Renewable Energy Facing Land Use Restrictions: WSJ Video

From The Wall Street Journal, WSJ Video, "Why Environmentalists Are Fighting Renewable Energy Development: Political battles at the most local levels are slowing the pace of decarbonization" by Carlos Waters, Aug 23, 2021:

Full Report: Investigation Into Allegations Of Sexual Harassment By Governor Andrew M Cuomo By Office Of NY Attorney General Letitia James

From Offfice of New York Attorney General Letitia James, "REPORT OF INVESTIGATION INTO ALLEGATIONS OF SEXUAL HARASSMENT BY GOVERNOR ANDREW M. CUOMO:"

Report of Investigation Int... by Milton Recht

CBO’s Updated Budget and Economic Projections Presentation, July 20, 2021

From "CBO’s Updated Budget and Economic Projections"
Presentation by Phillip Swagel, CBO’s Director, to J.P. Morgan’s Virtual Investor Meeting, July 20, 2021:

In CBO’s projections, the federal budget deficit equals $3.0 trillion in fiscal year 2021 and averages $1.2 trillion per year over the 2022–2031 period, under the assumption that existing laws governing taxes and spending generally remain unchanged. Because of those large deficits, federal debt held by the public is projected to reach 103 percent of GDP at the end of fiscal year 2021 and 106 percent of GDP, the highest level in the nation’s history, in 2031.

Real GDP is projected to increase by 7.4 percent and surpass its potential level by the end of calendar year 2021. The annual growth of real GDP averages 2.8 percent from 2021 to 2025, and 1.6 percent during the 2026–2031 period. Employment is projected to grow quickly in the second half of calendar year 2021 and to surpass its prepandemic level in mid-2022.

CBO’s Updated Budget and Economic Projections from Congressional Budget Office

Map: Gross Domestic Product Growth by State, 1st Quarter 2021

From Bureau of Economic Analysis, Friday, June 25, 2021, "Gross Domestic Product by State, 1st Quarter 2021: Nevada had the largest increase in the first quarter:"

Real gross domestic product (GDP) increased in all 50 states and the District of Columbia in the first quarter of 2021, as real GDP for the nation increased at an annual rate of 6.4 percent, according to statistics released today by the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis. The percent change in real GDP in the first quarter ranged from 10.9 percent in Nevada to 2.9 percent in the District of Columbia.

Source: Bureau of Economic Analysis

 

Argument For Lower Or Even No Corporate Taxes: A Reprint

Reprint of my 2017 blog post about corporate taxes in response to a Larry Summers article in the Washington Post.

Sunday, October 22, 2017

My Posted Comment To Larry Summers' Washington Post Piece Against Lowering Corporate Taxes

Posted By Milton Recht

My posted comment to The Washington Post, Wonkblog, "Lawrence Summers: One last time on who benefits from corporate tax cuts" by Lawrence H. Summers:

If Larry Summers believed his argument that corporations should be taxed, he would argue for taxing not for profit corporations. His arguments are underpinned by the belief that the government is a wiser spender of the tax money than a non-governmental entity, such as a private corporation, or individual. Either Summers' argument is true for all entities or it is true for none. To tax some entities and not all entities requires the government through its tax code to be able to do a better job of picking better investments and winners over losers than our capitalistic system. Experience over hundreds of years has shown that as much as we would like to believe governments can do better than a selfish profit motive owner, the reality is that decisions affected by politics and the self-interest of politicians attempting to remain in office leads to far worse societal outcomes than capitalistic motives. Not for profits and governments are not economically self-sustaining and can only continue to fund their endeavors off the labor and profit of the private sector. Corporate owners and shareholders, who are the beneficiaries of rising asset values and stock prices, are better deciders of how to use their funds to sustain and grow our economy. Taxing corporations creates economic dead weight loss since the money spent by the consumer is less than the money received by the corporation. It also diverts monies into non-productive and inefficient attempts to reduce taxes. Even if all of Summers arguments are correct, by removing or lowering corporate taxes, the cost of government is shifted to individual taxes, and individuals will receive a truer price signal that shows how much government involvement in their daily lives really costs. With truer price signals, individuals will have a much better picture of the cost and value or lack of value of government programs.

