AUGUST 20, 2019 09:40 PM ET By Bill Lucia,Senior Reporter A pending ballot proposition in Phoenix calls for imposing strict limits on city spending until funding for the city’s retirement programs reaches a certain threshold. Phoenix voters later this month will decide whether to approve a ballot measure that calls for restricting city spending and pumping any resulting budget surpluses toward the city’s underfunded pensions until the balances of the retirement plans reach healthier levels. The measure…
Voters can make Phoenix transparent and responsible on pensions
Take a look around your community: Roads are crumbling. Public parks in disrepair. Ambulance and police dispatch services take longer to arrive. Citizen services are being cut. Yet virtually every city, county, and state in the country spent the last decade raising taxes every year. So why don’t those annual dips into your wallet ever seem to stem the tide? The answer is the worst kept secret in government today: Public pension systems are insolvent…
What Americans Know About Religion — And What They Don’t
Poll of the week The Pew Research Center asked Americans 32 multiple-choice questions about religion and spirituality earlier this year. The quiz — which you can still take — included questions such as, “What is commemorated on Easter Sunday?” (The choices for responses were ascension, crucifixion, Last Supper and, the correct response, resurrection.) Nearly 11,000 people answered the questions, and Pew released the results this week. Here’s what Pew found: Many Americans know some basic facts about major…