Government Spending
No government has ever spent its way to prosperity. Our proposals help governments be fiscally responsible so citizens can be prosperous.
PHOENIX-In a study released today by the Goldwater Institute, Harvard/MIT Data Center fellow Michael J. New reports that Colorado's Taxpayer Bill of Rights has been the most effective expenditure limit enacted in any state during the last three decades. "Enacting a Colorado-style constitutional amendment is Arizona's best hope to restrain spending, generate tax relief, and help prevent future fiscal crises of the kind that have plagued the state during the last two years," Dr. New states.
Phoenix, AZ-The Nobel Foundation announced today that George Mason University economist Vernon L. Smith will be awarded the 2002 Nobel Prize in Economics for his pioneering work in the field of Experimental Economics. Smith is a member of the Academic Advisory Council for the Goldwater Institute, a Phoenix-based free market think-tank.
In the next few weeks, expect to hear a lot of boo-hoos coming out of City Hall as Phoenix leaders take a chainsaw to their budget. Apparently, slashing and hacking will be involved, which means libraries, parks.
You know, the stuff people care about.
Me? I'd start with the lawyers. Specifically, I'd start with the $450-an-hour guys the city has hired to protect its $100 million handout to a Chicago-based developer.
This, so the company will build a shopping center at the economically depressed corner of 56th Street and Loop 101.
Our view: Prenatal and delivery care, as well as contraception, should include as many Arizona women as possible
The state health plan paid the medical bills for 52 percent of births in Arizona last year, a solid investment in public health. But the system has holes that, if fixed, could help reduce that number.
Pima County officials say they hope to keep spring training here for years to come, but if deals like Glendale's are the new price of doing business with Major League Baseball, they'll pass.
"This is one we would say no to," said County Administrator Chuck Huckelberry of the deal Glendale has offered to lure the Chicago White Sox from Tucson Electric Park and the Los Angeles Dodgers from their spring training home in Florida.
Efforts are under way to ban state universities and agencies, city governments, school districts and other public employers from hiring private lobbyists to do their bidding at the state Capitol, in Washington, D.C., and city halls across Arizona.
Advocates of the ban say taxpayer dollars and public money should not be used to hire private lobbyists. Critics maintain it leads to out-of-control government spending and undue influence on public policy.
"I feel it is a misuse of taxpayers' money," said state Rep. Nancy Barto, R-Phoenix.
Talk of the Town: Special to the Courier
Is our state government breaking the piggy bank?
Archimedes "Archie" Fraijo still considers Franklin D. Roosevelt a personal hero for trying to soften the blows of the Great Depression.
Others today, however, consider Roosevelt the president who steered the nation toward socialism. The argument that began in the 1930s about the government's proper role in national economic affairs is as hot today as it was seven decades ago.
As Arizona's governor and the Legislature battle over how to balance the state budget in the wake of huge revenue shortfalls, it would be a good idea for them to look toward the northeast.
Unlike Arizona, and many other states, Colorado isn't having a big budget problem. In fact, residents of that state actually received tax rebates in 1997 and 2002 totaling $3.2 billion.
Arizona residents could save more than $300 million yearly if given a chance to purchase automobiles directly from manufacturers, according to the Goldwater Institute's "42 Ideas for a Free and Prosperous Arizona."
The institute, named for the late senator, occasionally comes up with reports and ideas that it says are designed to get people to think and act.