Chart: America's per-capita debt is higher than Greece
A staggering chart from the Weekly Standard that shows America's per-capita government debt compared to several struggling countries:
In case you were wondering why the U.S.'s debt crisis is an actual crisis, here's what is happening in Greece right now as the government tries to cut its spending in order to avoid default.
And if you look at the very bottom of that chart, it reads "Under President Obama's plan, gross federal debt alone would reach $75,000 per capita in 2012."
Remember all the people who thought the housing bubble wouldn't or couldn't burst? People like Fed chairman Ben Bernanke who, in 2005, said he didn't think there was a housing bubble? Those people weren't just wrong; they were painfully wrong, as we're experiencing right now.
Look at that chart. As for all the people who say debt doesn't matter or who only pay lip service to how dangerous this debt is, they're painfully wrong too.
And when the government spending bubble bursts - and without some responsible reforms in the near term, burst it will - the aftermath of the housing crash we're experiencing right now is going to look like the good times.
Read moreTax Foundation rips Sandoval's economic development plan
Add the Tax Foundation to the national free market groups that are pointing out problems with Gov. Brian Sandoval's economic development plan.
While the plan boasts that Nevada ranks third in our most recent addition of the State Business Tax Climate Index, the tax policy changes supported by Governor Sandoval would only lower Nevada's tax competitiveness. As more loopholes are added to the tax structure, the principles of simplicity, transparency, and neutrality would be broken. These concepts are the foundations of the State Business Tax Climate Index, and the cornerstone of a good tax policy.Exactly.
Some parts of the proposal are even clear violations of some of our most followed policy topics. As we have shown on numerous occasions, film tax credits, a hefty part of the governor's proposal, are ineffective at providing incentives to do business in a state, especially as neighboring states adopt similar credits and deductions. While the governor contends that these development programs will create jobs, our analysis shows that they generally create temporary employment, because the film business is mobile in nature. Similar to Governor Sandoval's plan, in Massachusetts the development of "Innovation Districts" has required using millions of dollars of tax incentives to lure companies into the area to develop, further breaking the principle of neutrality.
Through damaging the tax competitiveness of Nevada, the Governor's aim of creating a vibrant economy for future generations becomes endangered, and instead just favors well-connected businesses over others. The sound approach would be to eliminate deductions and lower rates overall. Currently Nevada's tax base is relatively well-constructed, something that Governor Sandoval's proposals will jeopardize.
As NPRI has pointed out, along with being unconstitutional, Sandoval's plan focuses on government picking the winners and losers in the economy, instead of empowering entrepreneurs and consumers in a free market.
That doesn't lead to a healthy economy, and Sandoval should reverse course here asap.
Nevada students received extra credit for volunteering for the Obama campaign; Update: Students received class credit
Update (2/22/12): I called Loretta Harper to ask her about the program, and she said the students aren't getting extra credit, but class credit. More at the bottom of the post.
We've had public schools teaching kids to literally sing President Obama's praises, so why not take a more direct route and put those kids to work?
Loretta Harper of Las Vegas is a newly named national co-chair of President Barack Obama's re-election campaign. ...No word on if Harper, who makes $74,000 a year plus benefits, plans to expand outreach "efforts" like this nationwide now that she's a co-chair of Obama's re-election campaign, but if you've got "free labor" available, why not take advantage?
Harper, 58, is a counselor at Desert Pines High School. She's also a member of the Board of Directors of the Nevada State Educators Association.
During the 2008 Obama campaign, when he won Nevada on his way to the presidency, Harper said she got more than 100 students extra credit when they volunteered to help elect the Democrat. (Emphasis added.)
Never mind that Nevada's high school graduation rate currently sits under 45 percent, liberals have a president to elect. We all have to get our priorities straight now, people.
In case you were wondering how Nevada can nearly triple inflation-adjusted, per-pupil education spending in the last 50 years and get stagnant results, tidbits like this provide part of the answer.
