Alternatives

Posted on 23 September 2020 by eehines

In an op-ed in Friday’s Wall Street Journal centered on the foolishness of “sustainable” investing, Burton Malkiel had this remark:

The most effective way to reduce an economy’s carbon intensity is to change the economic incentive to pollute.

Not at all. The most effective way to reduce an economy’s carbon intensity—even assuming that’s a useful thing to do—is to provide viable alternatives to carbon intensity. So far, all the Left and their Progressive-Democratic Party is willing to offer is punishment for carbon intensity.

All that does is punish the successful because the less successful don’t or can’t keep up or do better.

This is a preview of Alternatives. Read the full post (136 words, estimated 33 secs reading time)

Bait and Switch

Posted on 23 September 2020 by eehines

Recall the trillions of American taxpayer dollars already committed to dealing with the Wuhan Virus situation, including $139 billion sent to State and local governments explicitly for that situation. It turns out

blue states and Democratic mayors are also using the money for their pet causes.
Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer (D) is spending millions on free college for more than 600,000 essential workers.
Honolulu Mayor Kirk Caldwell (D) agreed to spend $629,000 to hire 15 community relations specialists.
Democratic St Paul Mayor Melvin Carter recently announced a guaranteed income program for low-income families using $300,000 in CARES Act money….

This is a preview of Bait and Switch. Read the full post (162 words, estimated 39 secs reading time)

The Lady Misunderstands

Posted on 22 September 2020 by eehines

Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D, NY) says it’s total BS that the Progressive-Democrat proposed $1 trillion in Federal Wuhan Virus stimulus monies aimed at State and local governments would benefit public sector unions. Whether public sector unions should or should not benefit is a separate matter.

It’s generous, though, to suggest that such an intelligent woman actually misunderstands.

Adding a trillion dollars—or any other amount of money—to a budget means—work with me, now—that budget has those added dollars to spend. Earmark the trillion for specific purposes, or bar it from being used for public unions. Do that by sending the money as cash and tracking serial numbers. That still lets the recipient government move a different [trillion] of dollars from a different part of its budget to benefit its public unions. That’s the fungibility of money. It can be moved around.

This is a preview of The Lady Misunderstands. Read the full post (325 words, estimated 1:18 mins reading time)

Some Prosperity Data

Posted on 21 September 2020 by eehines

Courtesy of the Census Bureau, via Just the News and The Wall Street Journal. These data concern the last year.

median household income rose to more than $68,700 just over the last year, a 6.8% year-on-year rise
black median household income rose to $66,500—up 7.9%
Hispanic median household income rose to $56,100—up 7.1%
women median income rose to $47,300—up 3%
poverty rate fell to 10.5%
child poverty rate fell to 14.1%

These are all highs (or lows) over the last several decades, and the sizes of the changes are historically large, also.

This is a preview of Some Prosperity Data. Read the full post (262 words, estimated 1:03 mins reading time)

Insufficient

Posted on 20 September 2020 by eehines

Recall that Oracle and ByteDance have a proposal on the table for Oracle to take a minority partnership position in ByteDance’s TikTok. In response to objections to that, some

Trump administration officials are looking to give American investors a majority share of the company that will take over the Chinese-owned video-sharing app TikTok[.]

Senators Marco Rubio (R, FL), Rick Scott (R, FL), Thom Tillis (R, NC), Roger Wicker (R, MI), Dan Sullivan (R, AK), and John Cornyn (R, TX), object to that, too.

This is a preview of Insufficient. Read the full post (211 words, estimated 51 secs reading time)

A TikTok Partnership

Posted on 19 September 2020 by eehines

Oracle Corp has become the frontrunner in the race to do a deal with the People’s Republic of China company ByteDance, which owns TikTok, for an acquisition of that app. That status seems solidified by ByteDance having submitted a proposal to the US government that lays out the terms of a deal in which Oracle would become the junior partner in a TikTok-Oracle(-ByteDance?)…alliance.

Recall that President Donald Trump has required that ByteDance divest itself of TikTok as a condition of TikTok’s being allowed to continue operating in the United States. Trump’s objection to TikTok is centered on the app’s scooping up of a vast range of personal and personally identifying data and the subsequent transmittal of those data to back to ByteDance inside the PRC.

This is a preview of A TikTok Partnership. Read the full post (374 words, estimated 1:30 mins reading time)

The Evil 1%

Posted on 18 September 2020 by eehines

…those so hated by the Left, at least publicly, are heavily funding the Progressive-Democratic Party Presidential candidate Joe Biden’s campaign. And those Evil 1% are paying more into the Biden campaign than they are into the Trump campaign.

Biden has raised slightly more money ($187.3 million) than Trump ($183.9 million) among big donors.

That also compares to the amount small donors, those contributing less than $200 each, have contributed to the Biden campaign: $139 million. In sum, big donors have contributed over 57% of the funds donated for Biden.

This is a preview of The Evil 1%. Read the full post (168 words, estimated 40 secs reading time)

Couple Critical Errors

Posted on 18 September 2020 by eehines

…in an otherwise well-intended and worthy effort. California Governor Gavin Newsom (D) wants to make it possible for prison inmates who have been trained in firefighting and have place[d] themselves in danger assisting firefighters to defend the life and property of Californians to join fire departments after they’ve been released from prison.

Long-time readers of my blog know that I am a firm believer in rehabilitation and redemption, and this move would open one path to each of those.

There are a couple of tweaks, though, that are necessary for making this a truly effective move. One is this: Newsom has signed into law

This is a preview of Couple Critical Errors. Read the full post (369 words, estimated 1:29 mins reading time)

Nice Try, Thank You for Playing

Posted on 17 September 2020 by eehines

The Problem Solvers Caucus, a bipartisan collection of House Representatives, has produced an idea for getting help to those Americans who’ve been hit the hardest, economically, by the present Wuhan Virus situation. Aside from its trillion-and-a-half dollar price tag—a bill that American citizens will have to pay in taxes or in debt—which is future taxes—there are a couple of sound components.

The idea, though, contains one terrible component—and that one represents a full third of the total cost of this thing.

This is a preview of Nice Try, Thank You for Playing. Read the full post (176 words, estimated 42 secs reading time)

Open New York City for Operation

Posted on 16 September 2020 by eehines

Open New York City for Operation

The city currently is closed down by order of Da Mare Bill de Blasio (I know, different city. Same guy, though, functionally), and that’s causing a lot of damage, and not just economic.

More than 160 business leaders, including executives at Citigroup Inc, Mastercard Inc, and Nasdaq Inc, have signed a letter to Mayor Bill de Blasio warning of New York City’s deteriorating condition in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic and growing anxiety over public safety, cleanliness, and other quality-of-life issues.

De Blasio’s response? No. Gimme money first.

This is a preview of Open New York City for Operation. Read the full post (243 words, estimated 58 secs reading time)

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Tag Archives: political economy