Taxation
With Lawrence, MA, as my inspiration, I described what I’ve since come to call the “company state” or “government plantation.” Just as big companies used to set up “company towns” which existed mainly to serve the companies, now governments are becoming the central industry and animating force of the regions under their control. Their model…
John DePetro and Justin Katz check in on the insider operations of the RI State House, bureaucracy, and media.
Clips from the John Loughlin show that carried Rhode Islanders through the holiday season and into the new year.
John DePetro and Justin Katz go over the characters and controversies of state government in Rhode Island.
Although the bit has probably been recycled many times, the easiest version to find is a scene from L.A. Story, with Steve Martin. A street ATM has two lines: On the right are people waiting to take out cash; on the left are people waiting for their turn to mug them. As Martin walks away with his…
John DePetro and Justin Katz talk the Rhode Island politics of the day.
Two stories in the news recently have been nagging at me in combination over the past week. The first is the Republican response to Democrat Governor Dan McKee’s State of the State address, as delivered by Senate Minority Leader Jessica de la Cruz. Here’s the part that resonates particularly oddly: Where McKee called for cutting…
Once upon a time, the common wisdom was that government work couldn’t compete with the private sector for pay but made up for it in benefits and job security. Whether that was ever true, I don’t know, but it has long been the case that government workers in Rhode Island get the best of all…
John DePetro and Justin Katz find evidence of the missing ingredient in RI politics everywhere.
Addressing homelessness requires tracing the economic causes to their roots, including (for example) money provided to politically connected projects like the Superman Building rehab.
