Dr. John Garen, the chairman of the Bluegrass Institute’s Board of Scholars, appeared on KET’s ‘Kentucky Tonight’ as part of a panel discussion about the federal budget. (click on the image below to view the video)
Dear Kentucky taxpayer: Put yourself in your state legislator’s shoes for a second. Imagine you are a state senator with the opportunity to enhance your own wealth through legislation by manipulating the state’s public pension benefit to your advantage. After all, what’s the harm in taking a bit more compensation for the arduous public service…
At this month’s Citizen Education Seminar on Kentucky’s economic competitiveness, jointly hosted by the Bluegrass Institute and the Mercatus Center at George Mason University, John Garen, Ph.D., economics professor at the University of Kentucky and chair of the Bluegrass Institute’s Board of Scholars, discussed the “dependency trap” which the commonwealth has fallen so deeply into. In…
A recent Gallup poll revealed that Kentucky is one of the top 5 most stressed states in the nation. Certainly not something to be proud of. One has to wonder though, what is the source of this stress? Might it be Kentucky’s ever-growing public pension crisis? Probably not.…
While state lawmakers and defenders of the status-quo pat themselves on the back for a last-minute, “successful” legislative session, the standard of living for all Kentuckians continues to be in danger. Once again, state lawmakers failed during a legislative session to enact meaningful public pension system reform. Rather than take effective action against a $34…
If Kentucky lawmakers are serious about reforming the state’s ailing public pension system, here are four steps they should seriously consider taking to get on the path to recovery: Make the pension system transparent. Why shouldn’t taxpayers know which politicians and bureaucrats are collecting two, or in some cases three, pension checks at their expense?…
During a recent interview with cn|2 Pure Politics, state Sen. Jimmy Higdon, R-Lebanon made a couple of bold claims. I have some questions about those claims. Question 1: Does the single act of moving newly enrolled employees to a hybrid defined contribution plan “stop the digging?” It certainly does not. To truly “stop the…
Shouldn’t pensions be based on time worked? It is commonly agreed upon that pensions are compensation to provide retirement stability for time actually worked in an organization. You and I know this. Apparently, though, our state government does not. Kentucky Retirement Systems allows some state employees to purchase what is called“air time.” This practice allows…
The following is an op-ed I submitted for publication in the Lexington Herald-Leader. It was printed on Monday April 15, 2012. You can view the letter on the paper’s website here. If Kentucky’s public pension system was a private-sector business, it would have been forced to close its doors many years ago. Unfortunately, the pension…
By D. Eric Schansberg, Ph.D. Despite establishing a blue ribbon commission, Gov. Beshear’s administration failed to make any progress in reforming Kentucky’s antiquated and burdensome tax code during this year’s General Assembly. But Kentucky is not the only place where tax reform is needed. It’s badly needed on the federal level, as well. This year…