The 'Pro-Worker' GOP Is Anti-Worker
The New Right talks a big populist game, but their policies hurt the people they're supposed to help.
Pensions
California's Leaders Still Ignoring State Pension Debt
California has just 72 percent of the assets needed to make payments to retired public workers, many of whom get to collect six-figure annual payments.
Why America Should Be More Like Sweden (It's Not What You Think!)
Sweden reformed socialistic aspects of its pension system and introduced partial privatization.
Public Pensions Threaten To Bankrupt State Governments. Florida Has an Answer.
Thanks to recent reforms, most government workers in Florida now enroll in less risky defined contribution plans.
Yes, Heavy Regulation Hurts the Economy. Just Look at France.
We're often told European countries are better off thanks to big-government policies. So why is the U.S. beating France in many important ways?
Public Employee Unions Rule California
Expect more strikes, fewer government services, and more tax increases to pay for pension obligations.
Get Your Culture War Out of Our Pension Funds
Plus: Should libertarians consider employing noble lies when pitching themselves to new potential voters?
Ron DeSantis Bullies Bud Light Like Elizabeth Warren Bullies Amazon
DeSantis talks a lot about freedom but increasingly only applies it to those who agree with him.
A Decade After Bankruptcy, Is Detroit Better?
The 2013 bankruptcy filing didn't make the city more prosperous, more functional, or less corrupt.
Don't Let Culture Wars Weaken the Financial System
In California, officials are pushing pension funds to divest from fossil fuels, firearms manufacturers, and tobacco companies. Red states are retaliating. This is madness.
Social Security and Medicare Are Ticking Time Bombs
Even taking all the money from every billionaire wouldn't cover our coming bankruptcy.
'It's Like Stockholm Syndrome': Gloria Álvarez Is Trying To Save Latin America From Socialism
"If there is freedom, private property, rule of law, then Latin Americans thrive," says the social media star.
The (Partial) Myth of the Poorly Paid Public School Teacher
In the popular imagination, teachers are compensated terribly. What about in the real world?
Biden Celebrates $90 Billion Bailout of Private Union Pension Plans
Plus: Don't cry for the failure of Homeland Security's disinformation board, states discover supply-side solutions to labor shortages, and more...
May Public Pension Plan Managers Use "Environmental, Social, and Governance" Investment Practices?
"[P]olitics has no place in Kentucky's public pensions.... '[S]takeholder capitalism' and 'environmental, social, and governance' investment practices that introduce mixed motivations to investment decisions are inconsistent with Kentucky law governing fiduciary duties owed by investment management firms to Kentucky's public pension plans."
No Mass Transit Grants for California, Biden Administration Rules
California, which offers some of the most generous pension benefits in the country to its public workers, apparently isn't paying them handsomely enough, the federal Department of Labor says.
No, Police Officers Aren't Resigning in Droves
Compared to pandemic employment shifts in other fields, law enforcement numbers are fairly stable.
The Post Office Pension Ponzi Scheme
The USPS has overpromised and undersaved for its employees' retirements—all while losing nearly $9.2 billion last year.
Biden's Pick To Run the Commerce Department Is No Progressive
Rhode Island Gov. Gina Raimondo seems unlikely to double down on the past four years of economic foolishness at the Commerce Department.
Illinois' Population Drain Continues for 7th Consecutive Year
The tax- and corruption-heavy state has lost a quarter-million people in the past decade.
Coronavirus Is Devastating State Budgets. Is Leasing Toll Roads to Private Operators the Answer?
Leasing state toll roads could provide the revenue states need to improve their balance sheets.
The Supreme Court's Refusal to Reinvigorate the Contract Clause
The Court has said almost nothing interesting about the Contract Clause this millennium, and in 2018 it continued to apply the Clause loosely.
California's Top Court Rules Against Pension Spiking
The decision will make it harder for government employees to abuse and milk the state’s retirement systems.
The Former Cop Who Killed George Floyd Will Get $50K Annual Pension Even if Convicted of Murder
The family of George Floyd probably won't be able to successfully sue Derek Chauvin in civil court because of qualified immunity, but they will help pay for the killer cop's retirement.
How the Coronavirus Bailout Is Like the Marvel Cinematic Universe
Yes, the Reason Roundtable podcast has gone quarantine-crazy.
