Free Republic

The Metropolitan Council continues to struggle with a marketing problem that just won't go away. The projected cost of extending light rail from Minneapolis to Eden Prairie has ballooned to $2 billion, which would make it the largest public infrastructure project in state history. That certainly would be a lot of bridges repaired and lanes of freeway added. Mark Fuhrmann, the project director for Metro Transit, said the other day that delaying the project could jeopardize federal funding. In other words, if we don't act now, we could lose the government's contribution needed to build the line. The government's share?...

The Illinois Supreme Court struck down the state’s 2013 pension overhaul, unraveling an effort by lawmakers to rein in benefits for the consistently underfunded public-sector system. The current pension shortfall is estimated at $111 billion, one of the largest nationally. The high court affirmed a decision in November by a state circuit court that the legislative changes violated pension protections written into the state constitution. The decision is a victory for a consortium of public-sector unions while creating a huge challenge for new Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner, who already faces a yawning budget deficit for the coming fiscal year.

As recently as 2010, the estimated cost for the Southwest Light Rail Transit line was estimated to be $1.2 billion, or about the cost of a new football stadium. Then the cost jumped to $1.7 billion because somebody spun the magic wheel. Now the cost is projected to be $2 billion. OK, $1.994 billion, but if they find an endangered earthworm or an especially exotic cattail, all bets are off and the project will shoot over $2 billion in a European minute, for the Metropolitan Council loves to keep playing Europe. The train stops are called Royalston, West Lake, Blake...

[1]WASHINGTON — Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) said at a town hall meeting the minimum wage should be raised to $15 per hour and advocated for expanding Social Security benefits.“If one person is making $18 million and another person is making $118,000 a year, who pays more into Social Security? Neither, they’re paying the same because there is a cap upon which after you, at a certain level, you don’t pay anything more and that level is about $118,000,” Sanders said at the meeting in Washington.“If you lift that cap, and you don’t have to start at $119,000, you can...

The cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul are asking lawmakers to put a new tool in their toolbox, so to speak: a parking surcharge that could eventually fund downtown amenities like pedestrian walkways and bike paths. Proposed legislation would allow the Twin Cities to impose a tax on non-metered parking, including stalls in public and private ramps and surface lots, within a defined area of their respective downtowns.

A group of congressional Democrats introduced a resolution on Tuesday seeking to ensure that students who attend public colleges and universities can graduate without debt. The Senate resolution was introduced by Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), while Reps. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.), Raul Grijalva (D-Ariz.) and Katherine Clark (D-Mass.) introduced the House version. The lawmakers support plans to increase financial aid, help states lower tuition and make it possible for students to earn degrees in less time. In a statement, they noted that the cost of college has increased by 300 percent over...

GOP congressional leaders are racing to approve a budget blueprint for the coming year that abides by strict spending limits, determined to show that the party can maintain fiscal discipline. But some rank-and-file Republicans are already expressing interest in a much bigger deal that would adjust those caps, sweep away the still-developing blueprint and ease the budgetary pressure on the Pentagon — and, grudgingly, domestic programs if necessary.

It's a question that naturally springs to mind when tax season rolls around: Where are all those tax dollars being spent? In total, Washington will spend $12,304 per citizen. Unfortunately, the government will collect only $10,878 in tax revenue per person. That means that, you, the American citizen, will be left with an additional tab of $1,426, on average. The $1,426-per-person represents this year's deficit of $455 billion. Perspective: Adjusting for inflation, the government spent $894 per person in 1940, $7,319 per person during the peak of World War II (1945), $6,026 per person in 1980 and slightly more than...

In January, the 89th Legislature convened to begin its work. With the elections behind us and the House under Republican leadership, we opened the session with a renewed sense of bipartisanship. Many suburban legislators, myself included, had high hopes for one particular bill that would inject some common-sense into a major concern of local city councils — the Metropolitan Council. The Met Council is an unelected body that has the power to tax and spend over $1 billion every year and inject itself regularly into local government decisions. It has the authority to dictate (among other things) where new trains...

Every year since 2011, the White House has used tax time to post a "Federal Taxpayer Receipt" showing taxpayers how their federal tax dollars are being spent. President Obama introduced the concept in his 2011 State of the Union address, and Wednesday the White House posted the fifth installment so taxpayers can see how "tax dollars are being spent on priorities like education, veterans benefits, and health care." While users can punch in their own tax liability and see dollar amounts assigned to each category, the figures are based on percentages from the prior fiscal year budget. Comparing those percentages...

