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Too many bureaucrats
By Brandon Dutcher
Steve Boriss, who teaches a class at Washington University in St. Louis
called "The Future of News," correctly refers to the Associated Press
as "a
news supply chain that reliably turns out monolithic, center-left
news." I'll leave it to you to guess whether a recent AP story,
datelined Oklahoma
City, was headlined (a) "State workers facing economic crisis" or (b)
"State taxpayers who pay their salaries facing economic crisis."
You guessed it. "State employees who have received only two pay raises
in the past seven years say the rising cost of fuel and other goods is
making
it difficult for them to make ends meet," the AP reported.
But as OCPA never tires of repeating,
"one
can't
really talk about government employee compensation without first
discussing one glaring fact: there are simply too many government
employees in
Oklahoma. Indeed, in looking at the ratio of government employees to
private-sector employees, one discovers that Oklahoma has the
5th-highest ratio
in the country."
Do some state employees need a raise? It's a valid question. But it's a question that must be considered in a broader context.
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by: ANGEL RIGGS World Capitol Bureau
OKLAHOMA CITY -- Rising energy prices have given Oklahoma's economy its first boost in four months, according to state Treasurer Scott Meacham's
monthly revenue report.
"I'm very encouraged by the collections that we saw in May," Meacham said. "If you dig into the numbers, we were up in every major tax category, even
income taxes."
Year-to-date collections for the fiscal year are $83.2 million, or 1.6 percent, more than the state's official estimate, according to the report.
Collections remain $26 million, or 0.5 percent, less than figures for the same period last year.
Meacham said he's confident that the state will make a deposit into its "rainy day" fund this year, as long as revenue figures remain strong in June,
the last month of this fiscal year. READ MORE!
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When will enough, be enough?
By: Brett Magbee
Today's environmentalists made a strategic mistake in promoting "global warming." They should have
learned from their previous experience in the 1970's. That was around the time they were scaring us about a new ice age in our future.
Well, they seem to be discovering now that their latest concern (global warming) isn't all that
"global" after all. Some continents (like South America) report that last year was one of the coldest winters on record. We will now be told that
global warming is just one of many consequences caused by man's incompetence. READ MORE!
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OCPA has launched the second phase of our Capital Campaign. To learn more about how
you can get involved click here.
Read O-CHIP! The Oklahoma Comprehensive Health
Independence Plan
It's the Spending Stupid: Read what's inside June's issue of Perspective.
September 18th: OCPA dinner with Ed Meese at the Tulsa Renaissance.
Please visit the events section of our website for more information.
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