In this morning’s Union Leader, State Treasurer Catherine Provencher takes issue with some of the statistics I cited in last week’s column on New Hampshire debt.

The Treasurer is right that I accepted the accuracy of the federal government’s data and we should check it more. They measure something different than Moody’s does and than the state measures and we need to investigate it. I suspect we look relatively better when using GDP or Personal Income, which are higher than average in NH and we look relatively worse when using taxes which are relatively low in the aggregate in NH. Probably both data points have their uses. The census data purports to be comparing debt to total tax burden as opposed to general fund tax burden which may explain part of the difference.

The Concord Monitor’s Matthew Spolar reports on the pay-as-you-throw trash system making its way to Hopkinton.

State Treasurer Catherine Provencher has a column in the print edition of this morning’s Union Leader on New Hampshire debt. I highly recommend it to anyone interested in the finances behind New Hampshire government.

Douglas Holtz-Eakin and Cameron Smith of the American Action Forum look at the premise that the European-style Value Added Tax, or VAT, fuels the growth of government spending more than other sources of revenue. Their results provide strong evidence that the VAT is indeed a “‘money pump’ that causes government to grow too large.”

Grant Bosse, Scott Tranchemontagne, and Ambassador George Bruno join host Charlie Sherman for WGIR’s Political Roundtable. Topics will include President Obama’s speech on Iraq, and the latest polls and TV ads in the New Hampshire Senate race. Listen live from 8-9 on WGIRam.com.

In the Washington Examiner, Mark Flatten pens an excellent piece on why federal subsidies for newspapers aren’t just bad for taxpayers, but for a free press.

Shira Schoenberg reports in the Concord Monitor that Gary Smith, President of the State Employees Association, won’t seek another term.

The Daily Caller looks at the bed bug epidemic hitting New York City, and the well-meaning government policies that may have caused it.

The Concord Monitor urges New Hampshire State Police to realize there are limits to their power to take people’s property, even if they don’t like them.

Nashua Telegraph Staff Writer Albert McKeon misreads the statistics from New Hampshire’s Office of Economic Stimulus, and reaches the false conclusion that the Stimulus Act has created half the jobs that its supporters promised.