How the Prevailing Wage Law Stopped Progress | 11/28/2018

Recently, with encouragement from the County Executive, Tom Gordon, the New Castle County Council voted 7 to 6 against using a $100,000 contribution from the Friends of Rockwood to renovate the county-owned Rockwood Mansion. The argument was that such construction repairs should be subject to Delawa...

Floundering in a Sea of Anecdotes | 11/28/2018

The data shows that Delawares economy is still floundering. While employment is starting to pick up, the unemployment rate is stuck at twice the historic average. And this despite the labor force dropping by more than 6,500 persons since the beginning of 2013. Transfer payments remain the driving co...

Real Steps to Increase Jobs | 11/28/2018

            Delaware’s Goods Producing sector, like manufacturing and construction, declined 24% from pre-recession levels to 2012! The rest of the country was only down 2% and is on the way to full recovery. There are policy bar...

Getting a foot in the door via apprenticeship | 11/28/2018

The recovery of employment since the 2008 crisis has been unusually slow. The unemployment rate has at last dropped below 7 percent because many have left the labor force. Total employment is still below its 2007 level. Persistent unemployment can be due to structural causes. For example, contr...

Stimulus Smoke and Mirrors | 11/28/2018

Administration economists and officials keep touting the multiplier effects from additional government spending. Extended unemployment benefits generate more than a dollar’s worth of activity in the economy. More agricultural subsidies will pump up economic growth.   This is macroecono...

Rising tax burden drives wealthy households from Delaware | 11/28/2018

The data is clear that rising state and local tax burdens drive wealthy  households from states. The steadily rising state and local tax burden in Delaware is problematic.
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Staring into an Abyss | 11/28/2018

The latest Gallup Economic Confidence Index (ECI) numbers for Delaware are stark.   Every week Gallup conducts a nationwide survey of consumers. The ECI is based on two questions: the first asking consumers to rate their perceptions of current economic conditions as "excellent," &q...

The States Benefit Bonanza: How Deep is the Hole? | 11/28/2018

The Delaware Public Employees’ Retirement System is what you have dreamed about but are unlikely to ever enjoy. DPERS is a “defined benefit plan” which means that participants’ retirement benefits are paid out “regardless of market events.” State government r...

Repatriation: Set the Cash Balances Free! | 11/28/2018

Again and again and again politicians have to learn that raising taxes above a reasonable level results in less tax revenue by encouraging tax avoidance. The current tax rate of 35% on the repatriated income of the foreign operations of U.S. firms, the highest rate in the developed world, is a class...

Rising tax burden driving wealthy from Delaware | 11/28/2018

The most recent data from the Tax Foundation shows that Delaware is driving out wealthy residents by raising its state and local tax burden.   Every year the Tax Foundation calculates each state-local tax burden as a percentage of the state’s per capita income. Since 2001 Delaware&rsquo...