Rhode Island Economy
According to a press release, RI House Speaker Tempore Charlene Lima is continuing her quest to save Rhode Island’s “working families” one quarter at a time: House Speaker Tempore Charlene M. Lima today introduced legislation that will continue her mission to raise the minimum wage for Rhode Island’s working men and women. The bill would…
Editorializing about the “Charitable Conundrum,” the ProJo provides this bit of evidence that some Democrats may (finally!) be learning about basic economic principles: The opening years of the 21st Century have not been happy ones for many nonprofits in Rhode Island. High taxes have driven many rich people away from the state, for at least…
Former State Representative James Davey sends Rhode Islanders a civic-postcard (actually a letter-to-the-editor in the Projo) from his new home in North Carolina…In a Jan. 3 story, Cranston Fire Chief Richard Delgado was quoted as saying, in response to Mayor Michael Napolitano’s possible proposal to cut all departments’ spending by 5 percent, that: “It’d be…
Scott Mayerowitz of the Projo provides some specific numbers on the projected state budget deficits, for this year and next…But state government is also spending more than was budgeted, particularly in the Department of Corrections and the Department of Children, Youth and Families. Additionally, a reduction in the state’s work force hasn’t been fully implemented.…
According to an unbylined story in today’s Projo, as was the case last year, a budget shortfall for Rhode Island is being projected for this fiscal year…The state’s budget situation looks bleak, real bleak. The amount of cash flowing into the state’s coffers this year is estimated to fall $74.2 million short of previous predictions,…
A study commissioned by the Pioneer Institute for Public Policy Research and carried out by Global Insight Inc. analyzed the cost of doing business in Massachusetts in nine different commercial sectors. The study is of interest to Rhode Islanders for two reasons: 1) Rhode Island was one of six states used for the detailed breakdown…
A just released Census Bureau report (pdf format) ranks that median household income of the fifty states plus the District of Columbia over past 12 months. Most of New England is at or above the national average ($46,242)…Connecticut $60,941 (3rd)Massachusetts $57,184 (5th)New Hampshire $56,768 (6th)Rhode Island $51,458 (12th)Vermont $45,686 (23rd)Maine $42,801 (33rd) The report also…
I wonder how public union employees feel when they read such pieces as this editorial in the Providence Journal: Taxpayers may face a daunting future because of the pension benefits that politicians have promised public employees. States and cities across America confront huge liabilities, with shrinking assets, and the shortfall threatens both to hammer taxpayers…
Here’s the question for consumers: If you were intending to purchase an item of moderately high price — a flat-screen TV, for example — would you buy it in Rhode Island or head to Massachusetts if you could get a $50–100 mail in rebate in the northern state (on top of the lower sales tax,…
Perhaps I take rhetoric such as Bernie Beaudreau’s in the Providence Journal a bit too personally: Low-income Rhode Islanders register little in the present tax debate, except for the false promise that there is a connection between tax breaks for the rich and more bread for the poor. “The flat tax will reduce poverty,” we’re…