If you listen to the news on the economy or financial markets, you have probably heard statements like “consumption drives the American economy,” or “consumption is 70% of the economy.” But in a new book out that follows in the footsteps of Henry Hazlitt’s classic “Economics in One Lesson” — though in a much more fun package — titled “Popular Economics: What the Rolling Stones, Downton Abbey, and LeBron James Can Teach You about Economics,” Forbes and RealClearMarkets Editor, and senior economic advisor to Toreador Research and Trading John Tamny challenges this and much other “conventional wisdom” on taxes, regulations,...

In 2013-14, the highest paid teachers in the state on average were from Redford Union Schools in Wayne County. They made $86,675 a year, according to the Michigan Department of Education. However, data cited by the state on teachers' salaries isn't always accurate. For example, teachers in Detroit public schools whose management had been turned over to a state Education Achievement Authority office (EAA) – a “school district” comprised of the poorest-performing schools in Michigan – were the state's second-highest paid, according to data released in March by the Michigan Department of Education. Except, the reported figures were almost certainly...

If you are masochistic enough to read the “reporting” of the legacy media on Obamacare, you will have noticed a spate of recent stories with titles like the following from CNBC: “Health spending post-Obamacare seen $2.5 trillion lower.” This headline is not only awkwardly worded. It is, like the article over which it appears, misleading. It misrepresents a new study from the left-leaning Urban Institute concerning projected health care spending in a way that suggests the nation has saved enormous amounts of money thanks to the “Affordable Care Act.” This is absurd, of course, but it highlights an underappreciated element...

With new immigration proposals, state lawmakers hope to build By MELANIE MASON California lawmakers hope to keep momentum going with new immigration-related proposals Proposal would offer Medi-Cal to people who qualify regardless of immigration status. Democratic lawmakers will unveil a slew of new immigration-related proposals Tuesday, including measures that would extend state-paid health coverage to those in the country illegally and offer more protection against deportation. Legislators behind the 10-bill package aim to build on the landmark immigration laws passed in California in recent years, such as one that allows people without legal residency to obtain driver's licenses. By keeping...

Millions of dollars have disappeared from Afghanistan and the Special Inspector General for ..Reconstruction is placing the blame on the Pentagon’s mismanaged accounting practices for the problem. The SIGAR released the report Friday reporting that only 57% of the $795 million appropriated to CERP from 2002-2013 could be accounted for in terms of who was awarded contracts, and for how much money. The SIGAR report breaks down the $21 billion, by fund, into the highest-costing contracts & their recipients, from 2002 until May 2014. The CERP initiative “enables U.S. commanders in Afghanistan to respond to urgent humanitarian relief and reconstruction...

Remember when a disagreement between Republicans on the budget was “cataclysmic” for GOP claims to governance? Democrats last passed a normal budget resolution six years ago, but Republicans went all of seven days before both chambers finally passed budget resolutions. Our long national nightmare, at least as envisioned by Politico, is over: The Senate passed a Republican-authored budget plan early on Friday that seeks $5.1 trillion in domestic spending cuts over 10 years while boosting military funding.The 52-46 vote on the non-binding budget resolution put Congress on a path to complete its first full budget in six years. It...

Colorado taxpayers are very likely to get a break when they file their taxes next year as the state prepares to refund some tax revenues back to taxpayers for the first time in nearly 15 years. This is due to a provision in the state’s constitution, little known outside of Colorado, called the Taxpayer Bill of Rights, or TABOR. This provision is one of the most effective limits on both Colorado state spending and on state revenue collection. TABOR works by establishing a limit on how much tax revenue the state can collect in a given year. Generally, the cap...

A state legislative auditor’s report found that the Minnesota Department of Human Services (DHS) failed to ensure the eligibility of participants in large public assistance programs and that it did not always perform timely inspections of child care centers. The findings mirror those of other recent auditor reports and could fuel calls to reform the way state administrators verify eligibility for programs that together cost nearly $7 billion a year in federal money. For more than a decade, the legislative auditor has reported flaws in the way the state determines who qualifies for Medical Assistance, which provides health insurance to...

Republican lawmakers on Monday proposed a $7 billion plan that they called an investment in transportation over the next decade. The proposal has some common ground with plans from leaders of the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party, but big divisions remain. The parties are far apart on how much money a transportation plan should include, how much of it should go to Twin Cities metro-area mass transit and -- above all -- whether the plan should be paid for by raising taxes or cutting spending. DFL Gov. Mark Dayton and the Senate DFL majority each proposed their own plans in January. Their approaches...

CLEVELAND — President Obama used this manufacturing hub — and important swing state — as the backdrop to draw a sharp distinction Wednesday with his Republican rivals over the economy, as both sides aim to frame the debate for the coming presidential race. The day after House Republicans unveiled their budget proposal — which would cut more than $5 trillion out of the federal budget over the next decade and balance the budget by cutting domestic programs — the president touted some of the very programs that would come under the GOP axe. Obama dismissed a House plan that “doubles...