Recent Posts
Stenhouse joins Scott Rasmussen at NYC Pension Symposium
Advancing Liberty, Creating Change Mike Stenhouse, CEO for the RI Center for Freedom and Prosperity will serve as a panelist at a public employee pension symposium in New York City this Friday. "Advancing Liberty, Creating Change" is a City Symposium in New York City May 18, 2012 co-sponsored by...
The Ocean State Current to Hire Investigative Reporter
The Ocean State Current, an online news bureau and a division of the non-partisan think thank - the Rhode Island Center for Freedom of Prosperity - announced today that it plans to hire an investigative reporter to complement its existing online content. The Current is actively conducting a search a...
Would you tax Big Papi right off the Red Sox?
Those who support the onerous tax structure that has ruined our state's economy have wheeled out a new poll that shows public support of increased taxes on the rich ... out of fairness, of course. Our Center has already shown how this tax increase would cost even more jobs for RI and further ham...
National Popular Vote – Right or Wrong for Rhode Island and America?
Dowload a printable PDF of the Policy Brief here ... April 4, 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 the...
Center for Freedom presents at RI Hospitality Board Meeting
Mike Stenhouse, CEO for the RI Center for Freedom & Prosperity, presented the findings from the Center's Policy Brief on the Governor's proposed "sales tax hike" to the Board of Directors of the RI Hospitality Association this morning. Also discussed was the upcoming "Eliminate the Sales Tax" re...
Task Force OpEd in ProJo: All RI Communities in Deep Trouble
by MIKE STENHOUSE and RICK DANKER Rhode Island has become ground zero for the public-employee pension crisis owing to the size of the unfunded pension liabilities the state and its cities face along with the sad story of the Central Falls bankruptcy. But, unlike other states stuck in similar s...
Center for Freedom research at anti Meals-Tax Rally
On March 22, CEO Mike Stenhouse presented research detailing the negative consequences Rhode Island might expect if the Governor's proposed Sales Tax increase were to be implemented. See the full Policy Brief here ... Listen to the Mike Stenhouse Radio Interview w/ Dan Yorke ...
Commentary: Fabrication by Rhode Islanders for Tax Equity
George Nee and RIFuture.org should be Called-Out for Promoting Misleading Info In promoting their plan to tax the rich, the Rhode Islanders for Tax Equity group recently put out a misleading video and chart attempting to equate a drop in Rhode Island’s income tax rates on the wealthy to the ri...
Task Force Launches Municipal Pension Reform Website
Pension Data added for 1800+ Police and Fire Retirees for Central Falls, Warwick, East Providence, and Newport FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: March 20, 2012 Providence, RI - As part of National Transparency Week, the Rhode Island Center for Freedom and Prosperity announced today the posting of new pen...
All Cities and Towns May Already be in “Critical Status”
COMMENTARY: by Mike Stenhouse and Rich Danker The centerpiece of the governor’s proposed legislation to let municipalities' independent pension plans suspend annual cost of living adjustments (COLA’s), includes a '60% critical status' test that may be irrelevant. While we support the conc...
Meet one of the “rich” who may be driven out of RI
Meet Jennifer Hushion. She's one of the "rich" that some say we need to tax more. In our Center's analysis of the ill-conceived "Tax The Rich" bill, we warned that not only would this tax harm our state's fragile economy, but would also drive people, like Jennifer and her family, out of the Ocean S...
JUST LAUNCHED! The Ocean State Current is now live!
Visit The Ocean State Current - our Center's new News Bureau - at www.OceanStateCurrent.com February 28, 2012 Providence, RI -- The Rhode Island Center for Freedom and Prosperity today launched its independent, nonpartisan news bureau, The Ocean State Current, which can be accessed at www.Oce...
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
