In its Budget and Economic Outlook for August, the CBO writes, “The United States is facing profound budgetary and economic challenges. At 8.5 percent of gross domestic product (GDP), the $1.3 trillion budget deficit that the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) projects for 2011 will be the third-largest shortfall in the past 65 years (exceeded only […]

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With fuel prices expected to be seventy cents cheaper during the summer driving season, how will Missouri replace that loss fuel tax revenue in this worsening Obama economy? Mr. Stokes has an interesting idea that could be an example of the government and the private sector actually working together to solve a problem.  “The use […]

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Show-Me Institute policy analyst David Stokes points out that Missouri’s anti-CWIP legislation was passed during the 1970s, during the height of fears about nuclear energy safety. Attitudes about nuclear power have changed in recent years, thanks in no small part to excellent track records by other countries that use nuclear facilities as a primary means […]

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As the federal government prepares an unprecendented takeover of the private economy today, Show Me Institute policy analyst David Stokes offers a commentary with ideas on how to shrink Missouri’s government. By David Stokes There are many potential ways to reduce the size and influence of government in Missouri. For each, at least one — […]

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Does more government always lead to higher spending? Or can a higher number of officials and jurisdictions help to check each other’s power? A new study released yesterday by the Show-Me Institute reveals that while Missouri has a disproportionately high number of governmental entities, it somehow bucks the tendency for higher taxation and inefficiency that […]

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Koster must be paying for a lot of baking soda! Sources are telling us that with all the money they made off “Imposter Koster” this primary season, the El-Amin’s are “movin’ on up” – so to speak – to new digs on a private street in the 26th ward. Mrs. El-Amin is currently the committewoman […]

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A new study, jointly produced by the Show-Me Institute and the Reason Foundation, examines the relatively new funding paradigm of public-private partnerships and how such arrangements may benefit Missouri’s public transportation infrastructure. The study provides an overview of the types of public-private partnerships that can be utilized for transportation projects, including their benefits and best […]

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By David Stokes There are few things as worthless as a gun buyback program. Here is the article on this weekend’s one-day exercise in giving people taxpayer money to purchase new guns. After the “tremendous” success of the 1991 St. Louis City Police Department gun buyback, as the Post-Dispatch puts it: The 1991 cache was […]

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Show-Me Institute policy analyst David Stokes takes a look at Missouri’s property reassessment system, and considers the many assessment complaints lodged by Missourians — particularly in the state’s larger and faster-growing counties. Stokes suggests that the current method of assessing individual homes before determining the county’s average rate of increase should be reversed, using aggregate […]

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By Tim Woodcock Rex Sinquefield could have retired and opted for the quiet life. Instead he left his life in California, where he ran an investment company, and returned in 2005 to St. Louis, the city in which he grew up, and threw himself into the political arena and into philanthropy. The dining room of […]

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