Featured Article
More Medicaid Problems
By Marc Kilmer
In tight economic times, when expenses are rising and your paycheck may even be shrinking, most families decide to cut back on expensive items. It makes little sense to buy a pricey high-definition TV when your electricity bill has doubled and your job is reducing overtime, right? This kind of common sense thinking, however, is lost on Governor Ted Strickland. At a time when state agencies are trying to trim budgets and the state is facing large budget deficits, he is trying to expand one of the most expensive parts of the state budget – Medicaid.
Buckeye Voices
Sam Staley, director of urban and land use policy for the Reason Foundation, thinks Gov. Ted Strickland's proposed $1.7 billion debt issuance is a bad economic deal for Ohioans. He explains his concerns to Buckeye Institute President David Hansen on Buckeye Voices.
Not the Way to Stimulate Ohio's Economy
The Chillocothe Gazette notes that "A week after announcing a massive round of statewide budget cuts Jan. 31 to address a shortfall of $733 million to $1.9 billion, Strickland advocated in his address a jobs stimulus program costing $1.7 billion."
In
Governor's
New Deal is a Raw Deal, Dr. Sam Staley writes,"This
smorgasbord of economic development programs is a recipe for economic
disaster. It ignores important lessons about Ohio's
past attempts to promote growth through similarly targeted business
subsidies. It also pushes aside academic research on what, if
anything, state government can actively do to jump start sustained
economic growth."
Misunderstanding Payday Lending
According to a Cleveland Plain Dealer editorial, "Today, payday lenders pepper Ohio with more than 1,600 storefronts. That demonstrates the industry's startling profitability. That same industry poor-mouths when anyone tries to provide consumers the most elementary fairness. [Rep. Bill] Batchelder's bill, for example, would cap the APR on payday loans at 36 percent. That's a margin for which commercial banks would kill. But it's way too little for payday lenders."
In
The Sound and Fury over
Payday Lending,
Buckeye Institute analyst Marc
Kilmer writes, "One tactic the opponents of payday lending like to
bring up is the ostensibly high annual percentage rate of payday loans.
However, an annual percentage rate is purely theoretical. Payday loans
are usually made for two weeks and lenders charge people $15 per $100
borrowed. Borrowers understand this. While most cannot tell researchers
the annual percentage rate of their loan, almost all know the fees they
are required to pay. Borrowers focus on the real cost of the loan, not
its theoretical yearly rate."
Toledo Made Wise Choice on Wi-FI
The Toledo Blade reports, "The California company that last year offered to blanket the city of Toledo with wireless Internet capability has run into financial troubles and halted plans to install free wireless networks in other cities....Logan Kleier, Wi-Fi project manager for the city of Portland, Ore., said the company stopped building Portland's free citywide wireless network and has asked for as much as $9 million in public money to finish."
In
Caution
Warranted on Toledo Wi-Fi,
Marc Kilmer
writes "The residents of Toledo are being told by their elected
officials that they will soon have a wireless Internet system,
available to all city residents, and it will not cost them a thing. It
sounds too good to be true, and it probably is. The plan's details are
sketchy, but the history of other municipal wireless ventures suggests
that taxpayers will pay for more than they expect and
service will be worse than promised, or both. Residents of Toledo
should proceed with caution when considering this wi-fi venture."
Buckeye Institute in the News
In his weekly New York Sun column, Buckeye Institute Ronald Reagan Distinguished Fellow Ken Blackwell discusses Barack Obama and his stance on gun control.
The Cincinnati Enquirer published Sam Staley's column on the Governor's bond plan.
