A massive federal bailout of state and local governments during the pandemic had a negligible effect on overall employment levels…
Browsing: spending
At least 20 percent of federal dollars paid out through pandemic-related unemployment programs went to fraudulent and ineligible claims according…
Both the House of Representative and the Senate convened on April 19 for the penultimate day of the 130th Legislature’s…
The Committee on Appropriations and Financial Affairs (AFA) met late on the evening of April 14 and voted unanimously to…
Tax Day is a fitting day to revisit where our tax-and-spend ways have gotten us. When the president’s own stimulus-spending…
Another day, another alarming inflation metric. We just got the numbers for the Personal Consumption Expenditures index (PCE), the Federal…
The 130th Maine Legislature is currently scheduled to adjourn its second session on April 20, giving legislators a little more…
Despite inflation running at a 40-year high, the Biden administration is pushing ahead with plans to hike wages for federal…
During a work session on a bill proposing to return surplus money to taxpayers, Democrats on the Maine Legislature’s Committee…
Gov. Janet Mills unveiled her change package to the supplemental budget on March 18, which spends all but $20 million…
Maine’s General Fund revenue forecast will increase by approximately $411.6 million following a March 1 meeting of the Revenue Forecasting…
On February 15, Gov. Janet Mills released her supplemental budget proposal, which includes $850 million in proposed spending and provides…
The optimistic scenario goes like this. America shakes off what remains of the pandemic in the coming months without the…
Every holiday season, Senator Rand Paul honors the fictional Seinfeld holiday “Festivus,” an annual airing of grievances, with a report…
White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki has a theory about why Americans are paying higher prices these days at the…
When the 130th Maine Legislature reconvenes for its second session in January 2022, it will debate the state’s next supplemental…
President Joe Biden once bizarrely remarked on the 2020 campaign trail, “Milton Friedman isn’t running the show anymore.” It shows.…
Following its November 23 meeting, the Maine Revenue Forecasting Committee (RFC) upgraded the state’s General Fund revenue forecast. The RFC…
President Biden and his progressives allies are advancing a historic $4.5+ trillion spending plan that would vastly expand the government’s…
Whether you think Obamacare was the worst health care policy of the decade or you join Bernie Sanders in supporting…
On July 19, the Maine Legislature voted to approve a plan for spending the $1.1 billion the state received from…
The government has spent its way into an inflationary mess, which we’ve already felt at the gas pump, among other places. Don’t be surprised if everyday expenses continue to be more costly and your disposable income starts to fall.
Governor Janet Mills unveiled a new supplemental budget last week that would grow state spending in Maine to record levels,…
On Tuesday, Maine Governor Janet Mills joined President Joe Biden and a small group of US governors for a virtual…
The Biden administration on Wednesday released a comprehensive $2+ trillion spending proposal ostensibly focused on infrastructure. But there’s much more…
On March 11, President Joe Biden signed into law the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA), a nearly $2 trillion spending…
Maine lawmakers convened at the Augusta Civic Center on Tuesday to tackle the state’s next two-year spending plan. The budget…
Maine’s Appropriations and Financial Affairs Committee met on Thursday to hold a work session on LD 715, a concept draft…
It appears Maine Democrats are looking to advance a majority budget in the next week to avoid working with their…
President Joe Biden is reportedly considering a plan to hike taxes on individuals and corporations in order to help offset…
State government spending has rapidly outpaced population growth in Maine over the last decade, according to a new report published…
With COVID-19 ravaging the country and government pandemic lockdowns devastating our economy, the national debt has understandably slipped to the…
The Paycheck Protection Program, part of the federal CARES Act passed last year, was crafted by Congress to provide loans…
On Thursday night, Joe Biden rolled out a sweeping proposal for $1.9 trillion more in COVID-19 relief and stimulus spending. …
Though Maine’s response to the coronavirus pandemic has undoubtedly taken a toll on the state’s finances, the future budget outlook…
Last week, the Cato Institute released the newest edition of its Fiscal Policy Report Card on America’s Governors. The institute’s…
Maine Gov. Janet Mills recently signed a curtailment order to keep the state’s budget stable during this seemingly never-ending period…
The latest report from Maine’s Revenue Forecasting Committee (RFC), published earlier this month, revised its estimate of the state government’s…
Last week, Governor Janet Mills’ Economic Recovery Committee released recommendations urging the administration to spend $1.1 billion to support and…
In the wake of the Supreme Court’s Janus decision in June of 2018, unions have begun to feel the pressure…
Governor Janet Mills released a supplemental budget proposal Monday that calls for $127 million in additional spending, which comes in…
In December, President Trump signed a $1.4 trillion spending package that included a provision to raise the legal age to…
Cartoon by Sam G. Pilgrims
Last month, New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu vetoed a two-year state budget because it would have reversed the direction of…
The Maine Legislature is slated to debate more than $2.1 billion in bonds when they reconvene next session, a staggering…
The biggest – and one of the most dangerous – myths in all of public policy is that money improves…
A three part series on chronic abuse of other peoples’ money Part I: The Moral Hazards of OPM Principle Five: “Nobody…
“Christmas in July” came early in Maine this year, as Governor LePage used a Christmas tree and rubber pigs in…
With voters last November resoundingly supporting fiscally conservative candidates who campaigned on reducing government spending, Democrats would be wise to…
Early Friday morning, Senate Republicans passed their first budget since 2006. The vote was split along party lines 52-46, with…
Oklahoma Republican Sen. Tom Coburn has released this year’s edition of his annual report on wasteful spending in the federal…
The Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank headquartered in Washington, D.C., released its 2014 Fiscal Policy Report Card on America’s…