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The World and Everything In It
12.11.25 Fixing Obamacare, Christmas markets in Germany, and the history of A Christmas Carol
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- [00:06]
Mary Reichert
Good morning. Lawmakers debate what to do about the Affordable Care act with another deadline looming.
- [00:12]
John Shelton
So we're now just getting our Republican versions of Obamacare.
- [00:16]
Myrna Brown
Also, the festive German Christmas markets must now focus on security, what steps are being taken and how Charles Dickens A Christmas Carol shaped Christmas.
- [00:27]
Stefan Riechel
Generosity becomes the theme that people can embrace.
- [00:32]
Myrna Brown
And world commentator Cal Thomas on raising taxes.
- [00:42]
Mary Reichert
It's Thursday, December 11th. This is the world and everything in it from listeners supported world Radio. I'm Mary Reichert.
- [00:49]
Myrna Brown
And I'm Myrna Brown. Good morning.
- [00:54]
Mary Reichert
Now the news with Kent Covington.
- [00:57]
Kent Covington
President Trump says US Forces have seized a large oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela. He told White House reporters that it is one of the largest ever taken by American forces and that the US Intends to keep its cargo.
- [01:10]
Cal Thomas
You see the result and I guess.
- [01:11]
Stefan Riechel
They probably have released the pictures by now. No, it was seized for a very good reason.
- [01:17]
Kent Covington
The Coast Guard led the operation with support from the Navy. It was the latest move in Washington's effort to tighten pressure on Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Meruro, who faces narco terrorism charges in the United States. U.S. officials say the action is part of a broader push to disrupt illegal oil shipments and suspected trafficking routes tied to the Maduro regime. The seizure comes a day after US Fighter jets flew over the Gulf of Venezuela, one of their closest passes to the country in recent years. The Federal Reserve has cut its key interest rate for the third time in a row. Chairman Jerome Powell announced another quarter point cut, but he also said the Fed will not be in a hurry to cut rates again anytime soon.
- [01:57]
John Shelton
Risks to inflation are tilted to the upside and risks to employment to the downside. A challenging situation. There is no risk free path for policy as we navigate this tension between our employment and inflation goals.
- [02:11]
Kent Covington
Powell said the Fed is now close to a neutral setting, a level that does not slow the economy but does not seek to boost it either. The benchmark rate now sits at its lowest level in nearly three years, around 3.6%. Lower rates can ease borrowing costs over time for mortgages, car loans and credit cards. President Trump says his new Gold card immigration program is now open. A website began taking applications on Wednesday as the White House rolled out the plan.
- [02:40]
Cal Thomas
It's somewhat like a green card, but.
- [02:42]
Stefan Riechel
With big advantages over a green card.
- [02:45]
Kent Covington
Commerce Secretary Howard Blutnick explained some of those advantages for companies who invest $2 million to bring in a foreign worker.
- [02:52]
Stefan Riechel
They can then have an employee.
- [02:56]
Cal Thomas
Full.
- [02:56]
Stefan Riechel
Vetting, the best vetting the government has ever done, $15,000 vetting to make sure.
- [03:02]
John Shelton
These people absolutely qualify to be in.
- [03:05]
Stefan Riechel
America, absolutely qualified, then the company can keep them here and they have a path to citizenship.
- [03:13]
Kent Covington
An individual can get a gold card for $1 million. The program replaces the older EB5 investor visa. The administration argues that the updated version will help the US Attract skilled talent while bringing new revenue into the Treasury. Critics, though, question dropping job creation requirements found in the previous system. Also on Wednesday, President Trump said it is time for Ukrainian citizens to go to the polls. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's five year term expired in May of last year, but elections have not been held due to martial law imposed during the war.
- [03:47]
Cal Thomas
When I think people are asking this question, when do they have an election? Are they going to have an election or are they going to just keep it going like this?
- [03:55]
Kent Covington
For his part, President Zelensky says he's happy to hold an election in a matter of months if the United States and European allies can provide security for voters to go to the polls.
