by Alí Bustamante 

Recently the Annie E. Casey Foundation updated its Kids Count Data Book, which measures and ranks the wellbeing of children across the U.S.  Louisiana ranked 48th among the 50 states in overall childhood wellbeing, the state’s lowest ranking since the Kids Count rankings began in 2012. Only New Mexico and Mississippi ranked lower than Louisiana this year, 49th and 50th respectively.  The rest of the Gulf South also performed poorly, Alabama ranked 45th, Texas 41st, and Florida 37th.

A collective sigh of relief emanated from the statehouse at 6:00 pm on June 11, 2015. The Louisiana legislature passed a last-minute budget-bill that appears to avoid fiscal disaster—at least for now. Legislators performed political acrobatics that enable the Governor to claim this budget is revenue neutral when in fact, and by necessity, businesses will pay more taxes.[1]   

by Susan Weishar, Ph.D.

Anticipating Earth Day, April 22, 2015 

by Fred Kammer, S.J. 

by Alí Bustamante, M.A.

Since June 2014, the average price of a barrel of oil has fallen from more than $100 to about $50.[1]  Many states, including those in the Gulf South, are considering budget cuts to higher education, healthcare, and social services in order to deal with oil revenue shortfalls. But is the oil revenue shortfall really the culprit? Contrary to what state budget offices profess, pressure to public services stems from the inadequacy and regressive nature of tax structures and not from oil revenue shortfalls.

by Alex Mikulich, Ph.D.

The question of the “State of the Dream” is often raised at annual celebrations of the Martin Luther King Holiday.  I heard the question yet again at a recent panel discussion held at Dillard University.  Dominant U.S. society, I responded, has never embraced Dr. King’s “Dream” or the goals of the March on Washington. 

The opportunity to enact the “Dream” still stands before us. There are many ways we can enact the Dream, one of which is raising the minimum wage to the level demanded by the March on Washington on March 28, 1963.

On November 20, 2014, President Obama announced he would take Executive Action on immigration that includes several provisions, including a policy that will provide temporary relief from deportation and work authorization for approximately 3.9 million undocumented immigrants for up to three years.  In his speech to the nation the President explained that although the U.S. Senate had passed a bi-partisan comprehensive immigration reform bill in June 2013, because the U.S.

by Fred Kammer, S.J. 

The New Orleans Advocate, in an eight-part report[1], has highlighted the burgeoning practice of creating tax-breaks (“tax incentives,” “tax loopholes,” “tax expenditures”) that now cost Louisiana $1.08 billion dollars a year.  Legislatures create these benefits purportedly to induce businesses to locate in a state or expand there.  Two examples from The Advocate illustrate these incentives:

by Alex Mikulich, Ph.D.

“The criminal justice system is out of control,”[1] proclaimed Pope Francis to the International Association of Penal Law on October 23, 2014. 

Francis laments how societies have become overly punitive, thereby losing the capacity to practice the “primacy of life and the dignity of the human person.”  

Sadly, Louisiana is a prime example of a criminal justice system out of control, as the state “locks up more of its people than anywhere in the world.”[2]

by Sue Weishar, Ph.D.