Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
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By a 2-1 margin, according to polling done this fall by the Albuquerque Journal, New Mexicans are not thrilled with current economic conditions. The poll found 38% of respondents called the economy “poor” while just 19% said “good.” The rest either said “fair” or had no strong opinions on the matter. New Mexicans are not alone in having negative views on the economy. Americans have felt the negative impact of inflation and are not happy about their personal or family fina...
The rich don’t pay their fair share of taxes. This has been said or written by politicians from Joe Biden to Kamala Harris, Sen. Martin Heinrich to Rep. Melanie Stansbury and many others. “Soak the rich” forms the basis of “progressive” economic thinking in the United States. What constitutes “fair” in the world of taxation is an open question, but many of these politicians make the unfounded claim that the rich pay taxes at a lower rate than do low- and moderate-inco...
Like clockwork, every presidential election we see a new set of attacks on the Electoral College. The Electoral College is the system by which the United States has elected every president since the Founding. As you may be aware, the Electoral College was the result of compromise among the Founding Fathers to resolve conflicting interests among the colonies that ultimately agreed to adopt the U.S. Constitution, thus becoming the first 13 American states under the...
Since President Biden left the presidential race his replacement Kamala Harris has been vague about her policy ideas. In a few areas (like abortion) we know her positions clearly. And in a few isolated cases she has made detailed statements ($25,000 payments to first-time home buyers and not taxing tips). But the best way to know someone is by the company she keeps. At the recently completed Democratic National Convention New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham was given a...
The latest edition of Kids Count provides more devastating news about New Mexico and the condition of our children. The report, created by the Annie E. Casey Foundation (a center/left non-profit that works nationwide) analyzes and ranks all 50 states based on 16 variables relating to childhood outcomes. Surprising absolutely no one, New Mexico was once again at 50th. I analyzed the report and counted seven variables that improved, seven that got worse, and two that stayed the...
Occasionally the evening news reports on people keeping more animals than they can handle. Other times children of deceased parents are astonished by how much “stuff” their parents or grandparents hang onto only to leave piles of unwanted things to be thrown out. The state of New Mexico is a hoarder. It hoards cash. One might think this is a good thing because, after all, isn’t keeping cash for a “rainy day” (such as a downturn in oil and gas) a good thing? Not really. Governm...
Left, right, or center, economists tend to agree that “corporate welfare” is not good public policy or good economics. A recent Rasmussen poll found that approximately 65% of Americans (regardless of political philosophy or affiliation) oppose corporate welfare. Definitions of what constitutes such “welfare” vary, but generally relate to policies that involve politicians picking winners and losers in the economy. Sadly, New Mexico has a long history of picking “losers...
What if I told you that one federal government policy could do the following: 1) Undermine Russia’s war against Ukraine (without the U.S. spending a dime); 2) Strengthen economic ties between the U.S. and Asian and European nations; 3) Reduce CO2 emissions; 4) Increase U.S. tax revenues and American jobs (including in New Mexico). The policy I’m referring to is to allow American exports of liquefied natural gas (LNG). Thanks to American technological prowess the U.S. is pro...
Recently, Land Commissioner Stephanie Garcia Richard, after pushing the Legislature for a 25% tax hike on New Mexico oil and gas producers, made the decision to pull those “highly valuable” tracts of land and not lease them. That decision has raised concerns that her actions may violate her fiduciary responsibility to maximize revenues from the lands under her control. Garcia Richard told the Albuquerque Journal, “It’s worth it to temporarily forgo the dollars (from leasing...
Monday is the fourth anniversary of Gov. Lujan Grisham’s first public health emergency dealing with what was then the start of the COVID 19 pandemic. Although restrictions varied widely throughout the next three years, the public health emergency did not end until March 31, 2023. Under New Mexico’s public health emergency laws governors have wide discretion to make policies unchecked by the Legislature or any other elected body. Objectively, it is hard to see any sig...
As Sen. George Muñoz, D-Gallup, told the floor as debate over this year’s budget wrapped up: “You’re not a poor state. Quit telling other people you’re a poor state.” He’s right. New Mexico is not poor. But what about the people of New Mexico? Among the citizens poverty remains high. According to World Population Review, New Mexico has the third-highest poverty rate in the US. Crime remains troubling and the education system is in dire straits. The state of New Mexico -- me...
In recent years the “left” including most, but not all in the Democratic Party have turned sharply against traditional energy sources. Despite New Mexico’s status as a leading energy state, it has not been exempted from this trend. In fact, while New Mexico has seen an unprecedented oil and gas boom (which has unlocked unprecedented government revenues) New Mexico’s political leadership has become virulently anti-energy. This is true for all five members of its congres...
