Showing posts with label Taxes. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Taxes. Show all posts

Friday, February 28, 2025

Subsidiarity Economics 2025. The Times more or less locally, Part 2. The Stupidist Trade War In History Edition.

 This will truly be a disaster:

Trump will impose 25% tariffs on Canada and Mexico for no good reason.

At least its one thing that will seemingly be impossible for even the most ardent Trumpist to ignore.

 

And those people owe us an explanation, or the owe us an admission of neglect, regarding their support of Donald Trump.

We've discussed Trump here before.  Is he stupid?  Is he addled?  Is he a active Russian asset taking orders?  All three are possible and at this point the last one is starting to look rather hard do ignore.  What better to take out an enemy than to insert, at the country's head your stooge.

Active Russian agent or not, Trump has done more to wreck the country than any public figure since Jefferson Davis.

And it's going to get much, much worse.

As the trade war starts off, Justin Trudeau announced retaliatory tariffs.  Economic genius Gov. Abbot of Texas gloated that Canada can't get by without U.S. Cotton, which is the exact same argument the South made during the Civil War when it went into treason. Turns out they grow cotton all over the globe and, moreover, the type of cotton grown in Texas goes into high end shirts, not cheap t-shirts and skivvies, and the like.

On the plus side, the price of American cotton may start to go down due to this stupidity.

Trump threatened to raise the tariffs even more.

Individual Canadians are boycotting the US in every way possible, and they'll never forgive the US for this.  Nor should they.  A country that would elect such an obviously stupid man has an electorate that can't easily be forgiven.  On a higher level, there are serious discussion of cutting off hydroelectric power to the US Northeast, which would be devastating to the region.

Trump, who lies like a rug, says that this is over drugs and illegal immigration.  Next to no illegal drugs come in through Canada, although Canada is a victim of illegal drugs coming into it, as well as illegal firearms.

As for Mexico, it appears Mexico has had enough of Trump and now that between Mexico and Canada the US is in a shit sandwich, it's not backing down either.

Republicans in Congress have become completely spineless and are doing nothing.  Locally, they keep smiling and urging Trump on.

Trump is now also threatening to impose tariffs on the EU, which again makes a person have to wonder, at least a little bit, if Putin is calling in some chits.

It may also be the case that Trump dimwittedly is falling for autarky, the economic theory which tried to have everything produced within the borders of a nation.  Autarky was the economic theory of Nazi Germany, we'd note, which in part lead to it having to conquer or dominate its neighbors. . . .sound familiar?

Autarky is a universally discredited economic theory.  It's never worked, and its not going to work here, if that's the goal.

February 9, 2025

Waffle Hut is imposing a .50 per egg surcharge.

When I win, I will immediately bring prices down, starting on Day One

Donald Trump. 

February 10, 2025

The US has imposed a 25% tariff on steel and aluminum imports in a desperate effort to bring back the economy of 1957.

It won't work.

Prices will rise.

February 14, 2025

And now, reciprocal tariffs.

Inflation has risen to 3%

A population level boycott of American goods is on in Canada.  Part of that is the cancellation of US vacations, which is already having an impact in the tourist industry.

The government announced a massive purchase of Tesla trucks.  Not like that's a conflict or anything.

February 19, 2025

Trump acknowledged in a interview with Fox yesterday (he sure gives a lot of interviews, and plays a lot of golf) that "inflation is back".  In fact, in his typical meandering style, he repeated it several times, and then noted "I had nothing to do with it".

Funny, if it was a month into the Biden Administration the Trumpies would be screaming that it was Biden's fault.

Inflation is going to get worse.  And whatever its causing it now (bird flu helped, but treating the economy like a toy for tariffs didn't help), it's going to be on Trump's watch.

His loyalist won't see it that way.

February 20, 2025

Wyoming has only two hospitals rated at the five star level according to an article in the Trib, one in Cheyenne and one in Jackson.

The information comes from Medicare.gov, so my anticipation it will be fixed by the Trump administration eliminating the ability to access things like this when it gets around to it.

Casper's hospital once belonged to Natrona County but was privatized.  It was having troubles prior to that, but since then it seems to have increased.  It's rates a 3.

February 26, 2025

In spite of the fact that it increases the debt. . . 

Some Republicans begin to get clear eyed.

They convinced me in there. I'm a 'no.' If the Republican plan passes...we're going to add $328 billion to the deficit this year. We're going to add $295 billion to the deficit the year after that...why would I vote for that?!?

Kentucky Rep. Thomas Massie, Republican, on the Republican continuing budget resolution.

The dollars thrown around as being saved by Musk are largely fictional, if in fact is rampaging buffoonery doesn't end up costing the government money.  Only taxes are going to pull us out of this debt.

the House approved the Trump budget resolution.

The bill calls for $2 trillion in overall spending cuts over the next decade, a triviality, to help pay for $4.5 trillion in tax cuts, thereby being unbalanced to start with.  It increases increases defense and border spending, with the defense spending being paradoxical given Trump's isolationist views.

This extends, it should be noted, the 2017 tax cuts, which helped put us in a budgetary crisis to start with.  The Republicans recently have used the talking point that this is "unsustainable", which it is.

US consumer confidence dropped the greatest amount it has dropped in four years.

February 28, 2025

And the trade war is back on, of course. The tariffs that Trump suspended on our nearest neighbors are back in play.

Why?

Why indeed.

In part, it may be because the GOP budget, complete with the retention of an income tax rate at an absurdly low rate, is going to skyrocket the deficit and Trump sees this as a way of addressing it. Tariffs are a hidden tax on US taxpayers.

It could be a mere distraction for Trump, who likes to distract the public, it seems.

And as for Canada, Trump seems to have genuine bizarre territorial ambition and weirdly believes that beating up on our neighbor will make them love us.

The only sure thing is that this is going to be a disater.

