Commentary
Renate Pore: Capito should support Medicaid expansion
December 17, 2009, The Charleston Gazette -- Health reform is still being debated in the U.S. Senate, but as we get closer to the end, it looks like both versions of the bill will have very good news for West Virginia. Read
Ted Boettner: W.Va. lags in fostering green jobs
September 6, 2009, Sunday Gazette-Mail -- Across the country, states are taking action to create growth in the green economy. Governors are establishing task forces and commissions, developing action plans and policies, and making direct investments in green economic development. Read
Paul E. Miller: ARRA Provides Economic Stimulus, Not Stagnation
September 4, 2009, The State Journal -- John Dove’s recent commentary that the impact of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) has been economic "stagnation" is flawed and misleading. Read
Paul E. Miller: Quick action would help the unemployed
August 9, 2009, The Charleston Gazette -- More than 6,000 jobless workers in West Virginia are expected to exhaust all of their unemployment benefits by the end of the year. Quick thinking and legislative action could help these jobless workers survive a deepening recession by adding 20 additional weeks of Extended Benefits. Read
Renate Pore: Real health-care reform or bust -- literally
June 27, 2009, Sunday Gazette-Mail -- Listen up, West Virginia. The most important debate of the past 50 years will begin in Congress and fill the airwaves this summer. The outcome of the debate will decide if the USA will have an affordable health-care system that rewards efficiency and improves our health. Or if we will continue down an unsustainable road of a wildly inefficient profit-driven health-care system that eats up an ever greater percent of our family budget and our national treasure. Read
Ted Boettner: Federal funds buy time for long-term budget solutions Advertisement
May 10, 2009, Lawmakers will have a ready tool when they reconvene at the end of the month to pass a budget for the coming fiscal year. The federal Recovery Act provides almost $2 billion to West Virginia - more than enough money to fill the projected $200 million budget gap. While some of the funds are earmarked for new projects, such as highway and bridge repairs, Congress intended for states to use a portion of the money to avert cuts in state spending. Read
Renate Pore: Fast action needed on health care
While the problems facing the incoming president are daunting, a time of crisis may be the best opportunity to finally put in place a health-care policy that provides affordable coverage for all. | PDF
Ted Boettner and Paul Miller
West Virginia Loses 18,900 Manufacturing Jobs Since 2000: U.S.
trade deficit restricts creation of additional 17,800 jobs.
While West Virginians worry about mounting losses on Wall Street, an issue closer to Main Street is receiving less attention. Some of the best-paying jobs in West Virginia are disappearing at an alarming rate. | PDF / HTML
Robert Diznoff
Temporary Gas-Tax Freeze Doesn't Address Real Problem
July 20, 2008, The Sunday Gazette-Mail -- The governor and the state Legislature missed a golden opportunity during the recent special session to address West Virginia's energy future. | HTML / PDF
Renate E. Pore
W. Va. Medicaid: A closer look at the numbers
July 13, 2008, The Charleston Gazette -- Next to the federal Medicare program for the elderly, West Virginia Medicaid is the single most important health insurance and long-term care program in the state. In 2009, it is expected to generate $2.6 billion in state economic activity (about 4 percent of state GDP) with $2 billion coming from federal funds. | HTML / PDF
Dean Baker and Ted Boettner
Bad times in W. Va.: Can the next president help?
May 25, 2008, The Charleston Gazette -- Not since the Democratic presidential contest of 1960 between John Kennedy and Hubert Humphrey has West Virginia occupied center stage in a national election. With West Virginia in the spotlight, working families have a rare opportunity to put their economic concerns on the national stage. | HTML / PDF
Taking the High Road: Surveys Show the Way -- Overwhelming consensus of the literature is that state and city taxes have at most a minor impact on business location decisions.
Ted Boettner responds to Dan Page's column in the March 7 issue of The State Journal which levels several criticisms about the West Virginia Center on Budget and Policy and its recent report "High Costs, Dubious Benefits." | Read HTML / PDF
Ted Boettner and Renate Pore
What benefits West Virginia?: Instead of tax cuts, let's invest
in kids and health care
The Legislature is considering corporate tax cuts with SB 465 and SB 680. If these tax cuts are adopted, West Virginia will lose about $121 million a year when they are fully implemented, or $524 million over the next eight years... | Read HTML / PDF
Ted Boettner: Ice Cream Doesn't Cause Shark Attacks
The Daily Mail's Jan. 21 editorial, "Those tax cuts should be kept," stated that President Bush's tax cuts of 2001 and 2003 should be made permanent because federal revenues have grown by 40 percent between 2003 and 2007... | Read HTML / PDF