Why do state and municipal workers cling to those who betray them?
Here's an answer: The few getting rich off this scam use accounting tricks to lie about how deep the public pension crisis really is.

One of the most recognizable measurements of the state's fiscal health is the multi-year budget outlooks. These updates, however, are not done on a regular basis in Washington state. This is why the many bipartisan sponsors of HB 2607 hope to require regular six-year budget outlooks to be published.

Movement toward school choice is a good thing; school choice helps out struggling state budgets as well as struggling student test scores.

This Wednesday, the American Enterprise Institute and the Mercatus Center at George Mason University co-hosted a panel in Washington, D.C. entitled: Collective Bargaining, Public Pensions and Voters: The Policy and Politics of Public-Sector Employees in the 2012 Elections.

Washingon lawmakers should end this debate once and for all by providing Washingtonians the opportunity to vote on a constitutional amendment reaffirming the policy during the 2012 general election.

The legislative session is only a few weeks old in Florida, but leaders in the state are already at odds over how to deal with the state's estimated $2 billion budget shortfall. Most officials, including the Governor and legislative leaders from both parties, are intent on a steep increase in K-12 education funding. Differences arise over how to pay for the spending hike, if at all. 

Woonsocket, a city of 41,186 residents in northern Rhode Island, remains in the dark after the city deferred plans to turn its 1,200 street lights back on this month. The city's plans changed when local school officials announced an unexpected $2.7 million deficit left over from last year's school budget.

New York needs a pension system that is financially more transparent and sustainable. Ideally, New York would break entirely with the defined-benefit approach and move all government workers to a 401(k)-style defined-contribution system -- now the prevalent retirement model in the private sector. At the very least, real pension reform would require employees to share in the risk.

The fictional town's collection of public servants and entrepreneurs provides an apt lens through which to examine the state of public and private sector collective bargaining in Indiana.