Last week, The Bluegrass Institute was fortunate enough to be able to co-host an event with the Mercatus Center which included several distinquished speakers. The first speaker was Mercatus Center Vice President and Former New Zealand Cabinet Minister Maurice McTigue who spoke on how to effectively streamline and seek efficiency in state government. You can view…
Kentucky lawmakers have had a strange love affair with expanding gambling. Every year, they gather and seem to get a little bit closer to handing a brand new revenue source to the various race tracks around the commonwealth. The chief argument against expanded gambling in Kentucky seems to be that it will have some corrosive…
Since 2002, U.S. Rep. Hal Rogers – Kentucky’s own “prince of pork” – has secured $7.1 million for improvements to College Street and other portions of Somerset, Ky. The main reason this is news is that Hal Rogers’ home is on College Street. The Washington Post today discusses the appearance of personal enrichment by many…
Economist Brian Strow stresses the need for state pension reform in the Bowling Green Daily News: A growing number of states have recently engaged in public pension reform, and rightfully so. Unfunded state pension liabilities have been an albatross around the necks of more than one state balance sheet. Illinois, New Jersey, Wisconsin, Ohio, Michigan,…
According to economists, one big factor is ObamaCare: Aaron Yelowitz, an economics professor in the business college, told attendees that another concern for Kentucky is the effect of the Affordable Care Act in 2014. The federal law will require businesses with 50 or more employees to provide “affordable” insurance to full-time workers or pay a…
Former Kentucky Agriculture Commissioner (and University of Kentucky baller) Richie Farmer filed for unemployment when his term ended. The Courier-Journal reports: As agriculture commissioner, a position he held eight years, Farmer earned $110,346 when his term ended. But Kentucky unemployment compensation law lists “a public elected official” among the types of employment not eligible for…
Hello freedom-loving people of Kentucky! We have just finished up a new video featuring Jim Waters’ speech he has been touring around the state over the last few months. We feel that this message needed to be put into a short form video that can be easily emailed & posted around the internet (not just…
“State employee contributions have been the foundation of (Gov. Steve) Beshear’s re-election fundraising since he began it in August 2009.” –report on campaign contributions in Sunday’s (Louisville) Courier-Journal
“Recently, I signed onto a letter opposing bonuses given to Fanny Mae and Freddy Mac executives. It was $12 million worth of bonuses, and these executives are already averaging several million dollars a year in salary. The argument that came back from Fanny Mae and Freddy Mac was, ‘We need to pay people to keep…
Transparency not only shrinks the size and cost of government. It saves lives, too.