Last edition:

Subsidiarity Economics 2025. The Times more or less locally, Part 1.

Wednesday, February 26, 2025

Some Republicans begin to get clear eyed.

They convinced me in there. I'm a 'no.' If the Republican plan passes...we're going to add $328 billion to the deficit this year. We're going to add $295 billion to the deficit the year after that...why would I vote for that?!?

Kentucky Rep. Thomas Massie, Republican, on the Republican continuing budget resolution.

The dollars thrown around as being saved by Musk are largely fictional, if in fact is rampaging buffoonery doesn't end up costing the government money.  Only taxes are going to pull us out of this debt.

Tuesday, February 18, 2025

Ten things every economist should know

 

Ten things every economist should know


Friday, February 18, 1910. Morocco held hostage by its own tariffs.

France gave Morocco 48 hours to ratify an agreement to replay $12,000,000 owed as indemnities or face tariff forfeitures.  Morocco, depending upon the tariffs, agreed.

It's almost like you shouldn't make your finances the captive of foreign nations. . . .

Last edition:

Thursday, February 17, 1910. John Browning applies for a safety patent.

Sunday, January 26, 2025

Interesting move for a nation that went to war over a tax on tea. . .

So, we're slapping a major tariff on a nation that supplies the American drink, coffee, because they won't accept military repatriation flights.

Why would they?

Colombia supplies 27% of it:

"Coffee is the fifth-largest bulk export commodity by value, accounting for about 7 percent of total global bulk agricultural exports, per Trade Data Monitor. The United States is the world’s second leading importer of coffee (both Arabica and Robusta varieties). In 2023, about 80 percent of U.S. unroasted coffee imports came from Latin America (valued at $4.8 billion), principally from Brazil (35 percent) and Colombia (27 percent)."<

https://www.ers.usda.gov/data-products/charts-of-note/chart-detail?chartId=110079


Don't worry. . . Elon won't suffer. . . that's the important thing. . . 

Also, making life more difficult for a legal business in  nation that has a population seeking to get out due to poverty and crime, makes them poorer and crime a better options.

Thursday, January 23, 2025

Thursday, January 23, 1975. Failed tariff.

President Ford imposed a $3.00/bbl fee on imported oil, which was phased in such that it started with $1.00/bbl on February 1.

The courts determined that the President lacked such executive power.

I'm not sure what the goal of that tariff was.  Perhaps to try to boost domestic oil production, which was a huge concern at the time.

The policy comedy Barney Miller premiered on television.  It was truly a great example of 1970s situation comedy.

Last edition:

Wednesday, January 22, 1975: Mercury Bobcat goes public

Monday, January 20, 2025

Trump's Inaugural Speech.

Donald Trump was sworn in as President earlier today. and then delivered this speech.  A few things have been highlighted where they provide a preview of coming attractions:

Donald Trump: Thank you. Thank you very much everybody. Well, thank you very, very much. Vice President Vance, Speaker Johnson, Senator Thune, Chief Justice Roberts, justices of the United States Supreme Court, President Clinton, President Bush, President Obama, President Biden, Vice President Harris, and my fellow citizens.

The Golden Age of America begins right now.

From this day forward, our country will flourish and be respected again all over the world. We will be the envy of every nation, and we will not allow ourselves to be taken advantage of any longer. During every single day of the Trump administration, I will very simply put America first. Our sovereignty will be reclaimed. Our safety will be restored. The scales of justice will be rebalanced. The vicious, violent and unfair weaponization of the Justice Department and our government will end. And our top priority will be to create a nation that is proud, prosperous and free.

America will soon be greater, stronger, and far more exceptional than ever before. I return to the presidency confident and optimistic that we are at the start of a thrilling new era of national success, a tide of change is sweeping the country, sunlight is pouring over the entire world, and America has the chance to seize this opportunity like never before.

But first, we must be honest about the challenges we face. While they are plentiful, they will be annihilated by this great momentum that the world is now witnessing in the United States of America.

As we gather today, our government confronts a crisis of trust. For many years, a radical and corrupt establishment has extracted power and wealth from our citizens, while the pillars of our society lay broken and seemingly in complete disrepair.

We now have a government that cannot manage even a simple crisis at home, while at the same time stumbling into a continuing catalog of catastrophic events abroad. It fails to protect our magnificent, law-abiding American citizens, but provide sanctuary and protection for dangerous criminals, many from prisons and mental institutions that have illegally entered our country from all over the world.

We have a government that has given unlimited funding to the defense of foreign borders, but refuses to defend American borders or more importantly, its own people. Our country can no longer deliver basic services in times of emergency, as recently shown by the wonderful people of North Carolina, been treated so badly. And other states who are still suffering from a hurricane that took place many months ago.

Or more recently in Los Angeles, where we are watching fires still tragically burn from weeks ago without even a token of defense. They’re raging through the houses and communities, even affecting some of the wealthiest and most powerful individuals in our country, some of whom are sitting here right now. They don’t have a home any longer. That’s interesting, but we can’t let this happen. Everyone is unable to do anything about it. That’s going to change.

We have a public health system that does not deliver in times of disaster, yet more money is spent on it than any country anywhere in the world. And we have an education system that teaches our children to be ashamed of themselves, in many cases to hate our country despite the love that we try so desperately to provide to them. All of this will change starting today, and it will change very quickly.

My recent election has a mandate to completely and totally reverse a horrible betrayal, and all of these many betrayals that have taken place, and to give the people back their faith, their wealth, their democracy, and indeed, their freedom.

From this moment on, America’s decline is over. Our liberties and our nation’s glorious destiny will no longer be denied, and we will immediately restore the integrity, competency, and loyalty of America’s government. Over the past eight years, I have been tested and challenged more than any president in our 250 year history, and I’ve learned a lot along the way the journey to reclaim our republic has not been an easy one that I can tell you.

