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Building a World-Class Infrastructure PPP Program in Puerto Rico
Since taking office in January 2009, Puerto Rico Governor Luis Fortuño's administration has taken bold actions to address the territory's chronic deficits and unsustainable debt, including...
View ArticleThe Politics of the Jobs Speech Last Night
Back in early 2009 the President opened his administration by telling Congress if they did not act immediately to pass a stimulus that unemployment would skyrocket, possible as high as 9 percent. The...
View ArticleBuilding Puerto Rico's Successful Infrastructure PPP Program
Puerto Rico Governor Luis Fortuño's administration has taken bold actions to address the territory's chronic deficits and unsustainable debt, including dramatic spending cuts, optimizing government...
View ArticleAirport Policy and Security Newsletter: Airport Security 10 Years After 9/11
In this issue:Taking stock of aviation security, 10 years afterDid airport screening fail on 9/11?TSA's unvalidated behavior detection programTrusted Traveler questionsPaying for airport securityNews...
View ArticleThe Truth on Corporate Tax Payments
There is a lot of frustration out there about corporate taxation. You could sense it in the jobs speech, and the coming rhetoric about everyone needing to pay a fair share. It should be obvious that...
View ArticlePublic Favors Tolling Over Taxes If....
A raging debate exists in the U.S. about whether tolling should become more important in funding transportation infrastructure. Many politicians, including Congressmen and governors, insist the public...
View ArticleSeven Long-term Ideas for Improving the Economy and Job Market
Last week I wrote a suggested jobs speech for President Obama that would emphasize the reality that we will not see a return to full employment or strong economic growth for several years to come, and...
View ArticleSeven Short-term Ideas for Improving the Economy and Job Market
Last week I wrote a suggested jobs speech for President Obama that would emphasize the reality that we will not see a return to full employment or strong economic growth for several years to come, and...
View ArticleEarly Success for Pay-As-You-Drive (PAYD) Vehicle Insurance in California
Nearly three years ago today California Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner proposed a voluntary pay-as-you-drive (PAYD) insurance option for California drivers. At the time, state regulation...
View ArticleDebt's Impact on the Economy and the Value of a Ceiling
There is a range of economic literature starting to flow out of academia on the impact of debt and I anticipate over the next 18 months we will see a lot more in anticipation of another debt ceiling...
View ArticleYour Mother Subsidizes "Dead Space 2" Thanks to Our Tax Code
I've seen few stories that examplify the terrible state of the U.S. tax code than one in yesterday's New York Times (Sept. 10, 2011) detailing how our tax code bestows millions of dollars in tax breaks...
View Article"The Auto-Hater Gives His Opinion And Acts"
Yesterday David Friedman posted an interesting article from the September 10, 1911 issue of New York Times Magazine entitled "The Auto-Hater Gives His Opinion — And Acts," on his blast from the past...
View ArticleCan Any T-Mobile Buyer Pass an Antitrust Test?
In the wake of the Department of Justice's lawsuit to stop the merger of AT&T and T-Mobile USA, there has been some discussion about where T-Mobile would end up if the government effort proved...
View ArticleAmerica the Exceptional?
America suffered massive casualties in the 9/11 attacks 10 years ago: Thousands perished, families were splintered, and hearts were shattered. But was American exceptionalism—the notion that America’s...
View ArticleThe FOMC's Saving Grace: Richard Fisher
In an economy where it is believed that every problem must only be solved through fiscal actions or monetary policy, Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas president, Richard Fisher offers at least some...
View ArticleStill No Transparency at FHFA on Bank of America MSR Purchase
Back in August, we noted with some suspicion that Fannie Mae had purchased $73 billion of mortgage servicing rights from Bank of America, but without disclosing details on the transaction. It smelled...
View ArticleComparison of the Essential Air Service Program to Alternative Coach Bus Service
This study by Dana Lowell, Tom Curry, Lily Hoffman-Andrews, and Lea Reynolds compares the costs and environmental effects of supporting rural mobility using scheduled inter-city coach bus service to...