With yet another massive budget surplus awaiting the New Mexico Legislature as it convenes later this month, this column should rightly be replete with ideas for how the governor and Legislature can use that surplus to diversify the state’s economy and bring New Mexico out of poverty. Alas, if we learned nothing from last year’s 2023 session, it is that even at a time of surplus, the Legislature can still harm our economy. As the Legislature convened last year with a $3.6 bil...
Fresh off her “victory” in pushing a vast increase in the number of electric vehicles sold in New Mexico through a board appointed by her, New Mexico Gov. Lujan Grisham is pushing yet another regulation to force EVs on an unwilling public. The governor’s latest plan is to mandate EV charging stations and equipment for newly built apartment buildings and other commercial real estate. The “good” news is that while news reports back in September reported that up to 20% of all pa...
After four long days of testimony and public comment the Environmental Improvement Board decided recently to move forward with Gov. Lujan Grisham’s plan to follow California’s “clean vehicle” standard. In practice that means New Mexico’s car dealers will have to increase sales of electric vehicles in New Mexico from the current 3% of all new vehicles to 43% by summer of 2026 and 82% by summer of 2031. New Mexico’s car dealers are the ones with the most to lose under this...
The Legislative Finance Committee has produced a new report looking at the issue of New Mexico’s low workforce participation rate. Here is one of many choice quotes analyzing the problem: “While unemployment rates have recovered to pre-pandemic levels, the share of the state’s working age population participating in the labor force is persistently low. Social services, economic development, tax rates, pension systems, the service industry, and virtually every other area of th...
An unelected board called the Environmental Improvement Board is accepting public comments to determine whether New Mexicans have the freedom to move around this big, beautiful state (or not). We have created a website to help average New Mexicans defend that right. Go to: KeepYourCarsNM.com The governor is pushing regulations that would force New Mexicans to buy vastly more electric vehicles than they currently do. If adopted, 82% of the vehicles sold in our state will have...
The idea of a “universal basic income” has been around a long time. Most supporters are broadly on the left of the political spectrum, but many conservative thought leaders, including Charles Murray as well as Reagan officials like James Baker and George Schultz, have also been willing to consider the idea. The idea behind UBI is simple: replace welfare payments to the poor with cash payments to empower the poor to manage their government benefits. Welfare programs have a bun...
New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham recently gained national headlines for her public health order, which essentially banned carrying a gun in Bernalillo County, the state’s largest county by population. Her justification for this dramatic action was a recent shooting outside Isotopes Park, but residents of Bernalillo County and Albuquerque face and have faced these issues for years. Each time a criminal uses a gun to kill or steal it is frustrating and a sad event. Both t...
New Mexico should be in crisis mode. Our K-12 education system is certainly facing a crisis. Problems abound: recent reports highlight serious school attendance issues, the NAEP (known as the “Nation’s Report Card”) test places New Mexico 52nd across ALL age groups and subjects studied, the Kids Count report shows New Mexico kids are losing ground, and no one seems to have a solution. Education spending has increased markedly in recent years with nothing to show for it. With...
A recent cartoon by John Trever highlights the vastly different approaches toward governance of New Mexico and Texas. The cartoon is of the state border circa 2030 as New Mexicans head to Texas for gas-powered vehicles while Texans visit NM for abortions and marijuana. These are hardly the only differences between the two nowadays as Texas has no income tax or job-killing gross receipts tax. It is a right to work state, and state spending per-person is less than half of what i...
Once again New Mexico is at the bottom of a list. “Kids Count 2023” is compiled by the Annie E. Casey Foundation with distribution and media handled by New Mexico Voices for Children. While it is not the report Rio Grande Foundation would compile, the 16 variables considered in do highlight issues regarding the well-being of New Mexico children. Sadly, like so many similar reports, the results are not good for our state. What is unique is the positive spin being applied by...
According to New Mexico’s Tax and Revenue Department, rebate checks (or transfers to bank accounts) will be going out at any time during the middle of June. At the Rio Grande Foundation we welcome the $500 or $1,000 (depending on single/married filing status). This is especially true at a time when inflation is rising faster than wages. But New Mexico is in the midst of an unprecedented boom in its oil and gas industry and, while those checks are nice, they are a pittance r...
The 2023 New Mexico legislative session was generally disappointing for New Mexicans who wish to see much-needed K-12 education reform. However, it was not a total loss. In fact, one bill did pass that could help thousands of New Mexico families pay for educational options that work best for them. Without a single “no” vote during the 2023 session, HB 342 will soon be the “law of the land.” The bipartisan bill was sponsored in the House by Republican Minority Leader Ryan Lane...
In her message in which she explained her veto of large portions of the Legislature-passed tax bill, Gov. Lujan Grisham wrote, “Although HB 547 has many laudable tax reform measures, I have grave concerns about the sustainability of this tax package as a whole.” She wrote this while the state of New Mexico sits on a $3.6 billion budget surplus thanks to oil and gas revenues (a boom that shows no signs of slowing down). She also signed a 14% budget increase, which grew the siz...
