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Kansas Income Growth Lags
Read more: Kansas Income Growth LagsBy Karl Peterjohn You will earn more if you do not work in Kansas. That is nothing new but the size and scope of the economic problem facing Kansans has become more vivid. National data has regularly shown that Kansans’ incomes are lower than the national average and this is impacting the economic climate in…
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Vincent Dubois, Organ
Read more: Vincent Dubois, OrganOn November 8, 2005, young French organist Vincent Dubois played a recital as part of the Rie Bloomfield Organ Series at Wiedemann Recital Hall, Wichita State University. I attended his recital last year, and again a most remarkable thing about watching Mr. Dubois play is how effortless he makes it appear. He plays from memory,…
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Local economic development in Wichita
Read more: Local economic development in WichitaThere is an interesting academic paper titled “The Failures of Economic Development Incentives,” published in Journal of the American Planning Association, and which can be read here: www.planning.org/japa/pdf/04winterecondev.pdf. A few quotes from the study: Given the weak effects of incentives on the location choices of businesses at the interstate level, state governments and their local…
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Tax reform and simplification
Read more: Tax reform and simplificationOur tax system has a bias against saving and investment. That slows capital formation and wage growth.
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Taxpayer Bill Of Rights (TABOR) eviscerated
Read more: Taxpayer Bill Of Rights (TABOR) evisceratedBy Karl Peterjohn Governor Bill Owens won a Pyrrhic victory in his campaign to eliminate the Taxpayers Bill Of Rights (TABOR) limits on government growth in Colorado. Owens’ short lived Proposition C victory will lead to a host of long term consequences that are mainly negative for Coloradans looking for a better economic future for…
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Reports of TABOR’s Demise Have Been Greatly Exaggerated
Read more: Reports of TABOR’s Demise Have Been Greatly Exaggeratedby Alan Cobb The supporters of Big Government were overjoyed this week when 52 percent of Colorado voters backed an effort to fix a glitch in that state’s hugely successful Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights by allowing the state government to keep an estimated $3.7 billion in scheduled tax relief over the next five years. This…
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What Is the true state of public education in Kansas?
Read more: What Is the true state of public education in Kansas?So what is the true state of public education in Kansas? There are many studies and statistics available. Many contradict the conclusions made by others. Constituencies such as the teachers unions and the education establishment tell us they have only the welfare of the children as their concern, but many times they act otherwise. Who…
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How one school found a way to spell success
Read more: How one school found a way to spell successIn the October 14, 2005 Wall Street Journal, Daniel Henninger wrote about an elementary school in Little Rock, Arkansas that experienced a remarkable turnaround in student achievement. This poor school, where 92% of the students live at or below the poverty level, was able to increase its scores on an achievement test by 17% in…
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The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference
Read more: The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big DifferenceThis is an interesting book that tells us that often the way to affect change is not through heavy-handed techniques, but by paying attention to small things that can make all the difference. Mr. Gladwell tells us about the Law of the Few (connectors, mavens, and salesmen), which means that the personal characteristics of people…
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How government destroys self-reliance
Read more: How government destroys self-relianceThere is a problem when government interferes with what people should be doing for themselves. Government can destroy the incentive to provide for yourself and your family.
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How government insurance destroyed New Orleans
Read more: How government insurance destroyed New OrleansIn the September 3, 2005 New York Times, columnist John Tierney educates us on the difference between private insurance and government insurance. Currently, the flood insurance that’s available through the federal government, because the premiums are so low, doesn’t fully reflect the costs of assuming that risk. And even as cheap as the flood insurance…
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How About Something Simple Like the Truth
Read more: How About Something Simple Like the TruthWhile TABOR supporters offer hope and solutions to getting out of our economic slump, opponents offer nothing but nay-saying, scare tactics and misinformation.