Category Archives: Fiscal Freedom

Inflation has been accelerating this year, and it isnt hard to see why.

Government spending has been so overwhelming that evenformerU.S. Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers, a Democrat,said recently:

We are printing money. We are creating government bonds. We are borrowing on unprecedented scales.

Those are things that surely create more of a risk of a sharp dollar decline than we had before. And sharp dollar declines are much more likely to translate themselves into inflation than they were historically.

Summers foresees the rise in inflation harming thepoorthe most. Others at risk include savers and people on fixed incomes.

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, which keeps track of inflation, reported July 13 that inflation was5.4% in June, the highest percentage jump since 2008.

Inflationhas been increasing on a seasonally adjusted month-over-month basis at an accelerating rate also, as the following graphic shows.

The Heritage FoundationsIndex of Economic Freedomcontains ample evidence from around the world that widening deficits and a growing debt burden erode a countrys economic vitality by stripping its people of their economic freedom and condemning them to the mercy of government edicts and orders that prevent them from using their own ingenuity to thrive.

The U.S. has fallen to 20thplace in the world in economic freedom, out of 178 countries rated. We are now in the middle rankings of the mostly free countries, our lowest ranking ever, and thats almost entirely due to our treacherous decline in fiscal health, which is calculated based on government debt and deficits.

The U.S. fiscal health score in the 2021 index is a very poor 34.9 out of 100. By contrast, the five countries making the cut as economically free have an average fiscal health score of 91.4.

Unsound government fiscal positions have often disturbed macroeconomic stability and induced economic uncertainty in countries around the world.

If fiscal health was the only consideration in ranking economic freedom, the U.S. would rank only 152ndin the world out of 178. The fiscal health score alone would put us in the economically repressed category.

The U.S. deficit in the 2020 fiscal year was arecord $3.13 trillion, 122% higher than the previous record of $1.41 trillion set in 2009. To make matters worse,spendingin the first nine months of fiscal year 2021 was5.8% more than the first nine months of fiscal 2020.

Trillions of dollars more in deficit spending is being sought by policymakers on nonessential items, such as the newly coined term human infrastructure, an abomination that treats humans as nothing more than a cog in a societal machine.

In addition, as Heritage Foundation President Kay C. Jameshas said:

This new definition of shovel-ready infrastructure includes massive amounts of corporate welfare, a huge expansion of Medicaid benefits, federal rules to undermine right-to-work laws across the country, a Civilian Climate Corps that would use billions of taxpayer dollars to fund legions of environmental activists, and billions in subsidies for buying electric vehicles.

But redefining language is nothing new for the left. When it cant win public opinion with the truth, it changes the meanings of words to trick the public into its way of thinking.

Its time the Biden administration stops pretending that inflation is not happening. Economic freedom is not automatic, nor a given, and government must limit its debt and deficits if we are to preserve our fundamental liberties.

This piece originally appeared in The Daily Signal

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Inflation Something to Be Concerned About Now - Heritage.org

Washington (July 26, 2021) Today, Senator Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on East Asia and the Pacific, led Senators Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), Jeffrey A. Merkley (D-Ore.), Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), Ben Cardin (D-Md.), Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Bob Casey (D-Pa.), Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Richard J Durbin (D-Ill.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), and Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) in a letter to Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken to express their concerns about the human rights situation in the Philippines and seek to better understand the Biden administrations strategy for addressing the Duterte governments pattern of human rights violations. The senators urged the Biden administration to to stand with the people of the Philippines as they continue to fight for their universal human rights.

Maintaining a bilateral relationship such as this requires upholding shared values the protection of human rights, including freedom of speech, freedom of the press, and vibrant democratic governance,wrote the lawmakers in their letter to Secretary Blinken. Yet Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has waged a multi-year extrajudicial, violent, and inhumane war on drugs that has devastated communities, and has been used as justification to target the independent press, political opponents, human rights advocates, and compromise judicial due process. The UN Human Rights Council estimates tens of thousands of people have lost their lives to Dutertes so-called war on drugs. Allegations of extrajudicial police misconduct including collaboration with vigilantes, fabricated reports, and planted evidence are rampant. Opposition figures, journalists, and activists critical of the killing campaign frequently find themselves targeted by the Duterte government.

Specifically, the lawmakers ask Secretary Blinken to respond to a series of questions related to the administrations policies towards the Philippines and the Duterte government, including:

Whether the State Department has raised the Duterte governments systemic human rights abuses in discussions with representatives of the Philippine government;

Whether the Biden administration is considering any sanctions against Philippine government officials related to the systemic human rights abuses;

Whether the Biden administration has pressed the Philippine government to end the unjust detention of Senator Leila De Lima, who has been detained for four years in a politically motivated case related to her criticisms of the Duterte government;

Whether the Biden administration has pressed the Philippine government to drop its politically motivated cases against Journalist Maria Ressa;

Whether the Biden administration has communicated its concerns about the Philippine governments practice of red-tagging opposition figures, journalists, and activists who criticize the government;

And, how the Biden administration is taking into consideration the Philippine governments systemic human rights abuses as it reviews U.S. security assistance and arms sales to the Philippines.

