March 2006 Volume 13 Number 3

Oklahoma's Bureaucracy Among the Nation's Largest

March 01, 2006

The nation's 16 million state and local government workers form a large, growing, and well-compensated class in society. State and local workers earned $36 per hour in wages and benefits in 2005, on average, compared to $24 per hour for U.S. private-sector workers.1 Another distinction is that 42 percent of state and local workers are represented by unions, compared t... Read More >

'Cut Out the Meddle Man'

March 01, 2006

"Follow the logic, if you can," Heritage Foundation president Ed Feulner wrote recently in the Chicago Sun-Times. "The federal government is running deficits. The states are enjoying surpluses. And - the federal government is shelling out billions to the states. Hardly makes sense, yet that's exactly what's happening. "Last year, every state ran a budget surplus (... Read More >

In Oklahoma, Good Policy Is Good Politics

March 01, 2006

Many public officials say that voters elected them "to do what's right, not what's popular." But if the results of two recent opinion surveys are any indication, Oklahoma voters have a clear message for their elected leaders: When it comes to public policy reforms, what's right is what's popular. Between November 14 and 17, 2005 and January 22 and 24, 2006, Cole H... Read More >

The High Cost of Excessive Spending

March 01, 2006

The nation's strong economic growth is creating a tax-revenue boom for the states. State tax revenues jumped 8.7 percent in 2004 and about eight percent in 2005. About three-quarters of state governments had tax-revenue growth of six percent or more in 2005. What will states like Oklahoma do with their overflowing coffers? During the revenue boom of the 1990s, sta... Read More >

Lawsuit Abuse Is Hazardous to Your Health

March 01, 2006

[Lawsuit reform is a hot topic at the state capitol again this year. OCPA intern Todd Pauley, a third-year law student at Oklahoma City University, recently sat down with OCPA trustee Dr. Gary Wilson, an Oklahoma City ophthalmologist, to discuss the seriousness of the problem and the need for a solution.] Perspective: In your opinion, what is the bottom line rega... Read More >

Common Ground on School Choice?

March 01, 2006

[The following remarks were delivered February 14 at a workshop sponsored by the left-leaning Oklahoma Conference of Churches.] I appreciate the Oklahoma Conference of Churches extending me an invitation to be here today because, let's face it, I represent a point of view that's probably different from most of yours. I'm politically conservative, so I don't often ... Read More >

Progression

March 01, 2006

The way OCPA continues to advance the free-market perspective is through the passionate support of our donors. They believe that the ideas OCPA is bringing to the policy arena are so vital to our state?s future that these donors increase their giving year after year. They see it as an investment in changing the status quo ? breaking years of ;od ol? boy dealings and shenan... Read More >

Quote Unquote

March 01, 2006

?The ;vernment solution to a problem is usually as bad as the problem.? Milton Friedman ?We just ;t a report yesterday that was in the newspaper that children on Medicaid are six times as likely to be obese as children who are not on Medicaid. Now even for a liberal that should give them pause as to how bad Medicaid is as a system.? Newt Gingrich, quoted February 18 in th... Read More >

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