Economy

Payroll Employment Down By 20.5 Million In April, California Hardest Hit State Amidst COVID Lockdowns

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) issued its official employment report for April—or, in this season of COVID-19, more appropriately, the unemployment report. The topline is that nonfarm payroll employment fell by 20.5 million jobs, with the unemployment rate jumping 10.3% to 14.7%, the highest one-month jump since these statistics started being tallied in 1948. Some...

May 8, 2020

Economy

In A Bid To Weaken America, China Extends A Hand To The States

On April 19, Hu Xijin, the editor-in-chief of the Global Times, one of the leading official English-language newspapers in China, wrote a disturbing piece titled “Cooperate with US states on virus fight, not federal government.” Of course, Hu must be a member in good standing of the Chinese Communist Party, as is expected for the leader...

April 30, 2020

Economy

With States Running Out Of Money, A Fiscal Crisis Will Likely Follow The Pandemic

In what seems like a lifetime ago, state government finances across the nation were moving in divergent directions, with 28 states having replenished their fund balances above what they held before the onset of the recession in 2007. Meanwhile, states such as Pennsylvania and Illinois were dangerously low on fiscal reserves, with each state having...

April 18, 2020

Economy

Amid The Coronavirus Pandemic, Keep A Watchful Eye on China’s Military

The world as seen by Xi Jinping is different from it was in January 2016. At the time, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) was strong at home, as its power and prestige were growing abroad. Hong Kong was prosperous and quiescent. The “rebellious province of Taiwan” was ruled by President Ma Ying-Jeou, a politician favoring...

April 7, 2020

Economy

Freedom Means Letting Americans Make Their Own Risk Calculations About Coronavirus

In a few short weeks, a virus with origins in China has brought the American economy to a near-halt. Public health officials, 16.5 million health-care workers, and tens of thousands of scientists are working overtime to reduce the fatalities, heal the sick, and find a cure. Congress reacted as only it knows how—by spending more than...

April 6, 2020

Economy

Left Hates Travel Bans Except When They Keep Americans From Work And School

The Trump administration on Jan. 31 announced travel restrictions aimed at reducing the number of people coming to the United States from China to flatten the infection curve of the novel coronavirus that emerged out of Wuhan. The reaction from the People’s Republic of China and the American left was immediate: harsh criticism that President Donald...

March 24, 2020

Health Care

The Latest On COVID-19 Suggests Most Of Us Will Be Fine

The latest information on Coronavirus COVID-19, also known as the Wuhan Flu, from Johns Hopkins University shows widely varying numbers of confirmed cases and apparent mortality rates by nation. The People’s Republic of China, the virus’ epicenter, was reporting 81,058 cases as of March 17 with 3,230 deaths, with 4.0 percent of those diagnosed subsequently dying. Italy...

March 18, 2020

Economy

The Coronavirus Claims Its First Texas Casualty: Austin’s South By Southwest

Every March, when the weather in Texas is mild (except for those thunderstorms) and the Mexican free-tailed bats return to Austin, South by Southwest (SXSW) dominates Texas’ capital city for 10 days. But with an announcement on Friday, the annual tech, film and music gathering that was slated to run from March 13 to the 22 was canceled...

March 9, 2020

Economy

The Trump Tax Cut Is Two Years Old, Where Are The Jobs Being Created?

President Trump signed the Tax Cut and Jobs Act into law in December 2017. It cut taxes for most Americans, especially those living in low-tax states. But higher wage earners living in high-tax states such as California and New York weren’t able to deduct more than $10,000 of state and local taxes (SALT) off of...

March 5, 2020

Economy

Super Tuesday’s biggest prizes are CA and TX – here’s what to watch for in those states

After the warmup contests in Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina, 14 states and the territory of American Samoa are voting on Super Tuesday. California and Texas will award 48 percent of the delegates that day. Providing some perspective to the size of these two states, their most-populous counties, Los Angeles (10.1 million) and Harris (4.7 million), have a combined...

March 3, 2020

Other

Do Non-Lawmakers Have A First Amendment Right To Speak Before A Legislative Body?

There is an ongoing dust up involving the First Amendment, allegations of prohibited viewpoint discrimination and legislative immunity in the Texas Senate. It’s fascinating stuff for political scientists, political practitioners, and journalists. It started on Thursday, February 27, when a man testified at a Texas State Senate hearing wearing a t-shirt that said, “F**K the...

February 28, 2020

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