Author

Nick Zaiac 82 posts 0 comments

Nick Zaiac is a public-policy researcher in Washington, DC. He also serves as a policy analyst at the Maryland Public Policy Institute. His column, The DC Leviathan focuses on the often-ignored bureaucratic agencies, from the Department of the Interior to the General Services Administration. He has been published in the Baltimore Sun, City AM, CapX, and other outlets. Follow @NickZaiac.

Caribbean

A Broken PROMESA on Puerto Rico’s Economic Recovery

Nick Zaiac Jul 6, 2016 11

Last week, President Barack Obama signed the Puerto Rico Oversight, Management, and Economic Stability Act, or PROMESA. The bill is the result of months of bipartisan negotiation over how to deal with a uniquely large…
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United States

Who Will Build the Roads? Soon, Not the US Government

Nick Zaiac May 19, 2016 12

A generation or two into the future, people will look back on the 21st century in amazement that nearly every piece of transportation infrastructure in the United States was once owned by the government. The nation's roads, airports,…
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Puerto Rico

Puerto Rico Lurches Toward Default with No Solution in Sight

Nick Zaiac May 3, 2016 12

This must have been what Robinson Crusoe felt like. Tossed upon an unknown shore in a storm, waking up to find an empty ship stuck on a reef in the Caribbean and then scrambling to salvage every little resource. Rebuilding your…
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Drug War

Regulating Concentrates Is Next Big Hurdle for Legal Marijuana

Nick Zaiac Apr 12, 2016 12

Times are changing in the world of American marijuana policy. The DEA recently announced it would consider rescheduling the drug over the summer. Later in the year, citizens in California, Nevada, Arizona, Maine and Massachusetts will…
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United States

Fixing Public Policy for the Millennial Generation

Nick Zaiac Apr 1, 2016 41

It's time to take a cold, hard look at the failures of the 20th century's public policy decisions. The War on Drugs has failed. Public education, especially in cities, is a mess. The welfare bureaucracy has grown out of control and…
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Economics

US Public Transport Is a Disaster, and Urban Planners Are to Blame

Nick Zaiac Mar 15, 2016 85

The story is old by now. Washington D.C. Metrorail users faced a nightmare in the wake of yet another fire on a train. This came not long after the city inaugurated its first modern streetcar, a widely-panned 2.2 mile line which…
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Columnists

Maryland Is an Over-Regulated Disaster: Here’s How to Fix It

Nick Zaiac Mar 3, 2016 25

The costs of regulation are hard to see. With no dollars changing hands, their toll is measured in wasted time, prospective entrepreneurs who are dissuaded from doing business, and confused citizens whose days are ruined by misfiled…
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Columnists

Despite Output Freeze, Oil States Will Face People’s Wrath

Nick Zaiac Feb 17, 2016 2

On Tuesday, February 16 the governments of Saudi Arabia, Russia, Qatar, and Venezuela agreed to freeze their oil production at "near record" levels. If the deal holds, this will mean that the price of oil will continue its current…
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Columnists

Why the United States Is Not Going Down the Populist Path

Nick Zaiac Feb 3, 2016 28

EspañolPopulists are on the rise in the United States. A year ago, the thought of Donald Trump or Bernie Sanders having any degree of success at the voting booths would elicit laughs at parties in Washington. Trump placed second in…
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Columnists

Flint Water Crisis Is Everything Wrong with Municipal Government

Nick Zaiac Jan 20, 2016 48

Sometimes it only takes one mistake to cause a disaster. One error. One oversight. Or sometimes everything is wrong and nobody knows quite how to fix it. An American city, Flint, Michigan, has poisoned its people. The president…
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Columnists

Want Reform? Look to the States, Not the Feds

Nick Zaiac Jan 5, 2016 3

EspañolA chill is in the air in the US capital on this first week of the year, and it has nothing to do with winter finally taking hold in Washington after a warm, beautiful December. It's coming from the seemingly frozen halls of a…
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The Year We Opened Our Eyes to the Scourge of Zoning

Nick Zaiac Jan 4, 2016 1

As we take a look back, we can safely say that 2015 was a year of populism in Washington. News cycle upon news cycle documented the rise of presidential candidates Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders. It saw widespread minimum wage increases.…
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