- [04:08]
He says he spoke with Ukraine's parliament and asked lawmakers to review any legal issues involved with holding an election amid martial law. All of this comes as Zelenskyy says Ukraine is finalizing its changes to a U S backed peace proposal to end the Russia Ukraine war. He has said Kyiv will not agree to any proposal that cedes land to Russia. Trump, meantime, says Zelensky has to be realistic. A federal judge has ordered the Trump administration to end its deployment of California National Guard troops in Los Angeles and return control to the state. World's Benjamin Eicher reports.
- [04:43]
John Shelton
U.S. district Judge Charles Breyer in San Francisco issued the ruling granting a preliminary injunction, but he also put that on hold until Monday to allow time for a possible appeal. And the Trump administration does plan to file one. President Trump activated more than 4,000 Guard members in June without Gov. Gavin Newsom's approval. Trump said the move was needed to support federal officers during sometimes violent protests. Judge Breyer said the administration overreached and that local law enforcement has been handling demonstrations for months. For WORLD I'm Benjamin Eicher.
- [05:23]
Kent Covington
And I'm Kent Covington. Straight ahead, Congress considers what to do about subsidies and the Affordable Care Act. Plus Charles Dickens, a Christmas Carol and a holiday tradition. This is the world and everything in it.
- [05:51]
Myrna Brown
It's Thursday, the 11th of December. You're listening to World Radio and we're so glad you've joined us today. Good morning. I'm Myrna Brown.
- [06:00]
Mary Reichert
And I'm Mary Reichard. First up on the WORLD and everything in it, competing plans for health care in this country. The Senate votes today on two competing plans about extra Obamacare subsidies that end this year. Democrats want to extend the subsidies for three more years, keeping Covid era benefits in place.
- [06:20]
Myrna Brown
Republicans want to let the subsidies end and use the same money for a new plan that still sends money to Obamacare recipients. World reporter Carolina Lumeta has the story.
- [06:34]
Carolina Lumeta
With only a few weeks left in the year, Senate Republicans have proposed a variety of options for dealing with rising premiums, five of them to be exact.
- [06:43]
Mary Reichert
I think there's a limit to what we can do in this first year.
- [06:49]
Carolina Lumeta
Senator Susan Collins of Maine and Ohio Senator Bernie Moreno filed a bill that would extend the expiring subsidies for two years. Their bill also includes reforms to add a minimum $25 monthly payment and a promise to phase out the subsidies for the highest earners. Then on Tuesday, the junior Ohio Senator John Husted filed a similar bill that has slightly different reforms and would add Hyde Amendment protections to keep insurance plans from funding abortions.
- [07:16]
John Shelton
There are a dozen small steps or even moderately successful steps that we can take to reduce the overall cost of health care in this country.
- [07:25]
Carolina Lumeta
Kansas Senator Roger Marshall also has a plan to extend Affordable Care act subsidies by a year, along with yet more reforms. Florida Senator Rick Scott suggested setting up Trump Health Freedom accounts instead of extending the subsidies. But the plan that has the backing of Majority Leader John Thune is the one that's a non starter for Democrats.
- [07:46]
Cal Thomas
Our members, and I can't say 100%.
- [07:47]
Kent Covington
But I think for the most part, I would argue are united behind the.
- [07:51]
Cal Thomas
Crapo Cassidy proposal, which as I said in terms of its emphasis is about patients, not insurance companies and about lowering premiums, not increasing them, and about getting a better return for the federal taxpayer.
- [08:03]
Carolina Lumeta
The proposal filed by Bill Cassidy of Louisiana and Mike Crapo of Idaho would redirect the subsidy funds to individual health savings accounts. Here's Senator Cassidy.
- [08:14]
John Shelton
Under our plan, they can choose the less expensive bronze plan so we have.
- [08:20]
Cal Thomas
Lower cost premiums and money for out of pocket expense off the bat.
- [08:26]
John Shelton
That is more affordable, that is a better plan.
- [08:29]
Carolina Lumeta
The monthly subsidy could not be put toward the premiums, but can be used for other health care expenses that insurance doesn't cover. It also includes language to apply the Hyde amendment to ACA plans. But many senators, including Republicans, want to buy time for more substantive changes later. North Carolina Senator Thom Tillis says now is not the time for overhauling American health care policy.
