What do California, Illinois, Delaware, Connecticut, Hawaii, Maryland and Minnesota have in common? They are all blue states that have adopted a strategy of raising taxes on their wealthy residents. But almost all of these blue states lag behind the national average in growth of jobs and incomes. As Stephen Moore, asks, “So, if income redistribution policies are the solution to shrinking the gap between rich and poor, why do they (blue states) fail so miserably?”
Economist Stephen Moore (Heritage Foundation), writing with Arthur Laffer and Jonathan Williams, reports that five of the highest-tax blue states have “lost some 4 million more U.S. residents than entered these states over the last decade.” By comparison, low-tax Texas, Florida, North Carolina, Arizona and Georgia have gained about that many new residents.
In Rich States, Poor States, Messrs. Moore, Laffer and Williams report on why states with high taxes, high welfare benefits, and high minimum wages also tend to have the highest income inequality. As Stephen Moore explains about blue states’ Robin Hood policies: they are the states where “the rich end up the richest and the poor the poorest.”
The Cato Institute’s Dan Mitchell offers Calvin Coolidge as a best bet, as would I.
Dan also sights passages from Thomas Jefferson, Dwight D. Eisenhower and Ronald Regan as examples of the thinking of good American presidents. And Dan suggests that we not forget the principled words of Presidents Madison, Pierce and Cleveland.
On the opposite track, Mr. Mitchell asks, “What is it that our statist friends want? At the risk of oversimplifying, they think the government should use redistribution to provide basic needs for everyone.”
Well, as Dan notes here, Eisenhower had a good quote on a group of two million Americans who do have all their basic needs provided by government “In these times when we hear so much of security, security, security for everything we do—when so many of us want to be sure that we shall never be cold, or hungry or out in the rain, or have a leaky roof—I should think that the best example of it would be a man serving a lifetime in a federal prison.”
See Coolidge here in the first video of a U.S. president.
For decades I have plotted out the annual NFL football draft. And each year I enjoy the challenge of uncovering what I find to be the most useful reference source. This year I have selected leading independent draft analyst Nolan Navwrocki’s NFL Draft 2015 Preview as my #1 reference source.
Thanks to Nolan, I have selected for the New England Patriots as Round #1 candidates CB Kevin Johnson, Wake Forest; OG La’el Collins, LSU; CB Senquez Golson, Mississippi; CB Doran Grant, Ohio State; and sleeper CB Byron Jones, Connecticut.
Among my Round #1 overall favorites are DT Leanord Williams, USC; OLB Dante Fowler, Florida; OT Brandon Scherff, Iowa; and OT Andrus Peat, Stanford.
If your team is drafting midway in the first round, send up a cheer if you see CB Marcus Peters, ex-Washington, or CB Kevin Johnson, Wake Forest, name pop up on the big draft screen.
What about consensus #1 pick QB Jameis Winston? Nolan writes that Winston has “frequently challenged the coaching staff openly on the sidelines and was kicked out of practice prior to the national championship game.” I would want no part of Winston, especially with Nolan contributing the following pleasantry: “Winston is still figuring out what it means to lead by example and has invited many questions about his personal character and integrity following multiple off-the-field discretions that resulted in team discipline.”
I would seek to trade Winston were I able to land Williams, Fowler, Scherff or Peat, plus high second and fourth round picks this year and next. At four this year, I would take a flyer on Oregon State QB Sean Mannion. Nolan writes on Mannion: ”Experienced four-year starter possessing prototype size in a pro-style offense where he consistently operated from underneath center.” And adds: “Excellent work habits and football character. Gym rat and film junkie. Takes the game very seriously. Very intelligent and football smart.” May Sean be there for the Pats at round four or, ideally, round five.
How about second-round favorites? Consider your team in the chips if any of these players are added: OG A.J. Cann, South Carolina; CB Charles Gaines, Louisville; OG Laken Tomlinson, Duke; OG Tre Jackson, Florida State; TE Tyler Kroft, Rutgers; or CB Quinten Rollins, Miami-Ohio.
Finally, once Jameis Winston is cleared from your selections, who merits the #1 over-all pick? That would be DT Leonard Williams, USC, Nolan’s highest-graded player.
You better be ready to defend yourself and your family. Self-defense is a perishable skill. Simply buying a weapon is not enough. It takes practice, practice, and more practice. It is one of the most important takeaways I’ve learned in the shooter training courses I’ve taken at Sig Sauer Academy in Exeter, NH.
Last week, after a long New England Winter, my friend and I hit our local range to work with our rifles. The last time we were there together was in the Fall before the snow. I was rusty to say the least. Shooting is a lot like golf. It takes some time to get back the muscle memory.
Our club is known for its world-class youth precision shooters. Talk about practice. They hit their target, then practice putting the next shot through the hole, over and over again.
You get a feel for the seriousness of the trade in the following article. You don’t need to be world-class to defend yourself and your family. You don’t need a sniper rifle. But you do need to practice self-defense. It is a perishable skill.
Sofrep.com’s Nick Irving writes:
Precision long-rang shooting is an absolute art. Everything has to be perfect in order for the round to impact its intended target. Factors including humidity, barometric pressure, density, altitude, wind, temperature, flight time, etc., are all considerations that the shooter must overcome to place a small projectile onto a target generally the size of human torso.
This is the world with which most military snipers and precision shooters are far too familiar.
Now take a look at the average Olympic shooter, an athlete who typically shoots in ideal conditions and at distances that don’t exceed 50 meters. Comparing the two very different styles of shooting, one may assume from the job description alone that the two have absolutely no comparison, or that military snipers are the best at their craft. This may hold true… to some extent.
