Starwood calls on Wichita

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Office worker using telephone and computer

This Tuesday the Wichita City Council considers economic development incentives to Starwood Hotels & Resorts for a call center to open in Wichita.

Besides the usual problems with cronyism and corporate welfare (see Wichita-area economic development policy changes proposed for explanation of some problems), there are a few issues to consider regarding this item.

First, the site where the Starwood call center will be located is owned by Max Cole. He and his wife are significant campaign contributors to Wichita City Council Member James Clendenin (district 3, southeast and south Wichita). Under the concept of pay-to-play laws that Wichita needs, Clendenin should refrain from voting on this matter.

Second, a table of salaries supplied in the agenda packet makes an implied promise that probably won’t be kept. The table shows numbers of jobs (actually full-time equivalents), the hourly pay rate, and the annual wage. The annual wage, in all cases, is 2,080 times the hourly rate, meaning it is assumed that workers will work 40 hours per week, 52 weeks per year.

Information from the Kansas Department of Commerce offers more detail. Initially, 495 full-time and 55 part-time jobs will be created. In year five, the total will be 860 full-time and 95 part-time total. There is also this notation: “The company will pay at least 50% of employee health insurance benefits.”

As you may be aware, one of the provisions of Obamacare is that if employees work over 30 hours per week, the employer must provide health insurance or be fined. As a result, many companies across the county are scaling back weekly work hours to less than 30.

We ought to ask if Starwood intends to hire employees who will work 40 hours per week, if they want to. Will the liberals on the Wichita City Council — Mayor Carl Brewer, Council Member Lavonta Williams (district 1, northeast Wichita), and Council Member Janet Miller (district 6, north central Wichita) — ask that Starwood operate under the standards of Obamacare? The table presents data as “full-time equivalents,” which provides room for Starwood to go either way.

Starwood is asking for a forgivable loan of $200,000 from Wichita, and another of the same amount from Sedgwick County. I asked the Kansas Department of Commerce if it would reveal the programs and incentives that Starwood will receive from the State of Kansas. It would not supply that information at this time, but I obtained the information by another means. The state describes its offer to Starwood as worth “up to $1,583,272.” Of this, $750,000 would be in the form of direct cash grants.

Here is a link to the relevant pages from the Wichita city council agenda: Starwood Hotels & Resorts Economic Development Incentive Agreement with City of Wichita, Kansas. Also, from the Department of Commerce: Starwood Hotels & Resorts Economic Development Incentives offered by State of Kansas.

Bill Haslam stars in seatbelt use commercial

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Tennessee television viewers may have seen Gov. Bill Haslam starring in a dramatic public service announcement that began airing last week.

The $50,000 spot from the Governor’s Highway Safety Office was produced by The Tombras Group, a Knoxville advertising agency. The ad was paid for with a grant from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration,  a GHSO spokeswoman said.

The striking ad features the story of “Jessica.” Haslam holds a framed photograph of Jessica and her family, which he drops to the floor. The commercial then cuts to an image of the picture shattering, followed by a message from the governor encouraging seat belt use amid a cascade of falling picture frames.

The commercial should be in heavy rotation for the remainder of the month, the spokeswoman said. After that, it will be shown intermittently throughout the summer before returning to heavy rotation again in November.

Posted In:  Politics, State

Wrestler says he has ‘no plans on running for political office’

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kaneKane — we mean Glenn Jacobs — said Monday that he has “no plans on running for political office at this time” following a report late last week that he might be planning to take on U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander.

The World Wrestling Entertainment star said “things get a little carried away on the Internet sometimes” in response to a Reason magazine post that quoted an anonymous source as saying Jacobs is weighing a run.

Perhaps Jacobs was the victim of an icy staredown from Alexander, who has been trying to intimidate potential tea party foes into staying out of the race. Or maybe Jacobs is just biding his time for now.

Regardless, like a good wrestling storyline, the idea of a Citizen Kane campaign has grabbed our attention.

Lamar Alexander plans ‘overwhelming force’ in re-election bid

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U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander has let Politico in on his grand campaign strategy — putting together an Operation Desert Storm-style force that will demolish anyone that gets in its way.

“I’m running a Colin Powell military operation,” Alexander says in an interview with Politico posted Sunday, “which is assemble an overwhelming force, focus on a single target and have the stomach to see it all the way through to the end.”

Politico fits Alexander’s strategy into a trend for the 2014 campaign cycle. The Washington political pub says veteran Republicans are flexing their muscle early to scare off any potential tea party challengers.

This strategy may offer an explanation to Alexander’s recent Obamacare-is-the-new-Iran-Contra talking point. Politico suggests it’s red meat for the conservative base.

Regardless, some of Alexander’s conservative critics are ready for war, says ConservativeHQ, a tea party website.

Kansas freedom scorecard released

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To help Kansans understand how legislators vote, Kansas Policy Institute has produced the Kansas Freedom Index for 2013.

Legislative scorecards like this are important as they let citizens know how legislators have actually voted, which is sometimes different from their campaign rhetoric, and even different from their current proclamations. Generally, scorecards include a large sampling of votes, so that no single issue paints a member into a corner.

