. Arizona Responds By No Longer Collecting Data

Since 1987, Arizona’s Department of Corrections has been legislatively mandated to produce cost and quality reviews for its private prisons, in part to judge how they compare with state-run facilities. The data on costs were collected, but in recent years, it took a lawsuit by the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) for the Department of Corrections … Read More

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