Budgets And Deficits: Spending Less On Worthwhile Projects: A Reprint

A reprint of my decade old blog post about budgeting and deficits that I believe is currently relevant.

Sunday, March 13, 2011

Budgeting And Deficit Reduction Is About Spending Less On Worthwhile Projects

Posted By Milton Recht

A comment I posted on Econbrowser, "AP: GOP budget targets agency that warned of tsunami" posted by Menzie Chinn:

Americans cannot afford to fund every worthwhile project. Budgeting is about admitting dollars are limited and setting project priorities. Just like a household that goes to the grocery with a fixed budget. The household cannot afford to buy every appealing delicious or nutritious food item in the store that catches their eye. Some items must stay on the shelf and not go in the cart.

Looking at any government project or expense in isolation is unfair. You have to look at all of the items together and decide which are the ones you want to keep and fund and which are the one you want to pass on.

Would you rather have a Tsunami warning system, headstart, a no fly zone over Libya, heating fuel subsidies for the poor, housing rent subsidies for the poor, incentives for converting to solar energy, etc. A great majority of the things the government spends money on are worthwhile, but which are the keepers and which are the unfunded and shelved.

The choices are tough. There is no right or wrong answer or choice, but it is unfair to discuss just one project in isolation. It makes it seem as if there is no reason other than politics not to fund a project and that is not the case when one is trying to reduce a deficit and balance a budget. In budgeting, sometimes very worthwhile funding must be curtailed.

It is the bright, rational do-gooder people who look at defunding of a project in isolation that are the biggest political force against budget balancing and deficit reduction. They are for deficit reduction, but they are not willing to make the hard choices, set priorities and limit funding with the understanding that some good projects will not get money.

China's 2019 Green House Gas (GHG) Emissions Exceeded Total From OECD And All 27 EU Member States: China's GHG Emissions Were 2.5 Times US Emissions: Charts

From Rhodium Group, "China’s Greenhouse Gas Emissions Exceeded the Developed World for the First Time in 2019" by Kate Larsen, Hannah Pitt, Mikhail Grant, and Trevor Houser, May 06, 2021:

Global greenhouse gas emissions estimates for 2019*** China alone contributed over 27% of total global emissions, far exceeding the US—the second highest emitter—which contributed 11% of the global total (Figure 1). For the first time, India edged out the EU-27 for third place, coming in at 6.6% of global emissions.

Source: Rhodium Group

China’s emissions exceeded emissions from developed countries
In 2019, China’s GHG emissions passed the 14 gigaton threshold for the first time, reaching 14,093 million metric tons of CO2 equivalent (MMt CO2e) (Figure 2). This represents a more than tripling of 1990 levels, and a 25% increase over the past decade. As a result, China’s share of the 2019 global emissions total of 52 gigatons rose to 27%. [Footnote omitted.]

 

Source: Rhodium Group

US Fuel Mix For Electric Power Generation, 1990-2019: Chart

From Beyond the Numbers: Prices & Spending, vol. 10, no. 10 (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, May 2021), "Trends in electricity prices during the transition away from coal" by William B. McClain:

Shifts in fuel mix over time
In the United States, the generation of baseload electricity, defined by the Energy Information Administration as the minimum amount of electric power required to maintain mechanical and thermal efficiency of the grid system, historically was met through large coal-powered plants. Starting in the early 2000s, there was rapid growth in domestically produced natural gas from shale formations and other nonconventional sources. As a result, natural gas prices declined 60.1 percent between 2003 and 2019. This, combined with rapid advances in technology for renewable generation, supported a shift away from coal. In addition to being a source of baseload power itself, natural gas has the ability to quickly ramp up, which helps handle intermittency from renewable power sources like the sun or wind. Chart 3 [Below] illustrates the share of total U.S. electric power generation from 1990 to 2019, by fuel source. The chart shows the stark decline of coal and the growth in natural gas and renewable power. Relative fuel-mix contributions from nuclear and hydroelectric power sources have both remained relatively flat over the period. [Footnotes omitted.]

