Beware of Government Job Creation Schemes
To pull us out of the current recession, politicians on the state and…
Read Blog DetailYear: 2008
The Help that Fails
Portland was recently chosen as one of five cities where the U.S. Small…
Read Blog DetailOregon Greenhouse Gas Reduction Policies:The Economic and Fiscal Impact Challenges
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Todd Wynn Tel.: 503-242-0900 Fax: 503-242-3822 E-mail: [email protected] Cascade…
Read Blog DetailWhy the ASPIRE Act Has Not Become Law
Summary Public policy advocates and lawmakers have proposed numerous programs allowing people to…
Read Blog DetailGovernor’s Global Warming “Solution” Would Cut Economic Growth in Half
Policymakers in Oregon have concluded that global warming is a crisis, that the…
Read Blog DetailThe Severe Economic Costs of Cap-and-Trade in Oregon
Summary Greenhouse gas reduction strategies should strike a balance between economic costs of…
Read Blog DetailRenewable Energy by Choice, Not Force
Summary Existing voluntary green power programs can increase renewable energy generation without forcing…
Read Blog DetailGuiding Principles for Taxation in Oregon
Summary With Oregon facing a $1-billion-and-counting budget deficit, the temptation exists for legislators…
Read Blog DetailTough Times Call for Smart Spending
Summary Oregon state revenues are now projected to be $1 billion short of…
Read Blog DetailIs Portland Flushing Its Money Away?
In my wildest dreams I never thought I would be writing about the…
Read Blog DetailOregon Greenhouse Gas Reduction Policies: The Economic and Fiscal Impact Challenges
Many policymakers in Oregon have concluded that global warming is a crisis, that…
Read Blog DetailSmall Scholarships, Great Impact
Did you know that in the last ten years, over 600 Oregon children…
Read Blog DetailCleaning Up Oregon’s Sloppy Voter Registration System
Summary When Cascade Policy Institute compared the Social Security Master Death List to…
Read Blog DetailWind Power: The “Green” Myth
Summary Wind power is touted as a “green” solution to Oregon?s increasing energy…
Read Blog DetailCan Transit Agencies Learn to Embrace Car Ownership?
Summary Cascade Policy Institute submitted an innovative proposal to TriMet to cancel TriMet’s…
Read Blog DetailNuclear Power Can Help Oregon Meet Its Greenhouse Gas Reduction Goals
On October 27, 2008, Governor Ted Kulongoski announced his Climate Change Agenda to…
Read Blog DetailHey Buddy, Can You Spare a Charge?
Summary Advocates of plug-in vehicles profess that they will reduce air pollution, dependence…
Read Blog DetailDriver’s License or Good Citizen’s Card?
Summary The driver’s license was originally created to ensure public safety by setting…
Read Blog DetailNon-Partisan Think Tanks Promote Solutions
Today we are all aware of the candidate who won our highest office,…
Read Blog DetailVoting by Mail: A Dead Issue?
Summary Cascade Policy Institute commissioned a study of registered voters in Oregon, comparing…
Read Blog DetailPortland Children’s Investment Fund: Taxation Is Not the Same As Charity
Summary The proposed renewal of the five-year levy that created the Portland Children’s…
Read Blog DetailLet the Free Market Decide When Oregon Is Ready for More Wind Power
Summary Wind power advocates claim that wind power is a cost effective source…
Read Blog DetailVoting by Mail: A Dead Issue?
Ten years ago Oregon became the first state to vote exclusively by mail….
Read Blog DetailCan Social Insurance Be Reformed?
Summary The financial liabilities of social insurance programs in the United States in…
Read Blog DetailPrivate Schools Are “Invaluable,” Says U.S. Dept. of Education
The U.S. Department of Education has released a report entitled “Preserving a Critical…
Read Blog DetailWhy the Credit Unions Still Stand
There was a time when large national banks were considered more stable and…
Read Blog DetailCan Pay-for-Performance Work in the Classroom?
Summary Absent serious structural reforms such as school-level competition, paying for performance in…
Read Blog DetailPaying for Performance to Improve K-12 Student Achievement
Introduction and Executive Summary This report examines the potential for using performance incentives…
Read Blog DetailWas the Sub-Prime Mortgage Crisis Caused by Lack of Regulations?
Summary Did lack of government regulation create the subprime mortgage crisis? Most likely,…
Read Blog DetailIt’s 9 p.m. Election Night…Do You Know Where Your Ballot Is?
