Jon Gabriel
  • Home
  • Words
  • Media
  • Design
  • Contact

AZ Republic: Remedial economics for Trump via ... 'Ferris Bueller'

3/8/2018

2 Comments

 
Picture
Bueller...? Bueller...?

Nixon speechwriter Ben Stein made a brief but memorable appearance in the '80s coming-of-age classic "Ferris Bueller’s Day Off." In his dreary monotone, Stein taught his half-asleep class some basic economics:
​
"In 1930, the Republican-controlled House of Representatives, in an effort to alleviate the effects of the... Anyone? Anyone?... the Great Depression, passed the... Anyone? Anyone? The tariff bill? The Hawley-Smoot Tariff Act? Which, anyone? Raised or lowered?... raised tariffs, in an effort to collect more revenue for the federal government. Did it work? Anyone? Anyone know the effects? It did not work, and the United States sank deeper into the Great Depression. Today we have a similar debate over this."

Donald Trump was rather busy in the '80s what with his surefire investments in the USFL and Atlantic City casinos, so perhaps he and Ivanka didn’t make it to the theaters. But the president and his economic advisers might want to pick up a "Ferris Bueller" Blu-ray to learn the lessons even a high schooler will understand.


Read More
2 Comments

USA TODAY: Trump budget cuts don't go far enough

4/11/2017

0 Comments

 
Picture
Washington reacted to President Trump’s proposed budget with horror.

EPA funding would be cut by 31%. Agriculture and labor were down 21%. He would eliminate all funding for the National Endowment for the Arts, the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

He wants to increase spending only for Defense, Homeland Security and Veterans Affairs.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D–N.Y., said, "It kills the middle class. It cuts education funding. It cuts transportation and infrastructure funding. It cuts money for scientific research."
“It is clear that this budget proposed today cannot pass the Senate," Sen. John McCain, R–Ariz., said, while Sen. Lindsey Graham, R–S.C., added, "It's dead on arrival– it's not going to happen.”

Read More
0 Comments

Best and Worst States for Business

5/14/2014

 
RICOCHET

Chief Executive magazine has released their 10th annual survey of CEOs concerning their views of the best states and the worst states for business. More than 500 CEOs graded states on their tax and regulatory regimes, quality of the workforce, and quality of life.

I created a graphic of the 10 best and the 10 worst. The results may surprise you:
Picture
(Just kidding — the results aren’t surprising at all.)

All states in the Top 10 have GOP governors; Seven of the Bottom 10 are run by Democrats. Those three GOP-led states in the Bottom 10 all went for Obama in 2008 and 2012.

Where does your state rank?

Obama’s New EPA Rules Will Increase Energy Prices up to 80%

2/12/2014

1 Comment

 
Picture
RICOCHET

In a 2008 interview with the San Francisco Chronicle editorial board, Barack Obama uttered a prophetic statement about energy prices. “If somebody wants to build a coal-fired power plant, they can. It’s just that it will bankrupt them.” The senator added, “under my plan… electricity rates would necessarily skyrocket.”

The candidate was talking about his cap-and-trade scheme which Congress shelved long ago. But the president’s EPA is going around democratically elected legislators and their constituents to attack the coal industry administratively. 

The EPA has mandated that new coal plants use expensive and unproven carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology despite angry resistance from coal states and their representatives. Now the administration admits that the new rules will drastically increase electricity prices.


Read More
1 Comment

Community Organizers Chase Trader Joe's Out of Portlandia

2/4/2014

0 Comments

 
Picture
RICOCHET

Trader Joe’s wanted to build a new store in Portland, Oregon. Instead of heading to a tony neighborhood downtown or towards the suburbs, the popular West Coast grocer chose a struggling area of Northeast Portland.

The company selected two acres along Martin Luther King Blvd. that had been vacant for decades. It seemed like the perfect place to create jobs, improve customer options and beautify the neighborhood. City officials, the business community, and residents all seemed thrilled with the plan. Then some community organizers caught wind of it.