- [08:52]
John Shelton
You could argue whether or not the subsidy should have ever been passed, but they are what they are and people are relying on them, and it makes more sense to extend it and bend the curve in the out years.
- [09:01]
Carolina Lumeta
Although most Senate Democrats have said they're open to discussing reforms to enhance subsidies, they insist on extending the program. Vermont Senator Peter Welch told me it would be fastest for Democrats to give Republicans a few reforms while ensuring those subsidies are extended. But it depends on the reforms Republicans.
- [09:20]
John Shelton
Insist on so we can extend them as long as what we're talking about is maybe an income cap or a modest copay. But if you're introducing a whole new concept, transforming it to HSAs, that's a fierce policy debate, and it's a proposal that has no prospect of passage in the next two weeks.
- [09:38]
Carolina Lumeta
But why the political urgency? According to recent Gallup polling, the majority of Americans generally approve of Obamacare. And other polling found the vast majority of Obamacare enrollees, including Republicans, want Congress to keep their subsidies intact. That leaves Republican lawmakers caught between subsidizing a program they hate or taking the blame in a midterm election year for higher premium costs.
- [10:03]
John Shelton
There is a lot of concern that all these promises for cutting spending, for rolling back government overreach in excess that began with Doge and went into the shutdown have kind of died.
- [10:16]
Carolina Lumeta
John Shelton is the policy director at Advancing American Freedom, a think tank founded by former Vice President Mike Pence.
- [10:23]
John Shelton
So we're now just getting our Republican versions of Obamacare.
- [10:27]
Carolina Lumeta
He says that even the Crapo Cassidy bill is built on the assumption that lawmakers should continue subsidizing a program that doesn't work.
- [10:35]
John Shelton
If premium costs continue to go up, then more government spending will always be justified. And so as a conservative, I just think that's not right. That's not the what government is supposed to do. It's supposed to get out of the way. We don't have a responsibility to endlessly subsidize a system that's broken.
- [10:55]
Carolina Lumeta
Since its initial passage in 2010, Obamacare coverage fees have climbed nearly 130%, according to data from the Paragon Health Institute. The enhanced subsidies passed during the Biden administration amount to a small portion of the overall subsidies available to enrollees. Paragon President Brian Blaise spoke to me after he testified at a Senate Finance Committee hearing last month.
- [11:17]
John Shelton
94% of enrollees receive subsidies would receive subsidies next year, and they would cover the vast majority of the cost of the premium. So I think it's essential that Congress stops throwing good money after bad and allows the enhanced subsidies to expire. And then there's a host of reforms.
- [11:36]
Carolina Lumeta
That Congress should consider most other reforms would take too long to apply to next year's Obamacare plans and possibly even Cassidy's bill. After Thune decided to bring that one up for a vote, Moreno took his version out of consideration. But he reminded reporters in the Senate basement that even 53 Republicans aren't enough to pass a plan.
- [11:57]
Stefan Riechel
We're going to focus hyper focus on the Cassidy crapo plan, make sure we get that across the finish line. And then look, it's going to be, as you know, you got to report accurately, we do need 60 votes. So we got to get some Democrats to support.
- [12:07]
Harald Striebel
Thank you.
- [12:08]
Carolina Lumeta
Senator, how are you reporting for world I'm Carolina Lumeta in Washington.
- [12:16]
Mary Reichert
Up next, protecting Christmas cheers. Since 2014, there have been seven major terrorist attacks on Christmas markets across Europe. Several included jihadists ramming cars into crowds and booths. Others were carried out by people with mental illness.
- [12:33]
Myrna Brown
For this year's Christmas markets, Europeans are trying to balance safety and comfort and protect their budgets. World's Mary Munsey has the story.
- [12:45]
Harald Striebel
This year's Christmas market in Magdeburg, Germany, has all of its usual charm, but there's an uneasiness as the memory of last year's terrorist attack lurks in the shadows. Breaking news.
- [12:58]
Carolina Lumeta
A car has plowed into a crowded.
- [13:00]
Grace Snell
Christmas market here in Germany.
