Budget and Tax News Podcast

Heartland's Donald Kendal, Justin Haskins, and Jim Lakely present episode 231 of the In The Tank Podcast. The gloves came off in the ninth Democratic Presidential debate and it was glorious. Also, our own Justin Haskins was featured in a segment of Last Week Tonight with John Oliver. The segment was dedicated to Medicare for All. Justin, Donald, and Jim dissect the segment and explain how it paints a false choice between the status quo and a complete government takeover of health care industry.   CHIT CHAT – DEM PRIMARIES Dem Debate Gets Savage. Pounced on Bloomberg. Bernie called a communist, responds to having three homes.   MEDICARE FOR ALL Last Week Tonight with John Oliver – Medicare for All (featured Justin Haskins) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Z2XRg3dy9k& Heartland Institute – Estimating the Income Tax Hike Required to Pay for Bernie Sanders’ Medicare-for-All Plan https://www.heartland.org/publications-resources/publications/policy-brief-estimating-the-income-tax-hikes-required-to-pay-for-bernie-sanders-medicare-for-all-plan Pacific  Research Institute – Medicare for All Could Mean Doctors for None https://www.pacificresearch.org/medicare-for-all-could-mean-doctors-for-none/ Cato Institute – No, Medicare for All Won’t Save Money https://www.cato.org/publications/commentary/no-medicare-all-wont-save-money   [Please subscribe to the Heartland Daily Podcast for free on iTunes at this link.]

Peter Voss, Founder of SmartAction (https://www.smartaction.ai/) and CEO/Chief Scientist of AGI Innovations, Inc., has spent many years studying communications and human intelligence in order to build machines with artificial intelligence attempting to match it. His company helped turn these designs into ideas and has been marketing and commercializing them for every day business and person use since. The topics covered by Voss in this podcast with Heartland research director Edward Hudgins include: The difference between narrow artificial intelligence (AI) directed at very specific tasks—playing chess, diagnosing illnesses, suggesting Netflix shows to you—and artificial general intelligence (AGI), which is more like real human intelligence—systems that can learn new skills, think, reason and interact with you through natural language conversations. How an AGI with cognition can understand you as an individual, not only your preferences but your emotional states and tendencies. It can become a true personal assistant, helping you think clearer, make important life choices, and optimize your life. How computer-brain interfaces can work in conjunction with AGI but have inherent limitations due to the nature of the “wetware” of our brains. How the fears of AIs or AGIs becoming our masters is misguided. Fear sells in popular culture, but those expressing those fears rarely have a good grounding in cognitive psychology. Ascribing human emotions—e.g., a desire to dominate the world—to artificial intelligence is unfounded. Don’t miss this exciting podcast with a cutting-edge tech innovator!

Going into the Iowa caucuses, Sen. Bernie Sanders looked to have a strong performance. Nobody could have predicted the results after it began, but assuming Sanders would come out on top, or at least near the top, was almost guaranteed. Since Sanders has such a strong chance at becoming not just the front runner but also taking the nomination, it is worth it to examine the costs of his limitless proposals. The total is obfuscated behind Bernie's unwillingness to commit to numbers and mere predictions from third parties, but lets do our best to pin down some facts about Medicare for All, his climate change plan, student debt elimination, and more on today's Heartland Daily Podcast.

Representative Josh Yokela of New Hampshire joins Heartland hosts Robert Davis and Lennie Jarratt in discussing his newly introduced amendment to the New Hampshire constitution on data privacy. The amendment would protect the private information of citizens given to third-party companies from being searched and seized by government agencies.

President Trump traveled to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland this week and he had a lot of good economic news from the United States to share: record low unemployment, millions of new jobs, a booming energy sector, a new trade deal with China and a replacement for NAFTA. Trump also, remarkably, took on the “prophets of [climate] doom and their predictions of the apocalypse,” which have failed to come true for more than 50 years. Director of Communications Jim Lakely and Research Director Ed Hudgins break down some highlights from Trump’s economic speech, and how he was the only voice of reason at a conference filled with climate alarmists.

Last night, the final Democratic debate before the Iowa caucuses took place with six candidates on stage - Joe Biden, Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, Pete Buttigieg, Amy Klobuchar, and Tom Steyer. The two hour debate was exhaustive covering a variety of topics. In case you wanted to tune into something far more enjoyable or fell asleep halfway through, Heartland Institute media specialist Billy Aouste and editor and research fellow Chris Talgo discuss the entire thing in half the time. Between vast government control, identity politics, higher taxes, and everything in between, listen to the two of them tackle the topics, moderators, and candidates on constitutional reform, spending, environment, health care, and more on this edition of the Heartland Daily Podcast.  Read about the article mentioned here: https://www.commentarymagazine.com/politics-ideas/liberals-democrats/elizabeth-warren-new-york-times-contempt/

Recently, two separate pieces of legislation went into affect that upped the age of activities from 18 to 21. First, President Donald Trump signed into law a ban on the sale of tobacco and vaping products effective immediately. Secondly, the city of Reno, Nevada - "The Biggest Little City in the World" - put a stop to women performing in "gentleman's clubs" which brought about an impending lawsuit.  Both of these cases show coddling by an invasive government looking to halt activities done by legal, consenting adults who, unless otherwise proved, know what they are getting into. Despite the government singling these out, other activities such as joining the army, getting married, or working dangerous jobs remain set at the legal adulthood age of 21. Media specialist Billy Aouste and editor and research fellow Chris Talgo discuss why these laws should not exist and the impact they have on the liberty of Americans who engage in such activity. The demographic may be small, but the implications for rights across the board are wide and varied.

