Economics
Feb 18, 2012
When I was 18, broke and on my own, I got a job as a nurse's aide. It was 1979; the "misery index" was high and jobs for young people were scarce. The very stern head of nursing informed me that her nurses were unionized. I was crushed to learn that union dues would be deducted from my pay along with taxes. I told her I didn't want to join; I needed every penny I earned. She told me that if I wanted the job, I had to join.
Feb 15, 2012
While government needs taxes to run, not all taxes are equal in their effect. A new report from the Tax Foundation–State and Local Sales Taxes in 2012–evaluates the burden of state and local sales taxes across the United States. It shows great variation. State sales tax rates range from 0 percent (Alaska, Delaware, New Hampshire, Oregon), to 7.25 percent (California). Some states have local sales taxes, while others do not. And of course states define the “base” differently: Some tax food and clothing while others don’t.
If you look only at state-level taxes, Minnesota has the seventh-highest burden in the land, behind California, Indiana, Mississippi, New Jersey, Rhode Island, and Tennessee.
Jan 26, 2012
The passage of a right-to-work law would end monopolistic practices in labor markets that have been an important factor in keeping the state from being nearer the top with respect to the standard of living of its citizenry. Moreover, the cost to the state government of doing so would be trivial as enacting a right-to-work law would require no expenditure of taxpayer dollars.
Jan 26, 2012
Legislature considering whether to put Right-to-Work issue on the ballot in 2012
Sep 21, 2011
Did the middle class lose ground after the Bush tax cuts? No, according to Census data compiled by Steve Conover.
Sep 7, 2011
Very high rates of family breakdown in the United States are subtracting from what very large numbers of students are learning in school—besides holding them back in many other ways.
This in turn is damaging the country economically, by making us less hospitable to innovation while also leaving millions of Americans less competitive in an increasingly demanding worldwide marketplace.
All of which is leading—and can only lead—to deepening class divisions.
Sep 6, 2011
Consider this a Labor Day vote for loyalty.
Remember Aaron Feuerstein? He was the 70-year-old owner of Malden Mills Industries, the inventor and manufacturer of sophisticated textile products like Polartec fleece, whose factory mostly burned down in the biggest industrial fire ever in Massachusetts in December 1995.
Aug 23, 2011
It can be a humbling experience walking into Settergren’s Ace Hardware, my neighborhood hardware store. The humbling part happens when the high school-age employee asks if he can help me. I consider myself a pretty handy guy and, being a guy, I don’t tend to ask for help. So, if I ever respond, “Why yes, you can help me,” then my issue usually covers a topic well beyond home repair 101. The humbling part is that the kid more often than not has the answer.
Jul 18, 2011
A reasonable reading of the following 34 brief essays in American Experiment’s newest symposium—What Governmental Services and Benefits Are You Personally Willing to Give Up?—suggests that more Americans than generally assumed may be seriously willing to sacrifice when it comes to major entitlement programs like Social Security and Medicare. In the interest of balancing the nation’s skewed books, the columns similarly suggest that more people than routinely thought may be willing to forgo various exemptions and other tax breaks, including near-sacred deductions on home mortgage payments.
Jul 15, 2011
Food and Drug Administration (FDA) rules are supposedly intended to ensure the safety and efficacy of new drugs and medical devices. It is FDA’s technology gatekeeper role—its power to approve or reject medical innovations in a one-size-fits-all fashion—that I would sacrifice willingly.
I seek the freedom to explore the medical frontier, to have access to experimental medicines and medical devices that the FDA has not approved, and to go out (as I’ll explain) as a hero.