Those who wish to stop our cause have tried to take my freedom, and indeed to take my life. Just a few months ago, in a beautiful Pennsylvania field, an assassin’s bullet ripped through my ear. But I felt then and believe even more so now, that my life was saved for a reason. I was saved by God to make America great again. Thank you. Thank you very much.

That is why each day under our administration of American patriots, we will be working to meet every crisis with dignity and power and strength. We will move with purpose and speed to bring back hope, prosperity, safety, and peace for citizens of every race, religion, color and creed. For American citizens, Jan. 20th, 2025 is Liberation Day.

It is my hope that our recent presidential election will be remembered as the greatest and most consequential election in the history of our country.

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As our victory showed, the entire nation is rapidly unifying behind our agenda with dramatic increases in support from virtually every element of our society, young and old, men and women, African Americans, Hispanic Americans, Asian Americans, urban, suburban, rural and very importantly, we had a powerful win in all seven swing states, and the popular vote we won by millions of people.

To the black and Hispanic communities, I want to thank you for the tremendous outpouring of love and trust that you have shown me with your vote. We set records and I will not forget it. I’ve heard your voices in the campaign, and I look forward to working with you in the years to come. Today is Martin Luther King Day and his honor, this will be a great honor, but in his honor, we will strive together to make his dream a reality. We will make his dream come true. Thank you. Thank you.

National unity is now returning to America and confidence and pride is soaring like never before. In everything we do. My administration will be inspired by a strong pursuit of excellence and unrelenting success. We will not forget our country. We will not forget our Constitution and we will not forget our God. Can’t do that.

Today, I will sign a series of historic executive orders. With these actions, we will begin the complete restoration of America and the revolution of common sense. It’s all about common sense.

First, I will declare a national emergency at our southern border. All illegal entry will immediately be halted and we will begin the process of returning millions and millions of criminal aliens back to the places from which they came.

We will reinstate my remain in Mexico policy. I will end the practice of catch and release. And I will send troops to the southern border to repel the disastrous invasion of our country.

Under the orders I signed today, we will also be designating the cartels as foreign terrorist organizations. And by invoking the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 I will direct our government to use the full and immense power of federal and state law enforcement to eliminate the presence of all foreign gangs and criminal networks bringing devastating crime to U.S. soil, including our cities and inner cities. As Commander in Chief, I have no higher responsibility than to defend our country from threats and invasions and that is exactly what I am going to do. We will do it at a level that nobody has ever seen before.

Note:  The Alien Enemies Act of 1798 is regarded as extending powers during wartime.  The United States is not (yet) at war.  Invocation of terrorist status for these groups and this statute indicate a freighting extension of martial authority into what are police matters, and possibly intervention in Mexico.

Next, I will direct all members of my cabinet to marshal the vast powers at their disposal to defeat what was record inflation and rapidly bring down costs and prices.

This is pretty much nonsense. 

The inflation crisis was caused by massive overspending and escalating energy prices and that is why today I will also declare a national energy emergency. We will drill, baby, drill.

There is not national energy emergency, and oil and gas production is currently at capacity considering price at the wellhead. 

America will be a manufacturing nation once again, and we have something that no other manufacturing nation will ever have, the largest amount of oil and gas of any country on Earth and we are going to use it, and they use it. We will bring prices down, fill our strategic reserves up again, right to the top and export American energy all over the world.

As its expensive to produce American oil, if the price of petroleum goes down, American production all so does. 

We will be a rich nation again and it is that liquid gold under our feet that will help to do it.

With my actions today, we will end the Green New Deal and we will revoke the electric vehicle mandate, saving our auto industry and keeping my sacred pledge to our great American autoworkers.

Wasting, in effect, four years of effort, and pushing us closer to environmental disaster. 

In other words, you’ll be able to buy the car of your choice. We will build automobiles in America again at a rate that nobody could have dreamt possible just a few years ago and thank you to the autoworkers of our nation for your inspiring vote of confidence. We did tremendously with their vote.

I will immediately begin the overhaul of our trade system to protect American workers and families. Instead of taxing our citizens to enrich other countries, we will tariff and tax foreign countries to enrich our citizens.

Tariffs are demonstrated to hurt the country imposing them.

For this purpose, we are establishing the External Revenue Service to collect all tariffs, duties and revenues. It will be massive amounts of money pouring into our treasury coming from foreign sources. The American Dream will soon be back and thriving like never before.

This is flat out dumb.  A second revenue agency would simply be stupid.. 

To restore confidence and effectively is to our federal government, my administration will establish the brand new Department of Government Efficiency.

M'eh. 

After years and years of illegal and unconstitutional federal efforts to restrict free expression, I will also sign an executive order to immediately stop all government censorship and bring back free speech to America. Never again will the immense power of the state be weaponized to persecute political opponents. Something I know, something about. We will not allow that to happen. It will not happen again.

Under my leadership, we will restore a fair, equal, and impartial justice under the constitutional rule of law and we are going to bring law and order back to our cities.

This week I will also end the government policy of trying to socially engineer race and gender into every aspect of public and private life. We will forge a society that is colorblind and merit based. As of today, it will henceforth be the official policy of the United States government that there are only two genders, male and female.

This week, I will reinstate any service members who were unjustly expelled from our military for objecting to the COVID vaccine mandate, with full back pay. And I will sign an order to stop our warriors from being subjected to radical political theories and social experiments while on duty. It’s going to end immediately.

Our armed forces will be free to focus on their sole mission: defeating America’s enemies.

Like in 2017, we will again build the strongest military the world has ever seen. We will measure our success not only by the battles we win, but also by the wars that we end, and perhaps most importantly, the wars we never get into.

My proudest legacy will be that of a peacemaker and unifier, that’s what I want to be, a peacemaker and a unifier. I’m pleased to say that as of yesterday, one day before I assumed office, the hostages in the Middle East are coming back home to their families.

