May 2016 – Page 3

The Staggering Cost of Regulation

The above title is from an “Investors Business Daily” article. The Mercatus Center of George Mason University studied the cost of regulations, and put a price tag on them. In our country they cost $4 TRILLION. That cost is larger than the ENTIRE ECONOMIES of Germany, France, the U.K., Brazil, Italy…..

So what? We need regulations to protect lots of things. This is true, we shouldn’t be dumping cancerous chemicals into rivers, we should be protecting workers, we should be….. The problem is balance.

Income inequality is growing. Globalization has in fact brought much wealth to our country, it also brings challenges to a nation that has enjoyed a relatively blessed economic period since WW2. We must toughen up to compete, which we can do.

Businesses all over the world look at the practical, what can I do to compete, what must I do to compete. The “would like to” falls to the end of the line after “what I must do.”

We must evaluate the costs of regulations in the same light. What must we do is be sure those costs are reasonable so that our citizens have a chance to compete, internally and externally.

Progressive policies many times highlight needed reform. But the most progressive policy is to be sure the cost is bearable so the vast majority can find a job and have the pride of working so to raise a family.

Balance.

Raise Tax Rates, Reduce Tax Revenue!

How many times do we have to go through this? When France elected their new prime minister he raised taxes on the rich to olden days, 75% on millionaires. Tax revenue went down.

New York raised taxes on cigarettes from $2.75 a pack to $4.35, tax revenue dropped $80 million a year. Reagan lowered tax rates and revenue went up.

The Bern wants to raise taxes on the “rich”, what will be the results, lower tax revenue. If you agree with Joe Biden that paying taxes is patriotic, (I agree) then I guess then the over 50% of people in the United States who pay NO INCOME TAX are not patriotic.

The data is more than clear. We need reasonable, and globally competitive tax rates. Our governments need to live withing that revenue so not to have Greek levels of debt.

This is so simple, I guess that is why it won’t happen.

Jobs, The Key to Reducing the GINI Index

Income inequality is a hot topic. Presidential candidates go on about it. Studies are published. Programs (great, another program) are proposed. Being such a hot topic means nothing really meaningful will be done, I have little confidence in our government.

First, the wealth index, meaning the net worth of individuals, has become more even since the 1920’s. Wealth was much more concentrated then than now, home ownership-401K’s, IRA’s, savings, etc.

Income disparity has increased, rising close to its’ highs of the early 20th century; and the U.S. is higher than most of the OCED members. So what to do?

Jobs. Create more jobs.

Jobs. The U.S. has been slipping down the scale over the last couple of decades in the ranking of places easiest to business in. Regulations being the biggest cause, business taxes the next, higher government support when out of work, higher minimum wages, and so on. Sooooo, fix those problems, Duhhhhh! Our labor force participation is at all time lows, people have stopped looking for work. Smaller companies create the new jobs, not the big companies.

Educate our folks, old and young to compete in the global marketplace.

Education. Pay teachers on whether their students improve knowledge and skills. Reduce top heavy bureaucracies. Ensure kids have supportive parents. Stop talking about college for everyone-we need high skill tradespeople w ho on average make more than college graduates.

This is an easy problem, but both sides are unwilling to compromise to change the direction of our policies.

Tenure, Past Its’ Time?

At the beginning of the 20th century teacher tenure took hold in our country, with a noble thought. Teachers should be able to discuss controversial subjects and not be subject to firing for talking about such things. Today 2.3 million secondary teachers have tenure, most college professors do also.

The news is riddled with stories of teachers who speak out against something, say same sex marriage, and are suspended, or fired for having the political-or religious belief (John McAdams, Marquette University). So tenure really isn’t fulfilling its’ role. So maybe we should do away with it.

Great ideas to right a wrong usually go this way, unions are good example. A great idea to start with, protect workers from abuse. Then they get big and abuse their power. With the overwhelming tendency of teachers to support progressive political views it makes sense that they would want tenure to continue, they don’t want to be held accountable for producing outputs that benefit society.

Tenure has outlived its’ purpose, teachers should be held accountable for improving the knowledge and skills of students. The vast majority of them will do just fine when it goes away, probably get paid more also. Let the market come to education, no one deserves a job for life.

All Lives Matter

Any killing of another human is reprehensible. Why is it that the killing of a person of color is seen as different. No wait, it is different only if the person of color was killed by a person of not the same color.

According to a study by Heather McDonald (Thomas W. Smith Fellow; Manhattan Institute) released in April of 2016 the data shows the overwhelming violent deaths of black Americans are the hands of people of a similar race. Of the 987 civilians killed by police, 50% were white, 25% were black. Our problem isn’t the very low percentage of police who shouldn’t be police, but the lack of leadership and efforts in the black community to root out violence. Come on Reverend Al, step up and talk about this!

Over the last two decades murder rates have dropped precipitously across the country, NYC by 85%. Community based policing, Compstat, Stop and Frisk, etc. has worked. In NYC, if the old crime rates were still happening, 10,000 more black males would be dead. Yet, there is protest about the police!

If you ask the residents of areas plagued by violent crime they want the protection they deserve, yet, what we see on TV is protests, chants about burning pigs, looting, etc. The facts don’t matter.

The “Ferguson Effect” is a fact, and murder rates are rising.

When police department is acting in a discriminatory fashion, there are ways to fix it other than violence. Leadership is the key. When the mayor tells the police to pull away and not arrest looters, not a good deal.

Can we focus on the data please.