MORE ARTICLES
Becket Fund’s Eric Rassbach on Loffman v. CA DOE, Religious Liberty, & SchoolingNovember 27, 2024 - 10:30 am
Pioneer Institute Statement on Vocational-Technical School AdmissionsNovember 26, 2024 - 8:00 am
FY2026 Consensus Revenue Hearing – Forecasting of Revenues is Tricky BusinessNovember 25, 2024 - 8:00 am
CUNY’s Carl Rollyson on William Faulkner & Southern LiteratureNovember 20, 2024 - 10:36 am
Pioneer Institute Study Finds Massachusetts Saw Four-Fold Loss of Income to Net OutmigrationNovember 19, 2024 - 11:25 am
Massachusetts Job Market Bears WatchingNovember 18, 2024 - 2:10 pm
NH Gov. Chris Sununu on School ChoiceNovember 13, 2024 - 2:02 pm
Five Reasons Why Project Labor Agreements Are Bad Public PolicyNovember 12, 2024 - 9:27 am
Statement of Pioneer Institute on MCAS Ballot Failure and State of Education in MassachusettsNovember 6, 2024 - 2:01 pm
Dr. Helen Baxendale on Great Hearts Classical Liberal Arts Charter SchoolsNovember 6, 2024 - 12:08 pm
Our New State Piggy Bank
/0 Comments/in Blog, Blog: Better Government, News /byThe Mass Convention Center Authority appears to be the new piggy bank for state leaders. The Governor and Legislature put the touch on them for $65 million earlier this year to balance the FY09 budget. Next, the state and the city of Boston put the touch on the Convention Center Authority for $1 million for the upcoming Tall Ships event. The MCCA operated for years with a state budget subsidy (since eliminated) to fund its debt and a special series of dedicated tax and fee revenues. The intent was to tax area properties (that ostensibly benefited from the Center) and travelers (who might be using the center). The logic was that revenue from users would be ringfenced and used for […]
Boom times at the NEA
/0 Comments/in Blog, News /byFrom our man in Education Havana, Mike Antonucci, sleuth extraordinaire, gives us some numbers on why the recession cannot be said to have hit everybody equally. Proposed Budget Shows No Recession at NEA Headquarters. The economy may be staggering along, the labor movement may be facing financial problems, but the National Education Association continues to let the good times roll. The proposed 2009-10 NEA budget forecasts $355.8 million in revenue, an increase of $10 million over this year. The headlines warn us of massive teacher layoffs across the nation, but NEA modified its projection of new teacher members upward. Originally expecting an increase of 5,000 new teacher members for 2009-10, the latest proposed budget now predicts 7,000 new teacher members. […]
The BPPA and BPA
/0 Comments/in Blog, Blog: Better Government, News /byThe Globe reports that the Boston Police Patrolmen’s Association has objected to the Police Commissioner’s directive to get rid of water coolers (which would save $50k). The BPPA notes that the coolers were originally instituted as a health measure. Given the recent findings that allegedly harmful chemical Bisphenol A (which is found in almost all water cooler bottles) leaches into the water after rather brief exposure, the BPPA may be better off listening to the Commissioner.
Consider a business with two customers
/0 Comments/in Blog, Blog: Better Government, News /byThe first customer pays in about two months after getting bill, questions or rejects a quarter of the charges, and, depending on who you ask, pays substantially less than your other customer. The second customer pays within a month, questions about 5% or 6% of the charges, and pays a premium. That’s the dynamic in Massachusetts between the state Medicaid program (the first customer) and private payers (Blue Cross, Harvard, Tufts, Fallon). The contrast gives one pause as we debate the merits of ‘public plan’ competing against private plans under some form of national healthcare.
Unfunded Pension Liabilities Might Be Bigger Than You Think
/0 Comments/in Blog, Blog: Better Government, News /byI’m not done with the latest 2008 Investment Report on pension returns across the state. If you look through it, almost every communities’ 5 and 10 year returns (and for a few their lifetime returns) are below, way below, their expected rate of return on their pensions. Why does this matter? Well, the expected rate of return on pension assets is a key determinant of the unfunded liability. A high rate of return lowers the unfunded liability. Let’s pick a town at random and see what that means. How about…say…Swampscott? The 2007 Annual Report of the Swampscott pension fund reveals an assumed rate of return of 8%. Yet, in the past 5 years, they have had returns of 3.04% and, […]