Texas policymakers generally understand that Texans do not want bigger government and higher taxes. So they have gotten pretty good over the years at concealing how much of your money they are spending. The textbook example of this occurred in 2013 when policymakers used every trick in the book to hide the fact that they...
In the world of commerce, the market rewards success with profit and punishes mismanagement with bankruptcy. In health care, mismanagement is rewarded. Witness Medicare, which provides medical care for 51.2 million Americans aged 65 years and older, as well as 8.8 million disabled. The latest report about the Medicare Trust indicates that the “depletion date”...
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics released its April employment report this morning, showing continued robust growth in the job market with 263,000 jobs added in April. The official unemployment rate is now 3.6%, the lowest it has been since 1969. Notably, wages were up 3.2% from a year ago. With inflation remaining tame, real buying power...
Like a parent preparing to discipline unruly children, the Texas Legislature is getting ready to rein in local governments on everything from taxation to regulation to annexation and more. And city officials are none too happy about it. The latest high-profile flare-up came courtesy of Austin Mayor Steve Adler, who used his State of the...
The Texas economy is the envy of the country. Businesses flock here because of our educated workforce, low regulatory environment, and relatively low tax burden. Individuals and families come for the opportunities and quality of life an economically healthy, wealthy, and prosperous society provide. Texas leaders routinely tout the state’s success, and it’s justified. For...
Access to inexpensive and reliable energy has helped make America the most prosperous nation in the history of the world, with Texas front and center in this effort. Our state was originally powered largely by renewable fuels: water, wind, and biomass. It wasn’t long, though, before renewables were replaced by more efficient coal and kerosene,...
“A rising tide lifts all boats.” Jack Kemp understood that economic growth was the key to human flourishing. This is achieved with an institutional framework that provides economic opportunities for people across the income spectrum. This happens best in free market capitalism. Socialism, on the other hand, fails everyone. The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS)...
In Plato’s Gorgias, Socrates compares the person who battles for genuine political reform to a doctor. This doctor, in Socrates’ analogy, is called up on child-abuse charges. His accuser is a pastry chef. Moreover, the jury assembled to decide the doctor’s fate consists entirely of small children. The pastry chef’s case for the prosecution consists of...
High taxes are always and everywhere a government spending problem. This point is a good reminder for the 86th Texas Legislature because the actions so far include too much government spending and little to no tax relief. Without spending restraint, tax relief efforts will fail like they did in Kansas and Louisiana. The 18 groups...
Often, the most effective way to make a point is to tell a story. And that’s what NPR does in its new report on high-deductible health policies (HDHPs) that are keeping too many Americans out of their doctors’ offices. Susan, who carries a gene that makes her predisposed to breast cancer, has one of those policies....
The U.S. economy grew at a 3.2% annual rate in the first quarter, according to the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis. Analysts expected a far slower growth rate of 2.3%. President Trump has consistently said that his pro-growth policies—tax cuts and regulatory reform—would shift the economy into higher growth than was experienced under his predecessor, President Obama. The economy...
Last week, Steve Adler, the mayor of Austin, Texas, announced that city taxpayers would be paying $460 million for a biomass power plant they’d previously paid $128 million to help build on top of a yearly payment of $54 million for six years—that generated electricity for all of two months. The Nacogdoches Generating Facility in East Texas...