The COVID-19 Economic Collapse Is Absolutely Wrecking State Pension Systems
With some investment returns likely falling as far as 15 percent, states are going to face a cumulative pension debt of between $1.5 trillion and $2 trillion by the end of the year.
Illinois Spent the Last Decade Losing Population and Learning Nothing
Our most troubled state enters 2020 having lost residents for six years in a row.
What, Us Worry? California Lawmakers Still Ignoring Dark Pension Clouds.
The guiding principle for California policymakers seems to be: Tell everyone what they want to hear—or at least stick to the rosiest scenarios.
It's Not a Mystery Why America's Biggest Cities Are Losing Population
Chicago, Los Angeles, and New York City all have some easily identifiable management problems.
Illinois Is the Canary in the Pension Coal Mine, Says Adam Schuster
Mike Riggs talks with Illinois Policy Institute's Adam Schuster about how to fix the state's pension debt crisis.
Mass Protests Force the Resignation of Puerto Rico's Scandal-Plagued Governor
The island's residents have had enough of a territorial government tainted by corruption and that is seemingly contemptuous of their daily struggles.
This Cop Is Getting $2,500 a Month Because Killing an Unarmed Man in a Hotel Hallway Gave Him PTSD
Phillip Brailsford was acquitted of murder for a shooting captured on video that subsequently drew national outrage. Now he's getting paid for it.
Illinois Passes Constitutional Amendment to Allow a Progressive Income Tax
Voters will decide next year whether to impose it.
California's 6-Figure Pension Club Has Doubled in Size Since 2012
Last year, CalPERS issued 30,969 pensions checks worth $100,000 or more on an annualized basis—up from about 14,600 six-figure payouts in 2012.
An Economist Walks Into a Brothel: What Prostitutes and Big-Wave Surfers Can Teach Us About Risk
Allison Schrager wants to change the way you take chances.
Doctor Convicted of Child Abuse Still Getting $100,000 Annual Taxpayer-Funded Pension
The laws governing public pensions allow for horrible people to collect government benefits.
California Supreme Court Dodges a Hard Call in Pension Ruling
One pension-spiking tool can be scaled back now, but the California Rule remains intact.
Companies Should Avoid States With Huge Pension Debts, Warren Buffett Warns
A candid picture of how investors see the slowly unfolding pension crisis
Illinois Cops Turned $850 Into a $20,000 Pension Boost
Why did the pension board go along with the scam? Probably because its members are current officers and retirees.
The Libertarian Party State of the Union: 'Americans deserve better' than 'Republicans and Democrats careen[ing] toward socialism and fascism'
Riverside County Supervisor Jeff Hewitt delivers the L.P.'s prebuttal to tonight's SOTU, while the L.A. Times asks whether Hewitt can "make a fringe party mainstream."
A Charter School Moratorium Will Not Fix What Ails L.A.'s Education System
The district's budget is broken, and the latest deal with the unions will make it worse.
Can Public Pensions Survive the Next Recession?
"Public pension systems may be more vulnerable to an economic downturn than they have ever been."
What Really Drove Los Angeles Teachers To Go on Strike?
They demanded higher salaries. The real problem: A disconnect between what teachers see in their paychecks and what employers are actually paying them.
Coach Nick Saban Could Get a Huge Pension, Courtesy of Alabama Taxpayers
America's highest paid public employee might win another college football national title, but he's also a good argument for pension reform.
Illinois Bleeds Population for Fifth Year in a Row
Skyrocketing debt and pension obligations make for a tough labor environment.
Finding a Cure for Our Fiscal Insanity: Podcast
Peter Suderman, Len Gilroy, and C. Boyden Gray diagnose the country's many fiscal woes, and offer some solutions, at Reason's 50th anniversary celebration.
Kentucky Launches Special Session to Deal With State's Public Pension Crisis
"We have a legal and moral obligation to provide and deliver on the promises that have been made," says Gov. Matt Bevin, who called the session Monday.
In Los Angeles, Massive Payments to Retirees Don't Even Count as 'Pensions' Anymore
A heavily abused program breaks the limits of what the IRS allows, leaving taxpayers even further on the hook.
