Rendell gives Corbett voluminous info on Pa.

Report: Brown to seek deep cuts, tax hikes
SACRAMENTO -- California Gov.-elect Jerry Brown is laying the groundwork for a Budget plan that would couple deep cuts to state services, including university systems and welfare programs, with a request that voters extend temporary tax hikes on vehicles, income and sales that are set to expire next year. The blueprint Brown will unveil when he takes office early next month also is expected to take aim at several Tax Breaks and subsidies that have been fiercely guarded by the business lobby in ...

New Jerseys State Of Emergency Rescinded
TRENTON, N.J. (CBSNewYork) — Acting Governor and Senate President Stephen M. Sweeney rescinded New Jersey’s State of Emergency Monday night and said state offices will reopen at their regular time Tuesday morning. Sweeney thanked State Police, the Office of Emergency Management, Department of Transportation and local Public Works and Public Safety departments statewide for their response to the blizzard. “I thank the residents of New Jersey whose lives have been turned upside d...

As governments go broke, public employee unions must share the pain
Pablo Martinez Monsivais/AP file President Obama, seen here with auto workers in Hamtramck, Mich., and Democrats think federal Taxpayers should bail out irresponsible state and local governments. One need look no further than two Michigan officials -- William Cooper, the city manager of Hamtramck, and Tom White, associate director for labor relations of the Michigan Association of School Boards -- to grasp the seriousness of the Financial Crisis exploding across this country. Cooper told the New...

Illinois Policy Institute slams Quinn's "debt bomb"
Governor Pat Quinn is proposing that Illinois borrow $15 billion from Wall Street to pay old bills. He's calling it a Debt bond, I think it's a Debt bomb. A one percent Income Tax hike will finance paying back the loan. The Illinois Policy Institute thinks this is a bad idea and it explains why: Chicago - Governor Quinn's borrowing plan will worsen the state's fiscal health, not improve it, notes the nonpartisan Illinois Policy Institute. The independent Think Tank points out that while bo...

Nader names names concerning pharmaceutical industry fraud
Ralph Nader has run for President of the United States as a Green Party Candidate, and more recently as an independent. The message below was sent out as an e-mail announcement to Nader lists, and also appears on his nonpartisan website, www.nader.org . Pharmaceutical Industry Fraud By Ralph Nader / Monday, December 27. 2010 The corporate defrauding of Taxpayers (eg. Medicaid and Medicare) and Prescription Drugs with skyrocketing prices was the subject of a report by Public Citizen’s Dr...

CNS' Starr Misleads on Planned Parenthood, Abortion
CNS' Starr Misleads on Planned Parenthood, Abortion Topic: CNSNews.com Penny Starr -- hater of abortion and Planned Parenthood -- begins her Dec. 23 CNSNews.com article, headlined "Planned Parenthood's Federal Funding Rose to $363.2 Million in FY 2008-2009, Aborted 324,008 Unborn Children in 2008," like this: Planned Parenthood received $363.2 million in government Grants and contracts during its 2008-2009 Fiscal Year, according to the organization's annual report. That was up...

Affordable homes target 'will fall short by 19,000' new-builds
According to the accountancy practice Beever and Struthers, the lack of funding will leave ministers with a shortfall of 19,000 properties. Photograph: Rui Vieira/PA The coalition is unlikely to meet its target of providing 150,000 new affordable homes in Britain over the next four years because its figures "simply do not stack up", new analysis claims. According to the accountancy practice Beever and Struthers, the lack of funding will leave ministers with a shortfall of 19,000 properties. ...

Projection pegs Michigan budget shortage at $1.85B
State government is expected to face Budget shortfalls for the Fiscal Year that starts in October 2011. The Senate Fiscal Agency projects that there could be a shortfall of about $1.85 billion for the state's general fund. The state's school aid fund is in better shape. The House Fiscal Agency is expected to put out its own projections next month. Fiscal analysts will make a consensus projection at the revenue estimating conference. Snyder takes over Saturday from Democrat Jennifer Granholm. Mic...

