Things have gotten expensive in Austin. According to Salary.com, the cost of living is reportedly 9.1% higher than the national average, with the largest differentials being observed in health care, food and housing. The cost of childcare is also relatively high, with the average annual payment totaling $8,759. “This cost is ranked NO. 31 nationally.”...
Public school officials in Texas won’t take “yes” for an answer. No matter how much money the state spends on education, districts everywhere are pleading poverty and falsely claiming that schools are “underfunded.” It’s a persistent myth routinely voiced in the media. But how does it square with reality? It would help if we all...
California Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom has yet again displayed his astuteness in the ever-complex game of politics. By making good on his promise to appoint a black woman, Laphonza Butler, to serve the remaining term of the late U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, Newsom has accomplished multiple objectives, setting the stage for his own political ascendancy —...
The student loan payment pause is officially over, with payments resuming this month. What was the student loan payment pause? One of the policies enacted when the COVID-19 pandemic hit in March 2020 was a student loan repayment pause. During the pause, loan payments were not required, interest did not accrue, and involuntary collections (e.g.,...
Lately, Philadelphia has not been known for its safe streets. Images from the Kensington neighborhood show mentally ill, drug addicted, chronically unsheltered individuals in an amalgam of squalor and human detritus. Online, footage from the mass looting of an Apple Store, Footlocker, and Lululemon has gone viral. Still elsewhere, open-air drug markets have become the...
Where have we heard this before? A city adopts a new tax rate that is technically a decrease, but due to rising appraisals, taxpayers will actually end up paying more. This sort of stealth tax increase has become ubiquitous, and now the city of Houston, Texas largest city, becomes the latest jurisdiction hike taxes in...
Today, Texas celebrates its decision—made 188 years ago— to assert its right to self-defense. The Battle of Gonzales, in which the town refused to return to Mexico a cannon that its inhabitants had requested for “the defense of themselves and the constitution and the laws of the country,” started the Texas Revolution. By demanding a return...
Whether in Roman times or now, public life entails risks. We can’t let that stop us. The cycles of history move faster today than in the past — and they may not repeat, but they do rhyme. The Roman Republic lasted almost 500 years. But the assassination of Julius Caesar in the Roman Senate in 44...
Data and compassion should drive homeless policy, not ideology and political expedience Crushed by the weight of human nature and the harsh light of reality, San Francisco—a city in a state that astonishingly contains nearly 50% of the entire U.S.’s street homeless population, while only making up 12% of the population – is finally waking up to...
The city of Dallas just raised everyone’s taxes. Despite growing angst over affordability, a majority of Dallas city councilmembers voted last week to increase the tax burden on working families by adopting a tax rate of $0.7357 per $100 of value. By setting the tax rate at this level, City Hall chose to go well...
There is an affordability crisis in Texas, and local governments are making it worse. With bloated budgets and reckless spending, cities are making it difficult for Texans to own a home and raise a family. The city of Dallas, for example, recently passed a nearly $5 billion budget—the largest in the city’s history. The budget...
Earlier this month, six tech titans from Google, Microsoft, Meta, Tesla, and OpenAI met with lawmakers behind closed doors to discuss the future of artificial intelligence (AI). And although they reached an overwhelming consensus on the need for regulating AI, it appears that Elon Musk still remains one of the few vocal leaders fighting for...