Thursday, July 07, 2011

Thursday Links

1. Vehicle City, the nickname given Flint as the birthplace of General Motors, has become the state's version of Dodge City, as murders and arsons soar. 

2.  There are now more medical marijuana dispensaries in Denver than Starbucks. Local smokers even have a professional weed critic in the alternative weekly paper. 

3. NYC police crack down on Midtown Manhattan food trucks.  

4. Manpower Employment Services has many job openings, but is finding a lack of qualified applicants to fill jobs.

 5. Iceland is considering banning the sale of cigarettes and making them a prescription-only product. 

6. VW plans to export 4,000 Chattanooga-made Passats per year to Korea. 

7. The extraordinary Mexican migration that delivered millions of illegal immigrants to the U.S. over the past 30 years has sputtered to a trickle because changes in Mexico have made staying home more attractive.

9 Comments:

At 7/07/2011 9:55 AM, Blogger Eric H said...

Tennesseans had to cough up $200,000 per "created" job in advance corporate welfare for VW.

You're welcome.

 
At 7/07/2011 11:26 AM, Blogger Ron H. said...

"Tennesseans had to cough up $200,000 per "created" job in advance corporate welfare for VW."

Well, that's obviously the high bid. Do you have any info on what other states offered VW?

 
At 7/07/2011 1:32 PM, Blogger Eric H said...

Here are some numbers allegedly offered by Michigan and Alabama (and it's actually $288k per job). Most of those "other" jobs were temporary construction and many of those went to out-of-state contractors. I guess no state income tax in TN didn't count for anything vs. Alabama and Michigan.

 
At 7/07/2011 1:51 PM, Blogger juandos said...

New York Times' tenuous grip on reality is showing again: Better Lives for Mexicans Cut Allure of Going North

Maybe potential illegal immigrants are now scared to come north and for good reason too...

 
At 7/07/2011 4:14 PM, Blogger Ron H. said...

"Here are some numbers allegedly offered by Michigan and Alabama (and it's actually $288k per job). "

Thanks for the link.

So, was that a good deal for TN? When will this amount be recovered in additional taxes from VW, and the state starts realizing a positive tax revenue flow?

 
At 7/07/2011 8:54 PM, Blogger VangelV said...

You missed one Mark.

Number One? 20 Not So Good Categories That the United States Leads the World In

 
At 7/07/2011 9:59 PM, Blogger Ron H. said...

"Number One? 20 Not So Good Categories That the United States Leads the World In"

Interesting list. Most are negatives, but #11 isn't necessarily bad, and could be caused in part by #12, which could, in fact be a good thing, if they are actually improving peoples lives.

# 13 is a good thing if it means more depressed women are being treated, but a bad thing if it means there are more depressed women in the US than anywhere else.

# 16 isn't a bad thing at all, and I'm surprised to see something like this at a libertarian site.

 
At 7/08/2011 6:40 AM, Blogger VangelV said...

Interesting list. Most are negatives, but #11 isn't necessarily bad, and could be caused in part by #12, which could, in fact be a good thing, if they are actually improving peoples lives.

There are a few problems that I see. First, the United States spends so much more on health care because of useless defensive medicine that is driven by trial lawyers. Second, because of the waste in resources, the US is not as effective as it should be. Third, drugs are way over-prescribed in the US and do not have a benefit in many cases.

# 13 is a good thing if it means more depressed women are being treated, but a bad thing if it means there are more depressed women in the US than anywhere else.

It may be that the usage has nothing to do with depression levels.

# 16 isn't a bad thing at all, and I'm surprised to see something like this at a libertarian site.

Deficits are not bad at all times. But they can be very bad when they are financed by a constant increase in debt and caused by consumption levels that are increasing as investment capital is insufficient to offset depreciation.

 
At 7/08/2011 3:41 PM, Blogger Eric H said...

"When will this amount be recovered in additional taxes from VW, and the state starts realizing a positive tax revenue flow?"

Well now, that's the $64 question ain't it? Of course, surely somebody figgered that out, but it's all secret - kinda like the behind the scenes no sales tax on in-state sales deal the same governor sold to Amazon to locate here. If you want to use similar past TN examples (e.g. Saturn and Dell Computers) it won't happen before they close up shop and/or go out of business.

 

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