A great piece in the WSJ confirms that crime – especially in cities – is up, not down as Biden, the media, and other Democrats are bogusly claiming.
Jeffrey Anderson, former director of the Bureau of Justice Statistics, finds a surge in urban violent crime since 2019:
How can the left keep saying crime is down? A big reason is the FBI stats that Democrats commonly cite are "crimes reported to the police." More than half of violent crimes are NOT reported, thanks to what Anderson calls a new era of "lax crime enforcement policies" in urban areas. Crime is a tax on living in cities. No wonder people are moving out.
We are sorry to report that the swamp is winning. It's almost like a scene from the dystopian movie The Hunger Games, where the wealthy and powerful who reside in the fortress capital city, live comfortably in a life of luxury and everyone else is scraping to get by.
DC now has the country's richest rich people:
The numbers for Maryland and Virginia are a little misleading, because the wealthiest areas of those two states are in the D.C. metro area. According to the Census Bureau, for 2023, the DC area has four of the ten wealthiest counties (population 65,000 or more) in the country by median household income:
These statistics remind us of the adage that Washington is a city where people come to do good, and they end up doing well.
Mark Penn, a former pollster for President Bill Clinton, says one thing most Americans agree on is that a pampered "ruling class" of bureaucrats, Beltway bandit contractors, consultants, and lawyers seem to have their noses permanently in the federal trough. Beltway Americans earn a living from directly or indirectly having an employer that not only never has to make a profit but can forcibly take money through taxation.
As our landmark Them v. U.S. study found, these elites are not like the rest of us – particularly on the questions of freedom v. government control and related proposals to strictly ration gas, meat, and electricity in the name of climate change:
3) Chicago's Mayor Wants the Teacher Unions to Run the Schools
We hate to say we told you so.
When Brandon Johnson was narrowly elected Chicago mayor last year, we warned that as a former organizer and lobbyist for the Chicago Teachers Union, his loyalty would rest with the unions, not the kids.
Right on cue, Mayor Johnson has demanded that Chicago Public Schools CEO Pedro Martinez resign because of his opposition to fund teacher union demands for salary increases and pension payouts by taking out $300 million in high-interest rate loans.
Chicago is already the nation's largest junk-bond issuer. It shells out more than $800 million every year just to service its mountain of ongoing debt. Adding to it could send the city toward complete financial ruin.
Johnson can't fire Martinez directly but Politico reports he has pressured enough members of the Chicago School Board to do his bidding when they meet on Thursday. Any board member who opposes the mayor has been threatened with defeat in the November elections.
The mayor insists that the loans are needed to fund "his vision for public education." His vision appears to be identical to the demands of his old union employer: annual wage increases of 9% and thousands more teachers and support staff hired for a system that has shrunk 20% in terms of enrollment over a decade.
Just as we predicted, when the voters opted for a union activist to be the mayor, there would be no one at the bargaining table advocating for kids or taxpayers. The left hand would be negotiating with the far left hand.
The Chicago Tribune editorialized that if Martiinez is indeed fired it will be a sign that he is "handing control of the schools to the union."
It's all part of an amazing immigrant success story which has helped cement Indian-Americans as the most successful ethnic group in the United States. Their average household income is now $126,891, almost twice the U.S. average. Indian Americans have higher incomes than white Americans! So much for America being "systemically racist."
Indian Americans are a natural audience for pro-growth and meritocratic economic policies.
5) A Tough Love Approach To Homeless Pays Dividends
Cities keep throwing money at the homeless problem and it keeps getting worse.
The Denver area has seen homelessness grow faster than any other metro region in the country. This despite the fact that it's spent at least $274 million over the last five years trying to keep people off the streets.
But a county just down the road from Denver has tried a different approach and gotten better results.
Douglas County (population 392,000) has put up 70 signs at intersections and roadways that say "Handouts Don't Help." Each sign directs citizens to DouglasHasHeart.org, where they can redirect their donations to the Douglas County Community Foundation.
Abe Layton, a Douglas County Commissioner, says the message allows people to give with confidence it will be put to good use:
It seems like the more you give at those particular corners, the more people it attracts. It feels bad when you drive by and don't do something - but the flip side is ...maybe it's going to food, maybe it's going to drugs - you don't know where the money is going.
Between 2022 and 2024, Douglas County saw a steep drop-off in people living on its streets, from 43 to just six. Those housed in shelters fell from 96 to 69. The homeless are approached and offered help ranging from hotel vouchers, help finding a job to a bus ticket back to family members who will care for them.
But homeless advocates say the Douglas approach is cruel. The Colorado Coalition for the Homeless says 'it's hard to believe that being unwelcoming to people experiencing homelessness is a true solution to the problem."
But the real cruelty is Denver's strategy of allowing the homeless to fill streets with tent encampments. Denver is now offering its 10,000 plus homeless space in shelters but the occupants of the encampments have issued a list of 13 demands the city must fulfill before they consider moving.
A little tough love is the best way to help this growing homeless population. Free stuff with no conditions attached only worsens and institutionalizes the problem.
We found this old draft cartoon on the wall of the office of our co-founder Arthur Laffer. If you can’t read the caption it says: "Hi, there, supply side – this is demand side again."