Promises and Riots
Economists are the real "Party of No." They keep saying that there is no such thing as a free lunch -- and politicians keep on getting elected by promising free lunches. Such promises may seem to be kept, for a while. There are ways the government can juggle money around to make everything look OK, but it is only a matter of time before that money runs out and the ultimate reality hits: that there is no free lunch. We are currently seeing what happens, in fierce riots raging in various countries...

The New York Times Concedes 'Decades of Overspending'
Get alerts when there is a new article that might interest you. You know Conservatives are winning when the most dogmatic and obdurate liberals (inadvertently) throw in the towel. In the midst of an otherwise predictable editorial today on "The Looming Crisis in the States," in which the New York Times calls for state tax hikes and more aid from Washington, we find this sentence: "Starved for revenue and accustomed to decades of overspending, many states have been overwhelmed." "Decades of overs...

Faces of 2010: Gov. McDonnell plans a bolder second year
So what went unspoken Dec. 17, as he delivered his proposed Budget amendments to lawmakers and dropped an off-script bombshell that he was punishing Virginia Commonwealth University for a 24 percent Tuition increase, was that he was also ushering in a new leadership style. "I always feel we're not being bold enough," McDonnell said in a recent interview, reflecting on his first year in office. "One, because you have one term to get things done; two is the sooner in your term you can get big thin...

Top Ten Heritage Papers of 2010
Yesterday, we posted the Top Ten Heritage Charts of 2010. Today we bring you the Top Ten Heritage Papers of 2010. This list combines all non-multimedia publications including WebMemos, Backgrounders, Center for Data Analysis Reports, Legal Memorandums, and White Papers. The papers are sorted by pageviews with the 10th most popular chart on top, and the most popular chart at the bottom. 10. Why is America Exceptional? 9. Why Government Spending Does Not Stimulate Economic Growth: Answering the ...

States Scrimp On Civil War Anniversary
ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) - New York state contributed 448,000 Troops and $150 million to the Union cause during the Civil War, not to mention untold tons of supplies, food, guns and munitions. But with the 150th anniversary of the war's start just months away, New York State Government has so far failed to scrounge up a single Yankee dollar to commemorate a conflict it played such a major role in winning. New York isn't alone. Other states saddled with similar Budget woes are unable or unwilling to set...

Another slick dance on roads; big melt lies ahead
Get ready to say goodbye to one of the chilliest, flakiest Decembers since 1872. And say hello to the new year in T-shirt weather. "A definite warm-up is coming," National Weather Service Meteorologist Wayne Albright said Monday. Temperatures will begin to climb Friday and could get close to 60 degrees by Sunday. But first, more cold - and lingering dangers from a winter storm that essentially shuttered the region under more than a foot of snow Sunday and Monday. As weather folks sifte...

Atlantic City and the State of Emergency, what citizens need to know
In the wake of a massive blizzard blanketing southern New Jersey over the last two days, a State of Emergency was declared and people were ordered not to drive by local emergency management directors. A local radio Talk Show host discussed people and situations that appeared to violate the travel ban. The New Jersey State Police have posted a set of frequently asked questions on their website regarding a declared State of Emergency in New Jersey and the responsibility of the cities, towns and ci...

Santa Clara County fire chief, retiring but not leaving, will draw both salary and pension
Santa Clara County's Veteran fire chief, Kenneth Waldvogel, will retire at the end of the month, but the 57-year-old won't be packing up his office just yet. He'll be back on the job in January, taking home his $236,691 annual Salary as a consultant -- on top of a $200,000 yearly State Pension. County officials say the move gives them time to search for a new chief, but critics call the deal a classic case of "double-dipping" -- a practice that has outraged the public and frustrated lawmakers tr...