Senators Markey, Leahy, and Durbin were banned from the Philippines following their support for a provision in the Fiscal Year 2020 government spending bill that allowed the United States to ban Philippine officials involved in the detention of Senator De Lima from travelling to the United States.

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In Letter to Secretary of State Blinken, Senator Markey, Colleagues Urge the United States to Press the Philippine Government on Human Rights...

London: From Tunisia and South Africa to Colombia, social unrest is sweeping through developing countries, a reminder of income inequalities that have deepened during the COVID-19 crisis.

While developed countries have deployed massive injections of fiscal and monetary stimulus to shelter economies and citizens since the pandemic began early last year, poorer nations lack the same firepower.

The charts below detail some of the causes and consequences of civil unrest across the developing world:

Unrest on the rise

Riots, general strikes and anti-government demonstrations around the world increased by 244% over the last decade, according to the 2021 Global Peace Index.

Produced by think tank the Institute for Economics and Peace, the Index ranks more than 160 countries and territories according to their peacefulness.

The nature of such unrest has changed, however: tensions increasingly stem from the economic blow of the pandemic.

Growing unease with lockdowns and rising economic uncertainty resulted in civil unrest increasing in 2020, the authors of the latest index report wrote.

The changing economic conditions in many nations increases the likelihood of political instability and violent demonstrations, researchers noted, adding they recorded more than 5,000 pandemic-related violent events between January 2020 and April 2021. They expect little respite in the near-term.

The pandemic factor

Disease outbreaks, from the bubonic plague in the Middle Ages to the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic, have shaped politics, subverted the social order and often caused unrest.

Epidemics reveal or worsen pre-existing fault lines; countries with more frequent and severe epidemics also experienced greater unrest on average, International Monetary Fund researchers found.

A pandemic can suppress unrest in the early stages, IMF economist Philip Barrett found as witnessed in the last year, with the notable exceptions of Lebanon and the United States.

Thereafter the risk spikes including heightened risk of a major political crisis that threatens to bring down a government and which typically occurs in the two years following a severe epidemic.

Tunisia, whose already weak economy has been further devastated by COVID-19, looks a prime example: President Kais Saied sacked the government on Sunday after months of protests, marking the biggest political crisis since the countrys 2011 revolution.

Triggers and drivers

There are usually early warnings that risks are on the rise.

Higher living costs stemming from reforms such as removing food and fuel subsidies usually contribute. Another factor often seen is the dismantling of mechanisms such as an independent judiciary, free press or freedom of assembly, all of which allow for peaceful dissent, said Miha Hribernik at risk consultancy Verisk Maplecroft.

The presence of large marginalized groups political or religious add to the mix.

Examples abound: a spat over a tiny metro ticket price hike sparked Chiles 2019 protests, though deep grievances around income inequality were already simmering.

In South Africa, deadly protests kicked off in July after the arrest of ex-President Jacob Zuma. But they were also likely to be a culmination of tensions caused by lockdown-induced job losses.

The spark that ignites protests is often the proverbial straw that breaks the camels back, and is impossible to predict, said Hribernik.

The macro impact

Economic fallout depends on drivers and country-specific circumstances. Protests linked to politics or elections often have a small impact demonstrations after the 2012 election of Enrique Pena Nieto as Mexicos president or Chiles 2013 presidential vote had reduced GDP by 0.2 percentage points six months later, IMF researchers calculated.

But if the unrest is driven by socio-economic concerns, contractions tend to be sharper, the Fund said, citing the July 2019 Hong Kong protests or Frances yellow vest unrest in 2018.

Both shaved one percentage point off GDP, the IMF estimates.

Demonstrations triggered by a combination of both socio-economic and political factors not unlike what we saw in Tunisia and Thailand earlier this year have the biggest impact, the IMFs Metodij Hadzi-Vaskov said.

Weak institutions and limited policy space amplify the hit, meaning countries with weak pre-pandemic fundamentals will suffer the most should social discontent turn into unrest.

Market and policy making implications

Stock markets in authoritarian countries suffer more during protests, falling 2% within three days of such an event and 4% in the following month, the IMF calculates.

Tunisias dollar bonds tumbled after its latest political crisis. South Africas rand slid in the days after protests ripped through the country, with disruptions to its busy shipping ports felt well beyond its borders.

Some governments opt to soothe protesters with bigger handouts but then face questions on funding budget deficits. These can lead to higher borrowing costs Colombia for instance saw its credit rating cut to junk after botched tax reforms and protests.

For Yerlan Syzdykov, Amundis global head of emerging markets, it is sometimes just about whether a government can survive.

