Matthew Ladner and I mix it up again

by David Safier Matthew Ladner of the Goldwater Institute has made some detailed comments on a few of my recent posts, An interesting Number and More Fool's Gold: Ed tax credits save us money. I, of course, have responded and am waiting for what he has for me next. Once again, I foolishly rush into the fray … Read more

Republican Legislators: Read our lips, no new taxes

by David Safier It seems the Republican legislators have shot down Brewer's trial balloon about letting the voters decide if they want to tax themselves. Here are some of their comments. "Government is bloated. The bureaucracy is bloated." Senate President Pro Tempore Thayer Verschoor  You don't get out of debt by more spending." Sen. Russell Pearce, chairman … Read more

Arizona Dems enter the fray

by David Safier Brewer floated a trial balloon a few days ago: Maybe we should let people vote to decide whether they want to tax themselves. It was a cowardly, manipulative gambit. If more taxes are genuinely bad for the Arizona economy as the Republicans say, why endanger us by letting the voters put new … Read more

More Fool’s Gold: Ed tax credits save us money

by David Safier Matthew Ladner of the Goldwater Institute put together "10 Myths about Arizona Education" to, in his words, "separate the reality of education funding in Arizona from several often publicized myths." As usual, he mixes truth with fiction and apple-facts with orange-statistics to create a stew of misinformation that "proves" all is well … Read more

An interesting number

by David Safier The Goldwater Institute loves to place Arizona's per pupil expenditures at around $9,000, thousands higher than the number cited in most national comparisons. That's to prove that we lavish a ridiculous amount of money on our students here in Arizona. Then it uses an apples-and-oranges comparison of its high figure with the … Read more