The word "taxpayer" appears only 14 times in 165 pages of the Securities and Exchange Commission's Report on the Municipal Securities Market released Tuesday. Only two of those mentions in the body of the report refer to looking out for our interests.

Prison privatization was sold in Arizona on grounds that it was a money saver. If it turns out that private prisons are costing taxpayers even more, the subject should be revisited in a public forum.

While access to a pension fund's financial report usually takes a minimum amount of effort to locate a copy through Google, Nevada takes a unique approach that complicates research.

It initally seems that the money was lost, as opposed to purposefully hidden, indicating a gross number of foolish mistakes. 

When adopting for the third time the state's supermajority requirement for tax increases in 2007 with the passage of Initiative 960, voters also approved the requirement for a non-binding advisory vote for any tax increase not first sent to the voters for ratification.

Question: When does 80 percent of something equal 100 percent? Answer: Never, except in the fantasy world of public pension accounting. The American Academy of Actuaries Tuesday sent a letter to Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, puncturing that fantasy in a committee report he released six months ago.

Push past the spin. Most public workers covered by defined benefit pension plans - and taxpayers stuck with the tab - don't have to wait years to find out what's happening to their money. They can get quarterly reports from the Top 100 funds representing 89.4 percent of "financial activity."

The Washington State Secretary of State's Office has certified I-1185 for the November ballot. If approved by voters, I-1185 will mark the fifth time in the last 20 years that voters have adopted the requirement for tax increases to receive a supermajority vote or voter approval.

If our states and municipalities were trauma victims, they would be bleeding out while doctors argued about injuries. Even as financial gurus Paul Volcker and Richard Ravitch studied the municipal and state fiscal crisis for a report released this week, public pension debt alone grew to an untreatable $4.6 trillion, according to analysis released Wednesday by economist Andrew Biggs for State Budget Solutions.

New Jersey's Transit Board approved a $1.9 billion operating budget and a $1.2 billion capital budget for FY 2013.