If we dont have social cohesion in a country, we have to try and understand how the government plans to react to that or whether there is a political force that comes in and implements change.

(Reuters)

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Pandemics and Protests: Unrest Grips Developing Countries - The Wire

Governor Tate Reeves was the final speaker at this years 2021 Neshoba County Fair political speeches.

Governor Reeves provided his full remarks from the fair. They are below:

Thank you! Its great to be back at the Neshoba County Fair! Man, I sure did miss yall. Elee and I are thrilled to be with yall today. You know, they say you dont realize what you have until its gone. Well, thats not true when it comes to the Neshoba County Fair!

I realize EXACTLY how much I missed this Fair, how important it is to Mississippi, and how much we wanted to be here last year!

Lets be honest Its been a long, hard year and half, and weve faced challenges that were never seen before. Dating back to 1972, the most federally declared disasters Mississippi has ever had in any one year is four. Since Ive been Governor, weve had 13.

But despite it all.Mississippi stood strong!

We sacrificed. We helped our fellow Mississippians in their time of need. We proved why Mississippi is called the Hospitality State.

I have never been prouder to be a Mississippian. God willing, the Fair will never be canceled again. God willing, well never have to encounter another pandemic again. But if we do, theres no place Id rather be than right here in Mississippi.

Thank you for everything youve done over the last year and a half.

Teacher Raises

And one place in the last year where we showed the rest of America the way was EDUCATION.

You heard me right. Mississippi led the entire nation in education.

While teachers in some other states kept kids chained to laptops or cell phones and pretended it was school..Mississippi insisted on in-person instruction.

Other states said we cant but Mississippi teachers said we can.

They did it. And their efforts are paying dividends. Mississippi was recently ranked first in the nation for fourth grade reading improvements over the last three years. Mississippi recently ranked first in the nation in fourth grade math improvements over the last three years.

The Biden administration loves to throw around the term equity. Well, in Mississippi, both black and white students from low-income homes have achieved higher scores than the national average in all four NAEP subjects. Our teachers knew that we could not afford to give up our momentum. They knew our kids had to get all the instruction we could give them.

I have never been prouder to be a Mississippian.

A year ago, I spent much of the summer working with our education and health care experts to figure out how we could go back to school. I spent almost every weekday in July urging local school districts to get on board and make a plan to go back as much as possible.

Mississippis schools responded. And I believe merit must be rewarded. That is why today I am calling for another pay raise for our teachers. They earned it in the pandemic. They are committed to moving our kids ahead.

All of you know that I am a strong fiscal conservative. Spending tax money on new things is not in my nature. But educational attainment is my priority. And it would be wrong for us to not demonstrate that we appreciate that Mississippi teachers out-did the rest of America during COVID.

Now the local media likes to tell you that we are last in teacher pay, but sometimes I think they take pleasure in running Mississippi down. That claim is simply not accurate.

Right now, Mississippi ranks 37th in teacher pay when adjusted for cost of living. That is not last. But that is still not good enough. Yall, we can do better.

So, today, Im proposing an immediate $1,300 across-the-board teacher pay raise followed by $1,000 per year in each of the next two fiscal years. This additional $3,300 pay raise will result in Mississippi going from 37th nationally to 21st, and 4th in the southeast, and help us attract the top-tier educators that our children deserve.

That will make sure that any teacher who wants to be in Mississippi can afford to teach in Mississippi.

Passing this teacher pay raise is going to be a priority for me and I hope it will be a priority for you.

Critical Race Theory

And speaking of education lets talk about the latest dumb idea coming from the east and west coasts Critical Race Theory.

I swear, some of these Ivy League Liberals are some of the dumbest, smart people out there. In what world are we living in where its ok to teach children that theyre born racist? In what world is it ok to teach children that theyll be judged by the color of their skin, not the content of their character?

That is not the education we need for the next generation of Americas leaders, but sadly it is now the unofficial policy of the national Democratic Party. Our kids should be learning STEM education, not Dem education.

They should be learning the truth about the United States that its the greatest nation in the history of mankind.

Im committed to ensuring that Critical Race Theory is kept out of our Mississippi schools.

Additionally, I will once again be proposing in my Executive Budget Recommendation that we appropriate funding towards a Patriotic Education Fund that educates the next generation in the incredible accomplishments of the American Way.

Unfortunately, last session, the Legislature decided to not to appropriate money for Patriotic Education. This session, I hope they do.

Economy/Income Tax Elimination/Tax Swap

We also need to talk about another group of heroes in our pandemic the job-makers.

In spite of a global recession, Mississippis economy has thrived. We saw $1.9 billion in capital investment. To put that in perspective, in the previous 10 years, before I was elected Governor, Mississippi had an average of only $900 million per year in capital investment.

A major reason for that investment is because of you, our workforce. You attracted that investment. You created those jobs. You really are second to none, and Im committed to investing in you. My administration will continue to invest in workforce development, so all Mississippians have the skills they need to succeed.

