Alabama Voters Tax Plan (NYT): “Alabama voters overwhelmingly rejected a $1.2 billion tax increase today, delivering a crushing blow to their Republican governor, Bob Riley, who had staked his political career on the vote. His ambitious plan was to close a $675 million budget deficit, ease taxes on the poor and catapult the state’s school system from among the nation’s worst to one of the best. Mr.

Here is a report on my new teaching positionI am in the Economics and Finance Department in the  School of Business and Economics,  College of Charleston (founded 1770) Charleston, South Carolina. There are 13 people in the department including myself.

Jagdish Bhagwhati of Columbia University, one of the top free-trade economists in the world, was always a skeptic of the merit of the World Trade Organization, but he appears to have completely firmed up on the question, now calling the entire apparatus a “sham” that is working to regulate the third world, “the ultimate objective being the capture, reshaping and distortion of the WTO in the image of American lobbying interests.” [Thanks to  Marginal Revolution, which

A nice piece on the  rise of homeschooling, from MSNBC. “In 2001, the Census Bureau said home schooling was ‘emerging as an important national phenomenon.’ As many as 2 million children were home-schooled at that time, and the number is increasing 15 percent to 20 percent annually, the bureau said.” See Isabel Lyman’s “The Why of Homeschool.”

New  poll data from Zogby

From a 1982 article appearing in the New York Times, “A Nobel Winner Assesses Reagan”: “The only way you can finance a deficit is by inflation. You cannot raise this amount by genuine borrowing. You borrow from banks, which create credit for the purpose. A large government deficit is a certain way to inflation.”

Why Higher Taxes Will be Defeated (BBC): “There is a widespread mistrust of tax and government in Alabama. Some even cite the period after the Civil War, nearly a century and a half ago, when in defeat, taxes on land were raised and farmers went broke.” See also

While it does not mean that government is disappearing in Mexico, at least we have a start.  At least one city government is trying to eliminate corruption by getting rid of the laws that breed such corruption.  Perhaps this might set a good example for cities elsewhere!  At least, one can always hope.

Paul C. Light of Brookings is getting attention for his new paper showing that Bush has vastly expanded government employment. The  Reuters story says: “The growth represents a roughly 75 percent rebound from federal work force declines linked to the post-Cold War ‘peace dividend,’ which helped enable former President Bill Clinton to declare in 1996 that ‘the era of big government is over.’ 

Health Care Premiums Soaring Study Finds (AP): “Health care premiums for families in employer-sponsored plans soared 13.9 percent in 2003, the third year of double-digit growth and the biggest spike since 1990, a new study found. Annual family premiums increased to $9,068 this spring, according to a survey of 2,808 companies by two health research organizations, the Kaiser Family Foundation and the Health Research and Educational Trust.