New Focus, Same Blog
Sorry for the delay in posts everyone, just had some serious writer’s block.
Actually, that’s not entirely true. I’ve had lots to write about, this blog’s original focus just wasn’t conducive to that. So, I’m expanding its view to include local, state and national politics. We’ll throw some history, economics in there as usual. I just don’t think pigeon-holing this site’s content makes any sense.
Anyway, got some good content on the way. Stay tuned.
Good Night, Irene
There are times when we realize that local communities, neighbors, friends, etc. still matter. Hurricane Irene is one of those instances.
The news coverage I’ve seen from New York, North Carolina and even here in DC has focused on folks acting locally and preparing for the worst. Plus some of the best tips I’ve heard, such as emptying your fridge of meats and dairy along with making an ATM stop before the power goes out, have come from talk radio.
I know this all seems like common sense, but it’s still refreshing to know we aren’t looking to the federal government to protect us. It can help us in the recovery effort, sure. But even then, it can’t do everything.
In the spring of 2006, I was a junior at the University of Iowa when a tornado rolled through. A reporter at the Daily Iowan, I spent most of the night at the newsroom making calls and corresponding with my co-workers in the field. The day after, I awoke to the sound of chainsaws cutting errant tree limbs. Walking outside, I saw my neighbors helping one another clean up what the storm left behind. It’s nice to know that we still look to those closest to us for assistance.
Teen Unemployment in DC: The Tragic Trend Continues
The District of Columbia has been largely spared from the recession’s worst effects (although some believe things could worsen, assuming deep cuts in government spending).
But area teenagers aren’t seeing the benefits.
CNS News’ Penny Starr reports that half of the District’s youngsters are unemployed, a trend that’s been skyrocketing since June 2007 when the rate was an abysmal 26.2 percent. There are several reasons for this but minimum wage laws are the biggest culprits, especially given D.C.’s current rate of $8.25/hour.
As economist Walter Williams notes, black adolescents bear the heaviest of unemployment burdens thanks to these statutes:
“With each increase in the minimum wage, black teen unemployment rose relative to whites and teen unemployment rose relative to adult. Why?” Williams asks. “Put yourself in the place of an employer and ask: If I must pay to whomever I hire $7.25 an hour, plus mandated fringes such as Social Security, vacation, health insurance, unemployment insurance, does it pay me to hire a worker who is so unfortunate so as to have a skill level that allows him to contribute only $5 worth of value an hour? Most employers would view hiring such a person a losing economic proposition.”
Other economists note that black teens tend to work at “eating and drinking places,” which are often adversely affected by mandated wage increases given their low profit margins. And given the District’s 50.7 percent black population, it’s no stretch to say these kids are suffering once again.
Local government “solutions” such as the Summer Youth Employment Program were created to address the problem. But the jobs endeavor has been riddled by overspending, misplaced positions and threats to the safety of its participants. And since the City Council will likely revise its minimum wage law when Hell freezes over, let’s hope it’s at least open to market options, starting with the proposed Walmart.
Don’t Blame High Earners for Unaffordable Housing
In DC, it seems, government problems can only be solved with more regulatory “solutions.” At least that’s been the default setting concerning gun sales, taxi cabs and childhood obesity.
So I wasn’t surprised to see tax-hike proposals from the left-of-center Brookings Institution regarding the District’s high cost of affordable housing. Assuming the Washington Examiner’s reporting is correct, inept government leadership, shoddy data-tracking and the recession are to blame along with… high earners?
“…the city’s low-income population is ‘facing even more unaffordable housing costs’ as more higher-income households move into the city, according to a new Brookings Institution report,” Liz Farmer wrote.
Thomas Sowell, senior fellow at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution, might take issue with that assessment. In his book Economic Facts and Fallacies, Sowell faults government interventions for high housing costs.
Whether they be “open space” laws that forbid building anything on certain lands, “smart growth” policies limiting suburban expansion or even structure height requirements, regulations are unaffordable housing’s biggest culprits. In fact, twenty-three of the world’s 26 most unaffordable housing markets have implemented at least the first two aforementioned rules.
Things are somewhat different here in DC than in other markets. Area structures are forbidden to be taller than the Capitol and over a third of the District’s land is owned by the federal government. Still, the market is heavily restricted with rent control measures and the like.
I’ll look into this more deeply, including the Brookings report. Rising incomes are a factor housing costs, Sowell admits. But as shown with California’s meteoric rise in housing costs during the 1970′s, despite its below-average rise in incomes, individual earnings are not the key factor.
The Idiocy of Pseudo-Conservatives
I try to keep things local here, but every now and then some national “conservative” folks just really get on my nerves.
And unfortunately this week brought a bevy of them attacking, of all things, the Tea Party. I’ll start with Kathleen Parker who recently wrote that Tea Partiers are essentially stabbing Rep. John Boehner, R-Ohio, in the back because of their lacking support for his debt ceiling legislation.
