Great prayer at a Nascar race in Nashville. “Thank you for the Dodges and the Toyotas . . . ” “Thank you for Sunoco racing fuel . . .” “In Jesus’ name, boogity, boogity, boogity . . .”
More on federal revenues as percent of GDP
A couple of days ago in a post about the debt ceiling debate, I pointed out that federal revenues as a percent of GDP are at their lowest level since 1950. Check out this interesting graph from this post at…
Chicago Fed index a good barometer of economic activity
There’s a lot of economic data that I follow that rarely makes it into my columns in the Savannah Morning News. That’s certainly true for the Chicago Fed National Activity Index, which I check monthly but rarely mention in print.…
Denver, Atlanta, trains, and taxes
I’ve been writing a lot lately about transportation issues. In today’s column, I follow up to last week’s column about the proposed new regional sales taxes to fund transportation infrastructure projects. That proposed 1% regional sales tax, which will is…
Debt problems weren’t a crisis, but will become one with default
President Obama – and presumably the Congressional Democrats that he thought he had on board – offered some big concessions last week in terms of the debt and deficits. No matter where they come from, $3 trillion in cuts including…
Regretting the end of Borders
In spring 1993, when I was living just outside Philadelphia, I quit a fulltime teaching job even though I had no clear plan what I would do next. I had saved a little money, so the next step really didn’t…
Georgia labor commissioner gives misleading explanation for grim new employment data
I’ve been increasingly frustrated by the spin promoted by the Georgia Department of Labor under new Commissioner Mark Butler. In the spring, he cited weak job growth numbers as a sign of improvement in Georgia’s employment picture, but did not…
Jazz Night with Transcendental Swing – The Sentient Bean – 07/21/11
I’m breaking one of my own rules with this post. I’m focusing my music calendar, which can be seen in its entirety here, on exceptional or promising gigs by touring acts — the go-and-hear-this-group-if-you-want-a-better-music-scene acts. All very subjective, of course.…
Quick update to rising gas price graphs
Gas prices retreated rather dramatically from their most recent peak, but lately they’ve been on the rise and have retraced much of that recent decline. According to Gasbuddy.com, Savannah area gas prices are averaging $3.68 per gallon and are on…
Senator Isakson’s brother, son being sued for $30 million in real estate default
People make mistakes — they make horrible investment decisions that sometimes go bust. That’s been especially true during the housing crisis since the groupthink of the boom era made dicey deals seem like sure bets. So I guess it should…
Still on the books in Alabama: a tax to support needy Confederate veterans
Well here’s a curious story. The AP reports today about a remnant property tax in Alabama, originally used to support the Alabama Confederate Soldiers’ Home but that now — even though the percentage has been sliced from 1 mill to…
More on today’s column about Savannah’s sales taxes and infrastructure projects
In my City Talk column today — “Leaks, mold and questions about infrastructure spending” — I recap some of the key details regarding the current 2008-2014 round of the Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax (SPLOST), a 1% sales tax…