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1) Policy Focus: Warner-Lieberman Climate Security Act Up for Vote Tuesday
2) The David Strom Show
3) Sign up for our Action eLists and enter to win an iPod Nano!
4) Craig Westover on the Central Corridor
5) Minnesota 2020 report says that lower taxes and Gov't. spending lead to less prosperity
1) Policy Focus: Warner-Lieberman Climate Security Act Up for Vote Tuesday
The most expensive and economically damaging set of regulations proposed since the 1930s looks ready to go down to defeat on a procedural vote. The Boxer-Lieberman-Warner Climate Security Act would establish a so-called "cap and trade" system for carbon emissions, essentially raising the cost of and limiting the generation of energy in the U.S. economy.
With gasoline selling at about $4 a gallon, the very firm that designed and developed the European cap and trade carbon system just released a study indicating that initiating such a system in the United State would raise gasoline costs by about 50 cents a gallon, not even considering the effects on the prices of electricity, natural gas, and industrial goods dependent upon either energy or the products of energy-intensive manufacturing processes. The price and availability of natural gas for heating homes would ultimately be affected as well. American economic competitiveness will be put seriously in jeopardy if this bill passes without even proper debate and opportunity for amendments to make it more economy-friendly.
If Boxer-Warner-Lieberman gets defeated it will be an important step along the way of preserving America's and Minnesota's economic competitiveness, but only a modest first step. This legislation or something very much like it will likely be on its way back, and liberal interest groups and politicians are already arguing that the defeat of Boxer-Warner-Lieberman will ultimately be a good thing, as it will allow them to pass even more stringent carbon-emission controls in the near future.
There is no greater threat to the health of the American economy than the current plans to place limits on energy consumption and production.
If the fight over carbon dioxide emissions were truly about "pollution" and not simply controlling the American economy, politicians would be arguing over ways to allow for increased energy production encouraging the market to find low or no carbon emission technologies such as nuclear energy. Instead, they are constantly proposing command-and-control solutions such as cap and trade, mandated ethanol use, and other top-down solutions that have stifled innovation instead of spurred it.
2) The David Strom Show
The David Strom Show sponsored by the Minnesota Free Market Institute is broadcast weekly on AM 1280 The Patriot Saturdays 9-11 A.M. Podcasts of the show are available at Townhall.com and also directly via iTunes. (See our radio show page for details). The show is now downloaded over 11,000 times a month!
Last Saturday:
Hour 1:Guest Pat Shortridge of The New Majority Project who talked about Minnesotans for Employee Freedom's campaign to prevent the end of the secret ballot for unionization voting.
Hour 2: Our monthly Econ news and analysis roundup with King Banaian, Professor and Chair of the Economics Department at Saint Cloud State University, SCSU Scholars blog and The Northern Alliance Radio Network "The Final Word."
3) Sign up for our Action eLists and enter to win an iPod Nano!
The David Strom Show will hold a drawing for a free 4MB iPod Nano on the June 28th show.
To enter, go to the Join page for our action e-lists and check the box for the iPod nano giveaway!
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- Updates: Get the weekly update on what's going on with new publications and events sponsored by the Institute. If you receive this email directly, you are already on this list.
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- Radio: Find out ahead of time who will be a guest on the David Strom Show this weekend.
- Media:Get the latest MNFMI press releases.
We still have a few Cato Pocket Declaration of Independence and Constitutions left over and will be sending them out to everyone who registers with a mailing address until supplies run out!
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4) Craig Westover on the Central Corridor
"While amusing in a slapstick sort of way, the tussle over the train running through the University of Minnesota campus down Washington Avenue or looping north of the U campus through Dinkytown, seriously, ought put to rest the flummery that the Central Corridor project is about transportation and the mobility of the community," writes Minnesota Free Market Institute senior policy fellow Craig Westover in the June 2 Pioneer Press.
Westover goes through the misinformation that has been fed to taxpayers - the ever changing rationale for spending $1 billion dollars on a project that will actually increase congestion and decrease mobility - the ability of people to get from where they are to where they want to go, to do what they want to do when they want to do it.