- [13:03]
Harald Striebel
One of this year's vendors is Vladyslaw Kokishko. He works in a leather goods booth. He wasn't at the market during last year's attack, but he he had to walk by it to get home shortly after it happened.
- [13:16]
John Shelton
It was like smell of blood here. Like it was so different.
- [13:22]
Harald Striebel
He lifts a shaking hand.
- [13:24]
John Shelton
So yeah, it's like terrifying.
- [13:27]
Harald Striebel
A Saudi Arabian refugee is accused of driving a van into the market crowd at full speed, killing six and wounding more than 300. His trial started in no November. The Magdeburg Christmas market is in the middle of town in a quaint square mostly surrounded by buildings covered in lights. Because of last year's attack, the market organizers have erected concrete barriers anywhere a car could fit through. And the police presence is much more obvious than before. Ibrahim Eshinov works with Kharkishko.
- [14:01]
John Shelton
Even if you want, or even if you want to control it, you can't control it for 100%. You know, there is always a risk. But I see that they are doing good job.
- [14:14]
Harald Striebel
Over the last few weeks, rumors have been swirling online about mass cancellations of Christmas markets. Social media posts declare that Christmas is canceled in Germany, but at this point, the sensational headlines haven't matched reality. On the Opening day of the Magdeburg market, Eshanov and Kokishko both got texts from friends telling them to check the news, claiming the market was canceled. They decided to keep driving and discovered that the market was actually open a few stalls away. Maya Mineca says she saw similar articles.
- [14:52]
John Shelton
I saw like a news article and it was posted on Instagram. And then I scrolled through the comments and every single comment was like, oh.
- [15:01]
Harald Striebel
All these Islamists are gonna take our Christmas away. The German Showman's association is a professional organization for the country's fairground industry, which includes Christmas markets. They work with more than 3,200 markets across the country. Recently, they reported in a German paper they've only seen a few cancellations, and at least one of those has reopened since publication. But the costs of securing the markets in Germany is going up.
- [15:31]
Stefan Riechel
Within the last 10 years, we already invested up to 1.3 million Euro in excess protection elements.
- [15:39]
Harald Striebel
Stefan Riechel helps plan the security for the Dresden Christmas markets. There are six around the city and they cover a combined 46,000 square meters, or about the size of six and a half American football fields. He confirms that this year's security costs are significantly higher.
- [15:58]
Stefan Riechel
After the terror attack which took part in Magdeburg, we invested alone this year another 1.7 million euro in protection elements.
- [16:09]
Harald Striebel
Some of that money is spent on things like concrete and steel barriers that they won't have to buy again. But additional surveillance and personnel costs are recurring. He says it's just the new reality of doing business. And that budget line is likely to.
- [16:26]
John Shelton
Keep growing beside the investment cost. I guess it's at least 10% of the total costs of this market right now.
- [16:34]
Harald Striebel
It's unclear who should step up to pay for the increased security. The state, the city, the market, or some combination of the three. But it is clear that people expect the markets to happen 180 miles away. @ the Nuremberg Christmas market, the security measures are more subtle. The market is in the old part of the city, where driving is already restricted, so they have obvious barriers in just a few places. So far, Europeans and tourists seem to feel safe enough to return to the annual holiday.
- [17:08]
John Shelton
Tradition. We expected not more than last year, but there have been more people on the first day on Griskismarklet than the year.
- [17:19]
Harald Striebel
Before. Harald Striebel helps plan security for the Nuremberg market. It's one of the biggest in Germany and attracts millions of people throughout the season. He says one of his top priorities is to keep visitors safe without drawing too much attention to the increased.
- [17:36]
John Shelton
Protection. So there are policemen in civil clothes a lot. You can see the police standing there, the police car, but we try to make it a little bit so that the tourists shall not see that they are safe because they shall concentrate on the.
- [17:53]
Harald Striebel
Market.
- [17:55]
Back at the Magdeburg market, the security measures are very visible, but so far it doesn't seem seem to be off putting for shoppers. Vendors report that sales were strong during the first week of the market, even if many of them are new, replacing vendors that didn't want to return after last year. In the leather booth, Kurcishko says it's sad that they have to see so much police presence at something that's supposed to be warm and inviting, but he feels it's worth it to keep the tradition.