James Franko of Kansas Policy Institute joins Bob Weeks on the Joseph Ashby Show to discuss the Kansas Freedom Index. Then, Bob runs down the scores for Wichita-area legislators.

The Kansas Freedom Index, as produced by KPI this year, is important and significant because it focuses on issues of economic freedom along with education freedom, which was added this year. So far, 45 bills have been included in the scorecard, and as the legislature is still in session and has at least two important bills to pass, there may be additions to the scorecard.

This year’s index is a continuation of the construction of indexes for past years, many of which may be found at Kansas Economic Freedom Index.

In a press release KPI president Dave Trabert said “An informed citizenry is an essential element of maintaining a free society. Having a deeper understanding of how legislation impacts education freedom, economic freedom and the constitutional principles of individual liberty and limited government allows citizens to better understand the known and often unknown consequences of legislative issues.”

He added, “Our 2012 index made clear that support of economic freedom isn’t an issue of political affiliation — the highest and lowest score in the Senate were both held by Republicans. The 2013 results bear out the same as a wide range of scores exists within both parties. Too often votes come down to parochial or personal issues and the idea of freedom is left on the legislature’s cutting room floor. Hopefully, the Kansas Freedom Index can start to recalibrate citizens and legislators towards supporting the freedoms of everyday Kansans and not be driven by politics.”

The importance of economic freedom

Milton Friedman: Capitalism and Freedom

Why is economic freedom important? Here’s what Milton Friedman had to say in the opening chapter of his monumental work Capitalism and Freedom some 50 years ago:

The Relation between Economic Freedom and Political Freedom

It is widely believed that politics and economics are separate and largely unconnected; that individual freedom is a political problem and material welfare an economic problem; and that any kind of political arrangements can be combined with any kind of economic arrangements. The chief contemporary manifestation of this idea is the advocacy of “democratic socialism” by many who condemn out of hand the restrictions on individual freedom imposed by “totalitarian socialism” in Russia, and who are persuaded that it is possible for a country to adopt the essential features of Russian economic arrangements and yet to ensure individual freedom through political arrangements. The thesis of this chapter is that such a view is a delusion, that there is an intimate connection between economics and politics, that only certain arrangements are possible and that, in particular, a society which is socialist cannot also be democratic, in the sense of guaranteeing individual freedom.

Economic arrangements play a dual role in the promotion of a free society. On the one hand, freedom in economic arrangements is itself a component of freedom broadly understood, so economic freedom is an end in itself. In the second place, economic freedom is also an indispensable means toward the achievement of political freedom.

For more about Friedman and his thoughts on economic freedom, see Milton Friedman, the Father of Economic Freedom.

Economic freedom is the most important factor in determining the well-being of people across the world. Where economic freedom exists, countries become wealthy. In introducing the Economic Freedom of the World report, its authors write: “Economic freedom has been shown in numerous peer-reviewed studies to promote prosperity and other positive outcomes. It is a necessary condition for democratic development. It liberates people from dependence on government in a planned economy, and allows them to make their own economic and political choices.”

One of the authors of the Economic Freedom of the World report, Robert Lawson, expands on the importance of economic freedom: “The big question is: Do countries that exhibit greater degrees of economic freedom perform better than those that do not? Much scholarly research has been and continues to be done to see if the index [of economic freedom] correlates with various measures of the good society: higher incomes, economic growth, income equality, gender equality, life expectancy, and so on. While there is scholarly debate about the exact nature of these relationships, the results are uniform: measures of economic freedom relate positively with these factors.”

Delta Stewardship Council Adopts Plan Despite Massive Opposition

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By Dan Bacher

In spite of overwhelming opposition from environmentalists, fishermen, family farmers, elected officials and the majority of Californians, the Delta Stewardship Council (DSC) on Thursday, May 16 unanimously adopted what it described as a “comprehensive management plan” for the Delta.

The Council also certified the final Programmatic Environmental Impact Report (PEIR), despite opposition to the report from every single person who spoke during the public comment period, ranging from Delta farmers to a representative of the Metropolitan Water District. In addition, the Council adopted regulations that will implement the policies of the Delta Plan.

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pipeline of the past

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Because we are struggling through some very serious stuff, I think that we need to take a serious look at the pipe fabricators. I think that beyond all of this we need to be strategic in our use of words for the future because that will affect the way that we are working with companies as we gain momentum in the field. I saw an interesting movie tonight. It was about a man and woman and they were very different people, but the man thought he could time travel. In fact, he had done something like this before. He was looking for a partner to share this experience with, but the partner needed to be strong and know how to look danger in the eye and face it. So this girl who is really just trying to write a story for a magazine, she starts talking to him and he likes her as a partner and they get ready to travel through time. It sounds really great to her because her mom passed away when she was young and she now wants to travel back in time to save her. And all this tuff happens and eventually you kind of think that the guy is crazy, but they fall in love and she goes with him and they disappear because he apparently really can time travel and that is the end of the movie. I thought it was a good movie, I really did. Nothing will really top talking about industrial construction companies or pipes, but sometimes it can.

Turner Industries

8687 United Plaza Blvd.

Baton Rouge, LA 70809

225.922.5050

pipe fabricators