What happens to a ballot from the time you leave it at an…
Read Blog DetailFreedom and the Expansion of the EPA
In April 2007, the Supreme Court concluded that greenhouse gases (GHGs) meet the…
Read Blog DetailBuild It and They Will Come…or Not
Summary The Metro Council is scheduled to vote on a proposed Convention Center…
Read Blog DetailWhy Energy Efficiency Doesn’t Always Reduce Greenhouse Gases
Summary Economists know that energy consumption is directly related to energy prices. As…
Read Blog DetailCascade Wins Friedman Foundation Innovation Grant
There is no more important topic in Oregon, and nationwide, than the state…
Read Blog DetailLack of Innovation or Understanding?
The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 converted a national…
Read Blog DetailWestside MAX at 10: Measuring the Vision Against Implementation
The Westside light rail line opened on September 12, 1998. Westside MAX was…
Read Blog DetailThe Drinking Age: A “Spirited” Debate
Summary Nearly 100 college presidents from around the nation have asked lawmakers to…
Read Blog DetailAl Gore’s Impossible Plan For 100% Renewable Energy
Summary Gore has challenged the nation to rely on 100% renewable energy sources…
Read Blog DetailTaxing the Poor
Looking for more tax revenue wherever they can find it, some legislators and…
Read Blog DetailWestern Climate Initiative Offers No Definable Benefit
If you haven’t heard of the Western Climate Initiative (WCI) yet, you soon…
Read Blog DetailKeep “Double Majority” Voting Rule in Place
Summary Critics of Oregon’s so-called “double majority” rule say it isn’t democratic because…
Read Blog DetailC-Tran’s New Hybrid Buses: When Going “Green” Costs Lots of Green!
Summary Clark County’s new hybrid buses are costing lots of green for local…
Read Blog DetailIt’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas…
Green and red are the Christmas colors. It’s just like Christmas for hundreds…
Read Blog DetailHow to Keep Your Health Insurance, Even If You Lose Your Job
Summary Because employer-sponsored health insurance coverage is not taxable, the health insurance of…
Read Blog DetailMilton Friedman: The Most Influential Economist in History
Rob Kremer gave the following address at the Milton Friedman “Legacy of Freedom”…
Read Blog DetailPortland Continues Taxi Cartel
Imagine an industry where two companies control 75% of the market, price-competition is…
Read Blog DetailWanted: Asset Accounts, Not Income Transfers
Summary Low-income Americans hear two contradictory messages: “Save” and “Don’t Save.” Converting some…
Read Blog DetailFifty events to be held later this week to honor Dr. Milton Friedman
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Joe DiLaura Tel.: 317-229-2128 INDIANAPOLIS (July 28, 2008) –…
Read Blog DetailReplace Job Creation with Wealth Creation
Summary Governor Kulongoski recently unveiled a new plan for creating “green” jobs in…
Read Blog DetailSay It Isn’t So, Barack
Summary African-Americans support school choice at a rate higher than any other ethnic…
Read Blog DetailA Corvette or a Toy Train?
I drive a car. Odds are, you do too. In fact, given the…
Read Blog DetailPour yourself another regulation!
Our Governor envisions an “Innovation State” that leverages new technologies and attracts investment,…
Read Blog DetailFirst you borrow, then you beg…
Many private banks and financial institutions are in trouble because they supplied the…
Read Blog DetailIs Voting Enough?
As children, our parents have absolute responsibility for our lives. Without their willingness…
Read Blog DetailEntrepreneurship as a Weapon Against Poverty
Review of Lessons from the Poor: Triumph of the Entrepreneurial Spirit, edited by…
Read Blog DetailOil: The Energy of the Future
Three years ago, two prominent scientists asked themselves which natural chemical makes the…
Read Blog DetailThe “Why Not Portland?” Initiative and Its Pricey Goals
“Why Not Portland?” This is the question raised by supporters of a health…
Read Blog DetailLack of Transparency at the Oregon Health Plan: Simple Questions, Difficult Answers
Summary Before Oregonians are asked to approve any expansion of state-sponsored health care,…
Read Blog DetailKeep the Profit Motive in Health Care
Why do many Oregonians think we should take the profit motive out of…
Read Blog DetailWill Congress Put African-American Students in the Back of the Bus?
Summary The D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program enjoys broad bipartisan support, yet Congress is…
Read Blog DetailIs There Freedom to Move?
Imagine you want to start a business, but the government says you can’t…
Read Blog DetailDoes Oregon Spend Too Much?