Source: US Bureau of Labor Statistics

 

Biden's Combined Federal State Capital Gains Tax Rate: DC, CA, NY, NJ Total Rates Over 50 Percent: Map

From Tax Foundation, April 23, 2021, "Top Combined Capital Gains Tax Rates Would Average 48 Percent Under Biden’s Tax Plan" by Garrett Watson and Erica York:

President Joe Biden’s American Families Plan will likely include a large increase in the top federal tax rate on long-term capital gains and qualified dividends, from 23.8 percent today to 39.6 percent for higher earners. When including the net investment income tax, the top federal rate on capital gains would be 43.4 percent. Rates would be even higher in many U.S. states due to state and local capital gains taxes, leading to a combined average rate of 48 percent compared to about 29 percent under current law.

***

Source: Tax Foundation

Thirteen states and the District of Columbia would have a top combined capital gains tax rate north of 50 percent. California, New York, and New Jersey would have combined rates of more than 54 percent. Top combined rates in some localities would go even higher. For example, New York City levies a local capital gains rate of 3.876 percent, which means an investor would pay an all-in rate of nearly 58.2 percent. Residents of Portland, Oregon would face a top capital gains rate of 57.3 percent.

State-By-State Average Of K-12 Schools Offering Full-Time, In-Person Instruction: Chart

From Reason, "Republicans Open Schools, Democrats Still Keeping Them Closed: The latest data underscore an appallingly partisan split on what should be a more science-based decision." by Matt Welch, 4.19.2021:

... state-by-state average of K-12 schools offering full-time, in-person instruction, as updated April 18 by Burbio:

Source: Burbio Via Reason

Do you see the pattern? The 10 most open states on the left—Wyoming, Arkansas, Florida, South Dakota, Utah, Nebraska, Montana, Texas, North Dakota, and Louisiana, in that order—have wildly disparate COVID mortality, ranging from Utah's 67 per 100,000 residents to South Dakota's 221. But what they have in common is politics: All 10 voted in 2020 for Donald Trump, all 10 have Republican-controlled state legislatures, all except Louisiana have a Republican governor, all except Montana have two Republican U.S. senators, and in all 10 a majority of the state's delegation to the House of Representatives hails from the GOP.

Deep red states open schools.

What about the 10 most closed states on the right side of that bar graph? Maryland, Oregon, California, Washington, New Mexico, Hawaii, Virginia, Illinois, New Jersey, and Nevada also share more in their politics than they do in the pandemic. All 10 voted for Joe Biden in 2020, all 10 have Democratic-controlled state legislatures, all except Maryland have a Democratic governor, all 10 have two Democratic U.S. senators, and in all 10 a majority of the state's House delegation sits on the left side of the aisle.

Deep blue states keep schools closed.

Per Capita State And Local Government Tax Collections

From Tax Foundation, "How High Are State and Local Tax Collections in Your State?" by Janelle Cammenga:

Tax collections of $11,311 per capita in the District of Columbia surpass those in any state. The five states with the highest tax collections per capita are New York ($9,829), Connecticut ($8,494), North Dakota ($7,611), New Jersey ($7,423), and Hawaii ($7,332). The five states with the lowest tax collections per capita are Tennessee ($3,286), Alabama ($3,527), South Carolina ($3,705), Mississippi ($3,767), and Arizona ($3,824).

Source: Tax Foundation

Some of these results are less intuitive than others. For example, even though North Dakota ranks third for state and local tax collections, the resource-rich state generates a substantial part of its tax revenue from severance taxes on oil and natural gas, which are borne mainly by consumers outside North Dakota. As a result, North Dakota joins the ranks of high-tax states in terms of per capita collections even though the tax burden on North Dakotans is comparatively low.

 It’s worth noting that severance taxes are only one of many examples of the “tax exporting” that states engage in. Travel taxes—such as hotel, car rental, and meal taxes—also disproportionately impact nonvoting nonresidents who have few means of redress.

