When the Wyoming Business Council proposes a handout for a private business, the focus is on the positive—jobs, economic diversification, the flag and apple pie. When it brings these proposals before the State Loan and Investment Board (SLIB), the costs of these handouts—wasted resources, cronyism and the damage to unsubsidized competition—go unmen...

Maureen Bader and Glenn Woods talk about Wyoming Business Council's funneling of public money for private benefit and in Gillette and other Wyoming communities. 

Wyoming faces a multi-million dollar deficit in the 2017-18 biennium and the specter of plummeting revenue looms large on the horizon. Why then, is the State Loan and Investment Board (SLIB) about to rubber stamp funding to help lift a new $18 million terminal off the ground at an airport that just last year lost 50 percent of its customer seating ...

by Charles Katebi Wyomingites pays more for health insurance than residents of any other state. And thanks to Obamacare, we're about to pay a lot more. Starting in 2018, employer-based health plans that exceed $10,200 in premiums for individuals and $27,500 for families will be hit with a whopping 40 percent "Cadillac Tax." If you receive health in...

This is your last chance. After this, there is no turning back. You take the blue pill - the story ends, you wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe. You take the red pill - you stay in Wonderland and I show you how deep the rabbit-hole goes. – The Matrix, 1999 What if I were Morpheus, and you had just taken the red pill? Where...

Wyoming's Legislative Service Office (LSO) released a report evaluating Public Purpose Investments (PPI), the use of the Permanent Wyoming Mineral Trust Fund (PWMTF) to subsidize loans in the state. The report found that PPIs returned less financially than the Treasurer's regular portfolio. This is important because no matter how politicians try to...

by Charles Katebi In a promising moment of bipartisan agreement, members of Wyoming's Joint Labor, Health and Social Services Committee began drafting legislation that will allow patients and physicians to contract directly with each other and escape our disastrously overregulated insurance system. This legislation will strengthen every Wyoming res...

by Wyoming Liberty Staff This fall Wyoming legislators are busy attending interim Committee meetings on a variety of subjects, all of which will be addressed in the cold winter months of February and March during the 2016 Budget Session. Current trends indicate long-term budget problems for Wyoming. This April I wrote a blog entitled, The Urgent Ca...

Charlie Katebi and Glenn Woods talk about Charlie's testimony on a program that could reduce healthcare costs in the state. 

by Charles Katebi Lovell, WY- The Wyoming Liberty Group testified in favor of Direct Primary Care before the Joint Labor, Health, and Social Services Interim Committee this week, an innovative healthcare payment plan that if exempted from state insurance regulations would expand health access at a fraction of the cost of traditional health insuranc...

Direct Primary Care can help make healthcare more affordable in Wyoming. Aug. 25, 2015 

A favorite corporate welfare scheme in Wyoming uses tax dollars to attract private companies to the state. One headline-grabbing scheme involves tax breaks and grants for data center attraction. When spinning the benefits of these subsidies, politicians make effusive claims to taxpayers, raving on about diversifying the economy, creating jobs, boos...

by Charles Katebi The Department of Veterans Affairs is the perfect example of socialized healthcare. The federal government owns all the hospitals, employs all the staff, and leaves patients to languish and sometimes die on waitlists. A year after news broke that VA hospitals kept veterans waiting months to see a doctor, including in Wyoming, the ...

As the minerals boom turned to bust, so did the revenue supporting big government in Wyoming. Now our politicians have a choice. Should they: cut spending back to a level Wyoming taxpayers can afford;use revenues hoarded in savings accounts to continue spending at ever higher levels until savings run out, or;give money to private companies to magic...

The opponents of the Transfer of Public Lands (TPL) from the federal government to the states use several arguments against the proposal. Two of them are: The states can't manage their public lands.The states will sell off the public lands for development. Really? Tell that to Adirondack Park in upstate New York. Adirondack Park was set up by the N...

Wyoming Voters Say Individuals Make Better Spending Decisions than Government Introduction The Wyoming government depends overwhelmingly on the minerals industry to fund its activities. The minerals industry, however, is a source of cyclical revenue; when revenues rise, so does government spending and hording. When revenues fall, politicians look t...

by Charles Katebi Contrary to the claim of Obamacare's supporters, patients have too much access to healthcare. When insurers cover most of our bills, we're encouraged to take every test and procedure our doctors recommend, regardless of their value. Obamacare has made this problem even worse by banning out-of-pocket fees for many services. The pus...

The Wyoming Business Council (WBC) enables a number of programs that funnel tax dollars to private companies. When the WBC asked the State Loan and Investment Board for a $1.35 million grant for a Wyoming town to benefit a private company, McGinley Orthopaedic Innovations, the Board rubber stamped it, as expected. This is but one example of a corpo...

Governments everywhere favor some companies over others by showering them with other people's money. In Wyoming, the constitution forbids legislators from giving tax dollars away directly, but this hasn't stopped indirect giveaways. One giveaway is called Public Purpose Investment, or PPI. Although sold on the basis of its supposed benefits, these ...

by Wyoming Liberty Staff Our founding Fathers understood the importance of an independent executive branch of government. The Cheyenne City Council however, is preparing to ask citizens to vote on a City Charter amendment that would create an appointed administrator to replace the independent, strong mayor for most executive functions. The appointe...