Our economic growth was good for state government, too.

Mississippi ended the year $1 billion over revenue estimates. This is because while the rest of the country shut down, we re-opened.

Unlike states run by Democrats, Mississippi was one of the first to reopen, and one of the fastest to lift pandemic mandates.

Now I was proud to sign the orders to keep us open. But I didnt do the hard work you did the hard work. You woke up, you went to your job, you provided for your family and you moved our state ahead.

And YOU should reap the rewards. YOU should keep more of your paycheck.. Youre the reason why were in

the great financial shape that were in. Thats why I am proposing that we once and for all eliminate the state income tax.

Now, some folks in the Capitol are proposing that we swap the income tax for increases in sales taxes, agriculture taxes, and other taxes. I want to be clear that from a policy standpoint, I am absolutely opposed to taking less from you here and taking more from you there. Im opposed to robbing Peter to pay Paul. Under my plan, Peter and Paul are both going to have more money in their pocket.

What we need is a lower tax burden. Period. And I will insist on it, no matter who in the legislature stands in the way.

Defund the Police

Id like to take a moment to thank our health care providers, and to thank our brave men and women in blue. Unlike liberal states, here in Mississippi, we back the blue. If radical Democrats had their way, they would probably have law enforcement police the streets with squirt guns. But given their stance on the Second Amendment, even those may be banned!

The Left expects our law enforcement officers to be psychiatrists, social workers, lawyers and more. Now tell me, how do we expect our police officers to be all these things with less money? Newsflash, they cant. The Left is delusional. Their proposals make no sense. I want to be clear my administration is committed to making sure our police have the tools they need to keep you safe and improve public safety.

And speaking of that goal, were taking steps to fight crime in our capital city. Two weeks ago today, we launched a safety initiative that increased law enforcement presence and visibility on our state highways and interstates and in the Capitol Complex Improvement District.

Mississippians shouldnt have to cower because theyre afraid for their safety. Crime in Jackson affects all of us across the state. A successful Mississippi must include a successful and safe Jackson. We need a strong, safe capital city. This initiative is just our first step in making sure we have that.

COVID in Context

And speaking of safety Commissioner Cain and his team inherited an absolute crisis in Corrections. But they are doing the necessary work to significantly improve conditions in our prison system for both inmates and our prison guards.

And Bob Anderson and his team at DHS have picked up the pieces of a broken agency to provide services to Mississippi families while working closely with federal authorities to safeguard taxpayers money.

And Andrea Sanders and her team at CPS have been working day and night to focus that agency on the needs of those young kids in our foster care.

And the mental health lawsuit we inherited is nearing an end because we have gotten the state in substantial compliance.

As you can tell, even though your Mississippi press has only focused on COVID for the last year and half, we have been hard at work doing the job that you elected me to do.

And since I know every article written today by the mainstream media is going to focus on COVID perhaps I should say something about it. Every government action that was taken last year was to protect the integrity of our healthcare system and to bridge the gap to a time when a vaccine could be developed.

President Trumps Operation Warp Speed delivered that miracle vaccine. And we did it in record time. 1.2 million Mississippians have chosen to get vaccinated. Others have chosen a different path. And I will always defend those individuals right to decide what is best for them and their family.

Tuesdays change in the CDC mask guidance is foolish and it is harmful. It reeks of political panic so as to appear they are in control. It has nothing to do with rational science. In Mississippi, we believe in freedom.

It was Thomas Jefferson who said, The policy of American government is to leave its citizens free, neither restraining them nor aiding them in their pursuits.

In Mississippi, we are a free people. We know that it was Benjamin Franklin who said, Freedom is not a gift bestowed upon us by other men, but a right that belongs to us by the laws of God and nature.

In Mississippi, it is our belief in God that has gotten us through this last year and a half. And it is my belief in God that gives me great optimism for what is to come in our great state.

Thank you for giving me this great honor to serve as your 65th Governor. God Bless!

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Governor Tate Reeves speaks at the 2021 Neshoba County Fair - Yall Politics

Letter writers| Fort Myers News-Press

It is quite unbelievable that anyone could still support the actions of our governor. Almost 40,000 deaths and 2.5 million infections at who knows what cost and there are people who say that he's doing a wonderful job. Like I said: unbelievable except in the alternate reality world where so many Trumpers live. Those same people praised ex-President Trump for taking our country to the cleaners. It's so good to be bad.

Since there is no leadership in Florida, we now have a 15 percentpositivity rate and a 60 percentincrease in COVIDinfections. We are trying hard to be the number one worst state in our union but all that is just wonderful to the true believers. The idea of the government working to keep the population safe is just so out of fashion in Florida. Sometimes I wonder how the state ever passed speed limits on our highways. I mean it's about freedom to die and infect yourneighbors, right?

