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• Why Our Unions Need to Leave Politics Behind
• Posted By: Mark Funkhouser |   June 18, 2012
• A strong labor movement is good for the country. Unions should stop doling out campaign cash and focus on organizing.
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• 6 Comments

• America’s Looming Pension Shock
• Posted By: Mark Funkhouser |   June 14, 2012
• After decades of gains, millions of Americans are slipping into poverty just as they near retirement age. The result will be a crisis for governments — one that they should be thinking about now.
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• 3 Comments

• The Question Our Auditors Don’t Answer: Is This Program Working?
• Posted By: Mark Funkhouser |   June 11, 2012
• Ferreting out waste and mismanagement is important, but what we really need from our watchdogs is work that improves the public’s trust in government.
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• 6 Comments

• Cities and the Coming Walmart Invasion
• Posted By: Mark Funkhouser |   June 7, 2012
• The world’s biggest retailer wants to build stores in urban areas. That’s good for cities, but they need to be careful.
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• 4 Comments

• Why We Shouldn’t Be Cutting Higher Ed
• Posted By: Mark Funkhouser |   June 4, 2012
• Reducing our investments in public colleges and universities — one of our great engines of economic development — may cost more than it saves.
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• 3 Comments

• Human Services and Our Obsession with Fraud
• Posted By: Mark Funkhouser |   May 31, 2012
• Sometimes it seems as if all we care about in delivering benefits is making sure the wrong people don’t get them. There are more important things to worry about.
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• 5 Comments

• The Real Costs of Infrastructure
• Posted By: Mark Funkhouser |   May 24, 2012
• It’s hard to find trillions of dollars to fix our infrastructure. But not fixing our roads and bridges and ports is also expensive — and not just in dollars.
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• 4 Comments

• When Citizens Understand the Cost of Government
• Posted By: Mark Funkhouser |   May 21, 2012
• There’s more to engaging the public in governance — making them part of decisions about paying for the services they value — than simply ‘educating’ them.
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• 11 Comments

• Random Idiots and Useless Blowhard Gasbags
• Posted By: Mark Funkhouser |   May 17, 2012
• Bad things happen, and the media amplifies them. But they are not the indicators of the decline of our culture that some would have us believe.
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• 3 Comments

• Why We Shouldn’t Fear a Shrinking Labor Force
• Posted By: Mark Funkhouser |   May 14, 2012
• It’s good for our communities when toiling for a paycheck isn’t the only thing people do.
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• 8 Comments