- [18:28]
John Shelton
Alive. Only God knows when we when we will die. You can work on Christmas, you can work on in market and something can just fall on your head and.
- [18:42]
Risk is.
- [18:42]
Harald Striebel
Everywhere. Reporting for World I'm Mary Muncie in Magdeburg.
- [18:47]
Kent Covington
Germany.
- [19:05]
Additional support comes from his words Abiding in you, a Bible memorization podcast designed for truck drivers. His words abiding in you on all podcast apps from Eyewitness the Long Shore, a faith based audio drama that brings history to life. Eyewitnesspod.com that's the letter I witnesspod.com and from Ridge Haven Camp in North Carolina and Iowa. Winter camp starts December 29th. Registration.
- [19:38]
Mary Reichert
Open@Ridgehaven.Org.
- [19:48]
The toughest of the tough land in Louisiana's Angola Prison. But thanks to a ministry called God Behind Bars, a Daddy Daughter dance came together over Thanksgiving, 29 incarcerated dads and more than three dozen girls came to meet.
- [20:03]
Stefan Riechel
Them. I hadn't seen my daughter since.
- [20:05]
John Shelton
She was six months old, so she's 17.
- [20:09]
Mary Reichert
Now. The men spent stood a little taller as they waited in donated suits, holding flowers before dinner with their.
- [20:15]
John Shelton
Daughters. I feel.
- [20:16]
Stefan Riechel
Professional. I might need a box of tissue. I might.
- [20:18]
Mary Reichert
Cry. You know the dads gave Bibles to their.
- [20:21]
John Shelton
Girls. I want her to start off.
- [20:22]
Carolina Lumeta
By reading Philippians 4:13 because I believe.
- [20:25]
John Shelton
She could do all things through Christ Jesus who strengthened.
- [20:28]
Myrna Brown
Us. An evening to remember and a taste of.
- [20:32]
Mary Reichert
Redemption. Mm. It's the world and everything in it.
- [20:48]
Today is Thursday, December 11th. Thank you for turning to world radio to help start your day. Good morning, I'm Mary.
- [20:54]
Myrna Brown
Reichert. And I'm Myrna Brown. Coming next on the World and everything in it, A Christmas Carol Charles Dickens story is one of the most well known Christmas classics. This novella, written in 1843, has inspired countless retellings spoofs and spinoffs. The Internet Movie Database alone lists over 200 different films and TV episodes with the Scrooge theme. Everyone from Mickey.
- [21:23]
John Shelton
Mouse. Christmas is a time for giving. A time to be with one's family to the Muppets. And if you please, Mr. Scrooge, the bookkeeping staff would like to have an extra shovel full of coal for the.
- [21:34]
Myrna Brown
Fire. Has their own version of the.
- [21:36]
John Shelton
Story. How would the bookkeepers like to be suddenly.
- [21:40]
Mary Reichert
Unemployed? But while most people know exactly where Bah humbug came from, fewer know the story behind it or the role A Christmas Carol played in making our Christmas celebrations what they are. Now, here's World's Grace now with that.
- [21:55]
John Shelton
Story.
- [21:57]
Oh, it's the parade. Yes, here comes the smallest.
- [22:01]
Grace Snell
Parade. A lone pickup rolls into sight in Skinny Atlas, New York. It's pulling a single float topped with a small brass band.
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This is the town's much heralded World's Smallest Christmas Parade. Kickoff to the annual Dickens Christmas.
- [22:17]
John Shelton
Festival. Oh.
- [22:19]
Harald Striebel
My. How.
- [22:19]
John Shelton
Lovely. How.
- [22:21]
Grace Snell
Short. It's a bitterly cold and blustery day, but that hasn't stopped a crowd from gathering, including a whole cast of Christmas Carol characters decked out in Victorian. Mr. Fezziwig, Belle, Bob Cratchit and Tiny Tim, to name a few.
- [22:38]
And leading the way is the man of the.
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John Shelton
Hour. Thank you for joining us. I'm the world renowned author, Charles.
- [22:44]
Grace Snell
Dickens. Charles Dickens, played by the show's producing director, Jim.
