Samuel Bell
What This Parking Garage Has to Do With 38 Studios
Perhaps unsurprisingly, the River Park Square Parking Garage in Spokane, WA has not been a major topic of conversation in Rhode Island. But it should be. You see, it was paid for by a nonprofit semipublic economic development corporation known as the Spokane Downtown Foundation. Lacking the credit for the loan, the Spokane Downtown Foundation [...]
Tell the NRA: not in RI
The campaign for common-sense gun reform in Rhode Island is in trouble. Speaker Gordon Fox and Senate President Paiva-Weed both support the strong bills Governor Chafee introduced, but they have described them as a starting point for talks. And it is not looking good. State Rep. Linda Finn tells me, “Rhode Islanders favor an assault weapons [...]
David Cicilline Signs Grayson-Takano Letter
Thank you Congressman Cicilline for standing up against cuts to Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security! When Barack Obama proposed cuts to Social Security in his current budget, progressives were horrified. Fortunately, in the First District of Rhode Island, we have a congressman who opposes this dangerous unraveling of the New Deal. David Cicilline has signed [...]
In Budget Vote, Cicilline Betrays Progressives
As I predicted on Tuesday, Congressman Cicilline voted against the Progressive Caucus’s budget on Wednesday. For a vice chair of the Progressive Caucus, this is a major break—especially after Rhode Island progressives have made it very clear they do not want Cicilline to abandon House progressives. This is a tough vote for Rhode Island progressives [...]
Will Cicilline Abandon Progressives On Budget?
Many progressives worked hard to reelect David Cicilline. I spent a lot of my summer and fall knocking on doors for him instead of helping out progressives in tight General Assembly races. When everyone was piling on Cicilline a year ago, we were defending him. We took a lot of flack, but we knew that [...]
State of the State Analysis: No Recovery Package
Governor Chafee’s State of the State speech, announcing his budget proposal, strikes a fine balance between solutions and inaction. Woefully inadequate as his proposals are, Governor Chafee does appear to have a reasonable grasp of the problems facing our great state. On social issues, Chafee proposes popular, common-sense solutions like tweaks to gun laws and [...]
RI – What Went Wrong: Have We Learned Lessons?
What is so sad about the mess Rhode Island has fallen into is that it was completely avoidable. Governor Carcieri did not have to launch a jihad against public sector employment. Nor was it necessary to hand massive tax breaks to the wealthy. Had we avoided those tax breaks, we wouldn’t have had to slash [...]
RI—What Went Wrong: Competitiveness
The devastating effect of property tax hikes and the less significant effect of a high unemployment insurance tax, discussed in previous columns, probably explain most of the portion of the unemployment gap that’s not explained by austerity. However, there is one more factor that might play a minor role in weakening our economy with respect [...]
RI – What Went Wrong: Unemployment Insurance Taxes
Another singular component of Rhode Island’s tax system is unusually high unemployment insurance taxes. Unemployment insurance taxes don’t get very much attention (they are excluded from the graph of the distributional effect of taxes in the previous column, for instance), but they can have a very real effect on the economy, particularly in a time [...]
RI – What Went Wrong: Property Tax Hikes
In the previous installment, I discussed the large income tax cuts for the rich that hit Rhode Island in 2006, a major change to the economy that was followed by an early plunge into recession. Unlike the federal government, states can’t offset income tax cuts with debt. So they have to offset them by either [...]
RI – What Went Wrong: Tax Cuts for the Affluent
In the previous installment I discussed the devastation wrought by massive austerity, which was the principle cause of Rhode Island’s terrible jobs picture. The traditional justification from austerity apologists is that those public sector cuts were necessary, and Rhode Island was forced to make those layoffs. Of course, this argument makes no sense in Rhode [...]
RI – What Went Wrong: Austerity’s Effects
I ended my previous post on a promise to dig into the mechanics of how Carcieri orchestrated the downfall of the Rhode Island economy. Naturally, we begin with something Carcieri took great pride in—laying off huge numbers of public sector workers. To show just how severe the public sector cutbacks were under Carcieri, I’ve plotted [...]
RI – What Went Wrong: The Carcieri Effect
It may be hard to remember now, but ten years ago, Rhode Island’s unemployment rate was below the national average. Today, of course, it’s the second highest in America. Only Nevada has a worse jobs picture. Clearly, something went very badly wrong. The question is what. In a multi-part series that will be published throughout [...]
RI Escapes the Northeast’s Regional Recession
Over the past few months, something momentous has happened to Rhode Island’s economy. For the first time in nearly a decade, Rhode Island is outperforming our neighbors on jobs. The whole Northeast is in the midst of a regional recession. From Maine to Pennsylvania, the unemployment rate is rising sharply. The one exception? Rhode Island. Our [...]
Gemma’s Flip-flop Speaks to Broader Problem
After taking a lot of heat for refusing to back fellow Democrats in a recent interview with Buddy Cianci, Anthony Gemma has reversed his position and now says he will support Senator Whitehouse and Congressman Langevin in the general election, although he still won’t support Cicilline if he happens to win the primary. In the [...]
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