Read More
0 Comments

11-year-old Entrepreneur Told to Stop Selling, Start Begging

12/6/2013

0 Comments

 
Picture
FREEDOMWORKS

Like many 11-year-old girls, Madison Root has braces. Wanting to help her parents’ pay the orthodontist, Madison decided to sell little pieces of mistletoe she clipped off bushes at her uncle’s farm.

Last Saturday morning she stood at the well-trafficked Portland Saturday Market and sold the holiday favorite, each hand-wrapped and tied with a red bow. That’s when security personnel arrived.

A private security guard told Madison that her entrepreneurial initiative was a crime. The market is held in a public park and Portland city ordinance bans little girls from selling mistletoe without proper approval from city bureaucrats.

Little Madison committed the shocking crime of practicing capitalism without a license.


Read More
0 Comments

Why Does the Left Hate Black Fridays?

11/29/2013

0 Comments

 
FREEDOMWORKS

The New York Times asked its readership “What Does Black Friday Mean for You?” A few choice comments reveal the tone of the other 318:
To me it means getting in the car with my spouse and adult daughters and heading to Cape May...Birding! None of us buy into this nonsensical consumer binge day.

Retail stampedes are not my idea of fun. I start Christmas shopping early in the year buying mostly from vacation destinations.

[Thanksgiving] used to be the ONE non-commercialized holiday, all about family, food and tradition. Decades of union busting and capitalistic message crafting later, it's about shopping, and the mechanism is in place to make it so. We CAN take it back and should!

Black Friday = Uncivilized people crazy on buying cheap plastic stuff from China

I must confess I went to Black Friday once, because I traveled to NC to visit a friend for the Holidays.

Read More
0 Comments

The Reality of America's Finances

10/21/2013

0 Comments

 
FREEDOMWORKS

When Washington raised the debt ceiling this week, the Beltway media breathlessly reported that the fiscal crisis had ended. Lawyers danced in hallways, bureaucrats twerked on the Metro, congressional aides kissed strangers in the streets — the Tea Party has been defeated! It was like VJ day for wonks.

As our political class exchanged high fives and reporters praised a return to “sanity,” I wondered how these odd creatures defined insanity. 

America’s fiscal crisis is not that our debt ceiling was too low, the fiscal crisis is that our debt is too high. When I mentioned this to left-leaning folks, they seemed indifferent. “Obama lowered the deficit.” “I think Bush spent more.“ “It’s Reagan’s fault!”

So I made this infographic:

Read More
0 Comments

America's Finances

10/17/2013

10 Comments

 
By popular request, here is a high-resolution version of a chart I created for Ricochet.com.
Picture
You can find the actual column below the fold...

Read More
10 Comments

EBT Outage Provides Opportunity for Real Compassion

10/14/2013

0 Comments

 
FREEDOMWORKS

There was panic at supermarkets over the weekend. Low-income Americans in 17 states were turned away from cash registers due to a computer outage affecting their electronic food-stamp cards.

Outrage erupted in store aisles and even on Twitter.

Mom saw a bunch of women crying bc their EBT cards dont work & now they cant feed their kids. Breaks my heart. #governmentshutdown

— emily (@_emilyotero) October 12, 2013

Wow... Government shut down has started affecting people.. EBT (bridge cards are off)

Nationwide EBT shutdown...? Folks can't eat....This is about to be all kinda bad. Folks about to riot.

— RaShad (@ByRaShad) October 12, 2013

Read More
0 Comments
<<Previous

    Archives

    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    August 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    March 2016
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012

    Categories

    All
    Arizona
    Arizona Republic
    Art
    Business
    Buzzfeed
    Communication
    Culture
    Daily Caller
    Design
    Drugs
    Economy
    Education
    Energy
    Environment
    Family
    Food & Drink
    Freedomworks
    Free Speech
    Gender
    Guns
    Health Care
    Heartland Institute
    Humor
    Immigration
    International
    Journalism
    Military
    Music
    Neatorama
    NY Post
    Outrage
    Philosophy
    Photoshop
    Politics
    Red Tape
    Religion
    Ricochet
    Social Media
    Technology
    Unions
    USA Today
    Wall Street Journal

    RSS Feed

© 2017  Jon Gabriel. All rights reserved.
  • Home
  • Words
  • Media
  • Design
  • Contact