When the stock market goes up or down, credit and blame accrues to the president. Mostly unfair in a global economy, of course, but that’s how Americans judge it. Call it the “Pottery Barn Rule -- If You Break It, You Own It”. No clearer example of this than the post-Trump election stock market rally. Before the election, Democrats said the robust stock market levels … [Read more...]
State Agency Playing Fast and Loose with Tax Incentives
Let’s make a deal. What’ll it take to get you to close the deal? A little wheeling? A little dealing? A little quid pro quo? Pay no attention to the price tag. That’s for the suckers. After a meeting of the Governor’s Office of Economic Development (GOED) this past week, the agency put out a press release boasting that it had approved “the creation of thousands of new jobs … [Read more...]
Dude, Marin Just Got a Little More Marin
Will ‘legal’ pot take the edge off of a Trump presidency? “Unique” isn’t right. Perhaps the word “apart” gets a little closer to the core of it all. The so-called “Marin Bubble” is hard to put into words, but it sometimes feels like living in an Edgar Rice Burroughs novel, the title of which might be “The Lost World of Marin.” As a Nevadan splitting time between Nevada … [Read more...]
Be Cautious Before Approving Another Renewable Energy Project
Nevada continues to be ground zero for all manner of grand schemes to construct ever more grandiose renewable energy projects — egged on by Sen. Harry Reid and the global warming Chicken Littles in the Democratic Party, who are more than willing to spend other people’s money on grants, loan guarantees, tax breaks and give away federal public land to be paved over with solar … [Read more...]
Voters Should Dump a Tax, Add a Tax and End a Monopoly
Nevada and many other states were well on the way to breaking up the electricity monopolies 15 years ago until the Enron market manipulation debacle that led to blackouts and price spikes scared lawmakers off. A free market was not the problem, it was criminal collusion and fraud. Now, Nevadans have another chance to let free markets set the price of electricity instead of … [Read more...]
Voters Should Decriminalize Possession and Use of Marijuana for Adults
Just as the Volstead Act did by creating Prohibition, the laws criminalizing the use and possession of marijuana have spawned a criminal industry and ruined lives without accomplishing the objective of legally imposed universal abstinence. While we do not advocate nor even condone the use of either alcohol are marijuana, we find it contrary to the principles of a free society … [Read more...]
Let’s face it: ObamaCare isn’t very good
‘So you’ve got this crazy system where all of a sudden 25 million more people have health care and then the people who are out there busting it, sometimes 60 hours a week, wind up with their premiums doubled and their coverage cut in half. It’s the craziest thing in the world.’ – Bill Clinton I am no expert on healthcare. Hardly any of us are. But because we all … [Read more...]
Rural Residents Being Harmed by Healthcare Changes
From the beginning under ObamaCare rural residents throughout the nation have had fewer choices for health care coverage and have been charged considerably higher premiums than those in urban areas. As insurers flee the ObamaCare market there is even less competition and still higher rates. It has reached the point that in 2017 a majority of Nevada counties — Esmeralda, … [Read more...]