Beyond protests, St. Paul shows how police and community can find solutions - CSMonitor.com

Beyond protests, St. Paul shows how police and community can find solutions - CSMonitor.com: "A few evenings a week, Mr. Lott and several dozen other Community Ambassadors with youth-outreach experience walk the streets to defuse tensions, and steer kids into productive channels instead of local precincts.

“There is a new culture shift, where [the police are acknowledging they] do have to do something differently … which has been remarkable.” Lott says. “I’ve never felt closer to police officers than I do now…. We’re developing relationships.”

In turn, St. Paul has witnessed significant declines in crimes and juvenile arrests."



"“The kids are having less contact with the police … and the police are treating them more human; we humanized them. So it’s been a win-win,” says Community Ambassadors project manager Joel Franklin."

Black Lives and Blue Lives: how both sides reveal truths - CSMonitor.com

Black Lives and Blue Lives: how both sides reveal truths - CSMonitor.com: " For example, two typical arguments about the racial bias of police go as follows:

“Blacks are targeted by police because they commit more violent crimes.”

“The treatment of blacks by police is uneven and brutal due to racism.”

Which side do you choose?

Evidence supports both views. Acknowledging one doesn’t diminish the other. In fact, finding a resolution to this issue is impossible without accepting the truth in both these statements."

FTC Cracks Down on Sponsored Content | Mises Wire

FTC Cracks Down on Sponsored Content | Mises Wire: "Similar to antitrust or anti-dumping legislation, consumer protection legislation is almost never invoked by consumers themselves. Instead, rival producers use it as a tool to stifle competition. Consumers don’t clamor to be “protected” from low prices; rather, inefficient producers demand protection from their more popular competition. "



"Whenever one influencer accepts money in exchange for a positive review, this creates an opportunity for rivals to gain market share by exposing the deceit and then promoting their own, unbiased opinions."



"Regulating disclosure means that aspiring influencers compete at a disadvantage, because beginners typically start with fewer resources and no reputation, and the cost of complying with the FTC’s standards is therefore relatively high. This in turn discourages new entrants to the influence market, which ends up favoring already-established names over new talent."

White ally involvement in black movements

"While Black Lives Matter Minneapolis welcomes white support, its meetings exclude whites. The meetings are "for people of color, indigenous and black people or people who identified as African descent," said Lena Gardner, one of the group's organizers. Black Lives Matter St. Paul meetings are open to all races."

http://m.startribune.com/for-black-leaders-white-allies-can-require-a-balancing-act/388896611/

GOP anti-poverty plans

"Because states can count declines in welfare rolls as increases in work, and because they can game the federal work requirements via various strategies, few of them have devoted much effort toward helping recipients become employed or more employable."

"Mead’s goal is to impose a kind of work requirement on noncustodial fathers in arrears on their child support through mandatory work programs. The intent is to help them develop skills and gain experience while promoting personal responsibility."

"This shift to services would also remove some of the incentives that lead states to shift families from the Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) program to SSI (which is not block granted and is almost entirely federally funded) and that lead parents to prefer SSI to TANF (which, unlike SSI, has work requirements and time limits)."

"Finally, the blueprint advocates that housing vouchers be portable across public housing authorities, so that poor families can move to opportunity. This proposal draws on a growing recognition that residential mobility may be centralto economic mobility. The blueprint also calls for greater tenant involvement in public housing projects, and greater use of nongovernmental service providers."

"The blueprint calls for the use of “tiered funding,” whereby programs are categorized depending on whether they are new and untested, have demonstrated positive initial results, or have proven effective, with different levels of funding tied to each category."

http://www.forbes.com/sites/scottwinship/2016/06/07/the-ambitious-and-distinctive-house-gop-antipoverty-and-opportunity-agenda/#5a326d7e1eb0

The Truth about Trade | Cato Institute

The Truth about Trade | Cato Institute: "Our manufacturers continue to set production and export records, and the United States is the world’s second-largest manufacturer (17.2 percent of total global output) and third-largest exporter. America also remains the world’s top destination for foreign direct investment ($384 billion in 2015 alone) — more than double second-place Hong Kong and almost triple third-place China. "



" For example, a recent Ball State study attributed almost 90 percent of all U.S. manufacturing-job losses since 2000 to productivity gains. “Had we kept 2000-levels of productivity and applied them to 2010-levels of production,” the authors write, “we would have required 20.9 million manufacturing workers. Instead, we employed only 12.1 million.” "



"The consumer gains from trade disproportionally accrue to America’s poor and middle class. A 2015 study by Pablo Fajgelbaum and Amit Khandelwal finds that these groups, because they concentrate spending in more-traded sectors such as food and clothing, enjoy almost 90 percent of the consumer benefits of trade."