Fred Rump, Golden Gate Estates

Having taken credit during his recent rallies for development of the COVIDvaccine, including the rally here in Florida at the beginning of this month, to underwhelming appreciation from the MAGA crowds, it would be nice if former President Trumpwould enthusiastically encourage his supporters to use it.

But, alas, since it hurts his political opposition to have to grapple with the revived spread of the disease due largely to unvaccinated people, he wont do it.

Allowing his adoring adherents to become ill, spread the disease to others, or die of it, even losing some deceased voters here and elsewhere, is of no moment to him, as long as it has negative effect on his foes.

Not only was the ex-Presidents administration monstrously inept in handling the pandemic, but his reticence about inoculation magnifies the historic incompetence.

Marshall H.Tanick, North Naples

When Iwas in business we weighed decisions on a simple basis of upside/downside.If we went ahead with a decision what was the likely return(upside) vs. the possibility of no return or even a loss (downside).Seems simple enough to apply to vaccination.If you get the vaccine you are protected and you have a very small chance of any adverse reaction (upside).If you don't get the vaccination you could die.Or you could contribute to somebody else's death (downside).

'Nuf said.

Charlie Berry, Naples

I see in a story on Page 14A of Sundays Naples Daily News that we taxpayers in Florida are going to fund the Walt Disney Co. one of the wealthiest corporations on earth to the tune of $578 million (more than half a billion dollars!) for building and operating a regional campus near Lake Nona to house the roughly 2,000 workers who will transfer to Florida from California.

Do not be confused by this. When a company receives an estimated $578 million in credits from the state of Florida over the next 19 years, that money is coming from our pockets as residents and taxpayers of Florida, either in funds givento the company or in taxes that are notcollected from the company, despite its added strain to our infrastructure.

Thatcomes to $289,000 per worker, in case anyone in our state government didnt bother to do the math, and of course that money doesnt go to the workers; it goes to the Walt Disney Co.

I know some will counter that those 2,000 workers coming from California to Florida will pay their share of property taxes and fees and spend money here, but it will be a drop in the bucket compared to what their employer has reaped, and to the impact of their added housing, cars, water usage, children in schools, etc.

Vicky Bowles, Fort Myers

I got my first job out of college in 1977. At the time the $14,000 per year I received was a small fortune. I was surprised the next year to receive a 10 percentraise. The euphoria was short-lived as I realized that annual inflation was running at 14 percentat the time and that my larger salary actually represented a substantial loss of purchasing power. Tamping down inflation in the early Reagan years was painful for our country and Im afraid the current monetary and fiscal policies are leading us to the same debacle. The statements from government that inflation is transitory is familiar, a common refrain from the Nixon, Ford and Carter administrations. Congress has the ability to print money, but Americans will ultimately pay for their fiscal irresponsibility. You may get a $15 minimum wage, but what good is that if its only worth $10 in real spending power. Its just another political gimmick.

Mike Lorton, Port Charlotte

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Letters to the editor for Tuesday, July 27, 2021 - News-Press

Inflation has been accelerating this year, and it isnt hard to see why.

Government spending has been so overwhelming that even former U.S. Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers, a Democrat, said recently:

We are printing money. We are creating government bonds. We are borrowing on unprecedented scales.

Those are things that surely create more of a risk of a sharp dollar decline than we had before. And sharp dollar declines are much more likely to translate themselves into inflation than they were historically.

Summers foresees the rise in inflation harming the poor the most. Others at risk include savers and people on fixed incomes.

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, which keeps track of inflation, reported July 13 that inflation was 5.4% in June, the highest percentage jump since 2008.

Inflation has been increasing on a seasonally adjusted month-over-month basis at an accelerating rate also, as the following graphic shows.

The Heritage Foundations Index of Economic Freedom contains ample evidence from around the world that widening deficits and a growing debt burden erode a countrys economic vitality by stripping its people of their economic freedom and condemning them to the mercy of government edicts and orders that prevent them from using their own ingenuity to thrive.

The U.S. has fallen to 20th place in the world in economic freedom, out of 178 countries rated. We are now in the middle rankings of the mostly free countries, our lowest ranking ever, and thats almost entirely due to our treacherous decline in fiscal health, which is calculated based on government debt and deficits.

The U.S. fiscal health score in the 2021 index is a very poor 34.9 out of 100. By contrast, the five countries making the cut as economically free have an average fiscal health score of 91.4.

Unsound government fiscal positions have often disturbed macroeconomic stability and induced economic uncertainty in countries around the world.

If fiscal health was the only consideration in ranking economic freedom, the U.S. would rank only 152nd in the world out of 178. The fiscal health score alone would put us in the economically repressed category.

The U.S. deficit in the 2020 fiscal year was a record $3.13 trillion, 122% higher than the previous record of $1.41 trillion set in 2009. To make matters worse, spending in the first nine months of fiscal year 2021 was 5.8% more than the first nine months of fiscal 2020.

