To be filed under the “be careful what you wish for” category of fiscal policy. Colorado scrambles to avoid having to refund all of the revenue from marijuana sales, because, well because SMALL GOVERNMENT! As an April 1 report in The Times explained, Colorado’s tax revenues have recently surged, thanks in part to the booming…
Category: Austerity
The federal budget, battleground
So much to say about Obama’s budget, the geek in me actually wants to read the entire plan, but I have this pesky dissertation to finish instead. Budgets are inherently redistributive documents, in one direction or another. Obama’s proposal is being characterized as a bold effort to redistribute the benefits of the recovery to the…
Greek voters reject austerity
The Syriza party wins a major victory in Greece, forming an alliance with right-wing opponents to austerity (or, more specifically, to following the orders of Germany and the EU). I wish I had time to read much more about what’s happening in Europe, so I’ll just have to save it for summer beachside reading, post-dissertation….
Informal Economy Budget Analysis
I just stumbled across this concept today (during the San Francisco Bay Area superstorm!): Informal Economy Budget Analysis. Pioneered by Women in Informal Employment: Globalizing and Organizing (WIEGO). In their words: Informal Economy Budget Analysis (IEBA) examines how government budgets address the needs and interests of different groups of informal workers. It also investigates what…
Watchdog: Borrowing Trouble – Chicago Tribune series
A great series finished last month on the Chicago Public Schools district’s engagement in complex bond deals, the lack of public oversight, and the high costs of many of those deals. I’ve been researching interest rate swaps for over a year, and I’m impressed with the thoroughness of the reporting here. THIS is why we…