Seven out of ten Americans consider foreign trade an economic opportunity, according to Gallup. You wouldn’t expect this given the protectionist rhetoric about “unfair” trade practices and “bad” trade deficits in the news regarding the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and tariffs. To avoid impoverishing Americans, trade uncertainty should quickly end by reducing trade...
“One of the great mistakes is to judge policies and programs by their intentions rather than their results,” said Milton Friedman. This is certainly true when considering government-mandated paid sick leave. Connecticut learned that unintended consequences matter after it passed a mandatory paid sick leave law in 2011. And now Austin, which passed its own...
California is once again on fire. Northern California’s Carr Fire has killed six people, two of them firefighters, and continues to burn out of control, claiming more than 700 homes and about 100,000 acres. As a citizen-soldier in the California Army National Guard for two decades, I often heard the gallows humor quip that California’s...
After Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s victory over a top House Democrat in a New York City primary, the left was elated. “Ocasio-Cortez’s Socialism Can Work in the Midwest — with a Rebrand,” declared New York Magazine (a somewhat dubious authority on what can work in the Midwest). Its reasoning? Ocasio-Cortez’s “Medicare for All” plan polls well. “Both Medicare for All and single-payer...
In 2014, the city council in Mountain View, California, a city of 81,000 in the heart of Silicon Valley that hosts Google, Mozilla, Intuit, and other high-tech firms, approved a 400,000 square foot project to house thousands of Facebook employees and other tenants. In the runup to that approval, local restaurateurs complained to the city...
Residents from across Val Verde County came together in Del Rio on Thursday evening to discuss the effects of potential wind farms on their scenic region of Texas. Attendees heard from Randy Nunns, Ruthie Russell, and Dell Dickinson—local landowners—as well as comments from Texas Public Policy Foundation experts. Residents voiced concerns covering a wide array...
Last week, New York and three other Northeastern states filed a federal lawsuit claiming that 2017’s tax reform and reduction law discriminates against states run by Democrats. They are unhappy that the tax law, signed by President Trump in December 2017 after receiving no Democrat votes in Congress, limits state and local tax (SALT) deductions...
There’s a growing body of research that highlights the negative effects of tax abatements granted for renewable energy under Texas Tax Code Chapter 312 and 313. Among the effects are the harm to the reliability of the electric grid, the hidden cost to Texans via taxes, and the unfortunate experiences of those who live next...
First they came for the New York muck, and I did not speak out—because I am not from New York. Then they came for competitive foot races in wilderness areas, and I did not speak out—because I am not a runner. Then they came for my plastic straws—and there was no one left to speak for me. These...
2018-07-Testimony-Testimony Before the Concho County Commissioners Court-ACEE-Gonzalez by texaspolicy on Scribd
2018-07-Testimony-Testimony Before the Concho County Hospital District-A… by texaspolicy on Scribd
Government efficiency is an elusive ideal. When a business or a household consistently spends more than it earns, it will go bankrupt. This provides an incentive to review costs. Total government spending in the U.S. will come to about $7.1 trillion this year, of which a little more than half will be federal spending with...