Despite absorbing some blows, manufacturing in Delaware has survived and it appears that better days are ahead. Over the past two decades Delaware manufacturing employment has plummeted from 48,000 to 26,000, an astounding decline of over 40%. Scanning the landscape, Delaware no longer has an automobile manufacturing industry, the chemical industry is down to one-fourth its former size, pharmaceutical giant Astra Zeneca is eliminating 550 research positions, and the major ref

A press release by State Reps. John Kowalko and Earl Jacques (“State Should Move to Single-Payer”, News Journal, 12/11/12) supporting a single-payer healthcare system for Delaware is intriguing, but it incorrectly assumes the economic world is stagnant. They think the insurance industry exists to extract profit from customers and does not add value to the healthcare delivery system. They think Delaware can simply appropriate this profit for which no service is delivered and s

10/2/2012   When the Caesar Rodney Institute launched its Transparent Delaware website in March of this year, the intent was to include with the individual state payroll and vendor data, the most recent state pension data. The request for the pension data was denied on the basis of statute 29 Del c 8308 (d). That statute requires that all records relating to pensions and other post-employment benefits “shall be confidential.”   Although this statute is unlikely to withstand a

Over time increases in Delawares state and local government tax burden reduces the growth of total employment in the First State.

Is a $2.4 million grant to CIGNA an appropriate use of state funds?

The significant drop in Delaware manufacturing jobs over recent decades is a result of competitive market forces in the face of which goverrnment subsidies would have had no lasting effect.

9/28/2012   As a public service and to boost government transparency, the Caesar Rodney website includes payroll data for every state government employee and all vendor transactions. While recently updating this information through June of 2011, CRI ran into a roadblock with regard to adding pension data for retired state workers.   The general assembly has written a statute into the state code that requires all pension data on individuals to be kept confidential (29 Del C &8

The Caesar Rodney Institute’s analysis of the Universal Recycling bill, SB234 indicates tonnage diverted for the added recycled material will have a potential value of $0.8 million/yr.  Costs to Delaware residents will be $28.6 million/yr. So, each $1 of benefit will cost Delawareans $38 in spending! DSWA landfills have an estimated remaining capacity of 56 million tons and an expected life of thirty years. Thirty years of diverted tonnage will add about 7 months to the expec

Regardless of what happens in coming months in the national economy, Delaware will avoid a double dip.

As shown in the chart below, a picture is often worth a thousand words. Since the year 2000, Federal debt has increased almost 200%, going from 57% of GDP to 105% of GDP (we now beat out Sudan!). Simultaneously, GDP rose just 60% and total private sector jobs fell.   Do we really need more Federal debt spending to “help” the U.S. economy?