This week, the Florida legislature passed a bill that would create a scholarship program for lower-income families called the Family Empowerment Scholarship. The Family Empowerment Scholarship will provide lower-income children with scholarships equal to 95% of the state portion of funding to school districts. The Family Empowerment Scholarship is expected to be signed into law […]
TriMet recently announced its first “zero-emission” bus is ready to roll, claiming that wind-powered buses are cleaner and easier to maintain. But the reality is that electric buses are dirtier and more expensive than traditional buses. Wind and solar energy are both known as “intermittent resources” because both kinds of energy farming have long time […]
“I am concerned for the security of our great nation; not so much because of any threat from without, but because of insidious forces working from within.” – General Douglas MacArthur “While [America] retains its sound and healthful state, everything will be safe . . It is only when the people become ignorant and corrupt, […]
The current tax code is now four million words long, more than four times longer than the collected works of Shakespeare, and six to seven times longer than the Bible. It requires 25 volumes to contain it, and takes up nine feet of shelf space. According to Forbes, it takes Americans over six billion hours […]
The bottom line from the Mueller report: President Trump has been exonerated of charges that he colluded with Russia and that he obstructed justice. First, Bob Mueller completely cleared the president of any and all charges of collusion. Collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia never existed. There is no evidence to the contrary, nada, […]
Testimony Before the Joint Subcommittee on Capital Construction HB 5005 Members of the subcommittee, my name is John Charles and I am President and CEO of Cascade Policy Institute, a nonpartisan policy research organization. Most witnesses ask you to spend money. I am here asking you to save money – by deleting the Governor’s request for […]
I’ve got a big family, which means we do a lot of laundry. With our old appliances, we were doing a load a day and there was a backlog of dirty clothes. When our old washer and dryer went kaput, we decided on an upgrade. I bought the biggest, most energy efficient washer and dryer […]
April 16 was the first day of 2019 where the money Americans have earned finally exceeded the portion of our income dedicated to the support of the government. Tax Freedom Day is an annual reminder of the real cost of expanding government’s power and responsibilities. The $5.2 trillion we spend on taxes in 2019—29% of […]
If you allow your mind to travel back through time to the arrival of Columbus in the new world, you are nearly half way to the laying of the foundation for the Cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris. The first article linked below was written the day before yesterday’s Notre Dame Cathedral fire. In view […]
This week, Portland’s City Council will get the first annual report on how the city is spending its affordable housing bond money. The four-page report—yes, it’s really only four pages—is colorful and has lots of pictures but nothing about actual results. So, I did some research. Turns out, by the end of 2018, the city […]