Necessity, as they say, is the mother of invention. That’s particularly true in these tough economic times, as “business and usual” no longer works.
As governors and state lawmakers across our nation deal with record budget deficits, tourism promotion is being slashed. Many in the travel industry realize that if colorful travel brochures and television commercials are to continue, they will have to be privately funded.
Necessity, as they say, is the mother of invention. That’s particularly true in these tough economic times, as “business and usual” no longer works.
In his state of the union address, President Barack Obama stated he wants 80 percent of our electricity to come from “clean sources” by 2035.
You see a lot in the news these days about public employee pension costs pushing cities and states to the brink of bankruptcy.
Private sector employers confronted the same crisis years ago and are still struggling with it today.
The hardest thing an employer has to do is to call someone into the office and tell them the business isn’t making enough money to keep them on.
State Auditor Brian Sonntag reports that our workers’ compensation system is unsustainable ― that huge premium increases are needed to keep the program solvent. But those increases, which must be paid mainly by employers, will cripple our ability to recover from the recession.
State lawmakers convening in Olympia are looking under every pebble for new money. They must write a budget with as much as 20 percent less tax revenue.
Remember the old saying: The only things certain in life are death and taxes? You need to add global competition to that list.
President Obama’s most recent drilling moratorium along the East Coast and in parts of the Gulf of Mexico may have…
Both Washingtons are in a financial bind. In our nation’s capital, President Obama and Congress are running trillion-dollar budget deficits and our national debt will soon exceed $14 trillion.
How much is that? To pay back $14 trillion, you’d have to spend $1 each second for the next 448,000 years.
Electric cars are the new wave in automobile technology. Many see them as the way to cut greenhouse gas emissions…
Even though voters rejected Initiative 1082, which would have allowed private insurers to write workers’ compensation insurance in our state, the need to reform the system has become even greater. It has become too costly for employers and too cumbersome for injured workers, and in 2011, rates will increase an average of 12 percent.
For too many Americans, the last three Thanksgivings have been pretty lean. Our nation is suffering from the longest economic downturn since the Great Depression. Particularly
In 1992, a single male sockeye salmon managed to swim 900 miles from the mouth of the Columbia River to Redfish Lake in Idaho’s Sawtooth Mountains, the end of his migratory journey. Biologists dubbed him “Lonesome Larry.”
Over the last month, France has been wracked by a series of protests and strikes that threaten the nation’s economy. Angry mobs set fires and battled with police as strikes shut down the country’s rail system, buses, oil refineries, ports and garbage collection.
The question Washington voters should ask themselves before voting on a state income tax this fall is, “Will we be better off with an income tax?” Judging from experience, the answer is, “No.”
Initiative 1098 would impose a 5 percent income tax on individual income over $200,000 and $400,000 for a couple. In addition, the measure would reduce some business-and-occupation taxes for small businesses and reduce property taxes by about 4 percent.
That might sound reasonable to some, but experience tells us that a state income tax is a bad idea.
First, economists agree that it’s never a good idea to raise taxes in a recession. Increasing the tax burden on small employers – many of whom file taxes as individuals – makes it harder for them to add or retain employees.
Portions of the new national health-reform law are just now going into effect, but the impact is already being felt. Insurers are warning of higher premiums and some companies say the law will force them to eliminate employee health insurance coverage.
Our founding fathers envisioned a government by the people. In fact, in his Gettysburg Address on Nov. 19, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln concluded with the words, “that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”
In the last few years, we’ve forgotten Lincoln’s words. We now have government by regulation and it is paralyzing our nation.
In the classic children’s story, “Alice in Wonderland,” a little girl falls down a rabbit hole and finds herself in a strange world where everything is upside down, where all the rules have changed and peculiar people do inexplicable things.
President Obama and congressional candidates are tripping over themselves trying to convince voters that they will have a tax plan to soak the rich, help the middle class and jump-start small business.
They want to entice people to spend what money they have and sway wary investors to shake loose with the $13 trillion currently tucked away waiting for more certain economic and political times.
