Montana, home to some of the world’s best fly fishing, is also home to the country’s most far reaching law protecting their stream and river commons. The catalyst was a 1984 ruling by the Montana Supreme Court that any river or stream capable of being used for recreation purposes such as fishing and floating, can be … Read More
It’s hard to make this stuff up. Last year the Michigan legislature passed a bill that gave the Governor the right to seize control of a city and insert a manager that had the authority to fire all workers, abrogate all contracts and privatize all public asset, all without the advice or consent of elected officials. … Read More
The US Post Office needs money. As this chart shows, US postal rates, at 45 cents for a first class stamp, are the lowest in the world, often by far, excluding a few small island countries. Yet Congress, the Postal Regulatory Commission, set up by Congress in 2006 to oversee the Post Office, has proven unwilling … Read More
In the 19th century, small private companies in U.S. and European cities supplied water only to those who could pay a premium. Then came epidemics of cholera and other waterborne illnesses, which vividly illustrated the widespread stakes for public health and human life and invigorated the political will needed to make a shared commitment to universal … Read More
Tax Day 2012 is upon us. And given the centrality of taxes as an election issue, it would be accurate to say that Tax Year 2012 is upon us. To inform the tax debate, the Citizens for Tax Justice, one of the most competent of any groups on this subject, has provided the data rebutting five … Read More
A few days ago 26 states argued before the Supreme Court that the health law’s dramatic extension of Medicaid coverage constitutes unconstitutional federal coercion. “Congress easily could have designed an act that encouraged rather than forced states to expand their Medicaid programs,” their brief submitted to the Court argues. “By making a conscious decision to deprive … Read More
Sometimes it takes a truly imaginative hoax to jolt us into realizing how much we value the public. That’s what happened in Troy, Michigan last summer. Nationwide, over 90 percent of public library money comes from local property tax dollars. Thus every time a public library needs money it has to go to the voters. In … Read More
Back in 2005, Wisconsin state agencies were found to be spending more contracting out for services than if they were done by existing public employees. In response the legislature, with bipartisan support, passed a bill requiring agencies to conduct a cost-benefit analysis before privatizing large public contracts. By far the biggest state government outsourcer was and … Read More
The next time a privateer tells you how awful government is and how wonderful private corporations are, send him a copy of In the Public Interest’s one pager, Five Myths About Privatization. Complete with footnoted sources, it is a refreshing rejoinder to the non-footnoted narrative that has regrettably come to define the American zeitgeist. For a … Read More