Over the course of four days, I had the chance to work with Amanda Furrer, an Olympic Precision Shooter, and wanted to somehow compare the two styles of shooting and shed some light on the art of precision shooting, if it was possible. Amanda’s style of shooting does indeed differ from that of my job and what most military snipers are used to, but the difference was not as drastic as I thought before meeting up.
Dramatically slashing the Washington bureaucracy and turning vast powers over to the states is the only way to dig America out of the hole we are in today. The original Articles of Confederation laid out the Founder’s framework for a decentralized states rights form of weak central government, a true federal republic. If every American were to read the original Articles, we all might be able to lay down a foundation for progress.
As a country, we are going nowhere but down until such time as the federal monstrosity in Washington is dismembered, dismantled and distributed to the states. Many departments and agencies need to be shuttered. The modest number of remaining central government outposts must be dramatically downsized. (See Cato Institute’s Downsizinggovernment.org for ways to make that happen.) The Department of Education, the EPA, the Fed, and the IRS would be front-line candidates for demolition.
Our tax code should be junked in the entirety. The IRS would no longer be needed after a prompt switch to a 10/10/10 flat tax system. All corporate and personal taxes would be filed on postcards.
The Department of Defense would be dramatically downsized once re-configured to be an operation designed to defend America’s shoreline rather than acting as the world’s police force.
Abusive class action lawsuits and punitive damages would be terms that would immediately disappear from the legal lexicon. And America’s justice system could immediately morph into a far smaller and streamlined states-centric system.
The “Swiss Way” of cantonal decentralization and weak central government could act as the perfect model for America. Included here would be the elimination of our unconstitutional standing army (explicitly prevented by the constitution) replaced by a militia form of national defense (as opposed to offense) as practiced today in Switzerland and envisioned by the Founders.
A nationwide states competition would emerge with all states competing for business relocation and workers. The most business friendly states with lowest taxes and least onerous regulatory structure would surge to the forefront.
Term limits would be introduced further reducing the intrusiveness of Washington bureaucrats.
The federal government would be 100% out of the education business. And Washington would be relieved of Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid responsibilities, all of which would transition to the private marketplace.
Obamacare would be an early casualty of the reorganization guillotine, replaced by a market-based system as advocated by Cato Institute scholars and FreedomWorks. Rand Paul has a simple answer for Obamacare replacement here.
Not a Washington bureaucrat is going to champion such a common sense government restructuring, as most would soon be out of work. And it is unlikely the military, accountants and lawyers are going to find much to cheer in such a small business owner, skilled Artisans, and entrepreneur friendly structure. So “America first citizens” are going to have to create the grass roots movement to ensure that America begins to reverse the catastrophic damage inflicted on the U.S. economy by the Clinton, George W. Bush, and Obama administrations.
Pause and reflect. Are Americans really prepared to begin turning out the lights for America by allowing a Clinton/Bush “face off” in 2016? It’s impossible to contemplate.
You never know the power of a hand-written thank you note.
I was reminded of this yesterday reading about a thank you note Julia Child wrote before her death. She thanked Roger Berkowitz, president of Legal Sea Foods, for a clambake he had sent to her. It was a special note for Mr. Berkowitz.
Julia Child was a loyal customer and a family friend. Their relationship went back to the days when his family ran the fish counter in Cambridge, MA. “We were her fish store,” recalls Berkowitz. The note is framed and hangs in his office.
I’m sure it reminds Mr. Berkowitz every day. It’s a reminder about his childhood working at the family store in the 1950’s and the importance of a customer.
There is not a more special moment in business than when someone becomes your customer. Without it there cannot be a lifetime relationship. It’s a precious moment in time.
When investors become clients of Richard C. Young & Co., Ltd. we thank them. It puts closure to the hardest part of a long-term business relationship–that initial commitment of trust. Sitting before a blank-card is a special moment.
The cards I send are wood-cut, carefully crafted by Ilse Buchert Nesbitt of The Third & Elm Press in Newport, RI. When I visit Ilse’s shop we both smile knowing business is good. I love the smell of ink, the creaking floor, and the huge press that looks as if it may have been used by Benjamin Franklin.
Thank you Julia for reminding me of the importance of practicing what seems to be a lost art.
President Obama has spent most of his years in the White House boasting that Democrats are the party of the future—the party of immigrants, ethnic minorities, young people, etc. But Marco Rubio’s and Ted Cruz’s inspiring only-in-America stories makes for a tedious backdrop to Hillary’s non-tipping story at Chipotle.
Mr. Rubio father was born in Cuba and immigrated to the United States, where senior Mr. Rubio made his living as a hotel bartender and Marco’s mother made hers as a housekeeper. Ted Cruz’s father was also born in Cuba and, before immigrating to the United States, fought in the overthrow of the Batista regime.
Kevin D. Williamson of NRO points out the awkwardness of the Rubio/Cruz stories for Democrats: “The Democrats are rallying behind an elderly suburban WASP lawyer from Park Ridge whose father was a wealthy, conservative businessman.”
This is a bit more of a problem for Democrats than it is for Republicans, because the Democrats’ go-to strategy is to dismiss the Republicans as the tools of the Wicked Rich, which is slightly more difficult when you are the Wicked Rich — Mrs. Clinton’s household income has exceeded $100 million since her husband left what we’re still calling (ho-ho!) public service. Her father owned a textile company. Senator Rubio’s story is not that.
As Charles Krauthhammer asks, does anyone really believe Hillary is suddenly seized with a new passion to champion, as she put it in Iowa, “the truckers that I saw on I-80 as I was driving here”?
