Individual privacy
Given last week’s events on Capitol Hill, it’s likely that any mention of “privacy violations” would conjure up images of Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg getting grilled by Congress. While Facebook’s privacy issues may cause concern, they’re nothing alongside the risks we’re subject to from Big Government’s collection of our data. Take the federal Consumer Financial Protection Bureau: Established by former president Obama and the 2010 Democrat-controlled Congress, the CFPB sucks up massive information on Americans’ major financial doings, including credit-card transactions, home loan applications and bank accounts. This week the CFPB confirmed it has been successfully hacked at least 240 times, with another estimated 800 suspected hacking attempts. The successful penetrations of the CFPB have jeopardized the Social Security numbers, personal banking details and other financial information of untold numbers of unwitting American citizens. At least Facebook asks consumers to agree to “Terms of Use” before putting its user’s data at risk. (Read more)
Free markets
A new scientific study demonstrates concrete evidence of something free-market proponents have long known already: Communism doesn’t lead to prosperity. The study, published in the journal Royal Society Open Science, looked at the wealth and overall wellbeing of citizens in 44 countries across Europe and Asia to identify factors that contribute to economic prosperity. The conclusion was inescapable: The single strongest predictor for a country’s low overall health ranking, and the second-strongest factor for its poor wealth ranking, turned out to be whether or not the nation had adopted communism in the past. I guess this officially “outs” all those proponents of Marxist “scientific socialism” as nothing more than “science deniers.” (Read more)
Public sector pensions
Pew Charitable Trusts this week released its latest report on the fiscal health of government pensions, and the news hasn’t gotten any better. According to the study, states have a cumulative deficit of $1.4 trillion, up a whopping 27 percent from 2015. In an attempt to minimize shortfalls states are moving into riskier investment strategies, and there’s already been an ever-larger share of tax dollars going toward keeping these pension plans afloat. It’s a trend that should worry even the most die-hard advocate of public sector growth, given that, as the AP reported, the looming crisis means less money “is available for core government services such as education, public safety and parks.” (Read more)
Educational choice
Join NPRI after work on May 10th in Summerlin for a “School Choice Happy Hour!” Education Savings Accounts may not yet be funded in Nevada, but we do still have one school choice program in place — and there are plenty of things we can do to expand choice for parents and students in the Silver State. Tim Keller, an outstanding legal mind from the Institute for Justice, will be the evening’s keynote speaker. Tim — instrumental in the successful legal defense of Nevada’s ESAs — knows better than anyone what we as parents, taxpayers and activists can do to help give every child a genuine opportunity for quality education. So come by Honey Salt restaurant on May 10th at 5:30 to talk with us about the future of educational choice in the Silver State! (Click here for RSVP information)
Government overreach
Can you imagine a government so powerful it can literally force you out of your house to make way for a major commercial development that — supposedly — will bring in more tax revenue for politicians to spend? It sounds like something that could never happen in America, but under “progressive” theories of “eminent domain,” it does happen. Like when the pharmaceutical giant Pfizer convinced the Connecticut government to bulldoze an entire neighborhood to make way for its new development. But one woman fought back. Suzette Kelo, a small-town paramedic who lived in a little pink house in New London, Conn., went all the way to the Supreme Court in a bid to save her home and the homes of her neighbors. Her incredible true story is now a motion picture starring two-time Academy Award nominee Catherine Keener and Emmy nominee Jeanne Tripplehorn. (Watch the trailer and read about the case here!) And now, if enough Nevadans reserve their tickets this weekend, this moving story about the abuse of crony government will be showing right here in Las Vegas on April 23rd. (Click here to reserve tickets)
Continuing series on special education
Don’t miss Part Eight of Fixing Special Ed, NPRI Senior VP Steve Miller’s in-depth series documenting the abuse, law-breaking and deception that all too frequently still today characterizes public-school districts’ administration of special education. While this problem has existed in Nevada for decades, there’s a way out, which more and more states are embracing. Hint: All the Silver State need do is simply embrace the same respect for parental choice that increasing numbers of other states are affirming. (Read the series here)
