Monthly Archives: February 2011

Jobless rate shows progress, BUT number of jobs is down

Posted on February 16, 2011 by Mary McCleary

As the Columbus Dispatch reports, the unemployment rate in central Ohio continues to decline.  In December, unemployment in the area dropped to 7.9 percent, which seemingly is a significant improvement over where we stood in September when unemployment was 8.2 …

Posted in Economy | 1 Comment

Union Bosses Love Unions

Posted on February 15, 2011 by Jason Hart

Predictably, government unions are up in arms over Senate Bill 5. In a startling twist, union bosses are arguing that taxing Peter to generously compensate Paul is both fair and economically responsible! “These lower wages and benefits are going to …

Posted in Public Sector Reform | Leave a comment

President Barack Obama’s Budget, the Continuing Resolution, and Difficult Choices

Posted on February 15, 2011 by Dan Ziegler

Several weeks ago, President Obama gave us a sneak peak at some of his priorities for the year in his State of the Union speech.  Now yesterday with the release of his budget we get to see numbers attached to …

Posted in Government | 1 Comment

High-Speed Rail is a Bad Deal

Posted on February 14, 2011 by Mary McCleary

Over the next six years, the Obama administration, as reported by the Washington Times, plans to invest $53 billion in rail because it believes doing so will keep the U.S. competitive in the world economy. . However, contrary to what …

Posted in Government | 1 Comment

Casinos in Ohio: Promises Begin to Fade As Art Schlichter Highlights Dark Side of Gambling

Posted on February 14, 2011 by Matt Mayer

The Cincinnati Enquirer reports that the promised revenue from casinos will be far less than originally promised as the number of seats at the four casinos has been reduced from almost 19,000 to just over 11,000. The expected revenue for Ohio …

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Turnpike: Lease it Out or Reduce Compensation Packages

Posted on February 12, 2011 by admin

Governor Kasich is talking about leasing the turnpike to a private operator if he can get somewhere in the neighborhood of $3 billion or higher with the agreement. In 2006, Governor Mitch Daniels negotiated a similar deal in which he …

Posted in Government | 2 Comments

Amen, Dispatch!

Posted on February 11, 2011 by Matt Mayer

It struck me as horribly unseemly that a government worker could defraud the system by falsifying pay records when he was actually not working and then retire to avoid punishment. Given his years of service (how many of those years …

Posted in Public Sector Reform | Leave a comment