Justin Katz
Related to Andrew’s “Finance and Demography” post, I’ve been wondering, lately, how much economic growth of late has relied on increasing debt. Sure, production expands the economy, but somehow it has to correspond with consumption, no? In particular, I’m thinking of Spenlger’s line: “The financial markets, in turn, found ways to persuade Americans to borrow…
West Warwick teacher Paul Bovenzi appears to have attended a few too many union prep and pump sessions: Teachers drive education, and know what’s best for children in their schools. Contrary to popular belief, administrators (or managers to use his misnomer) are no more educators than a hospital administrator is a doctor! Do you want…
The behavior is bad enough, but one detail of this story leaves me with a big “huh?”: Two 17-year-old Tiverton High School students have been charged by police and disciplined by the high school, following two separate incidents in which they allegedly broke into a home, stole cash and other items, urinated on a bed,…
So this Wednesday, at the annual Tiverton Financial Town Meeting (potentially among the last), voters will be asked to approve an 11% property tax increase: Town electors who attend next Wednesday night’s Financial Town Meeting will be asked to vote on a total recommended budget of $41.7 million. To raise that amount, a tax levy…
Having conducted no research along these lines, I can only speculate, but I wonder whether the sentiments expressed here, by Jason Burns of Johnston, are increasingly permeating the state: Regarding the May 1 letter “My job working in danger for peanuts”: The problem with unions is that we taxpayers pay members’ salaries, then the members…
Mark Steyn’s astute observation is applicable to much more than foreign affairs: Increasingly, the Western world has attitudes rather than policies. It’s one thing to talk as a means to an end. But these days, for most midlevel powers, talks are the end, talks without end. Because that’s what civilized nations like doing — chit-chatting,…
In the obviously titled “State workers protest any pension cuts,” one protester said the following: Others, including social worker Michael Fallon, said they felt state workers had been unfairly made the “scapegoats” for both the ballooning unfunded liability in the state pension fund and the “poor management” that landed Rhode Island in its current fiscal…
Apparently, it’s time to dust off the Federal Marriage Amendment; the California Supreme Court has redefined marriage to include same-sex couples. For those who may have forgotten, the most prominent version of the FMA read as follows: Marriage in the United States shall consist only of the union of a man and a woman. Neither…
As those who listened already know, Don switched with Andrew for this Wednesday’s segment on the Matt Allen show. His commentary related to his post on Rhode Island’s failure to address its current crisis can be streamed by clicking here (or download). Next Wednesday at 6:50 p.m., Andrew will have his moment in the spotlight.
Anybody who doesn’t see what the big deal is when Don laments our state’s lack of a sense of urgency need only read through yesterday’s business pages. The values of assets are plummeting: The median price of a multifamily house in Rhode Island during the first quarter declined about 39 percent, to $161,000, compared with…