As President Obama calls for new job creation that won’t raise the national budget deficit, an opportunity exists for the private and public sectors to work together. The University of Pennsylvania’s Fels Institute of Government lays out six proven strategies to help governments, businesses and workers successfully address the jobs problem in a new report,Read… Read more »
By Sam Williford, Associate Consultant As Congress works to find a solution to the ‘fiscal cliff’ by the end of the year, the federal budget is hardly the only player involved. Without a compromise, state and local governments, which are required to keep balanced budgets, would feel the effects from less federal support. This couldRead… Read more »
By Sam Williford, Associate Consultant Starting last week, and into the forseeable future, every level of government was called upon to work together to prepare for and clean up after Hurricane Sandy, which struck the area this past week. The recent disagreements between New Jersey Governor Chris Christie and Atlantic City Mayor Lorenzo Langford highlightRead… Read more »
By Sam Williford, Associate Consultant While last week’s drop in unemployment was the first substantial good news for the economy in months (if not years), it underscores the work still that needs to be done to help the 12 million Americans unemployed as of last month. I have had the opportunity at Fels Research andRead… Read more »
By Sam Williford, Associate Consultant Recently, Governor Brown and the California legislature approved a bill that would allow local governments the option not to send out advance notice of public meetings, or provide minutes from closed sessions (known as the Brown Act, not related to the current governor), in an effort to stem the tideRead… Read more »
By Joseph Semsar, Associate Consultant Five months ago, Associate Consultant Sam Williford and I began working on a study, funded by the Annie E. Casey Foundation, to identify truly effective employer-driven job training programs. Yesterday, June 18th — after consulting over 450 reports, articles, and case studies, interviewing over 20 workforce development experts, and, lastly,Read… Read more »
By Sam Williford, Associate Consultant As Greece holds elections this weekend that are chiefly framed around government spending, it is easy to forget about the other part of finance: tax collections. It’s an integral part of learning about finance at Fels, and today’s deal in Philadelphia to raise property taxes and postpone the Actual ValueRead… Read more »
By Samuel Williford, Associate Consultant Robert Caro’s latest work, “The Passage of Power”, came out recently, and documents the period of Lyndon B. Johnson’s career from 1960 to 1965. Having a chance to reflect on that period in American history has helped me to realize how influential it is today, and how many of theRead… Read more »