Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Extended Jobless Benefits.

I have seen a tweet that extended jobless benefits are about to end for about 2 million out of work Americans.  I feel for these people, having been there myself.  The problem is that Congress will now debate on extending these benefits again.  What these people really need is a job.

As a reminder, the government can only employ people.  It can not create private-sector jobs.  Governments at all levels can, and should, foster an environment where jobs can emerge.  And there are steps to do this.  I may not list them all, if you have additions, please comment.  And no, lowering taxes in and of itself does not create jobs because you have little control over what people do with the extra money.  But it can lead to job creation depending on how that extra money is used.

Some things that can more effectively foster an environment where more jobs are availible.

1.  Do not make business the enemy of government.  Government and business should be partners.  I know that this ruffles certain feathers, but that is how it works.  When business succeed, there are more people employed and less demand for government services.  Then government can cut spending and raise taxes.  This is how Reaganomics works.  It is not just about arbitrary tax cuts, it is about incentivizing people who have money to invest it well.

2.  Provide a clear direction.  Show commerce that you care about business and about watching them grow.  You can't talk about supporting business one day, and then putting onerous and confusing regulation on them the next.  Words are supported by actions.

3.  Foster demand.  This is where tax cuts can play a role.  There are three things that people can do with those tax refund checks.  Spend them, pay debts with them or invest them.  Is either bad?  Spending leads to more jobs.  Payment of debt and investment lead to more money in the bank for business to borrow from and lower interest rates. 

4.  Encourage entrepreneurs.  All large businesses had a start somewhere.  One person with an idea.  Governments should help these ideas take root.  We forgot that recently.  Make 2011 the year of the small business.  Any company that registers in 2011 should get a break for federal taxes for five years or when revenues reach 2,000,000 per year, whichever comes first.  That would be my tax cut.


Friday, November 12, 2010

Back to The Blog--Congressional Boundaries in Utah

I took some time off from this blog as my life has been a little unsettled for the past couple of months.  But now that the dust from the election is clearing, it is time to get back to this.  I was not out to influence voting in the General Election this time.  I learned quite a bit in the last few months.

There is time for election rhetoric and a time to get things done.  People need to understand that if anything is to be done in politics, a dose of compromise is needed.  If a politician says one thing to get elected, and then compromises once in office, he becomes a liar in the eyes of those who supported him in the election.  This is going to happen to Mike Lee.  If those elected for the first time this year are unwilling to compromise, they will go down as the biggest do nothing Congress is history and we are bound to see the same type of uprising against them that we saw for them this year either way.  It is almost a no-win scenario.  And people wonder why good people do not run for office.

Even though I have not been blogging, I have been busy.  Here is my simple proposal for the congressional district boundaries in Utah after the results of the 2010 census are released.  It is as simple as I think it can be.  You can not divide Utah in four without splitting Salt Lake County.  And this may look gerrymandered, it is not.  Other than Salt Lake County, no other county in the state is split.  No cities will be split either.  For clarification, the first district is Green, and it includes the home of current first district congressman, Rob Bishop who lives in Box Elder County.  The second district is blue and includes the home of current second district congressman Jim Matheson who lives in the East Side of Salt Lake County.  The third district is violet, and it includes the home of current congressman Jason Chaffetz who lives in Utah County.

The split in Salt Lake County is roughly the Jordan River.  Communities mostly west of the Jordan River, like West Valley would be in the new 4th district while communities mostly east of the river, like Salt Lake City would be in the 2nd district.

You may also say that there is not one of the four districts that a Democrat has a guaranteed win.  However, a Democrat friend of mine told me he would rather have a chance to win all four than to have all of the party strength in one district.  Otherwise, you would find a way to put Carbon County and Summit County in the second district.  He gets his wish by having Summit and Carbon Counties with Utah County in the third district.  You put the West Valley City with Davis County to give the dems another shot.  Perhaps a slim shot at best, but a shot.  And you give Matheson's district a challenge by pairing liberal-leaning Salt Lake City with the more conservative cities of Sandy and Draper.  Some dems would complain, but again what would you rather have?

One weakness in this theory is that you still have one district that may be a GOP district forever, the first.

What will our legislature do?  Probably something not very similar to this, but they will look like they are throwing the Democrats a bone by giving then the second district, by protecting Jim Matheson's seat.  But in doing so they make it impossible for the Democrats to win in the other three districts.  The democrats in the state will fall for it hook line and sinker.  You will likely see Summit and Carbon counties put in the second district, and portions of southeast Salt Lake County put into the third district.  You will see them put West Valley City in the second district and the Avenues and Federal Heights put into the fourth district.  This would be an unfortunate turn of events because it complicates the campaigning process for both political parties and it will be more costly for candidates of all parties.  This plan will make campaigning in one congressional district "on the cheap" because it is relatively small.

One more benefit to this plan.  Davis and Weber Counties are in separate districts.  That is for a reason.  Hill Air Force Base sits on the border of Davis and Weber Counties.  We would have two members of our house delegation that have a vested interest in what happens at the base.  It will help keep this vital economic engine churning.

Because Utah is so heavily urbanized, especially in the Wasatch Front, the process of defining congressional boundaries is difficult.  The Legislature should keep these boundaries as simple as possible.  Utah is so highly republican that no matter how the boundaries are drawn, 3 of the four districts will be represented by the GOP.  This plan is simple, people will know who represents them in congress and it will save money.

If you like my plan, please let your state senator and representative know. What have they come up with...check out this more recent link.