Clearing the Tabs January 15, 2021

Happy New Year!

Here are some things I've read so far this month or will be reading soon. It appears the month will be a long one, and a lot of people are staying at home looking for things to read, so I've broken this month into two parts again, expect a post on January 31 as well. Also, just because I post something here does not mean I agree with it, it simply means it made me think and I think my readers might enjoy it.

May 2021 be the year of commerce.

— 𝔸𝕞𝕚𝕥𝕪 𝕊𝕙𝕝𝕒𝕖𝕤 (@AmityShlaes) January 2, 2021

January 3

Can California stop Big Tech from decamping for cheaper places?

January 4

The Return of Reckless Keynesian Economic Policy

Beyond Economic Populism

January 5
Amazon Failed at Health Care Because It Wasn't a 'Disrupter'

What Biden's Rich Supporters Won't Tell Him About Taxes

January 10
The Lesson We Should Learn from 2020

Mind on Money: The American idea is superior to politics

January 11
Will 2021 Bring Positive Change for Working-Class People?

Seven New Books on Faith, Work & Economics

January 12
Is Civility Futile in the Face of Injustice?

The Missing Piece of the D.B. Cooper Story
Many saw flight attendant Tina Mucklow as the key to the mysterious skyjacking. But does her story hold the answers?

A New Localism Can Heal, Advance Flyover Country

The big ‘cancel’

January 13
Who Wants to Cut Taxes for the Rich? Democrats!

January 14
In the World of Business, 'Unimaginable Power' Doesn't Exist

Find the Place You Love. Then Move There.
If where you live isn’t truly your home, and you have the resources to make a change, it could do wonders for your happiness.

January 15
We must take a stand against the insurrectionists
If you are a principled centrist or principled conservative, now is not the time to remain silent.

When Pragmatic Politics Goes Bad: An Apology to the Never Trumpers
I have awakened on too many days with gratitude on my lips for the blessing of living in a peaceful, orderly, democratic, and free society to see such hard-won advances thrown away for political ambition. Those who realized our inheritance was at risk saw more clearly than I did.

The $25 Billion Theft

Clearing the Tabs June 2019

Some things I've read this month or will be reading soon.

June 29
The Economic Benefits of Reducing the Regulatory Burden

June 22
Evidence from the States: Higher Taxes = Fewer Jobs

The rise of the intolerant left

June 21
Histrionics, Hysteria and Joe Biden
Will the Democratic Party banish its democratic instincts?

June 20
A Tribute to Art Laffer

June 19

Connecticut’s Fiscal Decay

President Trump Awards Arthur Laffer The Presidential Medal of Freedom
A world $100 trillion richer.

June 18

The Trump Tax Reform Is Generating Good Results

June 15

What is social justice?
Perhaps no issue more motivates progressive activists than social justice. Good intentions may motivate the social justice warriors, albeit sometimes sprinkled with a dollop of self-hatred. But good intentions do not necessarily produce good results.

June 11

California’s Progressive Betrayal

The Golden State’s left-wing policies hurt working-class and middle-class residents

June 9
The populist dilemma

June 6

Loneliness in America Is Caused by Our Broken Culture

June 5

Tariffs Are Taxes

Clearing the Tabs May 2019

Some things I've read this month or will be reading soon.

May 30
Greta’s very corporate children’s crusade
Behind the schoolgirl climate warrior lies a shadowy cabal of lobbyists, investors and energy companies seeking to profit from a green bonanza

May 25
Localism still has a heartbeat, even in California

May 21
Finally, a Market-Oriented Way to Help Poor Communities

May 20
The importance of place: Neighborhood amenities as a source of social connection and trust

Americans who live in closer proximity to community parks, libraries, restaurants, and theaters are more content with their neighborhood, more trusting of others, and less lonely regardless of whether they live in large cities, suburbs, or small cities or towns.

May 6
Class, Empathy, and the Green New Deal

Clearing the Tabs 7-27-2018

Some things I've read this week or will be reading over the weekend.

July 21
Democrats are Helping Trump to Win Re-election

Elon Musk is a total fraud

If there were no taxpayers to help subsidize his nonsense, he would be out of business.

July 22
Let's Be Blunt, Internet Sales Taxes Are Economy-Sapping Domestic Tariffs

July 23
Millennials Reinvent Localism in Their Search for Community

July 24
The Pundit Class's Russia Obsession Is a Loud Insult to Reason

July 25
Democrats’ latest election strategy? They aim to win by allowing non-citizens to vote

July 26
The Hollowing-Out of the California Dream

Whatever Happened to Civility in America?

