Dallas County Fair

The Dallas County Fair will be open July 12th through the 15th in Adel.

Florida wants to push Iowa out

Florida's state legislature is looking to move their Presidential
primary to January 29th, which could have a pretty serious impact on the
amount of attention the Iowa caucuses receive:

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/southflorida/sfl-fprimary22mar22,0,4643105.story?coll=sfla-home-headlines

Rep. Watts's latest update

Dallas County's Iowa House representative has an update on the "fair
share" legislation in his latest newsletter. It's worth a read:

http://www.ralphwatts.com/legislativeupdates.html

Iowa "Dis" Advantage Fund

So, now there is talk of an "Iowa Advantage Fund". Employers would pay back student loans of their employees so we can retain young people in Iowa. In turn, the employer would get a "tax credit". In short, over 3 years, the employer would pay a maximum of $25,000 to a loan and the state would pay (not actually pay, but give tax credits to) the employer a maximum of $7,500, or only 30% of what the employer paid out for the loan.

Does anyone else think that the employers might lower starting salaries, or decrease yearly raises they might give current employees in order to pay for this? They argue there will be less turnover. I'd also be willing to bet that students will stay in Iowa for 3 years to get their loans paid for and then vanish to another state for a better job and have no student loans to pay for. What a deal! The article says that several Iowa businesses endorse this proposal---I'd like to see a list and hear what they have to say about why this is good for Iowa.

So, those of us who have been loyal to Iowa and will continue to be loyal to Iowa get nothing.....

Harkin opponent announces campaign

A businessperson from eastern Iowa says he's going to run for the GOP
nomination to try to unseat Senator Harkin in 2008:

http://desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070307/NEWS/70307010/1001/NLETTER01

Charles Schneider featured in "40 Under 40"

Our friend Charles Schneider was named one of the Des Moines Business
Record's "40 Under 40":

http://www.businessrecord.com/Main.asp?SectionID=1&SubSectionID=1&ArticleID=3470

Giuliani profile in Newsweek

Newsweek has a lengthy profile of Rudy Giuliani in this week's issue:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17427328/site/newsweek/

CIETC resolution makes its way to State Senate

Senate Resolution 19 (see

http://coolice.legis.state.ia.us/Cool-ICE/default.asp?Category=billinfo&Service=Billbook&frame=1&GA=82&hbill=SR19

for the full text) would honor State Auditor Vaudt and US Attorney
Matthew Whitaker for their work investigating the CIETC scandal.
Interesting move by Senate Republicans.

Older People Need Jobs, Too

There is a story in the Register today about creating a "Generation Iowa Commission" to explore ways to keep young people in our state. This is the idea of Rep. Elesha Gayman, 28, D-Davenport.

One idea they mention is that we need first-time homebuyers perks for young people. I don't know about other people my age, but when I bought my first house, I DID get perks. I was able to get a lower interest rate and have a 100% financed loan.

They also say in a round-about way that students should get help with student loans. They talk about a "forgiveness" program for students looking for careers considered a "shortage" in Iowa. First of all, I guess I would prefer the Legislature spend more time trying to find ways to actually keep businesses in Iowa instead of thinking of ways to retain young people. There needs to be jobs here for the students to want to stay here. Second of all, student loans are low interest, you can take an eternity to pay them off, and you can get the payments deferred. I guess if I had to pick a type of loan to pay on, a student loan doesn't sound so bad. How about they just do something about the price of tuition, then the loans wouldn't have to be so high?? And by the way, who will categorize careers as being in a "shortage"? I'm sure that will be a very fair process.....???

Life is full of choices. Those choices sometimes come with a price tag. We choose to go to college, knowing there could be debt involved. Then, we look for a career to pay off that debt, but we needed the college degree to get the career (not speaking for everyone here). Then we choose to stack on all the other debt of houses, cars, and whatever else we seem to need to survive. It's our debt, and we should be responsible for it. That's part of learning and growing up.

What about older students too? They seem to be targeting younger Iowans, but when I was in college, there were many older students in my classes. We're not worried about keeping them around the state?

Yes, we need to retain young (and old) people here in the state. But start by looking at the business environment and keeping jobs here for all of us. Although, if the past few weeks is any indication about what the Legislature is doing to retain people in the state---this committee is a lost cause because they are going to drive businesses to neighboring states, in turn taking the jobs with them.

Ok, so a little long-winded for my first post. I'll *try* to make the next one shorter! Have a great night and be safe.

RA

Another storm cometh

The forecast for tomorrow isn't looking so good. In fact...it's looking
awful: Another winter storm.

http://www.crh.noaa.gov/crnews/display_story.php?wfo=dmx&storyid=6251&source=0

Carnival of the Capitalists

If you're not a regular reader of the Carnival of the Capitalists, perhaps you should give it a try. It's a weekly web roundup that helps satisfy the supply-sider in all of us.

Vilsack is out of the race

The AP says former Gov. Vilsack is dropping out of the race:

http://www.whoradio.com/cc-common/news/sections/local/?newsart=1

The "National Popular Vote" must be stopped

It's a hijacking of the Constitution by those who are still mad about the 2000 election. More importantly, it's a threat to the Electoral College, which not only is good for smaller states, but imposes a very useful moderating effect upon the Presidential election as well.

Bull Moose Club Thursday

The Bull Moose Club will have its February socials on Thursday -- one in
the morning, one in the evening. See www.iowabullmoose.com for details.

Giving away the farm

Accountant Joe Kristan has a great take on yet another of the backwards ways of contemporary economic-development incentives. Some people still don't understand basic economics. Unfortunately, they're often found in high proportions among people who make public policy.

John Cox is coming to town

Saturday, Feb. 23, 2007, from 2 pm until 3 pm at the Downtown Marriott,
700 Grand Avenue, Des Moines

http://cox2008.com/cox/ for further details

Nothing is going to turn Holstein or Holy Cross into Hollywood

Iowa HF 411 (and its twin, Senate File 183) would give away a treasure trove full of tax credits and incentives to encourage people to make movies in Iowa. There's no reason for it. What possible leap of logic could justify giving away taxpayers' dollars to filmmakers when the DOT wants to increase taxes on motorists by $200 million a year? Starry-eyedness is absolutely no excuse for stupid public policy. If state legislators want more movies to be made in Iowa, they should dig into their own pockets and fund those movies themselves. Another silly proposal (HF 410) would exempt certain light bulbs from state sales taxes if they're used to raise chickens. What makes chickens special? If chicken farms are given the credit, why shouldn't every business be allowed to deduct the cost of light bulbs? Vastly wiser than any tax giveaway is HF 407, which would prevent the state from over-spending just because taxes were collected over and above expectations. Related: The 2007 Iowa legislative scorecard.

The state as wage police

According to Iowa Senate File 182, the state gets to decide how much an employee is paid, not the private business that hired the employee. It's nominally an "equal pay for equal work" clause, but in reality, it's a huge infringement upon private commerce.