MORE ARTICLES
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
Pioneer Institute Releases Examination of Metropolitan Housing Markets; Obtains Insights Into Improving Affordability December 5, 2024 - 9:03 am
NYT #1 Bestseller Dava Sobel on Marie Curie & Women in ScienceDecember 4, 2024 - 10:58 am
The Roger Perry Internship ProgramDecember 3, 2024 - 2:00 pm
Shameless Gary Gnu reference
/0 Comments/in Better Government, Blog, News /by Liam DayI’m a few days late, but I want to offer a quick rebuttal to JoAnn Fitzpatrick, whose op-ed, Sparse history’s made in a year with potential, appeared in Monday’s Boston Herald. I don’t disagree with Ms. Fitzpatrick’s argument. 2007 was not an extraordinarily productive year for the Legislature. What I disagree with is the premise upon which her argument is based. An unproductive legislature is not de facto a bad legislature. Our state representatives and senators – and, for that matter, our congressmen and women – should not be expected to create laws simply because they can. This mindset – that our state and federal legislatures must always be doing things – has contributed to a culture in which Massachusetts’ […]
Justice, Massachusetts-style
/0 Comments/in Better Government, Blog, Blog: Better Government /byBe careful what you do here in the Commonwealth, you might be forced to spend the weekend indoors with your kids!! A longshoreman from Boston plead (pled?, pleaded? pleadarum?) guilty to putting his 4 year old on the Massport payroll and was sentenced to probation, restitution, and….gasp….4 weeks of home confinement on the weekends. Given that he’s got five kids under 10 year of age, that might be a tougher sentence than you would expect.
Maxing out the State Credit Card
/0 Comments/in Better Government, Blog, Blog: Better Government, Economic Opportunity /byAs noted in yesterday’s post, the Commonwealth signaled its intention to utilize the full $1b in short-term borrowing capability in advance of April’s tax receipts. April is typical the toughest month as personal income tax receipts aren’t due until the 15th and over $1b in local aid has to go out at the beginning of the month. But the Treasurer just announced that the state will be maxing out its credit card in December, not April.
Interesting Reading
/0 Comments/in Blog, Blog: Better Government, News /byThe latest version of the Commonwealth’s Information Statement Supplement , the best source of concrete financial data on our state, is out. A few nuggets: The Surplus: pg. A-1 — The State ended up with a fiscal 2007 surplus of $190.9 million. Of course, there was a supplemental budget passed in October (for FY2007) that spent $212.1m and rolled over $60m in unexpended funds. Thus, without that supp, there would have been a surplus of $462m. Lottery Deficit: pg. A-2 — The lottery was short by $119m and will be short by $124m next year, unless sales pick up significantly. That’s $243m that the state needs to make up somewhere. Taxes: pg. A-3 — FY2007 tax revenues exceeded projections by […]
Full Coverage of Saliva-Related Issues
/0 Comments/in Better Government, Blog, Blog: Better Government /byThe Legislature may not have had time to take up gambling or biotech investments this session, but rest assured that the issue of band-instrument spittle is moving apace — just today the Senate approved a House bill establishing a task force to examine hygienic procedures pertaining to band instruments.