by Charles Katebi The director of Wyoming's Department of Health, Tom Forslund, recently sat down before the Joint Appropriations Committee (JAC) to make his plea for more spending. The biggest item by far on the agency's wish list was Medicaid Expansion, costing a whopping $268 million. How did he try selling such an expensive line item to the JAC...

When politicians justify handing out public dollars for private benefit, they use the word investment to spin this spending into something more palatable to voters. However, state directed spending in the economy is nothing more than economic central planning in disguise. To stop the growth in central planning in Wyoming, we must bring the state's ...

What will the environmental effects of the Clean Power Plan (CPP) be? Recall that the stated media driven, post-Kyoto Protocol (to which the US did not subscribe), goalis to reduce the Earth's temperature increase between now and 2100 to less than 2 ℃. The short answer is: zilch. NERA Economic Consulting estimates that CPP by 2030 will reduce the g...

During Louisiana governor Bobby Jindal's visit to Wyoming in November 2015, he discussed his strategy to put Louisiana's fiscal house in order. His basic philosophy of government is that we can grow the American economy or we can grow the government economy, we can't do both. If we want to grow the American economy we must shrink the government eco...

by Tom Rose I have mentioned diversion and diversion programs in various blogs. I thought I had a fairly good grasp of the concept until I began looking at the various different ways diversion was being implemented across the state. My first impulse was to pronounce some forms as just wrong. Reminds me of riding for Condict, he'd say "That's just w...

What is the EPA's Clean Power Plan (CPP)? It is a cap and trade scheme intended to reduce emissions from existing power generators such as coal generators. It was proposed by the EPA in June, 2014, and the final rule was unveiled by President Obama on August 15, 2015. The final version of the plan aims to reduce carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from ...

by Charles Katebi Supporters of Medicaid Expansion, including Governor Matt Mead, express an unwavering belief that the federal government will actually fund this entitlement as promised. Yet Washington's promises often become unfunded mandates. Even before the end of this year it is likely that Congress will cut federal funding for Medicaid Expans...

by Charles Katebi Obamacare's supporters seem to believe that if you give patients insurance, doctors will treat them. But greater access to health insurance doesn't mean greater access to healthcare. As patients scour Obamacare's insurance exchange for coverage, they're finding fewer doctors accepting Obamacare's insurance as payment. And those th...

During Governor Mead's Business Forum in Cheyenne in November 2015, Dr. Robert Behn from Harvard University presented his theory on the budget cut challenge in the lead up to a discussion by a panel of legislators. Wyoming legislators must decide how to deal with a 25 percent reduction in revenue, a $155 million deficit in the education account for...

by Charles Katebi Medicaid's allies are gearing up their expansion drive for the 2016 budget session. As usual, they're trying to convince Wyomingites that they will save big if government spends more of their money. We've heard this story before. Governor Mead, Wyoming's Hospital Association and the Department of Health all claim that Wyoming's un...

by Wyoming Liberty Staff James Madison warned us in Federalist #10 of the violence "a number citizens who are united and actuated by some common impulse of passion, or of interest, adversed to the rights of other citizens" can do to liberty. 3,368 voters in Casper just illustrated his point by neglecting to perform their civic duty to stand up for ...

by Charles Katebi Since Obamacare took effect in 2013, the cost of health insurance has exploded. Turns out it's very costly for the insurers themselves and some are paying the ultimate price. In early October, one of those insurers, WINhealth, announced it faced severe financial challenges and was leaving the Obamacare exchange. Just 11 days later...

by Wyoming Liberty Staff Great American men of letters like Russell Kirk and M.E. Bradford have written much about the contrast between those who favor human realities and those who wish to impose utopias on human society. While we are tempted to consign these considerations to the dusty shelves of aging libraries, we do so at our peril. Government...

The state of Wyoming earmarks tobacco settlement funds to certain programs — and guess what. The programs cost more than the revenue they receive. As you might expect, the knee jerk reaction to this is to raise tobacco taxes to cover the shortfall. But let's take a closer look. The Tobacco Settlement Trust Fund was set up after a 1998 settlement be...

In December 2011, Wyoming Governor Matt Mead called on state agencies to cut their budgets by between five and eight percent. An eight percent budget cut would have amounted to $75 million, and this news created quite a bit of stir in some quarters, and quite a bit of confusion in others. While some asked: how will people survive such draconian cut...

Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal talks to Doug Randall on KGAB about the need to shrink the size of government to grow the private economy and put the state's fiscal house in order. November 9, 2015

Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal talk to Chuck Gray on KVOC about how he shrank the size of government in his state to set the stage for growth in the private sector, more jobs and a higher standard of living for the people of Louisiana. November 7, 2015 

by Stephen Klein On Wednesday the Joint Judiciary Committee of the Wyoming Legislature voted to adopt a committee bill to reform civil asset forfeiture under the Wyoming Controlled Substances Act ("WCSA"). The law as it exists today allows Wyoming police to seize and the state to keep ("forfeit") property that they suspect is related to the drug tr...

by Wyoming Liberty Staff On November 10th in a Special Election Cheyenne's voters will decide whether to transfer executive power from their elected mayor to an administrator working for the City Council. Beyond the details of the proposal, Cheyenne voters must answer a bigger question: Do voters believe that elections work? This question is about ...

A cabal of special interest groups seems to have convinced Wyoming's governor and more than a few legislators that families need to pay more in gasoline taxes. But with the possibility of a Taxmageddon hitting already overburdened families in January, the last thing the legislature should be doing is hiking fuel taxes.