Apparently State Sen. Bob Beers (R-Las Vegas) has been engaged in a hot debate over state spending that has spread from the Nevada Legislature into the newspapers and beyond.  The Left now contends that per-capita state spending has dropped anywhere from 6.9 percent, according to Assemblyman Mo Denis (D-Las Vegas), to 29 percent, according to a mysterious big-government Utahan.

Today's Las Vegas Review-Journal editorializes on the Nevada State Education Association's efforts to push through a 3 percent increase to the room tax, with much of the revenue to be allocated for public education funding.

Americans spend more on education than at any time in the past, but instead of seeing results we're asked to keep paying more, and more, and more...

About 21 percent of Nevadans are without health insurance, according to the Council on Affordable Health Insurance.  For Nevada, individual insurance costs are too prohibitive for many to afford the coverage on their own.  Because this has become a problem for many, politicians are scrambling for solutions.

They say they pulled the school bond question from the November 2008 ballot out of  consideration for the community during these economically challenged times.

This morning on the way to work I saw a woman driving a brand-new quad cab Ford F-150 with four-wheel drive. But what got me about this vehicle was her bumper sticker, which read something like "A Capitalist Free World."

While I'm always impressed with the depth of research done by the center-left Brookings Institution, its conclusions sometimes leave a lot to be desired. In this case, its conclusion is downright ironic.

Just say no to property rights abuse.

Today (July 24, 2008) a new federally mandated minimum wage took effect, jumping from $5.85 to $6.55 per hour. The $0.70 jump represents more than an 11 percent increase over last year.

Your salary is only a fraction of the cost of your employment. Employers must factor in payroll taxes, health-care benefits, and days of vacation and sick leave to calculate your total cost to their budget. On top of this, any other regulation the government imposes upon the company factors not only into your employer’s bottom line, but into yours as well.