Thank you. America will reclaim its rightful place as the greatest, most powerful, most respected nation on Earth, inspiring the all and admiration of the entire world.

A short time from now, we are going to be changing the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America and we will restore the name of a great president, William McKinley to Mount McKinley, where it should be and where it belongs. President McKinley made our country very rich through tariffs and through talent. He was a natural businessman and gave Teddy Roosevelt the money for many of the great things he did, including the Panama Canal, which has foolishly been given to the country of Panama after the United States, the United States, I mean, think of this spent more money than ever spent on a project before and lost 38,000 lives in the building of the Panama Canal.

What the crap.

Changing the name of the Gulf of Mexico is flat out dumb, and changing the name of Denali is insulting to Native Alaskans. And frankly hardly any American cares much about William McKinley. 

We have been treated very badly from this foolish gift that should have never been made and Panama’s promise to us has been broken. The purpose of our deal and the spirit of our treaty has been totally violated. American ships are being severely overcharge, charged and not treated fairly in any way, shape or form. And that includes the United States Navy and above all, China is operating the Panama Canal and we didn’t give it to China, we gave it to Panama and we’re taking it back.

So the peacemaker is, apparently, going to seize the Panama Canal. 

Above all, my message to Americans today is that it is time for us to once again act with courage, vigor, and vitality of history’s greatest civilization. So as we liberate our nation, we will lead it to new heights of victory and success. We will not be deterred.

Together, we will end the chronic disease epidemic and keep our children safe, healthy, and disease free. The United States will once again consider itself a growing nation, one that increases our wealth, expands our territory, builds our cities, raises our expectations, and carries our flag into new and beautiful horizons.

And we will pursue our manifest destiny into the stars launching American astronauts to plant the stars and stripes on the planet Mars.

Ambition is the lifeblood of a great nation and right now, our nation is more ambitious than any other. There’s no nation like our nation. Americans are explorers, builders, innovators, entrepreneurs and pioneers. The spirit of the frontier is written into our hearts. The call of the next great adventure resounds from within our souls.

Our American ancestors turned a small group of colonies on the edge of a vast continent into a mighty republic of the most extraordinary citizens on Earth. No one comes close. Americans pushed thousands of miles through a rugged land of untamed wilderness.

They crossed deserts, scaled mountains, braved untold dangers, won the Wild West, ended slavery, rescued millions from tyranny, lifted billions from poverty, harnessed electricity, split the atom, launched mankind into the heavens and put the universe of human knowledge into the palm of the human hand.

If we work together, there is nothing we cannot do and no dream we cannot achieve. Many people thought it was impossible for me to stage such a historic political comeback. But as you see today, here I am, the American people have spoken. I stand before you now is proof that you should never believe that something is impossible to do.

In America, the impossible is what we do best. From New York to Los Angeles, from Philadelphia to Phoenix, from Chicago to Miami, from Houston to right here in Washington, DC, our country was forged and built by the generations of patriots who gave everything they had for our rights and for our freedom. They were farmers and soldiers, cowboys and factory workers, steel workers and coal miners, police officers and pioneers who pushed onward, marched forward, and let no obstacle defeat their spirit or their pride.

Together they laid down the railroads, raised up the skyscrapers, built great highways, won two world wars, defeated fascism and communism, and triumphed over every single challenge that they faced. After all we have been through together, we stand on the verge of the four greatest years in American history. With your help, we will restore America’s promise and we will rebuild the nation that we love and we love it so much.

We are one people, one family, and one glorious nation under God. So to every parent who dreams for their child and every child who dreams for their future, I am with you. I will fight for you and I will win for you. We are going to win like never before. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

In recent years, our nation has suffered greatly but we are going to bring it back and make it great again, greater than ever before. We will be a nation like no other, full of compassion, courage and exceptionalism. Our power will stop all wars and bring a new spirit of unity to a world that has been angry, violent and totally unpredictable.

America will be respected again and admired again, including by people of religion, faith, and goodwill. We will be prosperous. We will be proud. We will be strong and we will win like never before. We will not be conquered. We will not be intimidated. We will not be broken and we will not fail.

From this day on, the United States of America will be a free, sovereign and independent nation. We will stand bravely. We will live proudly. We will dream boldly, and nothing will stand in our way because we are Americans.

The future is ours and our golden age has just begun. Thank you. God bless America. Thank you all. Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you. 

Friday, January 10, 2025

The 2025 Wyoming Legislative Session, Part 3. Still time to find a place to hide edition.


The last edition was simply too unwieldy.

December 24, 2024

A bill has been filed to allow for enhanced concealed carry permits, requiring training to obtain, that would allow for concealed carry on school grounds and the grounds of the University of Wyoming.\

New Natrona County legislator  Jayme Lien is trying to get Jeanette Ward's "What is a Woman" act through this session.

December 26, 2024

Rep Harshman is introducing a bill to require a special election for vacancies in any significant elective offices, including Governor and Senator.

January 2, 2025
Example of old fashioned Five and Dime store.

The Wyoming Freedom Caucus puts its cards on the table in the form of its "five and dime" plan for the 2025 legislature.  The incoming Speaker of the House, a member, even went on Trump propaganda forum Newsmax, to tout it.

It's agenda for the 2025 legislature is below:

ELECTION INTEGRITY: Require Proof of WY Residency & US Citizenship When Registering to Vote

- WHAT: Create clear statutory authority for the Wyoming Secretary of State to promulgate rules requiring voters to prove WY residency and to ensure that non-citizens cannot register to vote in WY.

- WHY: No requirement exists for voters to prove their WY residency or US citizenship status. This simple fix will better secure our elections and bolster confidence in our election system.

Not too surprisingly, this is sort of horseshit.  You have to verify your address, already, every time you vote. We've been doing it for years.  Now we have to present a photo ID as well.

