The Participatory Budgeting Project has a guide for communities that want to participate in decisions about the use of funds from Tax Increment Financing districts. The governance structure associated with Tax Increment Financing varies by state (and not all states have TIF), but there are potentially significant amounts of funding at stake. TIF districts capture the […]
Austerity
Why is recovery taking so long—and who’s to blame?
By sh in Austerity Tags: recession
We are enduring one of the slowest economic recoveries in recent history, and the pace can be entirely explained by the fiscal austerity imposed by Republican members of Congress and also legislators and governors at the state level. EPI’s Josh Bivens examines the reasons beyond our slow economic recovery (one that has progressively slowed with […]
From the annals of state austerity budgets…
By sh in Austerity Tags: services, states
To the Editor: Thank you for your editorial about Illinois and Kansas as examples of states where policy makers do more harm than good (“Sorry Tales From Two Statehouses,” April 25). Illinois’ record 10-month budget impasse is eroding much of its educational and social service systems. According to a poll of 444 Illinois social service […]
Welfare and the politics of poverty
By sh in Austerity Tags: federal, welfare
Great recap of the welfare reform travesty – in which Clinton admits that the poorest families in the U.S. are worse off after welfare reform. Also describes how state control, combined with fiscal downturns, pulled money away from the poor.
Defending public pensions
By sh in Austerity Tags: pensions
I’ve written a lot about how public pensions came to be blamed for the fiscal crisis looming (or already “crippling”) many cities and states. The National Public Pension Project has been working since 2007 to change the narrative about the value of public pension plans, and has an interesting website and blog. NPPC believes every […]
