MORE ARTICLES
Statement on MBTA Communities Law Milton RulingJanuary 8, 2025 - 3:36 pm
Harvard’s Leo Damrosch on Alexis de Tocqueville & Democracy in AmericaJanuary 8, 2025 - 9:57 am
Mapping Mass Migration: Massachusetts Remains a Top Destination for ImmigrantsJanuary 6, 2025 - 10:29 am
Mapping Mass Migration: New Census Data Shows Continued Out-Migration from Massachusetts to Competitor StatesDecember 19, 2024 - 8:52 am
UK’s John Suchet, OBE, on Tchaikovsky, The Nutcracker, & BalletsDecember 18, 2024 - 9:40 am
Tim’s Take: An Education Reform Stalwart Takes a Curious Look at Homeschoolers With ESAsDecember 12, 2024 - 1:10 pm
U-OK’s Dan Hamlin on Emerging School Models & Learning LossDecember 11, 2024 - 10:20 am
What To Do About 340BDecember 11, 2024 - 9:47 am
Pioneer Institute Offers Blueprint for Federal Administrative ReformDecember 10, 2024 - 9:06 am
The House Call – Mayor Wu Wants to Overhaul Boston’s Arcane Development Approvals Process? Here Are Three Reform OptionsDecember 9, 2024 - 11:05 am
Who's the DINO Now
/1 Comment/in Blog, Blog: Better Government, News /byAfter a legislative hearing on public-private partnerships last month, the Governor reportedly tee’d off on one of the hearing chairs: Patrick….suggested that Baddour’s [the hearing chair] preference for privatizing roads and bridges suggested Republican leanings, according to people familiar with the conversation. Now comes news that the Mass Turnpike is indeed planning to put the turnpike service plazas out for a long-term lease. We are pleased to see the Administration’s new-found openness to the concept and hope they have had a chance to read our analysis of PPPs and case studies on their usage in Massachusetts. Given the Governor’s control of the Turnpike, this is doubtless being done with his blessing. However, with no comprehensive transportation reform plan out publicly […]
Moral Hazard
/0 Comments/in Better Government, Blog, News /by Liam DayThe outcomes of the various bailout and stimulus packages already passed or currently being contemplated, and the lessons to be drawn from them, won’t be known in their entirety for quite some time, if ever. There is, however, one quite basic premise that is once again being revealed by the federal government’s current attempts to step in and bolster the economy. Government spending creates moral hazard. Check out the lead story in this morning’s USA Today – States continue spending sprees. Why is that? As the national daily reports, though a few states have attempted to curb spending: Most have taken a wait-and-see attitude because spending cuts may not be needed if Congress approves a large federal aid package, and […]
The Free Market Reponse to Partners-Blue Cross
/0 Comments/in Blog, Blog: Better Government, News /bySeveral folks, including a recent commenter, have posed a similar question — if the handshake agreement between Partners and Blue Cross has raised healthcare costs so much, why hasn’t someone come up with a non-Partners insurance product? I can’t say that I have an absolute answer. But, I would point you in the direction of the closest analogue I can think of — Unicare’s Commonwealth Choice PPO plan, which is available to state employees. It limits you to a variety of community hospitals, BIDMC, and Children’s Hospital (the only contact with the Partners network, as far as I can tell. Jump on our GIC health insurance comparison website — www.gicestimator.com — and pretend to be an employee of one of […]
More Bailout Fun
/0 Comments/in Blog, Blog: Better Government, News /byFirst, the nonsense — signaling the illogical end of this process, the…ahem…adult entertainment industry has put in for its share of funds. Next, the impossible overreach — a Massachusetts firm has put in for $1.84 billion loan to construct production facilities. Now, don’t get me wrong — I hope the company succeeds in its efforts to make next generation batteries that might catalyze the use of more electric vehicles. But, for a company with around $40 million in yearly revenues and only $205 million in assets, this is a massive bet with our money on a specific company and a specific technology. Its good business on the company’s part — they’ve found an investor willing to take equity-type risk that […]
I hope I am or at least the Governor is misinformed
/1 Comment/in Blog, News /byI have heard from folks who listen to the Eagan-Braude show on WTKK that Governor Patrick today was saying that he is not anti-charter. OK. Then, according to these listeners, he went on to say that his lack of urgency around raising the charter cap was a “red herring” or similar. Not OK. The calls from the Boston Globe, Lowell Sun, and many other places to raise the cap on charters comes on the heels of a great report done by Harvard, MIT and Duke for the Boston Foundation. Is this really the Governor’s line? He is right to say that there is a cap of 120 charter schools statewide and that we have currently 61. He is right again […]