Oh, I'll do it.  I'll present piles of stuff showing that I'm an actual Wyomingite and didn't move in from somewhere.  Quite a few of the Freedom Caucus, if asked to do that, would be shown to be people who moved in here.

IMMIGRATION ACCOUNTABILITY: Invalidate Driver Licenses Issued to Illegals by Other Jurisdictions

- WHAT: Invalidate driver licenses issued to illegal aliens present in WY.

- WHY: An estimated 9 million + illegal aliens have entered the US since 2021. Nineteen states and D.C. issue licenses to illegal immigrants– Wyoming does not. This simple bill will help WY crack down on illegal immigration and to ensure consistency in our statutes and rules.

Bill previously written (SF0120, 2024)

Wyoming has no legal authority to invalidate another state's driver's licenses, and the full faith and credit clause of the U.S. Constitution makes that illegal. 

People who have taken an oath to the Constitution, by the way, like legislators, can't back this without violating their oath.

STOPPING THE WOKE AGENDA AT UW: Prohibiting D.E.I. in Higher Education

- WHAT: Prohibit the University of WY and Wyoming’s Community Colleges from engaging in discriminatory hiring or continuing education requirements that place moral, historical, or other blame on a person or group of people on the basis of immutable characteristics.

- WHY: It is illegal to discriminate on the basis of any immutable characteristic. As the Equality State, WY should be proud to codify additional protections against discrimination. With continually declining enrollment rates at UW, dumping “woke” DEI programming will attract the free thinking cowboys and cowgirls we want attending our university.

There isn't a "woke" agenda at UW.

PROTECTING OUR CORE INDUSTRIES: Ban woke investment strategies for the State of Wyoming’s trust fund.

- WHAT:: Prohibit the State of Wyoming from investing in funds that prioritize “environmental, social, or governance” standards over funds promising the highest financial rate of return.

- WHY: Wyoming should not invest tax dollars with entities who do not seek the highest rate of return and who are out to destroy and eliminate our core industries.

Bill previously written (SF0172, 2023)

Investing in the "highest rate of return" means you will invest in things that aren't necessary in line with our core industries, some of which are a bad economic bet right now.

CUTTING TAXES: Real Property Tax Relief

- WHAT: Provide a 25% property tax cut to residential property owners with a backfill to local governments.

- WHY: The people of WY have been crushed by years of skyrocketing property taxes.

Bill previously written (SF0054, 2024)

Populism in Wyoming is heavily populated by out of staters who moved in here, causing property taxes to rise.  Now they're going to cut what they caused, with no way to pay for anything. 

A better strategy would be to impose a tax on the value of the last house you sold, no matter where you sold it, and leave the current property taxes alone.

January 9, 2025

It wasn't clear to me but the dime portion of the "5 and 10" plan is to pass the five bills in the first ten days of the legislature.

January 10, 2025

This will be interesting.

2025

STATE OF WYOMING

25LSO-0513

 

 

 

HOUSE BILL NO. HB0099

 

 

Access to public lands-corner crossing.

 

Sponsored by: Representative(s) Provenza, Andrew, Campbell, E, Larson, JT and Wharff and Senator(s) Jones, Rothfuss and Schuler

 

 

A BILL

 

for

 

AN ACT relating to crimes and offenses; providing an exception to the offenses of criminal trespass and game-and-fish trespass regarding incidental contact associated with crossing two (2) adjacent parcels as specified; and providing for an effective date.

 

Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Wyoming:

 

Section 1.  W.S. 63303 by creating a new subsection (d) and 233305(b) are amended to read:

 

63303.  Criminal trespass; penalties; exception.

 

(d)  For purposes of this section, a person does not commit criminal trespass if the person incidentally passes through the airspace or touches the land or premises of another person while the person is traveling from one (1) parcel of land that the person is authorized to access to another parcel of land that shares a common corner with or is immediately connected to the first parcel and that the person is authorized to access.

 

233305.  Hunting from highway; entering enclosed property without permission; penalty; hunting at night without permission prohibited; exception.

 

(b)  No person shall enter upon, travel through or return across the private property of any person to take wildlife, hunt, fish, collect antlers or horns, or trap without the permission of the owner or person in charge of the property. Violation of this subsection constitutes a low misdemeanor punishable as provided in W.S. 236202(a)(v). For purposes of this subsection, "travel through or return across" requires physically touching or driving on the surface of the private property. For purposes of this subsection, a person does not commit trespass under this subsection if the person incidentally passes through the airspace or touches the land or premises of another person while the person is traveling from one (1) parcel of land that the person is authorized to access to another parcel of land that shares a common corner with or is immediately connected to the first parcel and that the person is authorized to access.

 

Section 2.  This act is effective July 1, 2025.

This is a Democratic bill. The Democrats have traditionally been the party that comes to the rescue in Wyoming when the GOP begins to descend into feudalism regarding land.  

If the populist really care what Wyomingites think, this should past.

My guess is that it won't.

Last edition:

The 2025 Wyoming Legislative Session, Part 2. Early bills

Sunday, December 29, 2024

Monday, December 29, 1924. 4 ROH + 4 CO + O2 → 2 (CO2R)2 + 2 H2O

The tradition of releasing movies during the Christmas Holiday season obviously already a thing, Peter Pan was released.


The film was lost and rediscovered in the 1950s, and has been preserved.

The tariff on Oxalic Acid was increased by President Coolidge.

Presidents have been delegated wide authority by Congress to raise tariffs.  With all the current discussion on how Congress intends to take back delegated authority, which is directed at agencies, it'll be interesting to see if it dawns on them that the same situation exists as to the Presidency.

I doubt that will occur.

If it did, Donald couldn't run around threatening everyone with increased tariffs, so the same body of politicians that is outraged by one, will not be outraged by the other.