Trillions of dollars more in deficit spending is being sought by policymakers on nonessential items, such as the newly coined term human infrastructure, an abomination that treats humans as nothing more than a cog in a societal machine.

In addition, as Heritage Foundation President Kay C. James has said:

This new definition of shovel-ready infrastructure includes massive amounts of corporate welfare, a huge expansion of Medicaid benefits, federal rules to undermine right-to-work laws across the country, a Civilian Climate Corps that would use billions of taxpayer dollars to fund legions of environmental activists, and billions in subsidies for buying electric vehicles.

But redefining language is nothing new for the left. When it cant win public opinion with the truth, it changes the meanings of words to trick the public into its way of thinking.

Its time the Biden administration stops pretending that inflation is not happening. Economic freedom is not automatic, nor a given, and government must limit its debt and deficits if we are to preserve our fundamental liberties.

Have an opinion about this article? To sound off, please email[emailprotected]and well consider publishing your edited remarks in our regular We Hear You feature. Remember to include the url or headline of the article plus your name and town and/or state.

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Inflation Is Something to Be Concerned About Now - Daily Signal - Daily Signal

* Shares up 2% on the midcap index

* Companys total funds up 6.5% at 56 bln pounds

* CEO says growth will ease in current quarter (Adds CEO comments, share move)

July 23 (Reuters) - Another quarter of robust inflows helped British wealth manager Brewin Dolphins total funds reach a fresh record, but its boss said the rate of growth will likely slow in the current quarter as people go on vacations after months of virus curbs.

After a 6.1% annualised growth in net flows in the three months to June, Brewin CEO Robin Beer told Reuters that it would be unlikely to achieve that in the current quarter as Britons go on holidays after the so-called Freedom Day earlier in the week when all pandemic restrictions were lifted.

Brewins gross discretionary fund inflows were 1.3 billion pounds ($1.79 billion), marking the second straight quarter of record money coming in, of which over 70% was from new clients.

Vaccination drives, a clearer economic outlook and a surge in savings during lockdowns have encouraged people to commit to investment planning, helping money managers post record funds under management.

Brewins net inflows came in at 700 million pounds for the third quarter of its fiscal year ending in September, boosting total funds by 6.5% to 56 billion pounds - breaking an earlier record of 51.4 billion pounds as of March.

Shares in Brewin rose 1.6% to 359 pence by 0949 GMT, taking year-to-date gains to nearly 18% - outperforming the wider index .

Beer expressed confidence that the momentum will continue into next financial year as face-to-face meetings have resumed, increasing the chances of signing new clients who might have been reluctant to trust someone with their money over virtual meetings.

He also told Reuters on a call that even as restrictions ease and peoples discretionary spending goes up a bit, the health crisis and months of being locked down in their homes have made people realise the importance of financial planning. ($1 = 0.7271 pounds)

Reporting by Muvija M and Aby Jose Koilparambil in Bengaluru; editing by Vinay Dwivedi and Philippa Fletcher

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UPDATE 2-Brewin's funds at another record as crisis spurs investment planning - Reuters

WEST LEBANON Upper Valley municipal managers say the loss of a state grant program that helped New Hampshire towns and cities pay for costly wastewater upgrades will translate to higher tax and utility bills as they work to cover the funding shortfall.

The states two-year budget, signed into law last month by Republican Gov. Chris Sununu, reinstates a moratorium on new projects eligible for wastewater state aid grants.

The program, administered by the New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services, is intended to offset the multimillion-dollar costs that municipalities can incur while improving their sewer systems and thereby provide an incentive to curb pollution.

Under state law, it offers to cover between 20% and 30% of costs, with contributions often used to help pay off long-term bonds on already-completed projects.

However, the new moratorium leaves about 110 projects without funding over the next two years, many of which are already underway.

Taxpayers will have to pick this up, said Margaret Byrnes, executive director of the New Hampshire Municipal Association, which advocated for inclusion of the grants in the state budget.

Byrnes said that by instituting the moratorium, the state essentially failed to meet its promises and left local officials in a bind. With few other ways to pay for construction, she said, residents in many Granite State cities and towns are likely to see bills get passed on to them.

Thats the case in Lebanon, where city officials are now working to include the additional costs in the upcoming 2022 budget, according to City Manager Shaun Mulholland.

The city had seven projects on the states lists of potential grant recipients, including three phases of the combined sewer overflow, or CSO, projects, a $73 million, federally mandated effort to separate sewer and stormwater in 15 miles of Lebanons sewer system.

The states list estimates it cost $18.2 million for the three CSO projects, meaning the state grants would typically send at least $3.6 million to Lebanon.

It will impact water and sewer system users as well as taxpayers, since all three contribute to the projects, Mulholland predicted earlier this week.

