We subscribe to a Newsmax e-mail feed titled Insider Report. It is highly recommended. At this writing the articles that took our eye do not seem to be available on the Newsmax webpage. Hopefully they will make their way there shortly. However the newsletter we received does provide a webpage for viewing, links to which we have provided.
Set forth below are some excerpts from instructive articles we found particularly timely dealing with raising the minimum wage; climate change related laws and treaties; border security (immigration) and a reference to infrastructure spending that has implications for the debate regarding raising the fuel tax in Iowa.
1. Raising the Minimum Wage Has ‘Unintended Consequences’
Raising the minimum wage would not necessarily reduce the $7 billion a year that fast-food workers receive in government benefits . . .
if fast-food restaurants raised their wages, that would not guarantee a decline in government benefits, The Wall Street Journal reported.
Some restaurants might increase automation and cut jobs, leading to increased benefits for the laid-off workers. In some cases, a worker’s family members could remain eligible for benefits even if wages were increased.
In other cases, workers might reduce their hours in response to a salary hike, and wage increases would boost the earned income tax credit received by some employees, according to the Journal. . . .
Another analysis, by George Mason University senior scholar Antony Davies, estimates that raising the minimum wage in New Jersey by $1 an hour will increase unemployment by about 2 percent among workers without a high school education.
2. DHS: Northern Border Now Poses Biggest Terrorist Threat
A top official with the Department of Homeland Security warns that the “nearly unguarded” northern border has become the most likely point of entry into the country for terrorists. . . .
“If we selectively limit manpower to current locations with high volumes of illegal crossings, all we have really achieved is shifting the point of illegal entry to a different location.”
4. 2013 Slowest Hurricane Season Since 1982
The 2013 Atlantic hurricane season, which officially ended on Saturday, had the fewest hurricanes in 30 years, casting doubt on claims from climate change alarmists that global warming will lead to more frequent and stronger storms.
No major hurricanes formed in the Atlantic basin for the first time since 1994, thanks in large part to “persistent, unfavorable atmospheric conditions over the Gulf of Mexico, Caribbean Sea, and tropical Atlantic Ocean,” according to a report from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
5. Heritage: Infrastructure Spending Won’t Produce New Jobs
President Barack Obama and prominent members of Congress have called for a significant boost in infrastructure spending on roads and bridges to create jobs and stimulate the economy.
But a new report from The Heritage Foundation asserts that those calls “misunderstand” the nature of infrastructure construction work.
“Infrastructure projects are capital intensive, not labor intensive,” James Sherk writes for the foundation.
Repair and replacement of traffic arteries require a relatively small number of highly skilled workers using advanced equipment, he points out.
“New jobs created would come primarily at the expense of other jobs in the private sector.”
He concluded that the new spending called for by Senate Budget Committee Chairwoman Patty Murray, D-Wash., and others “would do more to shuffle jobs around than reduce unemployment.”
(Newsmax) Footnote: America’s infrastructure quality has actually improved significantly over the past two decades, and the number of structurally deficient bridges has fallen steadily since 1992.
Read the informative Newsmax articles here in their entirety.
R Mall