Last edition:

abels: 

Friday, December 27, 2024

Trump and the poor

  

After backing Trump, low-income voters hope he doesn’t slash their benefits

Voters in the struggling Pennsylvania city of New Castle backed Trump hoping he’d curb inflation. But the incoming president will be under pressure to cut spending.


This is a link to a current article in the Washington Post.  It has, of course, a paywall.  You can find it discussed, however, on Twitter.


One of the things that has baffled me about Trump's support to some degree is that people have supported him who are very likely to get a massive dope slap over the next four years.   It's clearly baffled the Democrats as well as they fairly clearly assumed that the economic underclass and those on benefits would support them, given traditional Republican hostility to their interests.


But it does make sense.


The same class discussed here is the one that was badly hurt by the exportation of jobs overseas and, frankly, high immigration rates.  They have something to lose, to be sure, but more than anyone else, they hope for a return of a sort of imagined past.  They can look back when they, or maybe their parents or grandparents, had good high paying jobs that didn't require any real education.


Both parties conspired against their interest.  Allowing high immigration rates and basically encouraging manufacturing to move overseas could have been avoided.  This class, together with the Rust Belt middle class, started signaling that it was enraged well over a decade ago and they threw their support behind, first, Bernie Sanders and then Donald Trump.


But will a government of the super wealthy really care about the plight of these people?


I don't really think that Trump thinks much beyond Trump.  He cannot in any fashion be figured to be what Brands called Franklin Roosevelt, "a traitor to his class".   Trump has frankly viewed some members of this demographic,  namely those who serve in the military, as low class dupes.  


So we now have a real test.  Franklin Roosevelt, love him or hate him, like his cousin Theodore Roosevelt, proved to be massively loyal to the American middle and poor.  Other 20th Century figures who mobilized populists proved to not be at all.  What about Trump?


I'm not optimistic.  Trump can't "lower" prices, save by accident if he causes a Depression.  Populists in Congress are both hostile to spending and hostile to taxes, even though Americans are far from overtaxed by first world standards (and don't have the standard of living of other first world nations either).  "Tea Party" types served up the Kool aide for populists that cutting spending and taxation would serve the interest of the average when it most likely stands just to make hit obscenely wealthy, like Elon Must, wealthier.


On the other hand, a thick massive dose of reality won't hurt certain classes.  There are large demographics that basically have come to live on benefits while simultaneously complaining about the government.  And an argument that some benefits were better coming from the private sector, which has an expectation of conduct, vs the government, which doesn't, can certainly be made.  The "reduced and free lunch" programs locally are an example which I've cited before, which went from helping the poor with, essentially, property tax revenues, to some sort of right.


Well, it's going to be interesting.



Saturday, December 21, 2024

Subsidiarity Economics 2024. The Times more or less locally, Part 4. A return to Pre Covid status


US incomes have returned to their 2019 level, adjusted for inflation.

The adjusted rate of inflation was 2.9%.

While people will continue to complain, this is pretty close to being back to the economic status of 2019.

Oil dropped yesterday to $69/bbl.

September 25, 2024

Delta To Pull Out Of Casper Airport, Last Flight Is Dec. 3


Delta To Pull Out Of Casper Airport, Last Flight Is Dec. 3


November 17, 2024

Boeing is commencing layoffs.

November 26, 2024

In a monumentally bad idea, President-elect Donald Trump said Monday he will issue executive orders imposing new tariffs on all imported goods from China, Mexico and Canada. with the rates being 25 percent tariffs would be imposed on Mexican and Canadian merchandise and 10 percent on Chinese goods.  This was tied, oddly, to his immigration goals.

December 2, 2024

President Elect Trump threatened 100% tariffs against Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran and the United Arab Emirates. 
Turkey, Azerbaijan and Malaysia if they act to block the US Dollar ast he global reserve currency.

December 3, 2024

From a Fox News broadcast:
We are told that when Trudeau told President-elect Trump that new tariffs would kill the Canadian economy, Trump joked to him that if Canada can't survive without ripping off the U.S. the tune of one hundred billion dollars a year, then maybe Canada should become the 51st state and Trudeau could become its governor.

Apparently this was said by Trump in jest by our boorish embarrassment of a President Elect. 

December 11, 2024

$24B merger between grocery giants Kroger, Albertsons blocked by federal judge


Continuous arabica coffee futures on the ICE rose 4.1% to $3.44 a pound beating a record set in 1977 even before it is adjusted for inflation.

December 12, 2024

An Ontario message to Donald Trump from Ontario Premier Doug Ford.
We need to be ready to fight [on] January the 20th. We will go to the extent of cutting off their energy, going down to Michigan, going down to New York State and over to Wisconsin. I don't want this to happen, but my number one job is to protect Ontario, Ontarians and Canadians as a whole since we're the largest province. Let's see what happens as we move forward. But we'll use every tool in our toolbox, including cutting them off energy that we're sending down there.
Frankly, a lot of New York will freeze in the dark without Canadian hydroelectric.

On groceries, the item that a lot of Trump voters naively believed Trump could make the price of "go down":
It's hard to bring things down once they're up. You know, it's very hard.

Donald Trump.

D'uh. 

There was no earthly way that Trump was ever going to be able to get the price of groceries to go down and a person would have had to have been bereft of economic knowledge to have believed that.  Unfortunately, a lot of Americans are in fact bereft of economic knowledge.  As we've noted here before, that would require deflation, and deflation if prolonged, causes a Depression.

Trump back on November 4, 2024: “A vote for Trump means your groceries will be cheaper.”

Nope, they won't be.

So, now that he's been elected, this promise joins the one to end the war in Ukraine 24 hours after he's elected.  I.e., it'll be broken.

December 13, 2024

Pope Francis.
Forgive us our trespasses: grant us your peace

I. Listening to the plea of an endangered humanity

1. At the dawn of this New Year given to us by our heavenly Father, a year of Jubilee in the spirit of hope, I offer heartfelt good wishes of peace to every man and woman. I think especially of those who feel downtrodden, burdened by their past mistakes, oppressed by the judgment of others and incapable of perceiving even a glimmer of hope for their own lives. Upon everyone I invoke hope and peace, for this is a Year of Grace born of the Heart of the Redeemer!

