Economy

Workers Moving From San Francisco To Austin Would Get An Immediate 46% Raise Due To Less Regulation

Citing a report from Hired, a job site, the Austin Business Journal ran an article headlined, “Study: When adjusted for cost of living, Austin tech workers make more than San Francisco peers.” The piece observed, “…for the fourth year in a row, Austin tech workers have the highest average salary when adjusted based on cost of living… (with) Austin’s tech workers…...

June 27, 2019

Taxes & Spending

Low-Tax States Adding Jobs At Double The Pace Of High-Tax States Since The Trump Tax Cut

Since President Trump signed the big tax cut and reform act in December 2017, the pace of private-sector job creation in the nation’s 27 low-tax states has doubled that of their high-tax peers through May of 2019, according to data released today from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Manufacturing job growth is even higher with a 126% job-creation...

June 21, 2019

Economy

Trump Vs. Obama, Texas Vs. California — Arguing Over Jobs & The Economy And Why It Matters

One of the joys of writing for the public is that, occasionally, the public contacts you. If it’s on Twitter, you learn not to take it personally—especially if the tweeter is anonymous. Same with email—sometimes the responses are supportive, sometimes they’re not. And almost always, anonymous comments tend towards the downright hateful or weird. Over...

June 10, 2019

Economy

75,000 Jobs Added in May – Since January 2017, Manufacturing Jobs Up 3.9%, 4 Times Government Rate

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics issued its May jobs report Friday morning, estimating that nonfarm payrolls went up 75,000 with the unemployment rate holding steady at 3.6%, remaining at low levels last seen in December 1969. The Hispanic unemployment rate remained at a record low of 4.2% in May while the unemployment rate for workers without...

June 7, 2019

Economy

How Tesla, Crony Corporate Welfare, And The Green New Deal Portend A Coming Political Realignment

A series of three seemingly unconnected events over five days in Ohio and California hint at a fundamental political realignment, underscoring the fragility of the American left’s coalition going into the 2020 election. There is a growing, and likely irreparable, rift between elite progressive environmentalists who are accustomed to dominating the narrative within the Democratic...

June 6, 2019

Economy

Typhoid Fever, Typhus & Tuberculosis: Are L.A.’s Medieval Diseases Coming To Your City?

Los Angeles has a growing problem with diseases borne by both flea and feces. An LAPD officer was just diagnosed with typhoid fever along with two more from the same workplace displaying symptoms. Meanwhile, cases of typhus, caused by a different bacterium, have soared in California from 13 in 2008 to 167 in 2018. In addition, there have...

June 4, 2019

Taxes & Spending

$5.2 Trillion Of Government Pension Debt Threatens To Overwhelm State Budgets, Taxpayers

Pension Tracker, a project of the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research led by former California State Assemblyman Joe Nation, Ph.D., is out with its updated assessment of the nation’s unfunded state and local government pension fund liabilities. It’s not a pretty picture—especially if you live in Alaska, California, Connecticut or Illinois where your per...

May 31, 2019

Taxes & Spending

Low-Tax States Are Adding Jobs 80% Faster Than High-Tax States Due To Trump’s Tax Cut & SALT Cap

Job growth has been running 80% stronger in low-tax states than in high-tax states since the passage of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 in December 2017. Understanding why holds important lessons for policy, economics, and politics. The new tax law scaled back the federal subsidy for high state and local taxes. Prior...

May 24, 2019

Economy

California (Poverty And Taxes) And Texas (Jobs And Freedom): A Few Key Comparisons

One in every five Americans calls California or Texas home. Comparisons between the two most-populous states are useful because both states have diverse populations and economies, but vastly different politics. That, in turn, leads to divergent public policies in taxation and regulation—with very different outcomes. Demographically, California and Texas both feature minority-majority populations, with the...

May 21, 2019

Taxes & Spending

The Campaign For President Starts With $10 Trillion In Proposed Tax Hikes

Trying to stand out in a crowded field, Democratic candidates for president have so far proposed nine separate tax increase ideas totaling more than $10 trillion. We can break them down into three basic groups. First are tax hikes that hit banks or Wall Street—two interests without a lot of friends. The problem with these is...

May 14, 2019

Energy & Environment

Logic Doesn’t Care About Your Virtue-Signaling

TPPF’s Chuck DeVore addressed the Independent Power Producers of New York and spoke about the difference between logic and virtue-signaling. Logic, he said, is about the facts. Virtue-signaling isn’t. Take Georgetown, Texas—the Austin suburb that has pledged to use 100 percent renewable electricity. Its promise achieves all the right political goals, but when the facts...

May 10, 2019

Energy & Environment

Garcetti’s Green New Deal will make L.A. less affordable and backfire on pollution goals

Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti’s Green New Deal — an update to the “Sustainable City Plan” released in April — sets out three broad goal categories: increase the quality of life; reduce pollution that harms people; and reduce carbon dioxide emissions. L.A.’s quality of life challenges are nothing new to any person familiar with the...

May 7, 2019