Patrick Laverty
Tonight, the pension bill was passed by the Finance Committees in both the House and Senate. In spite of some recent changes to the original bill, one thing that is not included is any help for the municipal retirement systems. I’ve seen and heard of some local mayors asking the General Assembly for help with…
According to David Scharfenberg and his headline writers at the Providence Phoenix, David Cicilline is making a comeback. The same David Cicilline who had a 17% approval rating. The same David Cicilline who said he left Providence in “excellent fiscal condition”. The same David Cicilline who first blocked city auditors from the books, then stated…
Some have accused me of having an “obsession” with the Occupy protesters. Many think I have contempt for them. However, upon introspection, I don’t think this is true. I think “frustration” might be a better word. I think we can all agree that the government is broken. Much of our system is broken. I like…
In GoLocalProv.com today, Dan McGowan tells of how Rhode Island has shed more government jobs, as a percentage, than any other state in the country since 2007. He uses some nice numbers and percentages to show the facts. In total, Rhode Island lost about 4,400 government jobs over four years, ranking 33rd among states in…
Some of the union heads are claiming that this pension crisis was fabricated by State Treasurer Gina Raimondo. She is trying to solve a problem that she created. People like Paul Valletta, representing the Rhode Island Association of Firefighters. His claim: [Raimondo] cooked the books on this issue… She created this pension problem … now…
It seems lately one of the topics for discussion is that of the heavy burden from college loans. Some are calling for the loans to be completely forgiven. That means the debt is eliminated. The money was borrowed from a lending institution, where that might be a private bank or the US government, papers were…
How long do the Occupy Providence protesters get to stay in the park with tents up, food kitchens cooking, medical tents operating? How long until the city tells them that it’s time to go, they had their time for protesting and now they’re done? Of course, whenever that comes, they’ll all claim that their constitutional…
Anyone think the economy is turned around? If not, even Obama thinks he should be a one-term president. In this one, it seems he left out another, more obvious option:
Yesterday afternoon, the Providence Journal released their long-awaited new web site. Now the projo.com URL will redirect to providencejournal.com. We’ve been hearing radio and television commercials about the value of the local media. The commercials explain that Pulitzers don’t pay the mortgage. So the folks at the Journal will need to institute a pay wall.…
Tonight, US Rep. James Langevin visited the protesters down at Occupy Providence. I wonder if the protesters are aware that he is one of the very people they are protesting against. No, he’s not the CEO of Bank of America or Goldman Sachs. I understand they’re protesting against corporate greed, especially the greed that is…