2. Throughout this year, the Catholic Church celebrates the Jubilee, an event that fills hearts with hope. The “jubilee” recalls an ancient Jewish practice, when, every forty-ninth year, the sound of a ram’s horn (in Hebrew, jobel) would proclaim a year of forgiveness and freedom for the entire people (cf. Lev 25:10). This solemn proclamation was meant to echo throughout the land (cf. Lev 25:9) and to restore God’s justice in every aspect of life: in the use of the land, in the possession of goods and in relationships with others, above all the poor and the dispossessed. The blowing of the horn reminded the entire people, rich and poor alike, that no one comes into this world doomed to oppression: all of us are brothers and sisters, sons and daughters of the same Father, born to live in freedom, in accordance with the Lord’s will (cf. Lev 25:17, 25, 43, 46, 55).

3. In our day too, the Jubilee is an event that inspires us to seek to establish the liberating justice of God in our world. In place of the ram’s horn, at the start of this Year of Grace we wish to hear the “desperate plea for help” [1] that, like the cry of the blood of Abel (cf. Gen 4:10), rises up from so many parts of our world – a plea that God never fails to hear. We for our part feel bound to cry out and denounce the many situations in which the earth is exploited and our neighbours oppressed. [2] These injustices can appear at times in the form of what Saint John Paul II called “structures of sin”, [3] that arise not only from injustice on the part of some but are also consolidated and maintained by a network of complicity.

4. Each of us must feel in some way responsible for the devastation to which the earth, our common home, has been subjected, beginning with those actions that, albeit only indirectly, fuel the conflicts that presently plague our human family. Systemic challenges, distinct yet interconnected, are thus created and together cause havoc in our world. [4] I think, in particular, of all manner of disparities, the inhuman treatment meted out to migrants, environmental decay, the confusion willfully created by disinformation, the refusal to engage in any form of dialogue and the immense resources spent on the industry of war. All these, taken together, represent a threat to the existence of humanity as a whole. At the beginning of this year, then, we desire to heed the plea of suffering humankind in order to feel called, together and as individuals, to break the bonds of injustice and to proclaim God’s justice. Sporadic acts of philanthropy are not enough. Cultural and structural changes are necessary, so that enduring change may come about. [5]

II. A cultural change: all of us are debtors

5. The celebration of the Jubilee spurs us to make a number of changes in order to confront the present state of injustice and inequality by reminding ourselves that the goods of the earth are meant not for a privileged few, but for everyone. [6] We do well to recall the words of Saint Basil of Caesarea: “Tell me, what things belong to you? Where did you find them to make them part of your life? … Did you not come forth naked from the womb of your mother? Will you not return naked to the ground? Where did your property come from? If you say that it comes to you naturally by luck, you would deny God by not recognizing the Creator and being grateful to the Giver”. [7] Without gratitude, we are unable to recognize God’s gifts. Yet in his infinite mercy the Lord does not abandon sinful humanity, but instead reaffirms his gift of life by the saving forgiveness offered to all through Jesus Christ. That is why, in teaching us the “Our Father”, Jesus told us to pray: “Forgive us our trespasses” ( Mt 6:12).

6. Once we lose sight of our relationship to the Father, we begin to cherish the illusion that our relationships with others can be governed by a logic of exploitation and oppression, where might makes right. [8] Like the elites at the time of Jesus, who profited from the suffering of the poor, so today, in our interconnected global village, [9] the international system, unless it is inspired by a spirit of solidarity and interdependence, gives rise to injustices, aggravated by corruption, which leave the poorer countries trapped. A mentality that exploits the indebted can serve as a shorthand description of the present “debt crisis” that weighs upon a number of countries, above all in the global South.

7. I have repeatedly stated that foreign debt has become a means of control whereby certain governments and private financial institutions of the richer countries unscrupulously and indiscriminately exploit the human and natural resources of poorer countries, simply to satisfy the demands of their own markets. [10] In addition, different peoples, already burdened by international debt, find themselves also forced to bear the burden of the “ecological debt” incurred by the more developed countries. [11] Foreign debt and ecological debt are two sides of the same coin, namely the mindset of exploitation that has culminated in the debt crisis. [12] In the spirit of this Jubilee Year, I urge the international community to work towards forgiving foreign debt in recognition of the ecological debt existing between the North and the South of this world. This is an appeal for solidarity, but above all for justice. [13]

8. The cultural and structural change needed to surmount this crisis will come about when we finally recognize that we are all sons and daughters of the one Father, that we are all in his debt but also that we need one another, in a spirit of shared and diversified responsibility. We will be able to “rediscover once for all that we need one another” and are indebted one to another. [14]

III. A journey of hope: three proposals

9. If we take to heart these much-needed changes, the Jubilee Year of Grace can serve to set each of us on a renewed journey of hope, born of the experience of God’s unlimited mercy. [15]

God owes nothing to anyone, yet he constantly bestows his grace and mercy upon all. As Isaac of Nineveh, a seventh-century Father of the Eastern Church, put it in one of his prayers: “Your love, Lord, is greater than my trespasses. The waves of the sea are nothing with respect to the multitude of my sins, but placed on a scale and weighed against your love, they vanish like a speck of dust”. [16] God does not weigh up the evils we commit; rather, he is immensely “rich in mercy, for the great love with which he loved us” ( Eph 2:4). Yet he also hears the plea of the poor and the cry of the earth. We would do well simply to stop for a moment, at the beginning of this year, to think of the mercy with which he constantly forgives our sins and forgives our every debt, so that our hearts may overflow with hope and peace.