In stories that broke after Westover's column appeared, the Pioneer Press reports that there is no firm plan for building a key downtown station at Fifth and Cedar. No discussion has taken place on how to do that. In addition, there are no plans in place for accommodating the overhead electrical wires and the existing St. Paul Skyway.
Not to outdone in the rerouting battle, Minnesota Public Radio President Bill Kling is renewing his longstanding concern about Central Corridor planning for light rail transit, according to MinnPost.com
Kling has been up in arms for years over the designation of Cedar Street as the Central Corridor's main artery through downtown St. Paul, notes MinnPost. He wants light rail off Cedar. He is convinced the trains that will run right by his radio headquarters will increase "the potential for vibration and noise in the recording studios" and ruin his company's product. He also makes it clear, according to MinnPost, that he is also personally affronted that the train and its overhead electrical wiring would, in his opinion, ruin the view from downtown to the Capitol - the so-called "Capitol Approach" designed by architect Cass Gilbert. Kling called it a "long-term historic mistake."
As a MinnPost commenter noted, "It's good to be the Kling," but as Westover writes, it's not so good being Ole and Lena Taxpayer who will wind up picking up the tab.
"Whichever side prevails in this tussle of titans, of this be certain: The academics and the politicians will ultimately come together and have a great makeup Kumbaya, and the Central Corridor project will be built regardless of the cost to taxpayers," Westover predicts. "On both sides there is simply too much arrogance and too much political prestige on the line to hope for any other outcome."
Note: The Minnesota Free Market Institute's Craig Westover is scheduled to discuss the Central Corridor on the Bob Davis Show on KSTP AM 1500 this coming Friday, June 11 during the 9:00 hour.
5) Minnesota 2020 report says that lower taxes and Gov't. spending lead to less prosperity.
It's always of interest that when big government types want to make a point about the value of taxes, they cite constitutionally appropriate government functions, but when they actually have the power of the purse, they ignore those same functions in favor of spending on extraconstitutional items in service of political expediency. Case in point is an online letter to the Star Tribune. defending a recent Minnesota 2020 report claiming Minnesota's lack luster economic performance is the result of lower government spending (despite increasing state budgets):
"While David Strom and Brian McClung may not like it, ... it's also important to remember that throughout our many previous years as a "high revenue/high service" state, our economy consistently outperformed the national norm. ... These people don't seem to recognize the need to balance the costs taxes extract from the economy against the benefits provided to the economy by the things those taxes pay for, such as an educated workforce and efficient transportation infrastructure. We should seek to find the optimal balance between costs and benefits to maximize our long-term economic performance."
Providing an education system is required by the Minnesota state constitution and so is maintaining a state transportation system. While me may argue that funds for education and transportation are not efficiently spent, we do not argue that they are not "public goods" that should be fully funded with tax dollars. What we object to, is big government supporters raising taxes to pay for these essential government activities while spending existing tax revenue on programs and projects that are not legitimately state government functions.
State resources are state resources and should be spent on essential state functions not political boondoggles.
Case in point: Last year the Minnesota judicial system budget was cut $13 million. It was cut another $4.5 million this year. The public defender's office was cut $1.5 million this year. Instead of fully funding a function that is essential to a free society, the legislature and the governor went shopping for a state park (assuming not just the purchase cost but the development and operational costs) and an ill-advised light rail line (and ongoing operational costs).
The question is not about finding a balance between costs and benefits; government has limited functions that should be fully funded. Expecting taxpayers to fund projects outside of legitimate functions is an egregious use of the power to tax.
See Hour 2 of last week's The David Strom show and--
The Minnesota Free Market Institute conducts research and advocates for policy that limits government involvement in individual affairs and promotes competition and consumer choice. By analyzing the actions of the past and applying the enduring lessons of the free market, the Minnesota Free Market Institute creates policy options for the future. The Minnesota Free Market Institute accepts PayPal! To donate click here. Contributions are Tax Deductible!
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