Update (2/21/2012): Shortly after I published this post, I called Loretta Harper to ask her for more details about this. Her is what she had to say:
First, she said the kids weren't receiving extra credit as the RJ reported, they were receiving actual class credit. Students need 7.5 "extra curricular" credits to graduate and volunteering 60 hours gets them .5 credits. (There are other ways to get these credits too.)
Second, when I asked her if students approached her about volunteering for Obama or if she suggested it, her reply was "both ways." (Emphasis added.) So, yes, she did use her position as a school counselor to steer students into volunteering for Obama's campaign. If this was a private school, this wouldn't be an issue, but she works for a public school.
Third, I asked her if the same thing would hold for a student wanting to volunteer for a Republican presidential candidate, and she said it would, but no students have asked her about that.
And yes, she is planning on having students volunteer for Obama to receive class credit again this year.
Update: Thanks to Patterico for the link and the kind words!
Update: Thanks to Gateway Pundit for the link!
New Las Vegas city hall shows the problems with government-led economic development
Government shouldn't pick winners and losers in the economy - it's a simple phrase, but if followed, it would prevent a lot of government waste and economic hardship.
Unfortunately, for Las Vegas taxpayers, former-mayor Oscar Goodman wanted a new $185 million city hall, and he stuck taxpayers with the bill. In a press release NPRI just put out, Geoffrey Lawrence explains how the wasteful spending on a new city hall shows some of the problems with government-led economic development.
Even in the midst of a down economy, wasteful government spending continues to run amok. Between last week's opening of the taxpayer-subsidized Mob Museum and today's opening of the new Las Vegas city hall, taxpayers have two vivid reminders that there is plenty of excess within government.Read more:
Taxpayer-subsidized economic development efforts are always short-sighted because they skew markets away from optimal, natural development toward unsustainable special-interest subsidies. The city hall project, which was sold as an economic development project that would catalyze future downtown investment, however, goes a step beyond even the state-directed economic development efforts being considered by Governor Brian Sandoval and his advisors. Their ideas would arbitrarily pick winners and losers from among private industry. With the construction of a $185 million shrine to government in the midst of recession, city officials in Las Vegas have chosen themselves as the winners and private taxpayers as the losers!
The Las Vegas city hall is a lose-lose for taxpayers. First, they must pay for its construction, with annual payments that grow to $13.4 million by Fiscal Year 2017, plus over $40 million in interest costs. According to city documents, Las Vegas' general fund will "likely" pay the majority of the annual payment.
Second, even should the new city hall successfully lure businesses downtown - something highly unlikely given the track record of the Las Vegas Redevelopment Agency - taxpayers would still be on the hook, because increased taxes collected in the redevelopment district will mainly go to the redevelopment agency, not to fund legitimate city services. Also, redevelopment agencies breed corruption and backroom deals to dole out public money.
Finally, an important principle is at stake here: Who serves whom? In the private sector, businessmen and women must meet customers' needs to gain their business. In government, politicians take taxpayers' money - by force, ultimately - to use it for their own pet projects regardless of what consumers prefer or say. This was highlighted last week, when former-mayor Oscar Goodman called critics of the taxpayer-subsidized Mob Museum "monkeys" and "morons."
Who do you want running the economy?
- City's redevelopment agency has been taking money away from teachers, firefighters and police
- Rolling the Dice on the Taxpayers' Dime
- Old Vegas lives
- Culinary sells out, taxpayers on the hook
Mercatus scholar: Take Sandoval's economic development plan and do the opposite
A great critique of Gov. Brian Sandoval's economic development plan by Antony Davies, an associate professor of economics at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh and a senior scholar at the free market Mercatus Center.
The [governor's] plan calls for the creation of 50,000 jobs by the end of 2014 -- or 16,700 jobs per year. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, over the past six months, Nevada created 10,000 jobs. That's 20,000 jobs a year. In other words, the governor's plan calls for the state government to intervene and reduce the amount of job creation that is going on in the absence of state intervention.Major props to Davies for catching that Sandoval's plan is to produce fewer jobs than individuals in the market (even with the many hindrances put on them by government) are already creating! This is stunning and something that should make Nevadans reject the governor's plan, even if the plan wasn't a roadmap for crony capitalism and collectivizing the state's economy.
