Abstract: Previous public–private pay comparisons at the state and local levels, including numerous reports published by the Economic Policy Institute (EPI), significantly undercount public-sector pension benefits, omit retiree health coverage, and ignore job security. Using California as an example, an analysis by economists Andrew…
Abstract: While it is clear that federal workers’ wages and benefits are above market levels, it is less clear whether state and local employees are similarly overpaid. In the past year, several organizations have published studies arguing that state and local workers are underpaid. But these studies undercount…
Abstract: Unions have been a familiar part of American working life for more than 70 years. Less familiar is the state of the union movement today: More union members now work for the government than for private employers. The above-market salaries and benefits that…
Ernest Istook discusses a California ballot measure to legalize marijuana. …
Brian Darling discusses the California ballot measure that would legalize recreational marijuana use in that state. …
OPINION/ANALYSIS: President Obama spent 2009 engaged in an unprecedented first-year spending spree. Now he is apparently planning to spend his second year creating the illusion of fiscal responsibility. On the campaign trail, then-candidate Mr. Obama…
Abstract: Conventional wisdom holds that offshore oil and gas production harms the surrounding environment. This blanket "wisdom" ignores the fact that the largest source of marine hydrocarbon pollution is offshore natural oil seepage. It also ignores the fact that offshore oil production has lowered…
The increasing tendency since 9/11 to look to Washington for every answer regarding disaster response is troubling. The insistence that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) play an ever-expanding role in addressing day-to-day emergency responses is hindering, not strengthening, the agency's ability to prepare for the next national catastrophic disaster.…
Delivered July 30, 2007 immigration has become the most controversial, complex, and sensitive subject we face today. It directly affects our economy, our culture, and our future. To ensure that any action we take on immigration policy is in our national interest, we need to approach the subject with reason and facts.…
What do $16 billion and $68.4 billion have in common, other than the fact that each of these figures dwarfs JPMorgan...…
The State of California keeps sinking into a deeper hole of debt, with reports showing that the state's budget shortfall...…
Can safeguards against voter fraud sway an election? In Vernon, California, it looks like they just did. In response to...…
The city of Troy, Michigan, prides itself as being "The City of Tomorrow ... Today," but now it has another slogan to...…
Pork producers are speaking out against legislation that would give federal regulators the authority to mandate cage...…
Two well-connected government unions in California are teaming with Gov. Jerry Brown to support a multibillion-dollar...…
Last week, the independent California High-Speed Rail Peer Review Group recommended that the state legislature not...…
A new poll shows that in one of the most liberal of states--California--charter schools are impressing voters by a wide...…
[caption id="attachment_81326" align="alignnone" width="640" caption="California Governor Jerry Brown...…
President Obama is touting his new mega tax on millionaires--a.k.a. "the Buffett Rule"--as the best thing since sliced...…