Quick Read

Buildings in Providence

Free gifts for tourists doesn’t seem like the best use of federal COVID money but might make hotel lobbyists happy.

By Justin Katz | July 21, 2021 |

When Governor Dan McKee floated the idea of using “leftover federal stimulus funds” to hand out up to 100,000 gift cards to Rhode Islanders back in May, I made note to follow the story because I wasn’t sure whether it was a good idea or a meh idea.  If this just-announced program is the same…

Support Your Local Planet Protest Sign

Why is public education one industry progressives won’t destroy in the name of justice?

By Justin Katz | July 20, 2021 |

With the various economic and education-related stories that have tumbled through my awareness lately, I had a somewhat random thought. We all know from the news that progressives will destroy entire industries — driving up costs for everybody in a regressive way, ruining their fellow Americans’ productive investments, telling workers to find other jobs —…

A fisherman with his net

Fishing boats are another example of government bragging about easing problems it caused.

By Justin Katz | July 20, 2021 |

Liberty Rhode Island caught the RI House of Representatives bragging about softening its grip around the Ocean State’s economic neck.  The example comes from the House’s Facebook page, which appears to be a partisan outlet to promote newspaper clippings that say nice things about House Democrats.  The page quotes an article by Ryan Blessing in The…

Solar farm in North Smithfield

One bill’s $55 million price tag is a small sample of the increased cost of mandated “renewables.”

By Justin Katz | July 19, 2021 |

Exactly this dynamic, which Alex Kuffner reports in the Providence Journal, apply (with exponents) to the entire push for “green energy” more broadly: How much money could Rhode Islanders have been on the hook for if Gov. Dan McKee had not vetoed a bill that shifted some of the costs of solar and wind projects from…

Nicholas Poissin, The Judgment of Solomon

Everything we’re seeing in “our democracy” comes down to the reemergence of an entitled class.

By Justin Katz | July 19, 2021 |

Angelo Codevilla’s essay in American Greatness on May 17 is worth catching if (like me) you missed it.  In the various tumultuous issues the United States as been facing in recent years, he sees an emerging insistence by a governing elite that we are not, in fact, equal, but that their superiority is so manifest that…

Students graduating from college.

College students shouldn’t expect others to pick up the costs for their investments.

By Justin Katz | July 16, 2021 |

Somehow or other, a tweet by RI League of Cities and Towns Policy Director Jordan Day found its way into my stream, yesterday, lamenting the cost of her student loans. Day appears to have graduated from Rhode Island College in 2013.  She worked on Jorge Elorza’s campaign for mayor through all of 2014, which rolled…

Shadowy RI State House

The General Assembly should pay much less… or much more.

By Justin Katz | July 16, 2021 |

Katherine Gregg reminds Rhode Islanders, via the Providence Journal, that representatives and senators in the state General Assembly get a raise when the country experiences inflation: On July 1, their annual salaries went up by $199.63, from $16,635.74. to $16,835.37 a year. (The House speaker and Senate president make double that amount.) And no, they did not…

Hospital beds

With 40% of COVID deaths being among diabetics, forcing everybody to do (or not do) things is not justified.

By Justin Katz | July 16, 2021 |

There is a very strong case for diabetics to be vaccinated against COVID-19, as Dennis Thompson reports for HealthDay News: About 40% of deaths from COVID-19 in the United States were among diabetics, a “really quite sobering” statistic that should prompt people with the ailment to get vaccinated, said Dr. Robert Gabbay, chief scientific and medical…

WalletHub map of best states for doctors

Now’s the time to start addressing doctor shortages in RI, before it’s an emergency.

By Justin Katz | July 15, 2021 |

G. Wayne Miller’s headline in the Providence Journal tells you about all you need to know about the article: “‘People are burned out’: RI faces a doctor shortage that could get worse.” Rhode Island is facing a shortage of doctors, which has made finding a physician in some specialties more difficult and could inhibit easy access…

Clothes display in a retail store

Psst, Democrats: the key to higher wages is a strong economy and domestic workforce.

By Justin Katz | July 15, 2021 |

Of course, then government can’t take direct credit for handing out money. Newsmax reports that employers across the country are thrilled to be finding teens willing to take entry-level jobs: As the U.S. economy bounds back with unexpected speed from the pandemic recession and customer demand intensifies, high school-age kids are filling jobs that older workers…