Lebanon homeowners and businesses connected to the utilities already have been facing yearly water and sewer rate increases as the city attempts to pay off debt from the CSO projects.

Any more fees placed on the citys some 3,300 customers and those in neighboring Enfield could prove burdensome, said Lebanon Mayor Tim McNamara.

Having the (state aid) grants not there is a problem for capital projects, he said. We may have to put some things off or we may have to delay some other projects to get priority projects done.

Claremont also braced for the moratorium as it budgeted for the start of its fiscal year on July 1, City Manager Ed Morris said.

Claremont had two projects on the list of eligible projects, including more than $3.4 million in electrical upgrades to its wastewater treatment facility, so it could lose out on at least $170,000 in state grants.

Morris said both projects received low-interest loans from the state that will help minimize long-term costs. However, he acknowledged that ratepayers will be on the hook for more money and, without the state grants, future projects will likely be delayed.

I hope that the state Legislature will reconsider in future years, Morris said.

This isnt the first time that lawmakers have limited the wastewater grants. A moratorium on new projects was in place for years until the then-Democratic-controlled Legislature restored funding in its 2020-21 budget.

That move allowed 160 projects that were substantially completed before the end of 2019 to apply for aid, which will continue over the next two years, despite the restrictions placed on new grants. Overall, the states two-year budget allocates $15.6 million to continue paying for those older efforts.

Basically, thats good news, said Tracy Wood, who oversees the grant program at DES Wastewater Engineering Bureau.

Wood added that two bills were retained this year that could result in more wastewater programs getting funding next year, and the state agency will continue maintaining a list of projects just in case money is made available.

Some Republicans argue that they fully funded all of the states environmental requests. Rep Lynne Ober, R-Hudson, chairwoman of the House Finance Committee said DES didnt seek the additional grant funding when Sununu administration officials made their funding requests earlier this year.

There were agencies that did not get fully funded budget line items from the House, she said in an email. DES is not one as their budget was fully funded.

However, state Sen. Sue Prentiss, a Lebanon Democrat whose district includes Claremont, said Republicans should have anticipated the local shortfalls and adequately funded the program in the first place.

The most immediate impact is going to be felt by the ratepayers, Prentiss said of the halt to new wastewater grants. Anytime you take money out of that pot, something has to fill the gap.

Cuts to wastewater grants arent the only example of downshifting, or forcing municipalities to pick up higher costs once covered by the state, within the budget, said Prentiss, a former Lebanon mayor.

New Hampshires new school voucher program, also known as education freedom accounts, will take money away from local school districts and instead allow them to go to private institutions, she argued, and cuts to social services could force towns and cities to pay a higher share to nonprofits that assist their residents.

Tim Camerato can be reached at tcamerato@vnews.com or 603-727-3223.

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NH sewer projects trickle to town taxes - Valley News

Two years into his premiership, Boris Johnson finds himself - yet again - in a tight spot.

The significant poll lead the Conservative Party hassustained over Labour ever since the vaccine rollout began in earnest at the start of the yearis evaporating. YouGov and Survation both have the Tories dipping below the 40 per centthreshold, theirlead down to four points in their latest surveys. Opinium has just recorded a ten-point drop in the Governments net approval rating for its handling of the pandemic apromise of trouble down the line.

And Keir Starmer has just made an important tactical decision that could further complicate matters for the PM. Starmer's choice not to back the implementation of Covid vaccine passports leaves the Government open toCommons defeat, given the objections of dozens of Tory backbenchers.

Those pointing to polling that suggests around 70 per cent of the public support vaccine passports are rather missing the point. Ever since the pandemic began, polls have found Labour voters much more inclined than Tory ones to back the withdrawal of normal liberties.But the current tribe of Labour voters shorn of its working class red wallers is most unlikely to switch its support to the Conservatives and would probably forgive Starmer for his stance if it results in the hated Johnson getting a bloody nose.

On the other hand, there is no doubt that the announcement of vaccine passports has enraged a large chunk of the Conservative base, triggering a rash of resignations among grassroots members and outpourings of fury in the shires. So if the policy is actually implemented at the end of September then we should expect a further Tory slump, despite it polling well with the electorate overall.

The measure has come to symbolise a growing feeling that Johnson has mislaid the fundamentals of Conservatism whether in the growing size of the state or his Government's readiness to intrude on the private citizen, impose higher taxes or allow fiscal discipline to crumble. A tendency to exempt ministers from the standards expectedof the general public, illustrated by the PM's lethargic handling of the Matt Hancock affair and his initial willingness to allow himself and his Chancellor to dodge the consequences of the pingdemic, has also outraged voters.

Yet the PMs detractors should not get carried away. They have predicted his downfall many times before for instance, when the Supreme Court declared his prorogation of the Commons unlawful in autumn 2019 and when he appeared to bungle lockdown decisions while in shopping trolley mode in autumn 2020 and yet he bounced back each time.

