Americans are increasingly being asked to decide whether or not to allow or disallow resources to be accessed on both public and private lands. Unfortunately, the attitude that somehow certain people are “above” having resource exploited on or near their lands has become more prevalent in recent years and is to a large extent responsible [...]
Read More Energy and EnvironmentDuring times of strong economic growth, the politics of the minimum wage seem to tilt in the direction of “higher and faster.” After all, when unemployment is at historical lows and job growth is strong, we all feel like wages should be rising. Now, as the economy weakens, we see the proverbial “chickens” of artificially-mandated [...]
Read More "Living" WageAs I’ve mentioned before on this blog, health care mandates are a big problem with increasing health care costs. Rarely is this issue discussed in the media, but George Will recently brought up the point with Stephen Colbert on health care and mandates (click here and fast-forward 2/3rds of the way through). According to data [...]
Read More Health Care, UncategorizedHousing in Santa Fe could get even more expensive if voters in the City approve a new real estate transfer tax. With a majority of Councilors having expressed support for the plan, a special election Aug. 19 to decide the matter is inevitable. The plan which would levy a 1 percent fee on homes that [...]
Read More Taxes in New MexicoIn case you missed the news, “cap and trade” legislation ostensibly to fight global warming, died in the US Senate late this week. Senator Domenici actively opposed the legislation (which would have resulted in a massive new hidden tax) and made an eloquent statement to that effect on the Senate floor. In the meantime, a [...]
Read More Energy and EnvironmentBarack Obama’s now-former minister has made news recently for his inflammatory comments on a wide-variety of topics. While this has been a problem for Obama in his campaign for the presidency, as Fox News reports, the Chicago church, Trinity United Church of Christ, receives federal funding for a wide variety of programs and has done [...]
Read More WelfareI wrote an article recently in the Albuquerque Journal about some important health care reforms taking place in Georgia. I love it when people respond to articles written by the Foundation because it shows we are having an impact and making people think. Unfortunately, the response to my article came from Dan Davis of Los [...]
Read More Health Care, UncategorizedThis article appeared recently (May 28) in the Albuquerque Journal. The author’s basic point is that Native Americans were promised health care paid for by the federal government and that the government has fallen short of its obligations. Of course, more money is essential (in the author’s mind) to rectify this injustice. This promise of [...]
Read More Health Care, UncategorizedRecently, I discussed our new study on eliminating New Mexico’s personal income tax with Alan Riehl on Las Cruces radio station KSNM 570AM. You can listen to the show here. If you’d rather read a short, 700 or so word article about eliminating the personal income tax, you can read that here.
Read More Economics in FocusA few weeks ago I blogged about the importance of candidate surveys from Project Vote Smart. With the primary election on Tuesday, the Rio Grande Foundation and several other New Mexico-based non-profits surveyed candidates on several issues of interest to each group. The results of the House Candidate surveys can be found here and the [...]
Read More Decidedly New Mexican