Free Republic

he average state employee compensation package costs approximately $93,039. Inflation-adjusted wages and benefits have increased 25 percent since fiscal 1999. The figures include the value of all benefits from state-paid retirement contributions to dry cleaning allowances. The largest cost increases came from retirement benefits (which increased from $309 million in fiscal 1999 to $772 million in fiscal 2008) and health insurance (which increased from $273 million in fiscal 1999 to $554 million in fiscal 1999). The wages and benefits of Michigan's over 50,000 state employees cost taxpayers $4.7 billion in fiscal 2008. This is up from $3.2 billion in fiscal...

My party challenges the whole basis of the Progressivist vision of this country's future. We challenge their attack on American exceptionalism. We challenge their claim that bureaucratic centralization is the only way the US can meet the economic and social challenges of our time.

The Environmental Protection Agency recently concluded that man-made greenhouse gas emissions — including carbon dioxide — are harmful pollutants and must be regulated. The lawsuit I filed challenging that finding does not address the disputed science surrounding global warming. Instead, it focuses on the indisputable fact that the EPA relied on information that has been discredited,

The average federal salary (including benefits) is set to grow from $72,800 in 2008 to $75,419 in 2010, CBS reported. But the real action isn’t in what government employees are being paid today; it’s in what they’re being promised for tomorrow. Public pensions have swollen to unrecognizable proportions during the last decade. In June 2005, BusinessWeek reported that “more than 14 million public servants and 6 million retirees are owed $2.37 trillion by more than 2,000 different states, cities and agencies,” numbers that have risen since then. State and local pension payouts, the magazine found, had increased 50 percent in...

PHOENIX -- The state sold more than 20 properties Thursday, including prisons, the state Capitol and both legislative chambers, for $735.4 million at a targeted interest rate at just over 4 percent.

I have become aware of a county program that is totally disfunctional and I want something done about it! This has to do with a county misappropriating federal funds. The county is Snohomish in Washington state. Supposedly the feds leave it up to the local govt's to audit their own programs. Can someone help me find out what department I can contact to try to get some interest in my story (I won't share it here...yet). Thanks for any help!!

n the just-so story of the evolution of our economy, our old manufacturing based economy has been replaced by an innovative knowledge economy. That's not quite true. In fact, the decline of the jobs in goods producing sectors of the economy--construction, manufacturing, mining and agriculture--has largely been met with an increase in jobs on the government payroll. We've gone from providing jobs in profit-making private industry to providing jobs in profit-eating government work. Toward the end of 2007, the total number of government jobs exceeded the total number of goods producing jobs. Welcome to the government payroll economy.

Good news for homebuyers... bad news for taxpayers. As everyone knows there has been a massive government effort to support house prices. Some of this has been aimed at limiting supply (modification programs, various foreclosure moratoria), and some has been aimed at increasing demand (tax credit, lower mortgage rates, loose lending standards). Here is a quote from Secretary Geithner from a recent Newsweek interview by Daniel Gross: "We were very careful from the beginning ... to say that we are going to focus the bulk of the financial force on bringing interest rates and mortgage rates down to cushion the...

There has always been speculation among economists who apply a verbal deductive methodology to the science of economics as to why econometricians adopt a worshipful posture towards using equations when attempting to explain the economy. One theory holds that it provides cover to bring about more intervention in the economy. A current proposal by Yale economist Robert Shiller provides an object lesson in how phony equations are created to advance government intervention. In today's NYT, Shiller writes: Corporations raise money by issuing both debt and equity, the latter giving investors an implicit share in future profits. Governments should do something...

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) - Students aren't the only ones benefiting from the billions of new dollars Washington is spending on college aid for the poor. An Associated Press analysis shows surging proportions of both low-income students and the recently boosted government money that follows them are ending up at for-profit schools, from local career colleges to giant publicly traded chains such as the University of Phoenix, Kaplan and Devry.

Beginning January 1, 2010, agencies must seek prior approval from OPM before they can appoint a current or recent political appointee to a competitive or non-political excepted service position at any level under the provisions of title 5, United States Code. OPM will review these proposed appointments to ensure they comply with merit system principles and applicable civil service laws. I have delegated decisionmaking authority over these matters to career Senior Executives at OPM to avoid any hint of political influence. In no case may an agency make an appointment of the type described below without written authorization from OPM:...