View ArticleObama's Transportation Stimulus II: Same Old, Same Old
President Obama's next round of Stimulus, approaching $500 billion, includes a dose of transportation funding as well. Unfortunately, it's really packaing "old wine in a new bottle" according to C....
View ArticleLetter to SEC Regarding Assigned Ratings
The following is a letter submitted to the Securities and Exchange Commission in response to their public request for comment on advising the study of using an assigned ratings system rather than the...
View ArticleDid Fannie Mae Bail Out Bank of America?
Minyanville.com Why is no one in Congress up in arms over the possibility of a half-a-billion-dollar bailout of Bank of America last month?Early in August, Fannie Mae (read: taxpayers) agreed to buy...
View ArticleIndia's Mangled School Reforms
When India included a voucher program in last year’s Right to Education Act, which mandates free, compulsory education for all Indian children between the ages of six and 14, school choice advocates...
View ArticleFeds Rule Out Transit Efficiency With Labor Rules
One of the primary benefits of competitive bidding or outsourcing, even if it includes existing public employees or collective bargaining units, is the ability to increase efficiency by reconfiguring...
View ArticleSimple Video on Tax Reform
Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan is featured in a recent video discussing the need for tax code reform. The ideas follow along similar ideas we offered last week when talking about jobs and the...
View Article(Video) The Curious Fannie Mae/Bank of America Mortgage Servicing Rights Deal
Yesterday, we had a piece in Minyanville bringing attention to a story that has been covered in few other places: Fannie Mae purchased mortgage servicing rights from Bank of America without any...
View ArticleSpectrum-or Lack of It-Remains the Problem with AT&T-T-Mobile
For all the talk about preserving competitive prices and quality service, opponents of the AT&T-T-Mobile merger won't answer the most compelling argument for the merger-how else are wireless...
View ArticleAl Gore's 24 Hours of Climate Change "Reality"
Last night, Al Gore launched a 24-hour online “reality” show. While we probably won’t see the former vice president engaging in any lewd acts, the show does have something in common with its more lurid...
View ArticleFrustrations With Components of the American Jobs Act
In reading through the American Jobs Act there are a few things that jump out at me. To start, how similar the whole bill sounds to what we've been doing for the past three years. And in contrast, how...
View ArticleForeclosure Activity Picking Up Again
The department of bad news issues the following report via the AP: The number of U.S. homes that received an initial default notice -- the first step in the foreclosure process -- jumped 33 percent in...
View Article[Op-Ed] Democrats Dump on Private Libraries (with California AB 438)
California Assembly Bill 438 is expected to land on Governor Jerry Brown’s desk later this week. The bill, sponsored by Assemblyman Das Williams (D-Santa Barbara), would prevent cities from making...
View ArticleSports Subsidies, Crony Capitalism and the Fleecing of Taxpayers
Congratulations to elected officials in Columbus, Ohio! They finally figured out a creative way to do an end-run around the decisions of voters and do what they've wanted to do all along: have a...
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A Baseball Analogy for Understanding Our Economic Problems and Unemployment
Keynesians tell us we just need more aggregate demand. But in a world where fans are already lining up for the iPhone 5 and the seventh self-serve froyo establishment has opened up within strolling...
View ArticleSec. LaHood Invincibly Ignorant on CA High Speed Rail
Ignore the naysayers -- full-speed ahead on high-speed rail, said Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood in Oakland Tuesday, opens a San Francisco Chronicleblog post. LaHood went on to say "We are not...
View ArticleStimulus Redux: Breaking Down the American Jobs Act
The American Jobs Act has not received a very warm welcome on Capitol Hill. Republicans have balked at many of the ideas in the package, and predictably rejected the idea of raising taxes to pay for...