Congressman Joe Walsh turns down health care and pension benefits
 U.S. Congressman Joe Walsh was one of the first Republicans in Illinois to receive the Tea Party’s Endorsement in the 2010 Illinois Primary Election.  His platform was Fiscal Conservatism and smaller government, “To me this has nothing to do with party and this is not a fringe movement by any means. I’m convinced the tea party movement consists of Republicans, Independents, and quite a few Democrats who are fed up, frustrated, and scared by the rapid growth in govern...

Immigration Cases Create Federal Court Crisis
  Nearly half of Federal Court cases tried in the first 11 months of the year involved illegal Immigration and a chunk of Federal Prisoners have been convicted of violating Immigration laws, representing a colossal expense for U.S. Taxpayers. The nation’s federal courts are overwhelmed with staggering Immigration caseloads that have cost Americans tens of millions of dollars, depleted the system and heavily burdened jails across the country. The daunting statistics are documented in a multipl...

Democracy, deficits, and 'preemptive fiscal adjustment'
I'm a big fan of a series of posts Matt Yglesias has written about what he calls "preemptive fiscal adjustment" (previous posts here and here). I think it's a good topic for thinking about incentives and Democracy, which I'm going to try Q & A style. Q: Why are Deficits problems for the political system, anyway? A: Politicians respond to incentives. Short run, the direct effects of lower taxes and higher Government Spending are noticeable, and voters like both things. Thus there's an incen...

Sen. Jim Bunning's Farewell Address
Sen. Bunning delivered these remarks on the Senate floor on December 9. Mr. President, I would like to take a moment to thank all of my colleagues and other individuals who have come to the Chamber to hear me bid farewell. I have had the great fortune of having three wonderful careers during my life:  one as a husband, a father of nine Children, and a grandfather of 40, one in Major League Baseball for twenty-seven years and one in public service for thirty years.  Many people often talk ab...

No announcement from Chafee yet on EDC leadership
Poised to take office next Tuesday, Governor-elect Lincoln D. Chafee has yet to make any announcements about leadership at the state’s Economic Development Corporation. Throughout a gubernatorial campaign where jobs and The Economy took center stage, Chafee was highly critical of the agency when the EDC board approved a Controversial $75-million Loan Guarantee to former Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling’s Video Game company. Candidate Chafee even threatened a Lawsuit against members of...

Foes of California government buildings' sale win court victory
Reporting from Sacramento — Opponents of the Controversial sale of two dozen State Government buildings won a significant victory Tuesday, when the state Supreme Court declined to hear a last-minute plea by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to approve the deal. The decision does not officially kill the sale; a state appeals court has scheduled a hearing on the case next month. But the Supreme Court's decision ensures that final approval must be made by Gov.-elect Jerry Brown, not Schwarzenegge...

The wrong way to pay for schools
After cutting more than $500 million in Public School aid from the state's two-year Budget last winter, Gov. Bob McDonnell and lawmakers should heed two rules. First, don't make any more education cuts in 2011. Second, don't think of new stuff for local school divisions to do. McDonnell has managed to break both rules in a single amendment he proposed to the Budget this month. The Governor wants to delete $57.6 million earmarked by the legislature to protect schools being penalized because of a ...

How to Earmark in Congress Without Really Trying
Tue Dec. 28, 2010 8:29 AM PST Let's say you're a freshman lawmaker on his way to Washington with a mandate (allegedly) to shrink the size of government, and you take a hacksaw to federal spending. Trolling for low-hanging fiscal fruit, you've fixed your attention on earmarking, that pesky practice of burying spending appropriations for your constituents in larger bills. A little anti-earmark handwringing should burnish your Tea Party cred, your top advisers say. And hitching a ride on the DeMin...

Anti-earmark lawmakers quietly (sneakily) grabbing federal dollars
Would an earmark by any other name still be as offensive to Republicans? Apparently not . The NY Times examines the ways anti-earmark lawmakers attempt to get around their own political positions in order to secure Federal Funding for pet projects . Senator-elect Mark Steven Kirk , for example, voted against Earmarks and the stimulus, but that didn't stop him from sending a letter to the Department of Education last year asking it to release money for an Illinois School District. It did, and Woo...