“These people wouldn’t recognize a hot fudge sundae if the cherry started talking to them,” Parker writes, albeit lamely.
First off, someone who agrees to do a show with a prostitute-loving former governor isn’t the best judge of character. Second, her premise is way off the mark, alleging that if the nation defaults on its debt, it will be the Tea Party’s fault. Uncertainty still remains about what will occur on August 2 and if anyone is to blame for opposing any agreement, it’s Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nevada. Cut, Cap and Balance, which had much conservative/Tea Party support, probably could have passed the Senate had Reid not used a cowardly procedural vote.
But Parker neglects to call out Reid, instead focusing her irrationality on those who put the current House leadership into power. Parker’s views aren’t surprising, she’s attacked the Tea Party before, but they arrive at a suspicious time. Other pseudo-conservatives like Bill Kristol, Laura Ingraham, et. al., have been taking a similar tract regarding the Boehner bill.
As the great Mark Levin has alluded to, these sentiments likely reflect a Washington social circle impulse to protect the GOP leader, even if what he’s proposing doesn’t substantively direct us towards putting the Federal government back into its constitutional box. I agree.
A conservative who holds a firm skepticism of centralized government, who cites the Constitution on a regular basis and does so regardless of what everyone else thinks doesn’t usually win a Pulitzer Prize, write a column for the New York Times or the Washington Post or date Keith Olbermann (although we often suspend rational judgment in the realm of love, so we can let that one slide).
If Md. Lawmakers Would Read my Blog…
They wouldn’t mull over this.
Sadly they seem to be doing the same thing over and over again while expecting a different result.
Happy Independence Day!
Happy Independence Day, everyone. We’re all very fortunate to be in the United States of America, the greatest country on Earth. I don’t write those words lightly. Human history is rife with tyranny, including feudalism, fascism, socialism/communism, etc. No matter the label, a tyrannical system’s common denominator has always been control over the individual’s livelihood and decision making capabilities.
But on this day our Founding Fathers declared that “all men are created equal and that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”
On a related note, much has been said recently about the Founding Fathers regarding their intentions to end slavery. But let’s remember that the Founders unleashed a process to end the institution of slavery. And even Thomas Jefferson specifically condemned King George III for the crown’s treatment of blacks in the first draft of the document that granted us the independence we celebrate today:
“[H]e has waged cruel war against human nature itself, violating it’s most sacred rights of life & liberty in the persons of a distant people who never offended him, captivating & carrying them to slavery in another hemisphere, or to incur miserable death in their transportations thither. this piratical warfare, the opprobrium of infidel powers, is the warfare of the Christian king of Great Britain.”
Let’s not forget the purpose of our great nation and the reasons for its exceptionalism.
The Tale of Two States
Much has been made somewhat recently about the differences between Texas and California. But a similar dynamic is taking place near DC as our neighbors Maryland and Virginia are headed down very distinct paths.
George Mason University’s Mercatus Center recently released its Freedom in the 50 States index and the distinctions between the Old Line State and Old Dominion are quite stark. Most notably, Maryland ranks dead last in personal freedom due to dizzying auto and road regulations and homeschooling laws that require government-approved curricula, among other factors. On the fiscal side, the state’s health insurance mandates add 50.9 percent to the cost of coverage. Plus the state saw a 30 percent drop in tax returns by millionaire residents, due in part to the recession, but also to those high earners moving to nearby states.
In contrast, the Mercatus Center deemed the commonwealth of Virginia “the freest state in the South” due to its “well below average” tax burden and debt level, in spite of the state’s expensive insurance mandates.
Hopefully Maryland will learn from Virginia’s example, but that probably won’t happen until there’s an attitude shift in Annapolis.
Yes, the Constitution Still Matters
It’s interesting to find magazines such as TIME asking if the U.S. Constitution still matters, given that the outlet’s right to print such drivel is enshrined within said document.
But let’s think about why it matters. I could go on about the process in Philadelphia, or the unprecedented decision by the Founding Fathers to restrain their own power and prevent the establishment of an all powerful central authority having just recently defeated one in the Revolutionary War, but I won’t.
Instead, let’s consider our current situation. John Stossel and several guests touched on this brilliantly when discussing the American independent voting bloc this past week. In essence they said when the government gets involved in something such as education, two diametrically opposed sides often emerge, e.g. teaching evolution in schools vs. including other theories such as creationism, intelligent design, etc. But when parents are free to choose where they want to send their kids (assuming the nonexistence of property taxes going to public schools) dozens of possibilities arise.
The Constitution bestows limited powers upon the federal government relating to post offices, commerce, war, etc. But they’re limited for the simple reason as James Madison wrote “the interest of the man must be connected with the constitutional rights of the place.”
Yes, the Constitution still matters. Because if it didn’t the arbitrary nature of men ruling over other men would come to fruition and government would have no obligation to control itself.
