Daniel J. Mitchell channels Jim Miller on the value-added tax:
If it worked, you’d observe that countries with a VAT had budget surpluses and no debt problems. But almost every country that has a VAT is plagued with budget deficits and excessive debt. … No surprise that the worst financial basket cases all have a VAT. Iceland has the highest VAT rates, but this didn’t prevent its financial crisis and the near bankruptcy of its government. Italy’s VAT rates are almost as high, and its debt exceeds its GDP. Financial crises are looming in Spain and Portugal, and of course they have a VAT. Greece has a VAT, too, and when politicians ran out of money to pay government employees for more than a year’s worth of work every year, they rioted in the streets. Great Britain has a VAT, and its government finances are in the worst shape since World War II — its budget deficit is expected to be bigger than that of Greece. Moreover, the OECD has acknowledged that “(VAT) tax and transfer wedges have discouraged firms from offering employment and individuals from taking it, reduced employment and increased inequality.”
You find some wonderful things when you tinker around the interwebs. I was over at the UrbanMinistry.org site, going over the latest iteration of their design (looking good, team). I came across this story by Josh Kammerer. Josh was a TechMission / Americorps intern while I was the executive director at Harambee Ministries. (UrbanMinistry.org is owned and managed by TechMission). Here’s a short write-up of Josh’s labors in the Harambee tech arena: Josh’s Story: Helping Urban Students Across the Digital Divide:
When I first got a phone call from Florence, my current TechMission/AmeriCorps site director, she told me about the state of technological usage at Harambee and her vision for improving it. I was to be a computer teacher, as well as an after-school tutor; and I was to research and develop a new technology/computer curriculum for the children. When I accepted the position, little did I know that the very next day all of the laptops in the children’s computer lab at Harambee were going to be stolen. Upon my arrival in Los Angeles a few days later, I learned that what I had thought I would be doing was far from what I would actually be doing. Instead of teaching computer classes and improving the current systems, I would have to do other work at the site until funds could be raised to replace the computers. Once that happened, I would then have to redesign and rebuild the entire system.
Read the whole thing. Not quite a “tell me my dream, then interpret it” scenario. But close enough when you are a tech person that operates with fixed plans in the distance. That was truly a dramatic week, with the computer theft and school starting the next week. Thanks for your work and the love you shared with our entire community, Josh.
via the Grand Rapids Press:
In Michigan, there are 8.24 job seekers for each available job. Nevada is the second-toughest place to find a job, with 6.90 unemployed people per job. Mississippi, Idaho and Kentucky round out the bottom five.
The best place to look for a job is Washington, D.C., where there is less than one unemployed person per available job. Virginia, Maryland, North Dakota and Nebraska complete the top five least competitive job markets.
That’s not anecdotal, friends. That’s official.
Back in the 1990s I attended my first Acton Institute conference. It was in San Juan Capistrano at a weekend gathering designed for seminary students, both Protestant and Catholic. I was the only non-seminarian. As an urban ministry guy, I had been searching for a place to discuss and reflect on the intersection of theology and economics. In my search I found places that were good at one or the other, but rarely both. This conference – and the Acton Institute community as a whole – was and has been a vital source in shaping how I go about urban ministry. My desire is to believe and expect great things of every person, no matter what condition they are in or what community they come from. This is my desire because of my understanding that all people are created by God, the creator of the universe, and the same God who did a miracle in creation can do miracles in the lives of people today.
That’s my personal background in recommending this event to you:
Acton Institute’s 2010 Toward a Free and Virtuous City conference will take place September 23-25 in New York City. This conference is specific to leaders in urban ministry – pastors, non-profit leaders, urban ministry volunteers and community organizers working and serving in America’s inner cities. Event details are here: www.acton.org/cityfavs. Meals, lodging and conference costs are included in the $125 registration fee. I’ll be there as one of the faculty presenters.
At Acton we have this tagline that I love:
Connecting Good Intentions with Sound Economics
This conference may be thought of as:
Connecting Good Intentions with Sound Economics in Urban Ministry
by Hernando de Soto
by Friedrich Hayek
by Gregory Rodriguez
by P.J. O'Rourke
by Charles C. Mann
by Doug Seebeck and Timothy Stoner
by Dambisa Moyo
by Fritz Kling
by Dr. John Perkins
by James Webb