The Arthur Brooks Podcast - Episode 3

July 27
What tax reform 2.0 could look like

Republicans want to schedule a House vote in September on a second round of tax reform legislation.

Trump’s GDP achieves Mission Impossible (and shocks his critics)

Renewing the American Neighborhood: A Houston Case Study

I have published a report with Ed Hubbard that looks at the local response to the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey. You can download the PDF for free here. We would love to hear your feedback, either here or on the Renewing the American Neighborhood website.

AEI: Reviving Localism in America

I am still processing what all is here, but this looks like this will be great because of many of the names I see, so I wanted to direct your attention to it. Please take a look at American Enterprise Institute's
Reviving Localism in America.

New Joel Kotkin Report - Our Town: Restoring Localism

Read this important new report from Joel Kotkin, Our Town: Restoring Localism.

Newspaper Article: Moving Forward in 2016 and Beyond

This article appeared in El Republicano, a publication of the Hispanic Republicans of Texas, this past weekend at the Republican Party of Texas state convention in Dallas.

Moving Forward in 2016 and Beyond
by Steve Parkhurst

Now that the pageantry of the Presidential nomination process is behind us, it is time to focus on the November elections and the future of our movement and our party.

Twenty years ago this August, Jack Kemp accepted the nomination for Vice President at the Republican convention in San Diego. In accepting the 1996 nomination, Kemp said, “The purpose of a truly great party is to provide superior ideas, principled leadership and a compelling cause.” Kemp continued, “Our convention is not just the meeting of a political party; our convention is a celebration of ideas. Our goal is not just to win, but to be worthy of winning.”

A lot has happened in the last twenty years. The global landscape is remarkably different. After another bruising Presidential primary season, one unworthy of our country and our party, it is time to move toward November united and ready to do battle.

The presidential contest is but one race on the ballot come November. Many people will not be happy with the choice at the top of their ballot. Over the next five-plus months, perhaps feelings will change and a vision will be accepted. Up and down ballots across America, citizens will choose members of the United States Senate and Congress, members of state legislatures or assemblies, and many of the leaders of tomorrow.

In the wake of the presidential contest which will leave some people bitter and disappointed, it is important to identify and support the candidates for other offices who offer the “compelling cause” that our party represents. There are many great candidates worthy of your support.

These candidates view economic growth and opportunity as the best path out of poverty. The candidates rebuke the idea that redistributing income and wealth is the way forward. These candidates are adopting the philosophy of Arthur Brooks to “fight for people, not against things.” These candidates see Washington D.C. not as a reasonable partner who can assist people and communities to find local solutions, but instead as the albatross that it has become, one which stifles innovation and advancement with regulations and obstacles.

As we seek, identify and support candidates who want to embrace this vision of localism, it will be important to assure that we have intelligent, innovative thinkers and policy entrepreneurs ready to work as we devolve power back to states, counties and cities, along with other localities. It will also be vital to have neighborhood healers identified and at the ready, these are the people and organizations who can replace functions previously dominated by governments, with tested methods that get results.

This is the heart of what Alexis de Tocqueville observed about America when his observations were published back in 1835: An America where neighbor looked after neighbor and associations and churches handled many of the tasks too burdensome for any one neighbor, with a speed and efficiency that would be foreign to the bureaucracy of today.

This April, Governor John Kasich presented us with an optimistic vision in which "America’s supposed decline becomes its finest hour, because we came together to say ‘no' to those who would prey on our human weakness and instead chose leadership that serves, helping us look up, not down.”

This is the sort of vision we now need going into November. This is not the time to buy into the doom and gloom scenarios. This is the time to go into communities that are different from ours and really engage people about the American idea. Some of these might be communities where Democrats own the landscape and Republicans never dare enter. When we never show up to present our case, it is that much easier for the Democrats to label us however they choose. We need to start laying the foundations of trust in these communities right now, today.

The challenge before us now is to put our “compelling cause” on full display for the nation to see. This can be done, and it can be done by each one of us, back home, in our own communities and neighborhoods. Speaker Paul Ryan is a model for us to follow. The Speaker is putting forth pragmatic solutions for the America of today, and doing it with a manner consistent with our timeless principles.

If we had met the challenge of 1996 in a manner similar to that presented above, perhaps fewer of us would be disappointed by what happened in the presidential primary this year, and maybe even fewer of us would be as shell-shocked.

A party “worthy of winning” will take up the Jack Kemp challenge twenty years later and finally start to do the work necessary to advance the American idea.