The PERS cost creep continues. Earlier this month the board of directors of the Nevada Public Employees’ Retirement System authorized an increase in the amount state and local public employees and their employers — read: taxpayers — must contribute to cover pension costs. That means, starting next July 1, for regular PERS members — teachers and other government workers — … [Read more...]
We Should Be Thankful for Capitalism
Thanksgiving is rich in traditions. The turkey. The dressing. The pumpkin pie. The family assembled in prayerful reverence in remembrance of the plight of the early settlers of this country — much of which is complete fiction. The Plymouth colonists set out to live in an idealistic communal fashion. Everyone would share equally in the products of the colony. But after nearly … [Read more...]
Should Each County Get a Single State Senator?
The blue Clark County tail wagged the red Nevada dog in this past week’s election. Election results show rural and urban Nevada are of two vastly different states of mind. For example, in the race for the U.S. Senate, Democrat Jacky Rosen carried only Clark and Washoe counties, while Republican incumbent Dean Heller won every other county handily. In the more heavily … [Read more...]
Coming Legislature Likely to Favor Tax Hikes
"No man’s life, liberty, or property are safe while the legislature is in session,” is often attributed to Mark Twain. Though the quote is most likely apocryphal, its veracity is likely to be affirmed when Nevada’s newly elected lawmakers gather in early 2019 in Carson City. The voters, primarily in the urban counties of Clark and Washoe, have loaded up the Legislature with … [Read more...]
Local government unions create huge pay gap
It is good to be a public servant in Nevada, downright lucrative in fact. The folks at the Nevada Policy Research Institute have crunched the Census data for 2017 and found the median earnings for local government workers in Nevada were 46 percent higher than for those in the private sector — $58,644 for local government workers per year, compared to $40,259 in the private … [Read more...]
Does the 14th Amendment require ‘birthright’ citizenship?
Following up on a stance taken during his election campaign President Donald Trump now says he will sign an executive order ending so-called “birthright” citizenship. Trump told “Axios on HBO” he wants to “remove the right to citizenship for babies of non-citizens and unauthorized immigrants born on U.S. soil.” “How ridiculous, we’re the only country in the world where a … [Read more...]
These Are the Best Choices to Send to Washington
It is vital for rural Nevada that we send representatives to Washington who will defend us from the encroachment of the federal bureaucracies. When it comes to the race for the Senate seat, the choice is obvious. Republican Sen. Dean Heller knows rural Nevada and what its residents need to survive and prosper. His opponent — one-term Democratic representative Jacky Rosen … [Read more...]
Marsy’s Law Too Vague and Too Costly
Question 1 on the November ballot — dubbed Marsy’s Law — would amend the Nevada Constitution by removing existing provisions requiring lawmakers to provide statutory rights for crime victims and replacing that with a so-called “Victims’ Bill of Rights.” The first problem with this is that the U.S. Constitution says that no one shall be “deprived of life, liberty or property … [Read more...]