Predation
Justices of Juice

Nevada’s high court proclaims
itself above the law

By Steven Miller
BusinessNevada

Early this month the Nevada Supreme Court attempted to put behind it the well-deserved infamy it earned from its 2003 decisions in Guinn v. Legislature.

Unfortunately, attentive reading of the court’s recent decision on PISTOL — the “People’s Initiative to Stop the Taking of Our Land” — reveals a court majority that remains as infected with black-robe fever as ever.

Indeed, considered from the standpoint of America’s Founders, Nevada’s high court continues to militantly insist on getting its constitutional priorities exactly backwards.

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State waste
States could be overwhelmed by health care burden

Government negotiators ignored long-term financial costs of their actions

By Bob Porterfield
Associated Press

The bill is coming due for years of generous benefits bestowed upon the nation's public employees, and it's a stunner: hundreds of billions of dollars over the next three decades.

California will almost certainly owe more than any other state, threatening to bankrupt local governments and all but guaranteeing cuts in services like education and public safety, say observers.

These staggering numbers are coming to light because of new accounting rules issued by the Government Accounting Standards Board. They require public agencies to disclose the future cost of health care and other benefits - such as dental, vision and life insurance - promised to retirees alongside traditional pensions:

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Class warfare
New study undermines argument for death tax

National Center
for Policy Analysis

DALLAS -- As Congress continues debate over reduction and possible elimination of the estate tax, a new study from the National Center for Policy Analysis (NCPA) undermines the chief argument made by proponents of the tax – that estate taxation prevents the concentration of wealth in the hands of financial dynasties.

The report shows that the contribution of inheritances to the distribution of wealth in the U.S. is surprisingly small.

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Gratuity grab
Dealers sue Wynn over tips plan

Retain nationally
prominent labor lawyer

By Arnold M. Knightly
Las Vegas Business Press

Two dealers at Wynn Las Vegas have stepped forward as the named plaintiffs in a class-action lawsuit filed in Clark County District Court on Sept. 13.

The suit seeks damages for compensation lost under the new tip-sharing arrangements, which gave casino supervisors a share of dealers' tips.

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Markets
Builders dropping
options on land

Soft market forces layoffs,
adjustment of strategies

By Brian Wargo
InBusiness Las Vegas

In a sign the housing market continues to soften, Las Vegas Valley homebuilders are backing out of land deals as home sales remain sluggish.

Centex Homes, which has trimmed its staff by layoffs and voluntary resignations, announced Sept. 14 that it has relinquished various options on land holdings.”

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Southern Nevada Index
of Leading Economic Indicators
(click for larger chart)

Demagoguery
Minimum wage increases mean costly mandate on citizens AND employers

Employment Policy Institute

In recent years, the movement to increases minimum wage has been active in states across the country.

Advocates of these wage hikes argue that the increases will help low-income families escape poverty. While this argument is emotionally compelling, it ignores the unintended consequences that the proposed increase would create—such as job loss among the most vulnerable employees and displacement of low-skilled adults by wealthy teens.

Even worse, the mandated increase overwhelmingly confers its benefits on employees who are not poor, while those who are bear a disproportionate share of the costs.

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The Dollar
Bill coming due for years
of US inflation, profligacy

As rates climb, American
foreign debt begins to bite

By Mark Whitehouse
Wall Street Journal

Over the past several years, Americans and their government enjoyed one of the best deals in international finance: They borrowed trillions of dollars from abroad to buy flat-panel TVs, build homes and fight wars, but as those borrowings mounted, the nation's payments on its net foreign debt barely budged.

Now, however, that debt is coming home to roost.

[continued] This article will be available to non-subscribers of the Online Journal for up to seven days after it is e-mailed.

Politicians
The man who would
be majority leader

Harry Reid voting record
found 'not-so-moderate'

Human Events

Were Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D.-Nev.) to become majority leader after the November election, he would fall naturally into a line of bitterly partisan and decidedly left-wing Democratic leaders running back through Tom Daschle (S.D.), George Mitchell (Maine) to Robert Byrd (W.Va.).

Like Daschle before him, Reid is a Western Democrat who came to his leadership post pretending to represent the “moderate” wing of the Democratic Party.

Some Democrats hoped he would help improve their party’s image in Red States, where their support has been eroding since the 1960s.

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Unions
Another NEA
bigwig convicted

NEA executive committee member
pleads 'no contest' to corruption

By PAUL E. KOSTYU
Canton Repository

NEA Executive Committee member Michael Billirakis pled no contest to an ethics violation arising from abuse of his position on the board of the Ohio State Teachers Retirement System. The plea deal resulted in a suspended jail sentence, a $250 fine, one year probation, 60 hours of community service, and $275 in restitution for accepting Broadway play tickets that were supplied by a firm that had business before the retirement board.

Billirakis was charged last month with two counts of conflict of interest and two counts of filing a false disclosure statement by the Ohio Ethics Commission. He is one of three officers of NEA affiliates convicted of accepting gifts from firms who had business with the retirement system board.

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