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Shopping Our Way to Recovery
My colleague, Anthony Randazzo, wrote a column today pointing to the recovery of consumer demand as not being the solution to the economy’s core problem. Keynesians and especially pro-stimulus...
View ArticleMore CA High-Speed Rail Arrogance
Following up on my post from this morning, in Bakersfield city planners have blasted the HSR Authorities draft EIR and how they have handled public comment.The city report, written by Planning Director...
View ArticleRoad Pricing Increases Sprawl But Won't Increase Congestion Either
Economist Alex Anas of the State University of New York at Buffalo has an interesting powerpoint presentation on the effects of tolling and road pricing on urban form. The presentation was given in...
View ArticleDemocrats Dump on Private Libraries
The Orange County Register California’s unemployment rate rose to 12 percent in July. More than 2 million Californians are out of work, and a third of those people have been unemployed for more than a...
View ArticleLight Rail Hits Ridership Projections When Goals Are Low Enough
The Norfolk light rail system, The Tide, is open for business and a whopping 5,600 people ride it everday. By 2020, transit officials optimistically expect ridership to double. So, they're calling it a...
View ArticleJob Creation Tax Credits Don't Create Many New Jobs
The Tax Foundation in Washington, D.C. has released a report that will likely throw more cold water on the White House's attempt to stimulate the economy. Research, the authors suggest, shows job...
View ArticleIssa Investigates Fannie/BofA Servicing Deal
Last Tuesday, Minyanville ran an article I wrote calling for someone in Congress to ask questions about the Bank of America/Fannie Mae servicing deal that went down in early August. On Thursday, there...
View ArticleFilm Tax Breaks Draw Ire on Both Sides of the Hudson River
Film tax breaks (or movie production incentives) are an especially odious form of crony capitalism that has come under fire on both sides of the Hudson River this week.Earlier today Bill Hammond of the...
View ArticleG-Fees Hopefully On the Rise
FHFA Acting Director Ed DeMarco made an uncharacteristic step of announcing the GSEs will be raising their guarantee-fee sometime next year to be more in line with what the private sector would charge...
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When Does it End? The Fed Eases Once Again
The Federal Reserve FOMC announced today its plan to purchase $400 billion of Treasuries with 30 to 6 year maturities and to sell an equal amount of Treasuries with remaining maturities of 3 years or...
View ArticleThe Decline in Deaths from Extreme Weather, 19002010
Aggregate mortality attributed to all extreme weather events globally has declined by more than 90% since the 1920s, in spite of a four-fold rise in population and much more complete reporting of such...
View ArticleExtreme Weather Events Are Killing Fewer People Than Ever Before
Despite concerns about global warming and a large increase in the number of reported storms and droughts, the world’s death rate from extreme weather events was lower from 2000 to 2010 than it has been...
View ArticleDeaths From Hurricanes, Floods, Droughts, and Other Weather Events Are Down...
Despite concerns about global warming and a large increase in the number of reported storms and droughts, the world’s death rate from extreme weather events was lower from 2000 to 2010 than it has been...
View ArticlePerhaps Not the Twist the Fed Desired, Markets Plunge 3+ Percent
Yesterday the FOMC opened the third act of its grand play, "How to Fail at Monetary Policy Even When Really Trying."James Groth framed the ridiculousness of the widely expected decision yesterday on...
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Its Time for the United States to Fire Its Broker
If your stock broker told you that year-to-date your portfolio is down well over 50%, would you show him the door, or would you keep letting him manage your hard-earned cash?Below are charts displaying...
View ArticleSome Health Benefits of Ground-Level Ozone
For decades, environmentalists have been calling for drastic limits on ozone to protect public health. But the benefits of ground-level ozone are often ignored.In a recent paper, a team from the...
View ArticleOver 4,000 Lawmakers Rip Us Off With Outrageous Pensions
USA Today's truly amazing report on thousands of state legislators who have, with bald faced gall, voted themselves lavish lifetime pensions for a part time gig they did for but part of their working...
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