Justin Katz

So This Is the State House…

By Justin Katz | March 26, 2008 |

Well, it’s already after eight o’clock, and the thing’s still going, so it’s as good a time as any for my first visit to the State House. It’s worth visiting such places, I find, just to sense the grandeur of marble stairs and high ceilings. It’s easy to imagine how two-bit legislators get to feeling…

How Much Is Not Enough?

By Justin Katz | March 26, 2008 |

Tom Sgouros (who is apparently more involved in this bill than I’d thought) just said: The state is getting too much of its money from people who can’t afford to give it, and not much money from those who can. But this is different in kind from what he’s been arguing thus far, which has…

A Handy Economics Lesson

By Justin Katz | March 26, 2008 |

Rep. Handy, who introduced the atrocity of a bill currently being discussed, just described one of the “injustices” that he’s seeking to alleviate: He spent the past few years paying taxes on diapers for his child, but a rich person who could afford a diaper service would be free of that burden. I’d dispute the…

Ugh, Life

By Justin Katz | March 26, 2008 |

The Big Government folks have themselves a win-win situation with punitive taxation: interested citizens are kept unnaturally busy just making ends meet, so their ability to become involved is diminished. Well, it’s going to take me a while, but I hope to get down to the statehouse tonight, assuming the hearing continues.

Voting for Something That Really Matters

By Justin Katz | March 26, 2008 |

Well, isn’t that interesting: Rhode Island Monthly Best of Rhode Island ballot has a line for the best local Web site. I’ll have to give my vote some thought…

Choice of Toppings Only

By Justin Katz | March 25, 2008 |

Any additional educational freedom for Rhode Island’s parents would be a good thing, but Julia Steiny’s Sunday column on interdistrict school choice left me wondering about the mechanics of the thing: Cross-district choice would allow the parents to decide which schools should be closed for lack of enrollment and interest, and which should thrive. Right…

The Behavior Gap

By Justin Katz | March 25, 2008 |

Let me say right up front that access to healthcare must be improved and expanded, although it goes beyond the scope of this post to delve into the different understandings of the whats and hows of that mandate. Even were that goal to be achieved quickly, however, I suspect that the life expectancy gap between…

What Was That About Corporate Welfare in RI?

By Justin Katz | March 24, 2008 |

Not surprisingly, taxation appears to be Rhode Island’s method of being a world leader. We’re tied with West Virginia for seventh highest top total corporate tax rate in the world. Oddly, China and India aren’t among the global Top 30. Go figure. (via Instapundit)

Extremism in the Service of Vice Is No Virtue

By Justin Katz | March 24, 2008 |

Is our society so corrupt that we must remake the argument against prostitution? The seediness, peril, and potential for corruption ought to be clear enough, but they are ultimately reasons for taxation and regulation. Have we been so seduced by an anything-your-heart-desires notion of freedom that we must hesitate over a state-level ban? Lovers of…

Another Winter of Discontent

By Justin Katz | March 24, 2008 |

Perchance I wasn’t alone among readers of Saturday’s Projo opinion pages in recalling Mac’s piece on NRO back in 2004: In fact, the entire Winter Soldiers Investigation was a lie. It was inspired by Mark Lane’s 1970 book entitled Conversations with Americans, which claimed to recount atrocity stories by Vietnam veterans. This book was panned…