- [22:47]
John Shelton
Green. Perhaps you've read some of my stories. It was the best of times.
- [22:52]
Myrna Brown
It was the worst of.
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Grace Snell
Times. Dickens was a literary sensation in his own time, renowned for novels like A Tale of Two Cities and Oliver Twist. But his name is forever tied to Christmas because of one small book, A Christmas.
- [23:07]
Cal Thomas
Carol. Now, ladies and gentlemen, we're so excited to be.
- [23:10]
John Shelton
Here. Her Majesty has asked me to.
- [23:11]
Cal Thomas
Work on a new Christmas.
- [23:13]
Grace Snell
Story. Few other stories have such a firm grasp on the popular Christmas imagination. It's still warming hearts and sparking new interpretations almost 200 years.
- [23:23]
Kent Covington
Later. Happy.
- [23:24]
Stefan Riechel
Christmas. How are you, good.
- [23:25]
Grace Snell
Sir. But this little story also played an outsized role in reviving Christmas celebrations across England, bringing them roaring back after over a century of.
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Stefan Riechel
Decline. Most of us, when we hear that Christmas Carol story, we think, oh, that's how Christmas was back in Dickens.
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Grace Snell
Time. That's Bruce Forbes, a holiday historian and author of A Candid History. He says A Christmas Carol wasn't a portrait of Victorian Christmas at the.
- [23:52]
Stefan Riechel
Time. He is writing this story to bring back Christmas to what he thought it was a century or more.
- [23:59]
Grace Snell
Ago.
- [24:02]
Old Christmas traditions aren't always well documented. But from what we do know, early English celebrations were a wild thing, a mashup of winter revelries and religious.
- [24:12]
Stefan Riechel
Rites. You just have had a lot of festivities, kissing under the mistletoe, and you have.
- [24:17]
Grace Snell
Parties. Then in the 1600s, English Puritans tried to stamp out Christmas celebrations based on two main.
- [24:24]
Stefan Riechel
Objections. Number one, it's not early Christianity, so we're not called to do it. And number two, is there too much wild.
- [24:33]
Grace Snell
Partying? Parliament even went as far as banning Christmas in.
- [24:37]
Stefan Riechel
1647. At some points, they would send town criers around on Christmas Eve crying, no Christmas, no.
- [24:45]
Grace Snell
Christmas. And it largely worked. Some people still went to Christmas services over the following decades. But Christmas wasn't the same cultural phenomenon.
- [24:54]
Stefan Riechel
Anymore. For a century or more, Christmas remains.
- [24:59]
Grace Snell
Diminished. A survey of stories from the London Times between 1790 and 1836 shows just how much Christmas had fallen out.
- [25:06]
Stefan Riechel
Of favor in 20 years. Of those, nothing is said about Christmas in the other 25. It's mentioned only briefly, and it's kind of with the sense of that's something some people used to do a long time.
- [25:21]
Grace Snell
Ago. Dickens wrote A Christmas Carol in just six weeks. He published it a few days before Christmas on December 19 and 1843. The public reaction was.
- [25:32]
Stefan Riechel
Instant. It just sells out, and it's just this amazing success, and it quickly gets reprinted, reprinted over and over again in the few years.
- [25:41]
Grace Snell
Following. The story quickly became a bestseller in America, too. In 1868, Dickens sailed to the United States to perform dramatic readings of his books, including A Christmas.
- [25:51]
Stefan Riechel
Carol. I mean, it's like he's a rock star. 150 people wait overnight to get tickets in Boston. The tickets sell.
- [25:59]
Grace Snell
Out. A Christmas Carol expressed Dickens deep concern for the poor in his country. The story of Ebenezer Scrooge grabbed hold of the public mind and added a new layer of meaning to the holiday, one which laid the groundwork for widespread Christmas celebrations. Even among those who don't believe Christ came as a baby in a.
- [26:18]
Stefan Riechel
Manger, generosity becomes the theme that people can embrace, whether they're Christian or not, or very religious or not. Generosity is a beautiful thing. It's, I think, Dickens Christmas Carol's greatest contribution. It shifts what Christmas.