"More than half of all imports (including those from China) are inputs and capital goods consumed by other American manufacturers to make globally competitive products."



"When the Steelworkers convinced President Obama to impose 35 percent tariffs on Chinese tires in 2009, the result was, even under the best assumptions, a few unionized jobs saved at a cost to U.S. consumers of $900,000 per job — precisely the type of crony-capitalist boondoggle that, in any form other than that of a hidden tax targeting a foreign “adversary,” would engender hostile political opposition from the right."



"the American “Big Three” automakers produce only five of the top 20 most “domestic” cars (defined by their total share of U.S. and Canadian auto parts) sold in the United States in 2016"



"government policy actively discourages Americans from finding work in burgeoning fields. Perhaps the most brazen example of such policies is the federal tax code’s business deduction for work-related education, which permits a worker to deduct education and training expenses from his taxable income, but only if they relate to his current job. Thus, a textilefactory worker can get a tax benefit for new training on the latest garment machine, but he cannot get the same benefit for night classes to become a certified IT specialist. Such a system discourages workers in dying fields from preparing themselves for a new career."



"multiple studies commissioned by the Labor Department have found that TAA participants are worse off, as measured by future wages and benefits, than similarly situated jobless individuals outside the program"

What the Panama Papers Actually Show | Cato Institute

What the Panama Papers Actually Show | Cato Institute: "First, it should be noted how few Americans were included in the Panama Papers. Out of the data released so far, the consortium of journalists studying the papers has identified only 211 people with U.S. addresses, and not all of these people are American citizens. There are no Americans among the so-called “Power Players,” a list that includes 140 politicians from more than 50 countries. In fact, according to University of California–Berkeley economist Gabriel Zucman, even if you cast a wider net, looking at offshore financial assets worldwide, U.S. citizens and companies keep only about 4 percent of their wealth offshore, tying us with Asia for the lowest percentage. By comparison, Europeans stash 10 percent of their wealth offshore, Latin Americans move 22 percent out of their countries, and Russians keep an overwhelming 52 percent in overseas accounts. Even Canadians hold more than twice as much of their financial assets offshore as Americans."



"What is surprising, though, is the number of government officials and aides — and their relatives — who have apparently accumulated vast fortunes, and often in countries that self-consciously preach equality, even socialism."



"One needs to ask how government officials — who, unlike businessmen and entrepreneurs, create nothing and generate no wealth for society — are among the richest people in their supposedly egalitarian countries."

Merle Haggard Could Easily Have Died in San Quentin | Cato Institute

Merle Haggard Could Easily Have Died in San Quentin | Cato Institute: "In 1997, Norman Williams was sentenced to life in prison for his third strike, stealing a floor jack from a tow truck. His previous two strikes? Burglarizing an apartment that was being fumigated (the stolen goods were then robbed from him at gunpoint) and stealing two hand drills and other tools from an art studio (he was confronted by the owner and dropped everything and ran).

Williams was a hapless criminal, but he hardly deserved life in prison. Thanks to an enterprising district attorney, he was released from prison early. Yet half of those still serving life sentences under the California law were convicted of a third felony that was not violent or serious."

You and Donald Trump Might Not Like Free Trade, but It's Been Good to You Both | Cato Institute

You and Donald Trump Might Not Like Free Trade, but It's Been Good to You Both | Cato Institute: "Study after study has shown that countries more open to the global economy grow faster and achieve higher incomes than those that are relatively closed. By enlarging markets to span national borders, free trade permits greater specialization and economies of scale, both essential ingredients of economic growth.

But free trade agreements are not free trade. They are managed trade. They are premised on mercantilist assumptions that exports are good and imports are bad."



"Trade restrictions penalize consumers, import-using industries and taxpayers.



Yet, holding firm to those domestic barriers, while insisting that foreign markets open wider, is the standard strategy for negotiating free trade agreements."

On ObamaCare, Is There One Set of Rules for Congress and Another for Citizens? | Cato Institute

On ObamaCare, Is There One Set of Rules for Congress and Another for Citizens? | Cato Institute: "The ACA bars businesses with more than 100 employees from participating in SHOP Exchanges. Until this year, D.C. barred businesses with more than 50 employees. When those officials falsely claimed the House and Senate fit under those limits, they did so because they wanted to draw money from the federal Treasury—i.e., a subsidy of up to $12,000 for each member and staffer."