Must-Reads for June 22
Chicago Tribune: $365,000 extra, and counting
A University of Illinois financial administrator managed to retire on a police pension formula, much to his benefit.
Real Clear Politics: The Thatcher Line and Obamanomics
What happens when you denigrate private production and private profits, while constantly increasing public employment and public spending? Eventually, you don't have enough of the one to support the other. You cross the Thatcher Line.
Chicago Tribune: Illinois in poorest fiscal condition of all states
The auditor's report analyzed Illinois' comprehensive annual financial report, which showed assets, including land, buildings, investments and cash, rose by $1.3 billion in fiscal 2011. However, liabilities climbed in the same period by nearly $7.3 billion, due mainly to increases in pension and retiree health-care obligations and outstanding general obligation bonds.
Mises Institute: What Soviet medicine teaches us
Irresponsibility, expressed by the popular Russian saying "They pretend they are paying us and we pretend we are working," resulted in appalling quality of service, widespread corruption, and extensive loss of life.
Must-Reads for June 21
State Journal-Register: Quinn signs law to end free state retiree health care
Beginning July 1, all state retirees would pay a premium based on their years working for the state and ability to pay. The law doesn't include teachers.
Sauk Valley News: Dixon's transparency improves, nonprofit says
Two months after Rita Crundwell was led out of City Hall in handcuffs, the city’s score has increased to 65.75 out of 100 points, a passing grade.
Must-Reads for June 20
Bloomberg: California's bad bet makes JPMorgan's look minor
Congress ordered JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM)’s chief executive officer, Jamie Dimon, to testify about $2 billion that his bank lost on an investment bet. Worrisome as that gamble was, it is unfortunate that Congress has never called hearings on a far bigger bet, one that has had more catastrophic consequences for millions of taxpayers.
Washington Times: Obamacare to survive Supreme Court
If Obamacare is ruled unconstitutional, Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius asserted that she would keep it alive in other ways.
Must-Reads for June 19
Chicago Tribune: Soccer stadium deal kicks taxpayers in the teeth
Politicians and insiders benefit, while taxpayers are stuck covering budget-busting losses.
Reason: 3 fallacies in Obama's public-sector stimulus strategy
Can anyone seriously argue that handing more stimulus funds to more regulatory agencies—something that would inevitably happen given that money is fungible—to hire more bureaucrats to write more regulations will mean more net job growth?
Washington Examiner: Obama relents on DC school choice
Ninety-one percent of the District students who participate in the scholarship program graduate from high school, and yet the Senate Democrats voted in 2009, at the behest of the National Education Association teachers' union, to bar new students from entering the program.
The Beacon-News: Kane hotline invites tips about fraud, waste
Those who see fraud, waste and abuse within the Kane County government now have a number to call to report it.
Must-Reads for June 18
The Washington Post: The folly of Obamacare
Obama's attempt to achieve universal health insurance coverage is a massive feat of social engineering that, by its sweeping nature, weakens the economic recovery and antagonizes millions of Americans.
National Review: Obama's revisionism
Americans’ patience is running thin. Unemployment has been above 8 percent for 40 months. Since the recovery started, over 7.2 million Americans have given up looking for work and left the labor force. But it is obviously all Bush’s fault. At least, that is President Obama’s take.
