Full-time lifeguards in Newport Beach, Calif., make over $100,000 a year, with the highest paid earners topping over $200,000. And if you think that’s bad, wait till you hear this: Those same lifeguards can retire at age 50 in good health and receive a well stocked lifetime government pension and full government benefits until death, costing the city nearly $108,000 per healthy, retired lifeguard every single year. If a lifeguard lives until he’s 80, he costs the state $3 million – a huge sum of money that could be better …
Remember the Pepsi Challenge? All across America in the 70s and 80s, Pepsi held blind taste tests to prove that Americans prefer its soda pop to Coca-Cola. Now Pepsi faces its own challenge and a choice. Would it rather do business in a city that slaps “sin taxes” on its product or move to a friendlier clime? Guess which choice it made. Last year, the Baltimore city council passed a 2-cent tax on bottled beverages. This week, Pepsi decided to cease manufacturing at its Baltimore plant and lay off 77 …
At a time when the economy is slow, you might think government officials would be happy to see new businesses start up. Arlington County Virginia, however, isn’t as welcoming as it could be. Whatever you do, don’t start a business there and decorate the exterior of your establishment with artwork relating to your business. If you do, Arlington’s zoning officials will probably be along to harass you. Kim Houghton, owner of Wag More Dogs, can tell you all about Arlington’s zoning administrators. With the help of the Institute for Justice, …
The Los Angeles Unified School District ( LAUSD ) is in a bind. The Tuesday after Labor Day is usually when school starts for schoolchildren in Los Angeles. But not this year. Due to budget cuts, LAUSD could not open most of its school’s doors. This latest development is in direct contrast to the bailout bill that had $10 billion earmarked to bail out schools who were facing budget cuts and layoffs. Wasn’t this the point of this bill that HAD to be passed in an emergency House session? Who …
A bill signed by President Barack Obama on August 10th was supposed to save teachers’ jobs. It was a $26 Billion dollar spending bill that allocated $10 billion for education spending so school districts could rehire laid off teachers or prevent districts from having to fire more teachers. Speaker Nancy Pelosi thought it was so important that she called the House of Representatives back from August recess to pass it. However, there seems to be a problem. A report that came out last week notes that some of the states …
With a looming state budget deficit of nearly $13 million, many Illinois residents are wondering if their state has its priorities in order. Last night, ABC7 Chicago’s Chuck Goudie revealed $67 million in recent state payments (PDF) for a variety of pet projects. While the state wrestles with the ramifications of such a huge budget shortfall, many wonder why payments continue for the sort of spending exposed in Goudie’s report. Among the expenses: Wilmette received $130,000 to build this bike path that was just one block long. Evanston got a check …
With 14.9% unemployment and a massive 800,000 jobs lost in the last decade, times are tough in Michigan. But despite the desperate conditions, some Michiganders have decided to keep collecting government unemployment checks instead of accepting job offers and heading back to work, according to a Detroit News report: In a state with the nation’s highest jobless rate, landscaping companies are finding some job applicants are rejecting work offers so they can continue collecting unemployment benefits. It is unclear whether this trend is affecting other seasonal industries. But the fact …
There might be 14,000 things to be happy about, but there is one less reason in Santa Clara County, California: the government there voted to ban toys in Happy Meals. Toys that come in those delightfully colored boxes filled cheeseburgers and fries that have brought joy to millions of children will go the way of bottled water and salt, trans fat and soda pop, all of which have fallen victim to regulation-happy local governments. The reason? No, it’s not because the toys are unsafe. It’s not because they’re filled with …
Addressing The Question of Global Warming, physicist and mathematician Freeman Dyson recently wrote in The New York Review of Books: There is a worldwide secular religion which we may call environmentalism, holding that we are stewards of the earth, that despoiling the planet with waste products of our luxurious living is a sin, and that the path of righteousness is to live as frugally as possible. … Environmentalism has replaced socialism as the leading secular religion. As if trying to prove Dyson’s point, the Associated Press reported last week: First, …
In the past year, the Congressional health care battle has usurped much of the public discourse on health care reform. In the mean time, Utah has quietly begun implementing its own version of reform, moving its health care system in a more patient-centered, consumer-driven direction. In a recent paper, Heritage analyst Ed Haislmaier outlines the obstacles Utah has overcome to achieving its objectives of giving “employers, particularly smaller firms, an easier way to offer health benefits to their workers and to provide workers and their families with more coverage choices.” …
