The Federal Trade Commission has agreed to a $5 billion settlement with Facebook as a penalty for the social media giant’s unauthorized sharing of user data with consulting form Cambridge Analytica in 2017. Presumably, the settlement is warranted because of …
“We’re Number 50!” In Friendliness to Business, California Comes in Last Place
To rank America’s Top States for Business, CNBC “put all 50 states through a rigorous test and graded them based on more than 60 measures of competitiveness in 10 broad categories. Each category is weighted according to how frequently states …
Unplanned Searches for a Broad Audience but Gets Lost in Its Advocacy
The anti-abortion movie Unplanned opens in Canadian movie theaters on July 12th. It’s commercial theater release has already created controversy: At least two theaters have cancelled showings based on threatened violence by the movie’s critics. The threatened violence is ironic. …
States Enjoying an Unexpected Benefit of Federal Tax Reform
The Tax Cut and Jobs Act of 2017 appears to be delivering an unexpected benefit to state governments: It is lowering the cost of their borrowing. Liz Farmer of Governing describes the unexpected benefit: While the most direct effects of …
Trump’s Tax Returns
You may be aware of the attempts by Democrats in the House of Representatives to obtain President Trump’s tax returns, which they claim here is to see if the returns were properly audited and enforced by the IRS. I am …
Let’s Talk Tequila
Whether it’s the tequila talking in Margaritaville, chanting ‘tequila’ to a mambo rhythm, or just another tequila sunrise, it’s hard to name a spirit that’s been more sung about than North America’s first distilled spirit. Another interesting fact, this blue …
Taxpayer Alert: Does Failed State Stem Cell Agency Deserve $5 Billion in 2020?
Back in 2004, real estate tycoon Robert Klein authored the $3 billion Proposition 71, a California ballot measure that promised a host of life-saving cures and therapies for Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and other diseases through embryonic stem-cell research. The cures and …
U.S. Government Could Max Out Its Credit by Early September
If things go as analysts at the Bipartisan Policy Center expect, the U.S. government will face a heightened risk of defaulting on its $22 trillion debt in early September. That’s when the extraordinary measures employed by the Treasury Department, designed …
Cori Gauff’s Great Wimbledon Victory Offers Lessons for Athletes, Politicians and Bureaucrats Alike
The victory of Cori Gauff, 15, over Venus Williams, 39, stunned Wimbledon and the tennis world. If this underdog success story fails to register with any sports fan, imagine a 15-year-old blocking a dunk by LeBron James, then nailing a …
As Insulin Prices Rise, Diabetics Turn to Black Markets
A 2015 report released by the Centers for Disease Control found that nearly thirty million people in the United States had diabetes (about ten percent of the total population). The same report also found an additional seventy million people are …
Are Bernie Sanders and Socialist Democrats Really Using the Language of the Right?
“My concern is that the Democrats are using – sometimes – language of the right as a way to push policies of the left,” said pollster Frank Luntz, speaking with Fox News. Luntz was responding to 2020 Democrats who say …
Yesterday, the Beatles, and the Value of Earned Success
The movie Yesterday is a tribute to the enduring legacy of popular music and its ability to bring joy to the human heart. Indeed, the movie succeeds as entertaining summer diversion. But it succeeds on another level as well by exploring …
