Quick takes Archives - Page 4 of 19 Voice For Liberty

Nov

Kansas and Wichita quick takes: Wednesday November 23, 2011

Standing up for fundamental liberties. A particularly troubling objection that those who advocate for liberty face is that we want to deny freedom and liberty to others -- as if the quantity of liberty is fixed, and I can have more only if you have less. This is the type of false accusation that leftists make against Wichita-based Koch Industries. In this excerpt from the company's Koch Facts page, the work that Koch does to advance liberty for everyone is explained: "Throughout Koch’s long-standing record of public advocacy, we have been strong and steadfast supporters of individual liberties and freedoms.…

Nov

By Bob Weeks

Kansas and Wichita quick takes: Tuesday November 22, 2011

Ghana junket. A reader writes with information and opinion about the trip by Wichita Mayor Carl Brewer and Vice Mayor Lavonta Williams (district 1, northeast and east Wichita) to Ghana, Africa: "I found it interesting that the City Council $15,000 plus junket to Ghana was first advertised as a Sister City recruitment trip (And after the Police Chief and others were identified) the trip mission changed to Economic Development. I have no idea how Ghana can help us when 56% of their economy is agricultural and in 2002 the government opted for debt relief under the "Heavily Indebted Poor Country…

Nov

By Bob Weeks

Kansas and Wichita quick takes: Thursday November 10, 2011

Occupy Wall Street. One of the most troubling things about OWS is the anti-semitism. FreedomWorks has a video which explains. Also from FreedomWorks, president Matt Kibbe contributes a piece for the Wall Street Journal (Occupying vs. Tea Partying: Freedom and the foundations of moral behavior.). In it, he concludes: "Progressives' burning desire to create a tea party of the left may be clouding their judgment. Even Mr. Jones has grudgingly conceded that tea partiers have out-crowd-sourced, out-organized, and out-performed the most sophisticated community organizers on the left. 'Here's the irony,' he said back in July. 'They talk rugged individualist, but…

Nov

By Bob Weeks

Kansas and Wichita quick takes: Thursday November 3, 2011

Energy bill to be introduced today. According to a press release, U.S. Representative Mike Pompeo of Wichita will introduce the "Energy Freedom and Economic Prosperity Act." This bill would eliminate all tax credits related to energy production. For more, see Pompeo to introduce ‘Energy Freedom and Economic Prosperity Act.’ Crony capitalism disputed. At yesterday's meeting of the Sedgwick County Commission, chair Dave Unruh objected to my use of the term "crony capitalism" on the basis of the term having a pejorative connotation. A dictionary definition of "crony" is a "close friend especially of long standing." Applied to government, the implication…

Oct

By Bob Weeks

Kansas and Wichita quick takes: Monday October 31, 2011

Wichita City Council. The Wichita City Council this week considers two items of interest. Spirit AeroSystems will ask for $15 million in IRBs. Spirit will purchase the bonds itself. It will receive a property tax exemption for ten years and exemption from sales tax. No dollar amount is given for the value of the exemptions. ... Then, Southfork Investment LLC, a group headed by Jay Maxwell, is asking for the formation of a new tax increment financing (TIF) district. This item, if the council approves, will set December 6 as the date for a public hearing. The vote to form…

Oct

By Bob Weeks

Kansas and Wichita quick takes: Wednesday October 26, 2011

Tax increment financing. "Largely because it promises something for nothing -- an economic stimulus in exchange for tax revenue that otherwise would not materialize -- this tool [tax increment financing] is becoming increasingly popular across the country. ... 'TIFs are being pushed out there right now based upon the but for test,' says Greg LeRoy. 'What cities are saying is that no development would take place but for the TIF. ... The average public official says this is free money, because it wouldn't happen otherwise. But when you see how it plays out, the whole premise of TIFs begins to…

Oct

By Bob Weeks

Kansas and Wichita quick takes: Monday October 24, 2011

Wichita City Council. This week is the fourth Tuesday of the month, so the Wichita City Council meeting is largely confined to consent agenda items plus workshops. An item on the Council agenda is titled "Approval of travel expenses for Mayor Carl Brewer and Vice Mayor Lavonta Williams to attend, by invitation, the African Global Sister Cities Foundation Governmental, Business, Education, Cultural Arts and Sister City exploration in Ghana, West Africa, November 14-23, 2011, for possible international trade and twinning city relations. Airfare expenses will be paid by Mayor Brewer and Vice Mayor Williams." Although the agenda report doesn't state…

Oct

By Bob Weeks

Kansas and Wichita quick takes: Monday October 17, 2011

Government job creation. Reason editor Matt Welch introduces the magazine's November issue, which contains articles on free-market job creation. After citing the litany of failures, he concludes: "Such persistence in the face of repeated failure suggests that some powerful myths continue to hold sway among politicians and many of the people they represent. Among the most stubborn of these is the notion that passing a bill to fix a problem is the same as actually fixing the problem. This assumption -- which reaches its illogical conclusion during times of national panic, when do-something busybodies like Michael Bloomberg will say that…

Oct

By Bob Weeks

Kansas and Wichita quick takes: Friday October 14, 2011

Kansas school reform. Kansas Governor Sam Brownback is preparing to release a plan for reform of Kansas school finance. The reform plans, however, appear to do nothing to actually improve Kansas schools. Missing is any plan to introduce school choice to Kansas, whether in the form of charter schools, vouchers, or tax credit scholarships. While the school spending establishment says that these programs rob the existing public schools of money, the reverse is true: school choice programs cost less. An example: "Pennsylvania’s tax-credit program had saved Keystone State residents $144 million since 2001." ... It's unfortunate for Kansas schoolchildren that…

Oct

By Bob Weeks

Kansas and Wichita quick takes: Thursday October 13, 2011

Wichita city leaders too cozy with developers? Yesterday I participated in a KAKE Television news story where I explained the need for pay-to-play laws in Wichita and Kansas. These laws generally restrict officeholders from participating in votes or activities that would enrich their campaign contributors. In the story I said "What I, and some of my political allies object to, is what is happening in plain sight: In that there is a relatively small group of people -- and their spouses and people who work at their companies -- who regularly contribute to a wide variety of city council members,…