2-12-19 Great Guests for Your Show

1. Jeffrey Katz: Ralph Northam Should Resign
2. Kerry Lutz: The Mass Exodus from High Tax to Low Tax States
3. James Hirsen: Jeff Bezos's Extortion Claim May Go Nowhere
4. Lowell Ponte: Elizabeth Warren's 'Magic Fairy Dust' Economic Policies
5. Jeff Ferry: Trade Deficit Moderates to $49.3B in November; China Deficit Improves Sharply
6. Michelle Seiler-Tucker: The Largest Bank Merger Since the '90s

Ralph Northam Should Resign

By Jeffrey Katz

In my new book, The Secret Life: A Book of Wisdom, we can directly tie Maimonides’ teachings to the issue of whether Ralph Northam should resign.  And yes, he should resign. They tell us that, on an interpersonal level, one should be quick to forgive someone who asks forgiveness. But full redemption is available only when one again finds himself in the same position but chooses to act differently the second time around. In Northam’s case, this would mean that in the 35 years since his blackface incident, he has worked to soothe racial tensions in this country and advance the cause of African-Americans, rather than do the opposite. But, indeed, he has done the opposite. By his exploitation of the race issue for personal political gain in his last campaign against Ed Gillespie, Northam showed no desire to soothe racial tensions, but instead inflamed them. He did this through his outrageous campaign ads painting supporters of Gillespie as vicious racists. He has earned no redemption on the race issue and needs to resign under the principles taught by Maimonides.

The Mass Exodus from High Tax to Low Tax States

By Kerry Lutz

Upon passage of the new tax law, FSN foresaw a human exodus from high tax to low tax states. We’re witnessing over-taxed northeast migrating en masse to our corner of paradise in Florida. This process is being repeated in the income tax free states of Nevada and Washington that provide a haven from over-taxed and regulated California. They’re experiencing high growth rates, too. The trend has been going on for many decades and the SALT (state and local taxes) limit has exacerbated it. Nationally, the prime beneficiaries of this migration are the states that charge little or no personal income tax. These include Florida, Texas, Tennessee, Arizona, Nevada, Washington state, South Dakota, Alaska, and New Hampshire. While no one is rushing off to South Dakota or Alaska, the other states on the list are booming. Liberalism’s runaway costs have become impossible to hide. [more...]

Jeff Bezos's Extortion Claim May Go Nowhere

By James Hirsen

Founder of Amazon Jeff Bezos, the richest man in the world, entered the political arena about six years ago with his purchase of The Washington Post. American Media, Inc. (AMI) is the company that owns The National Enquirer, which is the media outlet that recently revealed Bezos was involved in an extramarital affair. But if there is no prosecutable crime, there seemingly would be no impact on the non-prosecution agreement. Much of the analysis and reporting on the latest chapter in the Bezos saga illustrates the hunger on the part of many in the mainstream press for anything that can be weaponized against the president and used to ratchet down his poll numbers. [more...]

Elizabeth Warren's 'Magic Fairy Dust' Economic Policies

By Lowell Ponte

“Our fight is for big structural change,” said Senator Elizabeth Warren (D.-Mass.), announcing last Saturday that she is running for president. Her goal, she said, was to “take power from the wealthy and well-connected,” and to “change the rules” of our “economy” and “democracy.” Days earlier, Senator Warren became co-sponsor of neophyte Congresswoman AOC’s “Green New Deal” resolution, which promises to replace airplanes with high-speed railroads, banish most cars, outlaw fossil fuels and nuclear power, retrofit every building in America, and provide guaranteed income for those “unable or unwilling to work” – and to achieve all this in only ten years. Most economists regard these utopian fantasies as literally insane. [more...]

Trade Deficit Moderates to $49.3B in November; China Deficit Improves Sharply

By Jeff Ferry

Trade data for November 2018 published by the Department of Commerce indicates that the Trump Administration’s tariffs may finally be improving our balance of trade. The November goods and services deficit came in at $49.3 billion, 11.5 percent better than October’s figure of $55.7 billion. Equally significant, the November figure was only a hair (0.7 percent to be exact) above the November 2017 deficit of $49.0B. Deficits in previous months in 2018 were typically 10 to 15 percent worse than the corresponding month in 2017. If November is now level-pegging 2017 figures, that is a healthy improvement over the earlier months of 2018. [more...]

The Largest Bank Merger Since the '90s

By Michelle Seiler-Tucker

In a deal that is said to be the largest banking merger since the late 1990s, BB&T Corp. has announced that it will buy SunTrust Bank, Inc. for approximately $28 billion. The two banks will form the nation’s sixth largest traditional bank with $442 billion in total combined assets by the end of the year. [more...]