That was a doozy of a State of the Union speech by President Biden this week.  For example, he called for tax increases and Buy American provisions for everything built with taxpayer dollars, both of which will drive up costs and exacerbate inflation.  The Taxpayers Protection Alliance (TPA) released a statement just minutes after the speech ended on Tuesday night.  We looked at several issue areas discussed and offered advice on what he should have said.  TPA analyzed the economy/debt ceiling, healthcare, green energy, tech regulation, taxes, broadband, defense spending, and tobacco harm reduction. The President had an opportunity to reach across the political aisle and try to solve some of the country’s financial problems, but missed wide left.
 
Bloomberg’s Billions
 
Michael Bloomberg, billionaire and former mayor of New York City, recently announced an additional $140 million campaign against flavored e-cigarette and tobacco products. This comes three years after the nanny state enthusiast donated $160 million towards the same battle. Unfortunately, these bans have come at a cost to young adults. In all, Bloomberg will spend nearly $300 million combating youth vaping by pushing prohibitionist policies that ban adult access to legal, regulated products. These policies have also led to increases in young adult smoking rates, as well as created countless opportunities for unscrupulous actors to benefit from a newly created illicit marketplace.  This year, lawmakers across the country from Connecticut to Oregon have introduced statewide flavor ban legislation. This comes as youth use of traditional tobacco products is at record lows. In fact, in 2022 (according to the National Youth Tobacco Survey (NYTS)), less than two percent of American middle and high school students were currently using cigars, cigarettes, or smokeless tobacco products. Even better, youth vaping has halved. In 2019, one in five U.S. youth were currently using an e-cigarette. In 2022, less than one in ten (9.4 percent) were currently vaping.
 
Further, Bloomberg and the organizations that are to benefit from his billions continue to cherry pick data from youth surveys to stoke alarmism among policymakers, while ignoring key data that could help policymakers address youth use. For example, the 2021 NYTS asked U.S. youth the reasons why they had tried and/or were using e-cigarettes. Among students that were current users, nearly half (43.4 percent) cited use because they were feeling “anxious, stressed, and/or depressed,” compared to only 13.2 percent who cited that they had used them because they were available in flavors. Even among students who had reported ever trying e-cigarettes, nearly two-thirds (57.8 percent) had tried them because a friend had, compared to only 13.5 percent who reported trying e-cigarettes because they came in flavors.  Interestingly, since 2019, Bloomberg has given more than $10 million to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to help strengthen and improve existing youth surveys, like the NYTS, but as well as the Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS). The biannual YRBS provides policymakers with state-specific data on a wide variety of behaviors, from mental health to substance use, including alcohol, tobacco, and drug use. Despite an influx in funding, the CDC continues to delay the publication of all 50 state results. Yet, several states have had their 2021 data publications available to the public for several months now. This delay in youth vaping figures is troublesome, as lawmakers are now relying on outdated data from 2019 when youth vaping peaked in the U.S. However, an even more troubling trend is growing mental health issues, including anxiety and depression. Given that youth have previously reported using e-cigarettes to self-medicate, it is interesting that they have reduced their use of vaping products while reporting greater instances of mental health troubles, suggesting young people are less likely to be drawn to vaping for any reason.
 
There are also the alarming and real effects of Bloomberg-backed statewide flavor bans: they correlate with increases in young adult combustible cigarette use.  According to the CDC’s annual adult surveillance survey, between 2020 and 2021, smoking rates among young adults aged 18 to 24 years old, decreased on average by nearly 20 percent among all states (minus Florida). In three out of four states with active statewide flavored e-cigarette bans, young adult smoking rates increased. In Massachusetts, young adult smoking rates increased by 8.8 percent, in New York rates increased by 12.7 percent, and in Rhode Island, the number of 18 to 24 years olds smoking increased by 5.7 percent between 2020 and 2021. Only New Jersey saw a 6.8 percent reduction in its smoking rates between 2020 and 2021 – far lower than the national average rate of decline.  Policymakers must be wary of Bloomberg’s billions. The introduction of e-cigarettes and other alternatives to smoking have accelerated a decline in traditional youth tobacco use. Bloomberg-backed policies however, have led to increases in such use.
 