The financial crisis has many Treasury officials burning the midnight oil — a situation that’s sometimes uncomfortable for secretaries assisting key aides to Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner. Some secretaries say they aren’t being allowed to take a day off or leave their desks -– not even to use the bathroom, eat lunch or take a day off. “Apparently some supervisors require that their phones are never to be allowed to go to voicemail or the operator, which means the secretary is never able to leave her desk,” an email sent to more than a dozen Treasury officials reads.

BELGRADE, Serbia – Serbia will have to lay off about one-fifth of its government employees — 14,000 people — to meet conditions set by the International Monetary Fund to receive more financial aid, the country's finance minister said Monday. Finance Minister Diana Dragutinovic said Serbia aims to cut spending before the government resumes its talks with the IMF on Oct. 20. The IMF has postponed giving the Balkan country access to additional funds from a euro2.8 billion ($4 billion) standby loan granted in March, demanding details on how Serbia plans to finance its growing budget deficit amid the global financial...

The passing of the 'great' senator from Massachusetts has prompted me to compose the following chart. Please feel free to suggest additions: THINGS DEMOCRATS CAN GET AWAY WITH Vehicular homicide -- Sen Edward Kennedy Tax evasion -- most Democrats in Congress, most of Bambi's cabinet Perjury, sex in the oval office, Filegate, Travelgate, Memogate, "suicide" of Vince Foster (to name a few) -- the Clintons Burning people alive because of quirky religious beliefs -- AG Janet Reno Stealing from the National Archives -- Sandy Berger Firing Justice Dept attorneys -- AG Eric Holder THINGS REPUBLICANS CANNOT GET AWAY WITH Saying...

BURLINGTON, Ontario, Sept. 3 (UPI) -- The Greyhound Canada bus line announced Thursday it is ceasing operations in Manitoba and northwestern Ontario because of government policies. In a release from its Burlington, Ontario, headquarters, Senior Vice President Stuart Kendrick said operating losses were mounting and talks with various governments weren't showing any progress. "We have repeatedly asked the federal and provincial governments to change the existing legislative and regulatory regimes that govern intercity bus operations," Kendrick said. "Our financial situation is dire and we are no longer in a position to absorb losses that are almost solely attributable to government...

Written by Jason Bellows on 29 July 2009 Marvin Heemeyer of Granby, Colorado was a profoundly frustrated muffler repair man. In the late 1990s–after years of protests, petitions, and town meetings–it became obvious to the 52-year-old that he was entwined in a gross miscarriage of justice. His business was ruined by some shady zoning changes, and Heemeyer contended that mayor and city council were corrupt. Even as he was forced to give up his legal fight and sell his land, he hatched one last plan to secretly retool his muffler shop to serve a single malevolent purpose: to construct a...

Rationing for dummies -Robert Knight Guest Columnist - 7/21/2009 9:30:00 AM It's beginning to sink in that Obama's nationalized healthcare will lead directly to rationing, which Americans desire about as much as a case of salmonella. The president told five governors last month to avoid the term "rationing," since it might give away the game. But the word keeps popping up, so it was time for a more aggressive approach -- embracing it!

By now you've heard the news: the House has passed the cap & trade bill that will saddle Americans with thousands of dollars in new taxes, fees and costs each year. It's just the latest big government, quasi-socialistic policy that the Obama/Pelosi/Reid team are trying to force through in their efforts to remake America into a nation that our Founding Fathers wouldn't recognize. Today there will be protests all across the nation against this measure - and the Our Country Deserves Better Committee will be having our staff, leadership and supporters out joining the resistance against these un-American leftist policies....

It just gets more and more odd after my original report, with the latest coming from a German newspaper (translation courtesy of Google): Hit for the Zöllner: The contraband securities valued at 134 billion U.S. dollars are apparently real. Die italienische Finanzpolizei hatte zwei Japaner ertappt, die im doppelten Boden eines Koffers milliardenschwere Anleihen in die Schweiz schaffen wollten. The Italian financial police had two Japanese caught in the false bottom suitcase billion-dollar bonds in Switzerland wanted to create. Von dem Fund profitiert das hochverschuldete Italien. Note that this has received very little coverage in the so-called "mainstream US media"...

WASHINGTON - The Food and Drug Administration says it will allow 17-year-olds to get the 'morning-after' birth control pill without a doctor's prescription. The FDA said Wednesday it will not appeal a federal judge's order overturning restrictions that were imposed during the Bush administration. U.S. District Judge Edward Korman ruled that Bush administration appointees let politics, not science, drive their decision to allow over-the-counter access only for women 18 and older. Korman ordered the FDA to let 17-year-olds get the medication. He also is ordering the agency to evaluate whether all age restrictions should be lifted. In a statement, the...