Blog Posts

Dec 02 2014

What would you do with the state’s $4.5 billion fund?

Alex McCausland2024-03-14T16:32:25-06:00Blog Posts, Tax and Budget Blog|

Our nation and our state must have the public infrastructure our businesses need in order to deliver their goods and services. This infrastructure includes a transportation network—from roads to railways to airports—a telecommunications network, and public works such as water and sewer systems and an electrical grid. All of these systems are vital for our modern economy and our quality of life. Building and maintaining them has the added advantage of creating jobs. Government has an important role in ensuring that this infrastructure is in place, and that it is safe, effective and accessible to everyone.

Nov 11 2014

New Mexico’s two-billion-dollar gender pay gap

Alex McCausland2024-06-03T13:28:07-06:00Blog Posts, Economic Security Blog|

The gender wage gap has been a topic of interest for some time, so while you may not be surprised that women still earn 78 percent of what their white male counterparts earn, here’s something you may not know: New Mexican women who work full time lose a combined total of almost $2 billion every year due to the wage gap. That’s $2 billion—with a ‘B’—and it doesn’t even include what women who work part time are losing. If New Mexico’s working women had $2 billion more to spend every year not only would fewer of the state’s children live in poverty, but the state’s economy would improve. That’s money that goes towards rent, food and gas for families that are barely making it. This should concern policymakers in a state where 106,993 households are headed by women, 37% of those households have incomes that fall below the poverty line, and 29% of our children are born into poverty.

Oct 08 2014

Poverty update: Good news for the U.S., bad news for New Mexico

Alex McCausland2018-04-03T12:39:33-06:00Blog Posts, Economic Security Blog|

The recent Census data releases on poverty delivered some reasonably good news for the nation, but bad news for New Mexico. The Census gives us an annual look at how families are faring across the nation. While the rest of the nation is recovering—albeit very slowly—from the recession, New Mexico is still stuck in economic limbo, and a lot of our families are still struggling. This is important because in order for New Mexico’s economy to thrive, its people have to have the opportunities to do so as well; and New Mexico’s economy can’t get better when so many of its families are barely getting by. But it doesn’t have to be this way—there are common sense solutions that can address poverty and help make families and the economy stronger. Before looking at some of the solutions though, let’s take a quick look at what the Census data shows.

Sep 25 2014

“Mom, how can people be poor if they are working?”

Alex McCausland2024-03-14T16:30:02-06:00Blog Posts, Economic Security Blog|

My 6-year-old daughter recently asked me a very astute question: how it was possible that people who are working can still be poor? That’s a good question! The answer can be complicated. For example, since it’s not adjusted for inflation, the minimum wage has lost about 10 percent of its purchasing power since it was last raised in 2009. Also, having an education pays off now more than ever in this 21^st century economy. Adults with college degrees or industry-recognized certificates usually earn family-sustaining wages, which means they make greater contributions to our economy.

Sep 09 2014

NM might consider social impact bonds for expanding early childhood services

Alex McCausland2016-09-21T16:40:38-06:00Blog Posts, Education Blog|

Dr. Arthur Rolnick—the keynote speaker at our 2014 NM KIDS COUNT Conference—made a compelling case for higher levels of investment in early childhood care and learning services. Many people in New Mexico agree that these kind of investments will help us improve the well-being of our children. Unfortunately, there has not been a consensus in Santa Fe on how to pay for these programs.

Aug 26 2014

Most SNAP recipients would work for food – if they could find a job

Alex McCausland2018-04-03T12:39:34-06:00Blog Posts, Tax and Budget Blog|

The proposal by Governor Martinez’s Human Services Department (HSD) to reinstate work requirements on recipients of food benefits is ill-considered and reflects an upside-down set of values, particularly in the face of an ongoing weak economy that is not producing jobs. The HSD plan to limit SNAP benefits unless the unemployed comply with job search and work requirements could cause families with children to lose benefits for up to a year. Childless adults who fail to complete 20 hours of work a week could lose SNAP for up to three years.

Aug 19 2014

This is OBSCENE!

Alex McCausland2018-04-03T12:39:34-06:00Blog Posts, Education Blog, Tax and Budget Blog|

A recent report from the State Investment Council shows that New Mexico’s Land Grant Permanent Fund (LGPF) is growing at a robust pace and now exceeds $13.8 billion. It’s the second largest fund of its kind in the nation and we spend a small portion of it every year on education and other important services. Meanwhile, New Mexico remains the worst state in which to raise a child. Only a small fraction of our youngest children have access to the high-quality early childhood care and learning services that are shown to improve their outcomes all the way into adulthood.

Jul 29 2014

How New Mexico has failed its unemployed workers and its economy

Alex McCausland2024-03-14T16:28:06-06:00Blog Posts, Economic Security Blog, Tax and Budget Blog|

Unemployment insurance (UI) has both a moral and an economic dimension—and New Mexico’s UI system has failed on both fronts. From a moral point of view, the intent of unemployment insurance is to keep people who are unemployed through no fault of their own from falling into financial ruin when they lose a job. The economic rationale for the program is that UI, along with SNAP (food stamps), is one of the so-called “automatic stabilizers” that keep the demand side of the economy from collapsing when the nation falls into a recession.

Jul 22 2014

We’re 49th! A stroke of luck or the result of positive change?

Alex McCausland2018-04-03T12:39:34-06:00Blog Posts, Economic Security Blog, Education Blog, Kids Count Blog|

The 2014 national KIDS COUNT ranking of states in child well-being just came out. There was a lot of uproar last year when, for the first time ever, New Mexico was ranked dead last—a position that had always been reserved for Mississippi. This year, Mississippi is back in 50^th and we are ranked 49^th. That’s good news, surely, but we have to ask ourselves … is it just a statistical fluke? Or, could our state possibly be starting to make progress in improving children’s lives? And, if this is so, can we sustain this movement?

Jun 18 2014

Let’s have a debate about the real deficit

Alex McCausland2018-04-03T12:39:34-06:00Blog Posts, Economic Security Blog, Health Blog, Tax and Budget Blog|

Bloggers and politicos are trading barbs over the truthfulness of the Governor’s repeated claim that she closed the largest budget deficit in the history of the state. (Of course, by constitutional mandate the state cannot run a deficit, so there never was a deficit to close.) We can spend the summer debating the definition of a deficit or we can (and I believe we should) have the more important debate about how we want that budget to look in the future.