Recent Posts
Media Event: Report Cards passed out today at Statehouse
MEDIA EVENT WHAT: State Report Cards Handed Out WHEN: Thursday, February 16, 3pm-4pm WHERE: RI Statehouse Rotunda Providence, RI -- Legislators, staffers, and passers-by will have their competitiveness report cards handed out to them this afternoon at the Statehouse, but it is doub...
Right To Work = Freedom for RI Workers
Download a printable version of this Policy Brief here ... A “Right-To-Work” Freedom of Association for Ocean State Workers Introduction Today, in 23 states in America, workers have the freedom under "Right-to-Work" (RTW) laws to decide whether or not to pay union dues. Indiana becam...
National Popular Vote – Right or Wrong for America?
Dowload a printable PDF of the Policy Brief here ... February 15, 2012: National Popular Vote Imagine the likely scenario thatRhode Islandvoters will overwhelmingly support the re-election of President Obama, Democrat, this November by the same 63%-35% margin as they did in 2008. Then imagine...
Rhody FAILS Report Card
Providence, RI -- The state of Rhode Island suffers from failing grades in an overwhelming number of indexes, according to the first-ever state Competitiveness Report Card, published today by the Rhode Island Center for Freedom and Prosperity, a non-partisan public policy think tank. Download 2-p...
Bridge Tolls may be best of the worst options
Center recommends use of existing funds or privatizing upgrades as preferred options Rhode Island ranks last or next to last in three major national highway, bridge and general infrastructure indexes. And so, there seems to be an inevitable push to repair some of the state’s most important bri...
Cranston Police & Fire Pensions 80% More Generous than MERS Peers
The RI Center for Freedom & Prosperity's release of pension data for Cranston makes comparisons possible with retirees in the state system, whose records the Center posted in the fall. When it comes to the average annual pension payment given to its retirees in the state Employees' Retirement...
Governor’s proposed Tax Hikes will Harm already Fragile Economy
Tax Increases Will Cost Jobs and Return Far Less than expected Tax Plan Analysis Download the entire Policy Analysis here ... including detailed tables and additional information. In late January 2012,Rhode Island’s Governor proposed a new budget that included a number of tax and fee increases,...
Collective Bargaining Reform could Save R.I. $252 million per year
Excessive Government Worker Compensation Doubles the State Budget Shortfall, Reform would Disrupt the Union-Policymaker quid pro quo. A study released this week by the Goldwater Institute details the crippling financial impact of public-sector unionization. The study projects that a ban on c...
Governor’s Sales Tax Hike will Hike Unemployment
Download the complete Policy Brief here; includes comparative table and reference end notes. View or Download the Media Release here; includes quotes and additional information about Scott Moody and STAMP. Lesson in Capitalism - “Dynamic Effects of Tax Policies” Balancing the Budget via Sal...
What others are saying about our “Closing The Gap” Educational study
Visit the Closing The Gap home page here ... Our Closing The Gap study has struck a cord with parents and students, as well as organizations either supporting or resisting comprehensive educational reform in Rhode Island. Below is a sampling: SUPPORTERS Rhode Island Statewide Coaltion...
CLOSING THE GAP Education Study Released
Go to: CLOSING THE GAP Home Page Testimony of Giovanni D. Cicione, Esq., Senor Policy Advisor, to The Board of Regents of Elementary and Secondary Education. Preview of CLOSING THE GAP education study released on January 9. The RI Center for Freedom & Prosperity submitted written testimony to...
Income Inequality should not “Occupy” our Public Policy Planning
Republished as an OpEd in Providence Business News (January 2, 2012 edition) under the title "Public policy shouldn't worry about 'solving' inequality." *** As we observe the “Occupy” phenomenon, and as our local chapter prepares to hibernate for the winter, the issue of income inequality...
STATE THINK TANK: As the only free-enterprise public policy “think tank” in the state, our Center for Freedom provides timely research and analysis on important issues in RI, and is a proud member of the State Policy Network, working closely with over 50 other state-based affiliates.
CHANGING LIVES: Our mission is to relentlessly promote free-market solutions to solve the critical economic and educational issues we face at the state and local levels, so as to return prosperity to our Rhode Island citizens … and to change lives for the better!
COALITION BUILDING: Our Center hosts regular meetings attended by key reform and taxpayer advocacy groups in the state. These meetings provide an important forum where information is shared and where concepts for cooperative outreach and grassroots advocacy are hatched.
All of us need to be reminded that the Federal Government did not create the states; the states created the Federal Government!–Ronald Reagan
The greatest tyrannies are always perpetuate
d in the name of the noblest causes.–Thomas Paine
The progress by which the poor, honest, industrious and resolute man raises himself, that he may work on his own account and hire somebody else … is the great principle for which this government was really formed.–Abraham Lincoln
When the people fear the government, that's tyranny; when the government fears the people, that's freedom!–Thomas Jefferson
Above all, however, we must recognize that we may be free and yet miserable. Liberty does not mean all good things or the absence of all evils. It is true that to be free may mean freedom to starve, to make costly mistakes, or to run mortal risks.–Friedrich von Hayek
A government big enough to give you everything you want is big enough to take away everything you have.–Thomas Jefferson
