May 24, 2016 BY JASON PRAMAS @JASONPRAMAS The Worst of the House and the Senate Ways and Means Committee FY 2017 State Budget Proposals A weekly column like this one can only keep up with a limited number of current events. Although committed to tracking the worst proposed cuts at different stages of the often-savage […]
AUSTERITY BUDGET: PART 2
April 28, 2016 BY JASON PRAMAS @JASONPRAMAS The lowlights of the Mass House Ways and Means Committee FY 2017 state budget proposal Time for a look at the latest act of the Commonwealth’s annual fiscal circus: the House Ways and Means Committee (HWMC) FY 2017 budget proposal. As with the governor’s FY 2017 proposal three […]
AUSTERITY BUDGET: BAKER HITS STUDENTS, HOMELESS, POOR, EVERYBODY BUT THE RICH WITH FY17 BUDGET PROPOSAL
February 25, 2016 BY JASON PRAMAS @JASONPRAMAS If you’re a working person, and you want to understand the annual Massachusetts state budget process, the best resource to consult is the Mass Budget and Policy Center (MBPC). It issues timely reports detailing every major budget proposal and wrapping up each final budget. And it keeps the […]
THE BARBARISM OF CHARTERISM
New year, new theater in the war over corporate ed reform Boston City Councilor Tito Jackson was smiling. Not the ordinary cheery ear-to-ear look his constituents have come to expect from the ebullient official, but rather a modest show of relief dashed with giddiness because the side of Boston’s education battle he has come to […]