Taxes & Spending

California’s High-Speed Rail Project: Devolving From Political Pork, To An Ego Monument, To Trump Resistance

The narrow passage of a nearly $10 billion high speed rail plan in California marked a triumph of pay-to-play ballot box corporate cronyism—otherwise known in politics as pork. Groups ranging from train manufacturers to multinational construction companies to trade unions brought the government train idea to the California Legislature back in the mid-1990s. Initially intended...

February 26, 2020

Economy

A Coronavirus Contraction Or A Coronavirus Correction?

The Dow is down 1,000. Gold is up $30.30 intraday and $101.70 in the past 30 days. And oil is down $2.79 to $50.59, a drop of 5.2%. Are the markets simply in a correction or are they signaling a recession? The market turmoil is linked to the deadly virus outbreak in China, where factories...

February 24, 2020

Other

States That Defend Us—Where Do Our Military Volunteers Call Home?

There’s no end to fun surveys that purport to measure patriotism among the states, with military enlistments often part of the criteria. However, using enlistment rates to gauge the regional willingness to volunteer for the armed forces betrays a common misunderstanding of the way the U.S. military operates. What matters is accessions to the military, not enlistments....

February 19, 2020

Local Government

Will illegal voting tip Texas blue in 2020?

Texas, the second-biggest Electoral College prize after California, may be a hard-fought political battleground this year. After Sen. Ted Cruz’ closer-than-expected 2.6 percent 2018 reelection victory over then-Congressman Beto O’Rourke, Democrats across the nation have been proclaiming Texas is theirs for the taking. Former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg has pledged to spend $1 billion to defeat President...

February 17, 2020

Local Government

Harvesting Votes To Win In 2020

Will your vote count in 2020? Will your neighbors’ vote count? That might depend on whether you vote in person or try to vote by mail. In states with a significant vote by mail component, hijacking mail-in ballots is the tool of choice for those trying to steal elections. In 18 states, a photo identification...

February 12, 2020

Economy

Coronavirus: What China’s Chaos Means For America (And The World)

As the People’s Republic of China grapples with the deadly Novel Coronavirus outbreak, there is mounting evidence that China’s economy is taking a major hit. The latest indicator is that U.S. crude oil futures are at their lowest prices in more than a year, down 21 percent from their January highs to $49.45 a barrel for the...

February 7, 2020

Economy

This Man Will Pay You To Move Your Business Out Of California

After 31 years in California, making a good living in commercial real estate, John Ghiselli had enough. His youngest child was out of high school and he was free to move where he wanted to with minimal disruption to his family life. He chose Texas. And he’s hoping you will, too—he’ll even help. Ghiselli wasn’t...

February 4, 2020

Economy

The Coronavirus Outbreak Is Now A Crisis, How Might That Affect The Economy?

Economists used to that say “when America sneezes, the world catches a cold.” Could the same apply to China—as it struggles to contain the fallout from the coronavirus? After days of paralyzing dithering, the U.N.’s World Health Organization (WHO) finally declared a Global Health Emergency yesterday over the Novel Coronavirus, a week after failing to...

January 31, 2020

Economy

Will Texas flip because of blue state migrants? Don’t bet on it

An entire cottage industry has sprung up around the nation, with books, articles, and pundits warning about an impending Electoral College blue shift. The theory is simple; blue-state economic migrants, in search of the opportunity they can’t find in their high-tax states, bring their liberal voting attitudes to their new homes, and then vote to enact the...

January 23, 2020

Economy

Trump: Free The Dishwashers!

John Merline, writing in Issues and Insights notes the elite left’s “apoplectic fit when President Donald Trump started talking about dishwashers at his Milwaukee rally this week.” This isn’t the first time Trump talked dishwashers and it likely won’t be the last. Republican electeds and their consultants have been openly fretting about professional suburban women. These largely...

January 16, 2020

Economy

What Do Biden, Sanders, Warren And Bloomberg Propose On Taxes?

The Feb. 3 Democratic Iowa caucuses are only weeks away, followed eight days later by the New Hampshire primary. Prior to these two key skirmishes in the battle for the Democratic presidential nomination, national polling suggests that former Vice President Joe Biden is leading the pack, followed by Senators Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, with South Bend...

January 14, 2020

Economy

How Made-In-China Threatens Privacy, Civil Liberties, And National Security

China’s social credit system is planned to go active throughout that nation this year. It’s both a totalitarian dream and a civil libertarian nightmare. Here, it is important to understand that “totalitarian” means a form of government in which everything is the concern of the state: where and how you live, your faith, how many...

January 9, 2020