ARRA News Service reports on a Zogby poll and links to a video that illustrate the poor job the national news media did covering the recent presidential campaign. The video is interesting although a little repetitive. The poll results are something else, though. Zogby found that 86.9% thought that Sarah Palin said that she could see Russia from her “house,” even though that was Tina Fey who said that.
Tag: United States government
End Taxpayer-Funded Competition Between the States
A Wichita Eagle story (Development speaker touts power of cash) reports on an economic incentive expert’s evaluation of our state’s effort.
(It’s revealing to learn that an accounting firm has someone with the title “regional leader of credits and incentives,” whose duty, evidently, it is to help companies figure out which state’s incentives are most valuable. Actually, since the title is “leader” there’s probably a whole department of people doing this.)
The problem with Kansas, according to this speaker, is that we grant tax credits to companies instead of outright cash. That puts our state at a competitive advantage compared to states that are willing to write checks upfront.
The subsidies offered can be staggering. It’s estimated that a Mercedez-Benz plant in Alabama cost that state over $150,000 per job created.
We should stop this competition among the states based on their willingness to spend taxpayer money to lure companies. As it is unlikely that any state will be willing to unilaterally stop this on their own, we need legislation at the federal level that will end this tremendous transfer of taxpayer funds to a few select companies.
Then, states can start competing on things that really matter, like a lower tax climate for everyone.
What Part of Involuntary Servitude Don’t You Understand?
Community service: involuntary servitude dressed in polite language. Change … Obama Announces Creation Of His Marxist Youth Corps. See also Emanuel Discusses Compulsory Civilian Youth Force.
United States Government Spending (dot com)
I recently discovered usgovernmentspending.com. It seems like a great place to get data not only for the federal government, but for the states, too.
Bailouts National and Local
A post at the Wichita Eagle Editorial blog titled Either way, taxpayers will pay for failing GM illustrates how when government and business become highly intertwined, a self-sustaining behemoth is created that can’t be slain.
We say an example of this locally this year in Wichita, when a taxpayer subsidy to a development turned out to be underperforming. The solution? Pump more taxpayer money into a failing project. See Wichita and the Old Town Warren Theater Loan.
Why Austrian Economics Matters More Than Ever
Here’s a talk recently delivered by Lew Rockwell, president of the Ludwig von Mises Institute. This organization remains the best place to learn about why our economy is in such trouble. The full speech can be read at Why Austrian Economics Matters More Than Ever. An excerpt:
I report on this not so that we can say “We told you so,” but rather to underscore the need to stick to principle, depart from the crowd, avoid the fashion, and adhere to the truth no matter what. This is what Mises taught us, and if he had done nothing more than be his era’s most tough-minded resister to collectivism of all types, it would be enough to earn him an institute founded in his name.
Chuck Baldwin for President. Maybe.
My friend Leslie Carbone has endorsed Chuck Baldwin for president. I’d been decided on Bob Barr for some time, but Leslie’s got me thinking.
Pat Buchanan: Comrade Obama?
Pat Buchanan’s recent column Comrade Obama? contains much I agree with, keeping me liking and admiring him, even through I disagree with a few of his positions.
This column accurately describes the current political landscape, and it’s not complimentary to Barack Obama, Democrats, or Republicans. A few excerpts:
Indeed, how do Republicans who call Obama a socialist explain their support for Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, food stamps, welfare and the Earned Income Tax Credit? …
Since August, the Bush-Paulson team has seized our biggest S&L, Washington Mutual, and largest insurance company, AIG. It has nationalized Fannie and Freddie, pumped scores of billions into our banks, bailed out GM, Ford and Chrysler, and paid the $29 billion dowry for Bear Stearns to enter its shotgun marriage with JPMorgan Chase. And with federal, state and local taxes taking a third of gross domestic product, and government regulating businesses with wage-and-hour laws, civil rights laws, environmental laws, and occupational health and safety laws, what are we living under, if not a mixed socialist-capitalist system?
And then this:
Norman Thomas is said to have quit running for president on the Socialist ticket after six campaigns because the Democratic Party had stolen all his ideas and written them into its platforms.
This is the same Norman Thomas who said “The American people will never knowingly adopt socialism, but under the name of liberalism, they will adopt every fragment of the socialist program until one day America will be a socialist nation without ever knowing how it happened.”
Nothing works
By Alan Cobb, Americans For Prosperity — Kansas. From The Topeka Capital-Journal, Saturday, November 01, 2008
On Oct. 1, Congress did nothing. And we at Americans for Prosperity — Kansas applaud it. By not acting to renew it, lawmakers allowed the ban on offshore drilling and oil shale recovery to expire.
This first step, albeit a baby step, toward reducing our nation’s reliance on foreign oil by permitting U.S. companies to explore and drill for oil along our coastlines and in our western states will help reduce energy costs and increase energy security.
Congress doing nothing about offshore oil drilling Oct. 1 may just be the biggest something lawmakers have done to date in crafting the comprehensive energy policy so badly needed by our nation. When Congress continues its work on energy it is critical it again does nothing to raise energy taxes or create new ones.
Let me borrow from the medical community for a cautionary message to Congress: First, do no harm. Although Congress must take action if we are to get the energy reforms our nation so badly needs, it must act with care to first do no harm, either by reinstating drilling bans or by repeating the energy tax faux pas of the 1980s.