In case you missed it…
More Cops tax:
In 2004, the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department campaigned aggressively for more money. The declared purpose was to hire more officers to account for growth in population and help reduce crime. However, an investigation by the Nevada Policy Research Institute shows that the lofty promises of the “More Cops” tax haven’t been met. In fact, the investigation has revealed a pronounced absence of new hires, an end-of-year bank balance this year well over $100 million and a major increase in per-officer costs. (Read more)
Energy production:
Some environmentalist groups are pushing lawmakers to restrict — if not outright prohibit — energy production on federally controlled lands. While such a proposal would cost the United States billions of dollars, and hundreds of thousands of jobs, it is western states that would bear the brunt of the costs. For states like Nevada with disproportionately high levels of fed-controlled lands, the prohibitions would be economically devastating. (Read more)
Labor market:
The total number of private-sector job openings in the United States is at an all-time high since 2000, when the statistic first began being tracked. But that’s no thanks to government. Not only is it private sector job openings that are breaking records, but past government interventions have almost certaingly stifled the creation of many more jobs. (Read more)
Labor unions:
Labor leaders like to claim that unionization represents an American value. The truth is, while voluntary unionization may represent some such classic value, the coercive and mandatory unionization labor bosses regularly seek undermines the freedom of association. Such heavy handed compulsion is hardly an American tradition. (Read more)
Educational choice:
While more than 8,000 students anxiously await the Nevada Supreme Court’s decision on Education Savings Accounts, Native American students in the U.S. might get their own version of the reform. If passed, a bill sponsored by U.S. Senator John McCain (R-AZ) would give Native American students currently attending schools run by the Bureau of Indian Education the option of using 90 percent of per-pupil federal funding for ESAs. (Read more)