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…
Health Care Spending
The United States has the unsavory distinction of spending the most money on health care per person in the world. How much? A staggering $9,237 per person! This is according to a study of 184 countries by the Global Burden of Disease Health Financing Collaborator Network. Higher spending does not necessarily mean better health overall, however. Compared to the U.K., which spends an average of $3,749 per person, the life expectancy in the U.S. is…
An Open Letter to Megan Rapinoe, from America
by JOEL ENGEL JULY 9, 2019 6:13 AM First, let us congratulate you and your teammates on a sensational World Cup championship. You made us proud. You know us, right? The country you’ve represented so ably on the pitch? Because—hope this doesn’t sound weird—we’ve kind of had some small role in your success. No question, you worked for what you’ve accomplished with the talents you were fortunate to be blessed with. But never forget you that had…
Joseph Sabino Mistick: Counting votes is simple math of politics
Here is the question Sen. Kamala Harris should have been asked during the Democratic Party’s presidential debate, and it would have been a good question for each of the candidates: “If you were in the United States Senate when the major civil rights legislation of 1964 and 1965 was being considered, and you were one vote short of passage, would you have done business with the despicable segregationists of the time to pick up the…
Another example of why people refer to reporting as “fake news” today
I can not vouch for the veracity for the rest of this article but the comment attributed to me is a bald face lie. I never said that Cancer Treatment Centers of American or Goldwater Institute paid for the initial research and focus groups for Right to Try. Neither party provided any money nor were reimbursement requested of them. This research on Right to Try was paid for by my partner and I. This was…
Yes, 18. Remember That Number.
With the release of Danny Burch this week from Yemeni captors, I reflected upon the success the Trump Administration has had in releasing American’s held hostage overseas. The numerical success is overlooked by most media and press and when covered on individual basis, it is understated and often buried in the back pages. Since President Trump was elected, 18 Americans have been released out of captivity in his first two years. Compare that 10 were…