U.S. credit rating downgraded by S&P
… which makes this video about 30 minutes out of date. It’s instructive, nonetheless. This downgrade effectively means the price of most state and local public sector borrowing just went up.
Video: ‘An Unsustainable Path’ author discusses Medicaid
Recently the Bluegrass Institute published “An Unsustainable Path: The Past and Future of Kentucky Medicaid Spending“. The video below is from the release of the report. Author John Garen provides an overview of his findings.
Video: BIPPS’ Jim Waters on Kentucky Tonight’s debt discussion
Jim Waters of the Bluegrass Institute took part in a panel discussion about United States’ debt problems on Monday night’s ‘Kentucky Tonight’. You can watch the full discussion here.
‘Kentucky Tonight’: More on the debt-ceiling debate
Jim Waters, vice president of policy and communications for the Bluegrass Institute, Kentucky’s free-market think tank, addresses the debt-ceiling controversy Monday on KET’s Kentucky Tonight at 8 p.m. (EDT) Click here to watch last week’s show on the issue. Panelists included Kathy Gornik, chairman of the Bluegrass Institute board of directors. Waters will be joined…
Video: Kathy Gornik discusses U.S. debt on Kentucky Tonight
Bluegrass Institute board chair Kathy Gornik took part in a panel discussion about the United States’ debt on KET’s Kentucky Tonight. Watch the full broadcast.
BIPPS Board chair addresses the debt ceiling Monday on ‘Kentucky Tonight’
Kathy Gornik, president of Lexington-based THIEL Loudspeakers and chairman of the Bluegrass Institute Board of Directors, addresses the debt-ceiling controversy Monday on KET’s Kentucky Tonight at 8 p.m. (EDT) Gornik, who will talk about the possible impact of raising the debt ceiling on her business, will be joined on the program by Andy Hightower, executive…
It’s about time … to end ag subsidies
Fifteen years and billions of dollars later, legislation has been proposed that would “eliminate agriculture direct payments subsidies completely and permanently.” When these direct payments to farmers began in 1996, they were meant “to serve as a temporary transitional handout to farmers as they moved in a more market-oriented direction.” But good intentions do not…
Budget surplus!? Think again
The Beshear administration is touting a budget surplus for this fiscal year and claims that roughly $100 million will be deposited into the rainy day fund. This is a bit misleading, no? When a state has billions of dollars in unfunded liabilities in public pensions and has to borrow $97 million from a future year’s…
Stumbo on defined contribution
Charles George, manager of public affairs for the Kentucky Chamber of Commerce, tweeted from the Kentucky Chamber Business Summit and Annual Meeting where state representative Greg Stumo was speaking: Defined contribution is certainly something that needs to be talked about. Why? Simply put, public pensions, as they stand now, are breaking the backs of cities, counties…
$2 Trillion
You think it’s hard to cut spending in Frankfort? This short video I produced with Austin Bragg helps explain the trouble with the federal government’s “multi-year budget cuts.” They’re just not very credible projections. Here’s a Jim Waters op-ed on the challenge of cutting spending from the Herald-Leader.