Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban is worth an estimated $4.3 billion. The team’s players have salaries ranging from $449,114 to $29 million for star Kristaps Porzingis. Yet the team ceased opening its games with the National Anthem for several weeks, in what Cuban later said was an experiment. He has said not because they don’t...
Yesterday, the Foundation released a new poll of 800+ registered voters, conducted by WPA Intelligence between Feb. 2 – 4, 2021, that asked Texans whether local governments should spend tax money to hire lobbyists. The poll’s findings mirror results from a similar survey conducted in 2019. Here’s the major takeaway: Texans overwhelmingly oppose allowing tax...
Do you think France, Canada or Great Britain would be OK if the Americans detained their defense secretary without telling them?” a Mexican official asked rhetorically in the January 2, 2021, issue of The Economist. Anyone versed in the Mexican criminal underworld might respond by noting that cabinet officials in Europe and Canada generally don’t...
President Joe Biden appears to be looking to California for policy inspiration. This bodes ill for Americans. California, a beautiful land graced by mild weather, lost population last year for the first time in its 170-year history as a state. That 80,000 residents are fleeing annually to Texas, where summers are markedly less enjoyable, speaks volumes about California’s craptacular governance....
Words mean things—and that’s just one of the flaws in Pedro L. Gonzalez’s latest piece in Newsweek, titled “The Conservative Case for a $15 Minimum Wage.” There’s nothing conservative about the class envy Gonzalez leans so heavily upon. Nor is there anything conservative about his reliance on the left-leaning, union-friendly Economic Policy Institute to downplay...
Are the ranks of the U.S. military riddled with white supremacists? CNN thinks so, and won’t let the facts get in the way of this compelling narrative. CNN makes its case in a story headlined, “Disproportionate number of current and former military personnel arrested in Capitol attack, CNN analysis shows.” This is both factually untrue...
Texans are ready to return to work. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and forced business shutdowns by state and local government mandates, Texas’s unemployment rate in December sits at a staggering 7.2%, compared to 3.5% the previous year. Not only is unemployment high, but many businesses have failed or are on the verge of failing....
To the People of Texas & All Americans in the World— Fellow Citizens & Compatriots— I am besieged by a thousand or more… So opens the famous letter from William Travis at the Alamo. Our situation isn’t nearly as dire, but our cause is the same. The Texas Public Policy Foundation is proud to announce...
Stories warning of a coming surge in child abuse have been a staple of local news reporting throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. For months, experts quoted in these reports issued dire predictions that severe instances of child abuse were poised to skyrocket due, in part, to the widespread move toward virtual schooling. The logic of these warnings followed...
I’m all for unity. Most Americans are. But I’m doubtful about the sincerity of those preaching unity since President Joe Biden’s inauguration. My skepticism is not sour grapes over the election. Joe Biden is our president, and he has my prayers and my respect. Furthermore, whenever and however the public policy group I lead can work together with him and...
President Joe Biden faces a 50-50 Senate and a narrowly divided House. Some observers assert that with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi holding the gavel and Vice President Kamala Harris able to preside as president of the Senate and vote to break ties, the Democrats control Congress. Looking at mathematic “control” of Congress betrays a simplistic...
It feels like there’s hope on the horizon. As Gov. Abbott said in his recent State of the State speech, “With each passing day of more vaccinations and increased immunity, normalcy is returning to Texas.” The Texas economy is recovering and at long last, some normal activity is returning. We’re not out of the woods...