In this, the plan is sure to be a roaring success. ...
Gov. Sandoval's plan for resurrecting Nevada's economy is a valuable document. Nevada should study it carefully and do exactly the opposite of what it proposes.
Davies also points out something Nevada's statists and liberals don't want you to realize. Over the last dozen years, government in Nevada has grown, not shrunk.
One black mark on Nevada's economic freedom ranking is the size of the government's footprint. In 2000, government spending at all levels comprised about 25 percent of Nevada's economy. By 2009, government spending in Nevada had risen to 33 percent of Nevada's economy.Aside from the (negative) practical implications of Sandoval's plan, let me leave you with the words of Frederic Bastiat, a nineteenth-century political philosopher and eloquent defender of liberty, who shows what's wrong with the very idea of a government-directed economy.
If the natural tendencies of mankind are so bad that it is not safe to permit people to be free, how is it that the tendencies of these organizers are always good? Do not the legislators and their appointed agents also belong to the human race? Or do they believe that they themselves are made of a finer clay than the rest of mankind? ...
When under the pretext of fraternity, the legal code imposes mutual sacrifices on the citizens, human nature is not thereby abrogated. Everyone will then direct his efforts toward contributing little to, and taking much from, the common fund of sacrifices.
Now, is it the most unfortunate who gains from this struggle? Certainly not, but rather the most influential and calculating.
Best of the Nevada blogosphere featuring Fellner and Mitchell
This week, I think I should call the "Best of the Nevada blogosphere" awards the "Posts I wish I had written" awards, because man, I wish I had written these two posts.
Just some great content and terrific writing from Robert Fellner at Grim's Grumblings and Thomas Mitchell at 4th St8.
- In the nanny state that is modern America, do parents have any rights left?, by Robert Fellner at Grim's Grumblings
What it's about and why it's a great post: The news hook is a story about a government bureaucrat deciding a preschooler's mom didn't pack a healthy enough lunch and giving the child chicken nuggets instead, but what's really great here is Fellner's examination of the principles at stake in this case. Fellner clearly shows the choice before us - liberty or continuing on the road to serfdom.
The money line: The ends do not justify the means. They cannot. The goal of creating a healthier society is a laudable one. So, too, are the efforts to create a more charitable society, or a thoughtful, or caring, or compassionate one. And so on. None of these goals justify the use of force, as a means in which to achieve them. You can not craft a more just, healthier, or fair society by employing an immoral method for doing so. A starting point of denying the rights of some, so that many may prosper, is incompatible with a free society and is the hallmark of tyranny. There is nothing moral about using force to have others behave in a more charitable manner. - Nevada must go hat in hand to Congress to plead for use of its own land, by Thomas Mitchell at 4th St8
What it's about and why it's a great post: The issue of the federal government owning 85 percent of the state is something that should infuriate everyone in Nevada. Mitchell does a great job detailing the history of this and expressing the outrage that comes so naturally when you realize Nevada isn't equal to the other states. He's reached out to several elected officials, and I'll be curious to see what, if anything, he hears back from them.
The money line: The meek may inherit the earth, but meekly asking the Kremlin on the Potomac won't get you a square-inch of your own land.
Nevada's delegation - for the third freaking time, for crying out loud - has petitioned the representatives of the other 49 states for permission to use a few acres of the unappropriated lands within its own boundaries for campuses for higher education. The same supplication foundered in 2008 and 2009.
4th St8
Bruce Feher
The Complete Las Vegan
Cranky Hermit
Dullard Mush
First Principles
Grim's Grumblings
Kickin' Up Dust (Nevada Farm Bureau blog)
The Libertarian Popinjay
Local So-and-So
Muth's Truths
Nevada News and Views
Olhar Direito
Randi's Rants
Reno Hayek Symposium
Sean Cary
TransparentNevada blog
The Western Wrangler
What "groundbreaking" education reform really looks like
Memo to all those in the Nevada Legislature who think the minor education reforms passed during the last session are a big deal. Those reforms are small improvements, but this is what education reforms that "make a big difference" look like.