- [26:37]
Grace Snell
Becomes. For others, A Christmas Carol is a story pointing back to the true giver of all good gifts and the best gift of all, his son. All these years later, Charles Dickens story is still very much alive and well and on the streets of Skinny Atlas. The Dickens Christmas festival is in full.
- [26:55]
John Shelton
Swing. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, the tidings we bring to you and your.
- [27:02]
Grace Snell
King. Reporting for world I'm Grace Snell in Skinny Atlas, New.
- [27:07]
Myrna Brown
York.
- [27:28]
Good morning. This is the World and everything in it. From listener supported World Radio, I'm Myrna.
- [27:33]
Mary Reichert
Brown. And I'm Mary Reichard. Policies always have consequences. Some are good, some are not. What looks like a good idea can unleash a whole bunch of unintended consequences. World commentator Cal Thomas policies that raise taxes are a perfect.
- [27:52]
Cal Thomas
Example.
- [27:54]
The phrase about turning off the lights when one leaves someplace appears to have originated with two real estate agents in Seattle. It was 1971 and Boeing was laying off employees during an economic downturn. It was meant to be humorous, though the unemployed probably didn't see it that way. During the Arab oil boycott in 1973, Houston newspapers invoked the phrase as they sought to lure people from the north, which was suffering from high unemploy, fuel shortages and economic stagnation. Newspaper ads told of job openings with good salaries and benefits. Now come the folks at Unleash Prosperity Hotline who have resurrected a form of the phrase. The group is nonpartisan and self describes has focused on educating policymakers and the public about government policies proven to maximize economic growth. They place billboard ads along major thoroughfares that say respectively, New Jersey isn't moving up, families are moving out, and New Yorkers aren't moving up, they're moving out. That would be to places like Texas and Florida where there are no state income taxes and life is perceived to be safer and less expensive. Stephen Moore is co founder of Unleash Prosperity Hotline and a former senior Trump economic adviser. He writes that New York and New Jersey have lost a combined two and a half million residents. Those numbers pale in comparison to the financial impact of the population shift. Unleash Prosperity reports that New York has lost roughly $111 billion in income and New Jersey has lost 31 billion. And that's what leads them to say these states must change or the last person in the state will have to turn off the lights. A study published last year in the American Economic Journal billed as the first ever Systematic analysis of 110 years of state income tax implementation throughout the United States, it highlighted the consequen when taxpayers leave high tax states for states with lower or no state income taxes. The analysis looks at pre World War II and post World War II personal income tax impacts. The state level tax policies from 1900 to 2010 examined in the paper reveal that income tax adopting states increased revenue per capita by 12% to 17%. But those increases did not correspond to increases in total revenues for the government in monetary terms. This is because the introduction of state income taxes in the Post World War II era led to out migration by wealthy Americans. One of the study's co authors writes, quote, personal income tax means a tax upon labor income. It was a scheme to redistribute wealth. It goes on to say quote, the idea was to provide services to poorer parts of the population and reduce inequality between low income and high income residents. I'm well unfortunately those who raise taxes fail to take human nature into account. People who have the resources also have the option of moving to more economically friendly locations and many have but like a Vietnam anti war song said, we're waist deep in the big muddy and the big fool says to push on. In this case it's not an unpopular war, but debt and taxes because most Democrat run citizen states can't live within the means they are given. As a result, more people in New York, New Jersey and other with high taxes have their fingers on the light switch and their car engines are running. I'm Cal.
- [31:29]
Mary Reichert
Thomas.
- [31:36]
Tomorrow, John Stonestreet will be here for Culture Friday. Also, Colin Garbarino reviews the award winning true crime documentary the Perfect Neighbor and our next reflection on the incarnation for Ann. That and more tomorrow. I'm Mary.
- [31:52]
Myrna Brown
Reichardt. And I'm Myrna Brown. The world and everything in it comes to you from World Radio. World's mission is biblically objective journalism that informs, educates and inspires. The Bible says, let us hold fast the confession of our faith without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another and all the more as you see the day drawing near. Verses 23 through 25 of Hebrews chapter 10 go now in grace and.
- [32:35]
John Shelton
Peace.
- [32:40]
Sam.