10. In teaching us to pray the “Our Father”, Jesus begins by asking the Father to forgive our trespasses, but passes immediately to the challenging words: “as we forgive those who trespass against us” (cf. Mt 6:12). In order to forgive others their trespasses and to offer them hope, we need for our own lives to be filled with that same hope, the fruit of our experience of God’s mercy. Hope overflows in generosity; it is free of calculation, makes no hidden demands, is unconcerned with gain, but aims at one thing alone: to raise up those who have fallen, to heal hearts that are broken and to set us free from every kind of bondage.

11. Consequently, at the beginning of this Year of Grace, I would like to offer three proposals capable of restoring dignity to the lives of entire peoples and enabling them to set them out anew on the journey of hope. In this way, the debt crisis can be overcome and all of us can once more realize that we are debtors whose debts have been forgiven.

First, I renew the appeal launched by Saint John Paul II on the occasion of the Great Jubilee of the Year 2000 to consider “reducing substantially, if not cancelling outright, the international debt which seriously threatens the future of many nations”. [17] In recognition of their ecological debt, the more prosperous countries ought to feel called to do everything possible to forgive the debts of those countries that are in no condition to repay the amount they owe. Naturally, lest this prove merely an isolated act of charity that simply reboots the vicious cycle of financing and indebtedness, a new financial framework must be devised, leading to the creation of a global financial Charter based on solidarity and harmony between peoples.

I also ask for a firm commitment to respect for the dignity of human life from conception to natural death, so that each person can cherish his or her own life and all may look with hope to a future of prosperity and happiness for themselves and for their children. Without hope for the future, it becomes hard for the young to look forward to bringing new lives into the world. Here I would like once more to propose a concrete gesture that can help foster the culture of life, namely the elimination of the death penalty in all nations. This penalty not only compromises the inviolability of life but eliminates every human hope of forgiveness and rehabilitation. [18]

In addition, following in the footsteps of Saint Paul VI and Benedict XVI, [19] I do not hesitate to make yet another appeal, for the sake of future generations. In this time marked by wars, let us use at least a fixed percentage of the money earmarked for armaments to establish a global Fund to eradicate hunger and facilitate in the poorer countries educational activities aimed at promoting sustainable development and combating climate change. [20] We need to work at eliminating every pretext that encourages young people to regard their future as hopeless or dominated by the thirst to avenge the blood of their dear ones. The future is a gift meant to enable us to go beyond past failures and to pave new paths of peace.

IV. The goal of peace

12. Those who take up these proposals and set out on the journey of hope will surely glimpse the dawn of the greatly desired goal of peace. The Psalmist promises us that “steadfast love and faithfulness will meet; righteousness and peace will kiss” ( Ps 85:10). When I divest myself of the weapon of credit and restore the path of hope to one of my brothers or sisters, I contribute to the restoration of God’s justice on this earth and, with that person, I advance towards the goal of peace. As Saint John XXIII observed, true peace can be born only from a heart “disarmed” of anxiety and the fear of war. [21]

13. May 2025 be a year in which peace flourishes! A true and lasting peace that goes beyond quibbling over the details of agreements and human compromises. [22] May we seek the true peace that is granted by God to hearts disarmed: hearts not set on calculating what is mine and what is yours; hearts that turn selfishness into readiness to reach out to others; hearts that see themselves as indebted to God and thus prepared to forgive the debts that oppress others; hearts that replace anxiety about the future with the hope that every individual can be a resource for the building of a better world.

14. Disarming hearts is a job for everyone, great and small, rich and poor alike. At times, something quite simple will do, such as “a smile, a small gesture of friendship, a kind look, a ready ear, a good deed”. [23] With such gestures, we progress towards the goal of peace. We will arrive all the more quickly if, in the course of journeying alongside our brothers and sisters, we discover that we have changed from the time we first set out. Peace does not only come with the end of wars but with the dawn of a new world, a world in which we realize that we are different, closer and more fraternal than we ever thought possible.

15. Lord, grant us your peace! This is my prayer to God as I now offer my cordial good wishes for the New Year to the Heads of State and Government, to the leaders of International Organizations, to the leaders of the various religions and to every person of good will.

Forgive us our trespasses, Lord,

as we forgive those who trespass against us.

In this cycle of forgiveness, grant us your peace,

the peace that you alone can give

to those who let themselves be disarmed in heart,

to those who choose in hope to forgive the debts of their brothers and sisters,

to those who are unafraid to confess their debt to you,

and to those who do not close their ears to the cry of the poor.

From the Vatican, 8 December 2024
December 17, 2024

Canada's Finance Minister resigned.

This of course gave the chance for our bratty twelve year old president elect to make another one of his snotty tweets.
The Great State of Canada is stunned as the Finance Minister resigns, or was fired, from her position by Governor Justin Trudeau. Her behavior was totally toxic, and not at all conducive to making deals which are good for the very unhappy citizens of Canada. She will not be missed!!!
Where this conduct comes from, and why its tolerated is another question.

December 18, 2024

Elon Musk is campaigning against the bill that would provide stop gap funding until the next Congress convenes.


December 19, 2024

The Fed is cutting interests rates.

December 20, 2024

After tanking one continuing budget resolution, following his super wealthy "DOGE" appointees, Trump supported a second, which tanked last night.

And here we enter interesting territory.  In spite of widespread public belief to the contrary, Trump was set to inherit a strong economy.  Now he's tanking it.


December 21, 2024

A CR passed but House Republicans defied a Trump request to raise the debt ceiling.

Why would Trump want to raise the debt ceiling if he intends to be true to the spirit of his campaign?

And now Trump is threatening the EU with tariffs if they don't up oil and gas imports, which are already at capacity.

Related threads:

September 10, 2024. Pearls Before Swine.

Last edition:

Subsidiarity Economics 2024. The times more or less locally, Part 3. The Decarbonizing the West and Electronic eartags Edition.