One of the great free-market economists of my lifetime, the late Milton Friedman, once said: “One of the great mistakes is to judge policies and programs by their intentions rather than their results.” That, of course, is true in lots of areas of policy, but if what’s happening in Seattle is any indication, increases in...
This story is almost 8 months old, but it’s new to me, and since the blog isn’t that old, I thought I’d share it. In abbreviated form, the Aldi grocery chain has committed to having 100% of its packaging be recyclable or reusable by 2025. One story suggested that this is pretty easy for Aldi,...
Last month we talked about how the state’s revenues were exceeding forecasts. In the last 30 days there have been many discussions in Lincoln about what to do with this excess cash. Some want to put it into the Property Tax Credit Relief Fund, some want to use it for comprehensive property tax reform, some...
As a former legislator, I understand (although never enjoyed) political pandering. I’ll admit that sometimes I would say nothing or be very non-committal when a group (especially a group of constituents) wanted me to take a particular position, and I’ll also admit that I likely pandered on occasion to groups that I could do it to in...
Unfortunately, it’s not Nebraska that’s called a special session on taxes – it’s Utah! Utah has the nation’s 9th most favorable tax climate and one of the fastest growing economies in the nation – so what more is there to change? Well, research has shown that the state relies too much on the income tax...
Nebraska state senators are already making their positions known, as a property tax ballot campaign emerges as a 2020 campaign issue.
This story from The Hill popped up in my news aggregator a little while ago. Sometimes I don’t get stories until a day after they were published… Anyway, the essence of the story is this: Congress and the President have a tentative agreement to give all federal employees 12 weeks of PAID parental leave. Current...
I was at a conference workshop this morning–about “regulatory overreach”–and one of the panelists was legislator form Idaho. This legislator made sure that we all knew what they had done this year–essentially repealing ALL of the regulatory code through a universal sunset process, and then adding a few critical ones back in. Given that most...
Just in case you missed it, Fox News did a special segment on the story of Cabela’s leaving Sidney and the impact it has had on the town and its citizens. The whole video is 10:45 long, but if you want to hear only the part about Sidney, fast forward to 5:15 and then at...
Ever wonder where we get some of our economic ideas? Two predominant examples of economic views are Keynesian and Classical (also sometimes referred to as Austrian economics). Keynesian is based on the British Economist John Maynard Keynes, who influenced much of the economic and fiscal behavior of governments in the early 1900’s. In a nutshell,...
Swimming pools may be great fun, but they're not core government services.
A bald eagle smashed through a storefront window and gave an essential economics lesson.
According to the NE Department of Revenue, the following are changes to the local sales and use taxes effective Jan 1, 2020: Gage County will start a new 0.5% county sales and use tax rate that is effective in the entire Gage County area. Deshler will start a new 1% city sales and use tax rate. Unadilla will start a new 1.5% city sales...
We are often encouraged to "give what you can," but might forget that we can give a lot more than money.