Today, the Virginia State Senate passed a tax-credit scholarship bill by a vote of 20-20. The tie was broken by Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling.It's not just Virginia either. Last year, thirteen states created new school choice programs, including Indiana implementing the largest school choice program in the country. Our Southern neighbor, Arizona, was really inventive and passed educational savings accounts.
"Virginia lawmakers concluded what Democrats and Republicans in 17 other states have long known: School choice helps parents obtain better learning environments for their children," Robert Enlow, President and CEO of the Friedman Foundation, said.
The Senate measure now faces a vote in the Virginia House, which passed its own tax-credit scholarship measure earlier this week. Should it receive House approval, Gov. Bob McDonnell is expected to sign the bill into law. Accordingly, Virginia would join eight other states that offer tax credits to nonprofits that, in turn, distribute private school scholarships.
School choice is an educational reform that improves results for those choosing new schools and those remaining in their old schools and can save taxpayer dollars.
School choice in Nevada? Now that's what "groundbreaking" education reform looks like.
Third anniversary reminder: Stimulus was and is an epic failure
If there are any Nevada politicians entertaining the idea that government picking the winners and losers in the economy is a good plan, they should consider the results of the $787 billion stimulus, on its third anniversary.
Despite spending close to a trillion dollars to "stimulate" the economy, the unemployment rate rose dramatically over the Obama administration's predictions.
This isn't surprising. Government's attempts to boost the economy either fail, like the stimulus did, or create a bubble - hello, housing - that eventually bursts and does even more economic damage.
And what's worse is that after spending almost a trillion dollars to stimulate the economy, Heritage's James Sherk finds that this has been the slowest recovery in the post-war area.
What's the alternative? Let's give the free market - an unhindered by government interventions - another try.
Oscar Goodman, former Las Vegas mayor and mob lawyer, calls critics of Mob Museum "monkeys"
And monkeys wasn't the only thing Goodman called critics of wasting tax dollars to build a shrine to the mob.
The Mob Museum cost federal, state and local taxpayers $42 million and was labeled as one of five most ridiculous government-funded "tourist traps" by the Taxpayer Protection Association. The museum opened yesterday.
Video is from NPRI's Nevada Journal.
Best of the Nevada blogosphere featuring Chamberlain
Some really good stuff from the center-right blogosphere this last week, including a ton of reporting on last Saturday's caucus. Since that's more political, it doesn't qualify for this, no doubt, highly sought-after weekly award.
This week, my choice for "Best of the Nevada blogosphere" comes from Michael Chamberlain at Cranky Hermit.
- Fed Mortgage Deal: Getting Their 26 Billion Pounds of Flesh, by Michael Chamberlain at Cranky Hermit.
What it's about and why it's a great post: The media's been abuzz with news that Attorney Generals in 49 states reached a settlement with five banks for irregularities in foreclosures. This is being portrayed as a big win for homeowners, but Chamberlain goes behind the spin and details why this is going to have negative impacts on the housing market and create numerous moral hazards.
The money line: There is a significant contingent of people, exemplified by the OWS movement, that believes homeowners should simply be allowed to keep their homes regardless of their ability or willingness to repay the loans that purchased those homes in the first place. There is an even more widespread belief that people who got caught up in the frenzy of the bubble - who purchased homes during the bubble believing that the value would continue to increase forever or who used their homes like an ATM, cashing out equity to support a lifestyle beyond their means - are victims of these evil bankers. These people are not victims of anything but their own poor decisions.
Here's my current list of center-right blogs in Nevada. Check them out and leave a comment or two!
4th St8
Bruce Feher
The Complete Las Vegan
Cranky Hermit
Dullard Mush
First Principles
Grim's Grumblings
Kickin' Up Dust (Nevada Farm Bureau blog)
The Libertarian Popinjay
Local So-and-So
Muth's Truths
Nevada News and Views
Olhar Direito
Randi's Rants
Reno Hayek Symposium
Sean CaryTransparentNevada blog
The Western Wrangler
