We’ve seen too many stories lately about school districts squandering money on big-ticket items like a $20 million waterpark and golden parachutes for departing superintendents. Investing in public education is important. To make sure that investment is sound, it’s time for the Legislature to step up and require efficiency audits of local school districts to make sure dollars...
Amid a groundswell of criticism, San Antonio has recently extended the timeline for revision and public comment on the draft of its Climate Action and Adaptation Plan, or CAAP. Unfortunately for San Antonio’s businesses and especially its poorest residents, any plan for the city to reach “carbon neutrality” by 2050 is bound to dramatically drive up the...
Did you know the United States leads the world in clean air? As I walk the halls of the Capitol, meeting with members of Congress and their staff about the energy policies that help and hurt our country’s future, I’m shocked how many people don’t know and can’t believe this fact. Over the last 50...
President Donald Trump is opening the floodgates to America becoming an energy superpower. That’s the significance of two executive orders he recently signed to update federal procedures for building energy infrastructure across the nation, making America more prosperous and secure. The orders will remove unnecessary federal barriers to the construction of oil and gas infrastructure, including pipelines,...
One of the most difficult challenges facing occupational license holders in America is the lack of reciprocity. If license holders move to another state, their licenses don’t follow them, due to differing requirements. This can cause upheaval for any family. The loss of income for a parent can be detrimental to a family. Training requirements...
Maisy was having a severe reaction to her allergies this season and was having difficulty breathing. We called her doctor and he recommended we bring her in to the office. After the examination and a shot that gave her some relief, we went to the front desk, where the doctor wrote a prescription that was...
If our students are not free to learn, they stand little chance of learning how to be free. Both American democracy and American higher education will wither if free speech and debate are squelched.
One person hisses. Another yells profanities. Someone else spits in your direction and shoves their middle finger in your face. Your reputation and physical appearance are attacked on social media. You’re trending on Twitter – but for all the wrong reasons. They’re screaming at you. They hate you. Why? You’re a conservative. It’s a typical day...
Have you heard about the small South Texas school district that built a $20 million water park using state tax dollars? Or that this same school district lost almost $250,000 in the park’s first year up-and-running? Or that it also owns a golf course and that also ran a deficit last year of $300,000? Well,...
We economists love a good object lesson for the vague principles and theories we discuss. That’s why the Tax Foundation’s “Tax Freedom Day” is so useful — it provides a clear, concrete example of how tax policy (which is boring) affects every American’s paycheck (which is very not boring). Tax Freedom Day is the date...
Polls show that the majority of Americans don’t think their taxes were cut with the landmark tax cut and reform bill signed into law by President Donald Trump in December 2017. But just in time for tax day, the New York Times published a well-written and counter-intuitive analysis by two of their economics reporters, Ben Casselman and Jim Tankersley....
No matter what the Trump administration tries to do — shake up the leadership of federal immigration agencies, force asylum-seekers to remain in Mexico, even build a massive border wall — none of it will do much to affect the current border crisis one way or another. That’s because the border crisis is actually an...