Overview of the 2021 Long-Term Budget Outlook: CBO Slide Presentation

From Congressional Budget Office, "Overview of the 2021 Long-Term Budget Outlook," Presentation by Phillip Swagel, CBO Director, to the Committee for Economic Development of the Conference Board, Published on Mar 24, 2021:

An Overview of the 2021 Long-Term Budget Outlook from Congressional Budget Office

$10 Billion Operation Warp Speed Worth $1.8 Trillion To US Alone For Saving Lives And Accelerating Return To Normalcy

From supply and demand (in that order), Tuesday, March 2, 2021, "How Chicago Economics is Helping End a Pandemic: Interview with Murphy, Philipson, Topel" by Casey Mulligan:

Covid-19 has disrupted much of human life, but Operation Warp Speed has drastically mitigated the costs of the virus. The $10 billion federal program launched in April 2020 encouraged and accelerated the development and mass manufacturing of COVID-19 vaccines, streamlined Federal approval for vaccines and their manufacture, and provided Federal funds for private vaccine research and advance-purchase orders. COVID-19 vaccines are currently being administered to the general public at least six months earlier than expected. Vaccinating the population against COVID-19 six months earlier was worth about $1.8 trillion to the U.S. alone in terms of lives saved and accelerating the return to normal schooling, work, socializing, etc. (Mulligan and Philipson 2020).***

$22,000 To A Family Of Four As Direct Stimulus Payment: My Posted Comment To WSJ Opinion

My posted comment to The Wall Street Journal, Opinion, "Wrong Stimulus, Wrong Time: Biden wants twice the spending of 2009, though the economy is far stronger now." by The Editorial Board:

$1.9 trillion to 332,000,000, approximate current estimated US Population, is a one time payment of over $5,700 per person; over $17,000 to a family of 3 and over over $22,000 to a family of 4. It could be even more, if wealthy people are excluded from the payment. The $1,400 proposed per person is less than 25 percent of the funds available. The general public doesn't realize that they are getting scraps and that most of the money in the proposed law is used to payoff politicians' political friends and is not going into their pockets. A wiser public would demand that more of the money go directly into their own pockets.

Society That Puts Equality Before Freedom Will End Up With Neither: The Greatest Success Of The Civil-Rights Movement Was Getting Government Off The Backs Of Blacks By Defeating Jim Crow

From The Wall Street Journal, Opinion, "Progressives Put the Racial ‘Equity’ Squeeze on Biden: The left wants a spoils system on steroids. If the president gives it to them, heaven help us." by Jason L. Riley, Feb. 2, 2021:

Milton Friedman said the “society that puts equality before freedom will end up with neither,” while “the society that puts freedom before equality will end up with a great measure of both.”***The greatest success of the civil-rights movement wasn’t a new government program but getting government off the backs of blacks by defeating Jim Crow. Nothing the government has done since then in the name of advancing blacks has been more effective than simply ending government-sponsored discrimination. Black poverty fell by 40 percentage points between 1940 and 1960. It continued to decline in the wake of Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society interventions, but at a much slower pace. Similarly, blacks were joining middle-class professions at a much faster pace in the 1940s, ’50s and ’60s than they would after affirmative-action programs were implemented in the 1970s. In fact, we now have evidence that suggests racial preferences have been not only ineffective in helping the black poor but also counterproductive. After the University of California system ended race-conscious admissions policies in 1996, black and Hispanic graduation rates rose dramatically.*** If history is any guide, what blacks most need from the government is for it to get out of the way. Stop forcing poor black children to attend failing schools by denying them school choice. Stop increasing the minimum wage and pricing black young adults out of jobs. Stop implementing occupational licensing regulations that prevent black entrepreneurs from starting a business. And stop pretending that policing is a bigger problem than violent crime in poor black neighborhoods. In 2019 there were 492 homicides in Chicago, according to the Sun-Times, and only three of them involved police.

From Cafe Hayek, "The Market Makes People Pay for Their Prejudices" by Don Boudreaux:***

***[T]his scene [from 42] does capture much of the manner in which market competition actually works to impose on bigots the costs of exercising their irrational prejudices. It depicts also the fact that many bigots, unwilling to pay those costs, change their behavior for the better.
It’s beautiful to behold!
Contrary to popular belief, such competition was at work in America during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, as Bob Higgs documents in his book [Robert Higgs, 1977, Competition and Coercion: Blacks in the American Economy, 1865-1914]. Indeed, the reality of such competition is what drove state and local governments during the Jim Crow era to forcibly impose racial discrimination by enacting Jim Crow legislation.