Taylor Swift Receives Senate Spotlight
 
The 118^th Congress has barely begun. A wave of freshman representatives and senators are coming in with a mandate to help address a lagging economy, record inflation, and an increasingly volatile geopolitical landscape. The federal government also just hit its borrowing limit and is approaching a fiscal cliff. These are the months to get down to business. Yet, the full Senate Judiciary Committee held one of its first hearings of the year on another topic: last year’s Taylor Swift ticketing debacle.  For context, ticket presales for Swift’s “The Eras Tour” experienced a barrage of difficulties. “Eras” was the first tour for Swift since she toured back in 2018. Fans were stuck in massive online queues, with some waiting days and many not being able to get any tickets at all. Things got so out of hand that Swift and ticket distributor Ticketmaster canceled the presale event. Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) called this hearing, claiming consolidation in the ticketing industry led to the incident. Claims by politicians like Klobuchar rest on the notion that Ticketmaster has been a monopoly in the ticketing space since its merger with global entertainment company Live Nation Entertainment (LNE) in 2010. Klobuchar – who has attempted to bring antitrust action against a variety of American industries – is urging the Department of Justice (DOJ) to unwind the merger between the two companies.  However, the merger between Ticketmaster and LNE has already been thoroughly litigated. The 2010 merger agreement came about as part of a meticulously negotiated settlement with DOJ to ensure the protection of consumers and competition. The joint entity is also operating under a consent decree with DOJ so that they continue to uphold the terms of that merger and comply with regulatory standards.  Further, the joint entity still has a host of competitors like SeatGeek, Spotify, Vivid, and StubHub. In fact, SeatGeek has agreements with several venues on the Eras Tour and was the primary vendor for five locations for Swift’s upcoming shows. There is adequate competition in the space. The merger – and any alleged consolidation as a result – is not the issue.
 
Arbitrarily adding competitors to the market could not change this reality. The laws of supply and demand are fairly strict. Given how low the prices were, it was only natural the Eras Tour would face a wave of buyers – as well as bots and scalpers looking to make a fortune flipping the tickets in secondary markets. In fact, antitrust action against entities like TicketMaster/LiveNation could increase the likelihood of another debacle like this. Given how much supercharged demand played into causing the meltdown, it is unlikely that a bevy of smaller entities could have handled it any better. The merger between the two companies gave the united entity the capabilities to attempt to handle a tour of this magnitude. Breaking them up because of frustration will open the door to this happening to more artists across the country. All in all, pinning this debacle on a 13-year-old merger is a classic case of misplaced rage. Holding an antitrust hearing about the “Eras” presale will end up missing the point entirely and distracting from any number of more pressing public policy priorities. This merger has been reviewed several times and cooler heads have clearly identified the mistakes that were made leading up to this massive inconvenience. Despite, Taylor Swift’s massive popularity, antitrust action to save her tour hardly qualifies as a pressing public policy priority.
 
BLOGS:
   
Monday: Chinese Surveillance Balloon Reminds Biden Admin the Importance of Cybersecurity
 
Tuesday AM: U.S. Virgin Islands Governor Bryan Goes to Washington… Again!
 
Tuesday PM: State of the Union: TPA Response
    
Thursday: Taxpayers Protection Alliance Applauds Payment Integrity Act 
  
Friday AM: Credit Ratings have GONe Down
 
Friday PM: Taxpayers Protection Alliance Sounds Alarm on IRS’ Government Run Tax Prep Study
 
MEDIA:
 
February 3, 2023: The Center Square ran TPA’s op-ed, “U.S. outshines Europe on gene therapies.”
 
February 5, 2023: The Times of Northwest Indiana (Munster, Ind.) ran TPA’s op-ed, “FDA regs are bad for the waistline.”
 
February 5, 2023: The Ohio Star ran TPA’s op-ed, “The U.S. Postal Service's Religious Liberty Fiasco - The Ohio Star.”
 
February 5, 2023: The Tennessee Star ran TPA’s op-ed, “The U.S. Postal Service’s Religious Liberty Fiasco.”
 
February 5, 2023: The Arizona Sun Times ran TPA’s op-ed, “The U.S. Postal Service’s Religious Liberty Fiasco.”
 
February 6, 2023: Newsmax mentioned TPA in their story, “Local Gov't Internet Is No Solution.”
 
February 6, 2023:  WBFF Fox45 (Baltimore, Md.) interviewed me about the new committee on the weaponization of the federal government. 
 
February 8, 2023: The Daily Mail quoted TPA in its story, “Bar staff beware! Biden's IRS proposes crackdown on TIPS by making servers report cash they take home.”
 
February 9, 2023:  WBFF Fox45 (Baltimore, Md.) interviewed me about the city of Baltimore giving up control of its conduit system.
 
February 9, 2023:   I appeared on WBOB 600 AM (Jacksonville, Fla.) to talk about President Biden’s State of the Union address.
 
February 9, 2023: The Washington Times ran TPA’s op-ed, “SEC has no business punishing companies for climate-related activities.”
 
February 10, 2023: The Livingston Parish News (Denham Springs, La.) ran TPA’s op-ed, “U.S. outshines Europe on gene therapies.”
 
February 10, 2023: RealClear Markets ran TPA’s op-ed, “Private Equity's Genius Is Presently Improving the Outlook for Veterinarians.”


Have a great weekend!