Summary Demographically benchmarking Oregon spending goes an important step beyond simply making government…
Read Blog DetailThe Ranking of Oregon State and Local Spending
Summary This study updates past research to benchmark Oregon’s spending (Pozdena and Fruits…
Read Blog DetailEffective Asset-Building Coalitions Diversify
A recent report published by the Center for Social Development at Washington University…
Read Blog DetailReady to Learn, Ready to Work in Salem-Keizer
Summary The Salem-area Ready to Learn-Ready to Work program helps high school students…
Read Blog DetailTestimony Before the House Environment and Energy Committee, House Revenue Committee, Regarding Proposed Global Warming Legislation
My name is John Charles, president and CEO of Cascade Policy Institute. Cascade…
Read Blog DetailCarfree Dreaming in Portland
In three weeks Portland State University will proudly host the annual “Towards Carfree…
Read Blog DetailSustainability is a State of Mind
Summary Sustainability advocates believe that a free-market economy is “unsustainable,” but free societies…
Read Blog DetailSchool Choice for More Children, Says Georgia
Last week Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue signed legislation enacting a new school choice…
Read Blog DetailA Market-Based Approach to the Columbia River Crossing
Summary Portland’s population is expanding, but our highway and bridge network is crumbling….
Read Blog DetailOnly 12% of Idahoans Would Choose a Public School for Their Children
The Friedman Foundation for Educational Choice recently released a poll of 1,000 likely…
Read Blog DetailSuffer the Little Children: How lack of transparency in a state agency endangers children
Summary A federal review found Oregon’s Child Welfare program to be in “substantial…
Read Blog DetailIn Oregon, Words Matter, Results Don’t
Does planning have to work to be successful? We Oregonians believe many myths…
Read Blog DetailKids Can’t Wait
Summary Why has Governor Ted Kulongoski left at-risk and abused kids waiting during…
Read Blog DetailHow Much Does State Government Cost Each Oregonian?
Summary Ask even reasonably knowledgeable people how big the Oregon state budget is…
Read Blog DetailThe high cost of “free” health care
Those who advocate using the federal Medicare program as a model for “universal…
Read Blog DetailFood or Fuel?
Last year the Oregon legislature passed three bills (HB 2210, 2211 and 2212)…
Read Blog DetailHow Much Does Oregon Spend Per Student?
Summary Calculating the true per-student cost of public education in Oregon is complicated,…
Read Blog DetailClean Air, and Getting Cleaner
Recently the Environmental Protection Agency tightened the standard for ground-level ozone by 11…
Read Blog DetailPoverty Is About People, Not Money
Summary Journalist Andrew Gumble recently wrote in The Independent (UK): “Poverty deepens when…
Read Blog DetailBut Who’s Counting?
A recent analysis by two prominent economists pegs the eventual cost of our…
Read Blog DetailTaking a Private Route Out of the Workforce Crisis
Summary Oregon’s economy will create an estimated 250,000 new jobs over the next…
Read Blog DetailChange: The Only Constant
Starting with the beginnings of life on earth, change has been a constant…
Read Blog DetailStrike Two for Portland’s Voter Owned Elections
The Portland City Council, in its collective wisdom, imposed a system of public…
Read Blog DetailParking Space Tax Fails the Transparency Test
Summary The governor’s Task Force on Comprehensive Revenue Restructuring recently discussed imposing a…
Read Blog DetailWhose Interests Does the Board of Education Serve?
Recently, the Oregon Board of Education took up the issue of whether and…
Read Blog DetailUnion to Oregon Foster Parents: You’re Next!
Summary As if helping kids weren’t hard enough, Oregon foster parents may one…
Read Blog DetailMan and Machine Can Be Friends
In the early 1980s federal investment in research and development of agricultural machines…
Read Blog DetailThe Katrina Miracle
Summary A Portland delegation saw what real education reform looks like on a…
Read Blog DetailMy Dinner with William F. Buckley, Jr.
William F. Buckley, Jr. died last week at his home in Connecticut. He…
Read Blog DetailThe Financial Impact of Regulation? Almost Half Your Home Price
A recent study suggested that nearly half of the cost of a home…
Read Blog DetailThe SMART Way To Save Social Security
Summary For over 25 years, an increasing number of other countries have established…
Read Blog DetailWhy the Oregon Capital Gains Tax Should Be Repealed
Introduction In a world where taxes are used to finance government, possibilities for…
Read Blog DetailOregonians Can Help Reform Social Security
Summary The Social Security System worked well when there were sixteen workers to…
Read Blog DetailFreedom for All
A recent article in Resurgence Magazine (December 2007) makes the claim that our…
Read Blog DetailGlobal Warming Skeptics Prepare for International Conference
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: James M. Taylor E-mail: [email protected] Hundreds of the world’s…
Read Blog DetailOregon’s Ethanol Mandate: Failure by Design
Within the last week, two major news stories have demonstrated why politicians should…
Read Blog DetailWhat Real School Board Leadership Can Look Like
Summary Dick Stamm’s experience on an Illinois school board shows what four dedicated…
Read Blog DetailInform consumers, don’t limit their options
In response to the recent problems in the home mortgage market, the Oregon…
Read Blog DetailA Drive Toward Social Inclusion
Last year two important developments took place in Oregon that favored low-income workers’…
Read Blog Detail