Parler, Trump, Et Al: State First Amendment Rights And PruneYard Shopping Center v Robins

In 1980, The US Supreme Court ruled that that the State of California Constitution's first amendment rights can go beyond the rights provided by the US Constitution, (PruneYard Shopping Center v Robins). The US Supreme Court upheld a California court decision that a privately owned shopping mall open to the public must allow, under California state first amendment rights, the distribution of political literature and the solicitation of signatures for a petition by a group of students, despite mall rules that prohibited such activity. 

Other states, besides California, have free speech protection rights in their constitutions that are more expansive and protective of speech than the US Constitution. Twitter, Facebook, Apple, Google and numerous other technology firms are headquartered in California and subject to California laws and constitution. 

Can Parler successfully sue the technology companies in California court that have removed its platform from their services? Could Parler get an immediate temporary restraining order in California stopping the removal of Parler?

Full Text Of Texas US Supreme Court Presidential Election Complaint Against Pennsylvania, Georgia, Michigan, And Wisconsin

Full text of Texas US Supreme Court presidential election complaint against Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, State of Georgia, State of Michigan, and State of Wisconsin, embedded below and sourced from Texas Attorney General website, https://www.texasattorneygeneral.gov/sites/default/files/images/admin/2020/Press/SCOTUSFiling.pdf:

Parler CEO John Matze Community Town Square View Of Free Speech On Social Media Sites

From Fox News "Parler CEO says platform serves as 'community town square': The platform is free of restrictions and censorship, CEO told told "Tucker Carlson Tonight" " by Yael Halon:

Parler takes a far more laissez-faire approach, offering a platform where users, "liberated from restrictions," can publically express their ideas.

"We just want to sit back and say 'social media was supposed to be about the people. It was supposed to be about people having a free voice, being able to be, you know, liberated from restrictions,'" [Parler CEO John] Matze said. "And so that's what we are here to offer is a community town square for people to have discussions."

***"Well, when you go out in public people say crazy things all the time," Matze responded. "Everybody has opinions and some of them might not be the norm, right? It's not against the law to have those opinions. It's not against the law to express yourself, you know. And if you like one political candidate or another or you believe or don't believe in climate change or whatever it might be, you know, you shouldn't be taken offline because of it."

Addressing his critics, Mazte asked, "Do you believe that we should have somebody in, you know, New York, let's say in the middle of Times Square telling you what you can and cannot say? Because that's what these companies are doing."

Butter And Whole Milk Sales Are Booming

From Bloomberg Opinion, "Butter Is Booming, Whole Milk Is Back and Dairy Is Surviving: Dietary trends come and go, but for four decades this industry has been finding ways to keep consumption growing." by Justin Fox:

Nationwide, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, butter production is up 6% over the first nine months of the year and is on track to top two billion pounds for the first time since 1943.

***

Even within milk sales there’s been an interesting shift lately, with whole milk outselling 2% milk for the first time in 15 years in 2018 and building on its lead in 2019, and skim milk sales drifting downward. If you’re going to drink milk, and not smashed-up almonds mixed with water, then you might as well drink the milkiest kind of milk.

 

 

Blacks Were Moving Toward Parity With Whites Well Before The Civil Rights Revolution: Robert Putnam

From The Wall Street Journal, Opinion, "With Justice Barrett, Is the End Near for Racial Preferences? A new majority may stop equivocating on affirmative action, which has impeded black mobility." by Jason L Riley:

The “progress toward equality for black Americans didn’t begin in 1965,” write Harvard political scientist Robert Putnam and his co-author, Shaylyn Romney Garrett, in their new book, “The Upswing.” “By many measures, blacks were moving toward parity with whites well before the victories of the Civil Rights revolution, despite the limitations imposed by Jim Crow.” Moreover, “after the Civil Rights movement, that longstanding trend toward racial equality slowed, stopped, and even reversed.” The emphasis is the authors’.

In the 1940s and ’50s, black-white gaps were not only shrinking in income, educational attainment, homeownership rates and other measures. The gaps were shrinking at unprecedented rates that have never been repeated, even during the subsequent era of affirmative action.

If anything, the evidence shows that racial preferences have coincided with slower black upward mobility. After the University of California system ended its race-conscious admissions policies in the 1990s, black graduation rates rose. A policy intended to increase the size of the black middle class was in practice limiting its growth. It would be difficult to identify a government program coming out of the 1960s that did more to help blacks than what black were doing to help themselves before the program.