1) Florida’s Trillion Dollar Domestic Migration Boom

We’re going to give HOTLINE readers a sneak preview of our new report on how much added income Florida has snatched away from other states through what we call “Moving Van Economics.”

Florida’s cumulative 10-year income gain from people moving into the state - including a slew of billionaires like Ken Griffin of Citadel (an Illinois refugee) - is just over $1,000,000,000,000.

This is by far the greatest shift of wealth into one state in American history. Call it the Florida Gold Rush.

It really is always sunny in Florida.

2) Here's a Blue-State City That's Booming

The Wall Street Journal is calling it the real-life Emerald City.

Bellevue, Washington may be the fastest growing city in a blue state, and if trends continue, it may be home to more tech jobs than neighboring Seattle.  When Seattle and Portland went woke, Bellevue went smart and like a magnet pulled jobs out of both cities at a breathtaking pace.

What was once a cow town fifty years ago, is now a thriving metropolis.

Now, Amazon, Microsoft, TikTok, and OpenAI are cramming in.

This is all due to the vision and gumption of Unleash Prosperity's Economic Policy Council member Kemper Freeman - the developer extraordinaire who like the Energizer Bunny keeps growing and growing.  He has turned Bellevue into one of the hottest go-to cities on the left coast.

One of America’s Great Entrepreneurs

WSJ just chronicled the city's rise. It's not complicated. Bellevue is clean, chic, mostly crime and graffiti-free, with lots of parking and bustling with commerce at glitzy office buildings, first-rate bars, restaurants, hotels, and private security.

At a time when so many metro areas are struggling, Bellevue is the ultimate outlier. They've been one of the highest grossing retail centers in the U.S. for years.

Imagine if New York or Chicago or Seattle or Portland had this kind of ambiance, cleanliness and business savvy.

3) Every Obamacare Promise Was Broken

We hate to sound like a broken record, but the budget fight in Washington has fully exposed the lies and deceit that was Obamacare.

Last year, we published a joint paper with the Paragon Institute, running through the top dozen broken promises of Obamacare. This is a list worth revisiting as Congress debates extending Biden's super-sized COVID subsidies to "save" the failing program by throwing even more taxpayer dollars at it.

4) Back to the 1970s? England's 60% Earnings Tax on the Not Very Rich

Yahoo Finance reports that the combination of payroll taxes and income taxes can bring the marginal tax rate on people with incomes as low as $133,000 a year to 60%. The rates reach this high because the UK tax code phases out deductions and credits once a filer hits £100K ($133,000) of income. In this day and age that's upper middle class and a long way from being rich.

Have these fools in the Labour Party never heard of the Laffer Curve?  Have they never heard the Beatles song "Taxman?"

Bring back Margaret Thatcher.

5) African President Says End of USAID Was "Long Overdue"

When Secretary of State Marco Rubio moved to shut down the Agency for International Development in January he noted that it had largely become a global charity for non-profit grifters. He announced the U.S. would now promote "trade over aid, opportunity over dependency, and investment over assistance".

Lo and behold, Zambia's President Hakainde Hichilema has stepped forward to publicly agree with him. He says cuts to U.S. foreign aid were "long overdue" and offered his country the chance to "take care of our own affairs."

"It forces us to grow our economies and to do the things we should have been doing," he told the Financial Times, saying the mantra of his new government is "seek ye growth" as a way to pay for needed social programs.

"It's painful for now," he admitted. "There is a shock. But longer term, it's a good thing."

Hichilema, a businessman who was elected in 2021 with 60% of the vote, has streamlined licensing, cut public employees and paid off foreign debt.

Sounds like Trumponomics!

Other African leaders privately agree with Hichilema that foreign aid is a narcotic that prevents countries from pursuing sound policies. We just wish they had the courage to say so publicly.

Economic development isn’t complicated. You let the free market work and get the government out of the way. Duh!!

6) What They Are Saying in Paris These Days

Just three more prime ministers until Christmas!

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