For a long time socialists have tried to use Scandanavian countries as model countries for socialism and not the abysmal failures such as Venezuela. It turns out that these countries have already tried these policies shortly after World War II and after realizing they were stunting growth, they became far more free-market focused.  What socialists fail to realize is that, even if the story was true, the Untied States is far different. Countries the size of Maryland do not compare to our sprawling, multi-faceted, and more culturally diverse nation. It would be folley to repeat the experiment here.  For the full Bold and Blunt program list, please visit their website.

Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez are two prominent US politicians who describe themselves as democratic socialists. They love to tout the wonders of their ideology, but when pressured with evidence of how abhorrent the living conditions in socialist countries like Venezuela is, they point to countries like Sweden as 'real' socialist countries. So are Scandinavian countries truly socialist? Evidence points to no. Media specialist Billy Aouste discusses the latest publication by The Heartland Institute, "Debunking the Scandinavian Socialism Myth: An Evaluation of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden." Author and Heartland editor Chris Talgo discusses the history of how the countries evolved their socialist programs from the end of World War II into a free market one near the turn of the century. Instead of wandering down the dark path these countries pulled themselves out of, the US should continue the course and not fall to the siren call of socialism.

In a free market, entrepreneurs provide goods and services to satisfy the unmet consumer needs, including for products like laptops, smartphones, the internet that consumers don’t even know they needed but are delighted to find can enhance their lives. Meet Michael Strong, head of Radical Social Entrepreneurs! He argues that technology is moving quickly, but our social systems — governance, law, community, education and culture — are not keeping pace. Michael cut his teeth working on the best ways to educate inner-city children. His book The Habit of Thought: From Socratic Seminars to Socratic Practice is an education classic. He’s founded several innovative schools and co-founded Freedom Lights Our World (FLOW) with Whole Foods founder John Mackey. Strong argues that we need radical innovation in law, education, community, culture, and governance. We need start-up communities and incubator cities, skill exchanges, crowd-sourced schools, open-source governments, and entrepreneurial legal systems. We need to do for our social systems what yesterday’s entrepreneurs and scientists have done for technology.

Labor markets are changing quickly. Will our kids be prepared for high-paying jobs or destine for the unemployment line? For years there’s been a serious disconnect between our education system and the needs of students to acquire the skills and training needed for productive careers. Today, there are some 1.6 million more job openings than there are unemployed American. Worse, many high school students go on to college, accumulate high debts, and come out with degrees with little market value. Noel Ginsburg is doing something about it. He is the CEO of CareerWise Colorado. This program, initiated in 2016, is modeled on the Swiss system in which 40 percent of all companies participate. Some 70 percent of Swiss students choose apprenticeships. Ginsburg will explain the benefits and success of the program in his own state, how CareerWise is expanding into other states, and how it can meet the needs of students for high-paying careers, companies for quality employees, and the country for a culture of productivity and achievement.

New York Mayor DeBlasio has called for a robot tax. He says that robots threaten people’s jobs, and me must tax them to ensure employment throughout the economy. The question is: Do robots pose an imminent threat to employment around the US? Ed Hudgins, research director at The Heartland Institute, says no, robots do not pose a threat to employment. Hudgins brings up how automation has always occurred and the creative destruction that comes with it has bettered the lives of all people. Check out the podcast to hear Ed Hudgins go deep into the world of tech and why it’s so promising.

In this exclusive interview, Acting Secretary of Labor Patrick Pizzella highlights the great job creation, especially for minorities, over the past two and a half years. He explains how a proposed reform will give high school students greater access to apprenticeships so they can earn money in a job while learning marketable skills, a possible alternative to attending a four-year college which could leave them in debt with a degree of little market value. Pizzella also tells us not to fear robots taking our jobs. Higher productivity will mean more employment opportunities! For more on automation, check out our piece Labor Day Needs an Education Revolution. Also, check out Trump Administration Proposes More Flexible Apprenticeship Rules.

U.S. Rep. Ron Wright (R-TX), joins the podcast to discuss the debt ceiling increase and budget-busting spending bill Congress just passed.  Wright voted against the measure in the House. Wright also discusses his bill H.R. 2962, the Traffic Camera Freedom Act, which would withhold federal highway funding to states that do not ban red light and speed camera enforcement. Wright says traffic enforcement by camera violates constitutional rights to confront one’s accusers and due process rights to one’s day in court. Wright was elected in 2018, and previously served as Tarrant County Tax Assessor-Collector and as a member of the Arlington City Council.

Nebraska state Sen. Dave Murman, a member of the unicameral legislature, joins the podcast to discuss the issue of state property tax relief. Sen. Murman recently attended a forum on property tax reform sponsored by the Platte Institute. An initiative to amend the state constitution could be on the ballot in November 2020 that provides for a 35 percent tax credit against property taxes paid in the state income tax system, leaving to the legislature the task of restraining spending and, potentially, broadening the state sales tax to compensate for the lost revenue. Murman is a farmer by profession, and was elected to the legislature in 2018.