As David Cameron, his contemporary at Eton and Oxford, wryly observed when Johnson concluded a new Withdrawal Agreement with the EU against expectations: The thing about the greased piglet is that he manages to slip through other peoples hands where mere mortals fail.

And a new escape route could already be opening up. Against the expectations of many experts and also contrary to Starmer's predictions -last Monday he declared that were heading to 100,000 cases a day - the latest official statistics show that new Covid cases are falling away. If this trend (which is now well-enough established to have led to a 4.5% fall in the seven-day average for case numbers) continues, then some Whitehall-watchersbelieve the PM will shelve the Covid passports policy, declaring it unnecessary.

It would then be seen as a mere ruse that was used to dragoon many younger adults down to vaccination centres for fear of not being allowed into nightclubs or football grounds in the autumn. No doubt it would still be highly resented as such by those of a libertarian disposition who follow politics closely, but its disappearance in a puff of smoke might well save the PMs bacon yet again.

By the end of nextweek, we will probably see whether the decline incase numbers will be sustained. Ministers fear it may be a blip caused by a reduction in mixing after the end of the Euros football tournament and that the July 19 Freedom Day relaxations will soon feed through into a new upward trend.

Yet the prize swinging tantalisingly towards the Prime Ministers reach is that normality resumes just as the virus ebbs away. Yes, there will need to be autumn booster shots for the over-50s. But his gamble of pressing ahead with relaxations on July 19 (notwithstanding the pingdemic and the threat of vaccine passports), on the basis of if not now, when? will have been vindicated.

Being able to throw Starmers doom-laden prediction of 100,000 daily cases plus a consequent upsurge in deaths back in his face in the autumn, and declare the UK the first major European country to have beaten the pandemic, would constitute a major political moment. The greased piglet would be running free once again.

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Falling case numbers may yet save the PM's bacon - Telegraph.co.uk

It was mounted on the scale of another tryst with destiny, the 1991 shift of our mixed economy in favour of the free market. As Victor Hugo once said, No power on earth can stop an idea whose time has come," said Manmohan Singh, to bookend his budget speech of 24 July 1991 as Indias finance minister, I suggest to this august House that the emergence of India as a major economic power in the world happens to be one such idea." It echoed a Nehruvian call to shape our future in a way that would make success inevitable. Scarcity amid poverty all around should have flagged failure, if not clunky overpriced cars sold as a privilege, but it took a couple of shocks to shift our economic strategy. The prospect of vehicles going without fuel, after a Gulf-war oil flare-up exhausted our dollar stash for imports, had exposed self-sufficiency as a flawed policy, even as the Soviet cave-in bared the weak-incentive jinx and low-efficiency trap of an over-centralized economy. It was clear we needed our resources allocated less by the state and more by market devices, with free prices acting as signals for a dynamic interplay of demand and supply to do that job. The idea of market freedom as a betteror less fallibleway ahead for India seemed unstoppable. Like an open mind, an economy once opened could never be shut, could it?

The reforms of 1991 were big bang alright. If the rupee had to sweat and productivity to rise, the state had to cede space for the profit motive of private enterprise to play a lead role in our economy. Over-centralization of economic processes had proven counter-productive, said Singh. We need to expand the scope and area for the operation of market forces. A reformed price system can be a superior instrument of resource allocation than quantitative controls." The centrepiece of his 1991-92 budget was a deflation of our bloated state. So, a tighter rein on the Centres fiscal gap, backed by a plan to curb profligacy (effected in 1997) and offload public-sector units (by and by), was to go with a dramatic dropping of entry barriers. Abolished industrial licences threw open all but 18 industries to new businesses, with private players allowed to explore novel areas and the cost of capital given some flexibility. On the external front, trade restrictions were eased, with our currency reset for a partial float, even as we laid East India Companys ghost to rest by allowing joint ventures with up to 51% foreign equity in 34 markets, drawing an influx of money. Exposure to global rivalry was its actual rationale, a policy-spur aimed at gaining a competitive edge. As Singh said, It is essential to increase the degree of competition among firms in the domestic market so that there are adequate incentives for raising productivity, improving efficiency and reducing costs."

Thirty years on, that edge over competitors has not proven too sharp, though various other clamps have since been eased, Indian allocative efficiency has risen, and opening up has left us better off, overall. While our market reforms worked, they did not do well enough, alas, to perpetuate themselves. Capital is freer, but jobs are scarce and labour markets remain rigid. Wealth got created, but gross inequities persist. Startups bustle, but the economy had lost verve even before covid. Today, our market needs to be robustly rivalrous for it to emerge as once envisioned. Yet, visible-hand guidance of investment is back, even as import barricades creep up, regulation tightens in some spheres, and oligarchic anxieties arise. All said, we mustnt let the spirit of competition get stifled again, lest our second tryst ends in a whimper.

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Market freedom and its big bang of competition - Mint