Entries by Andrew Cline

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Chain of Inspiration, by John Kramer

Editor’s note: John Kramer, vice president for communications at the Institute for Justice, won this year’s Thomas Roe Award, the highest award given by the State Policy Network for achievements in advancing free-market ideas. Kramer is from Sunapee, N.H. With his permission, we share his moving acceptance speech in the hope that it inspires others […]

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Winter is coming (and it’s going to be expensive)

The election is 25 days away and the nation’s greatest political minds are dutifully disgorging rivers of commentary on the two most important topics of 2018: A couple of dudes named Kanye and Beto. Weeks before the election, America’s Great Explainers think that what the country really needs are 2,000-word think pieces and cable TV […]

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DCYF funding and state business tax cuts

Executive summary: Funding for the state’s Division of Children, Youth and Families has become a contested political issue in this year’s state elections. Framing the debate, former state Sen. Molly Kelly, the Democratic nominee for governor, asserts that the 2018-19 state budget signed by Gov. Chris Sununu prioritized tax cuts for the wealthiest corporations over […]

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The minimum wage is virtue signaling

As of July, the average hourly wage for private employment in New Hampshire was $26.22, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data compiled by the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. In February, New Hampshire recorded its highest average hourly wage on record, $26.89. (The Federal Reserve data show New Hampshire wages regularly peaking in […]

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Burning money

Every time you pay your electricity or heating bill, you’re lighting your money on fire. That is, you’re trading money for the energy released by burning some combustible material — natural gas, home heating oil, wood pellets, etc. So in effect, you’re burning your money. That’s OK, it’s how a market economy works. You don’t […]

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Energy and housing’s self-inflicted wounds

New Hampshire Public Radio reported this week on a study showing that rural New Englanders pay a higher percentage of their income on energy. This isn’t really new information. But it was a slow news week and the report’s recommended solutions seemed written to get NPR listeners to spill their morning coffees from their pledge […]

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The lumberjacks are not OK

How many lumberjacks live in New Hampshire? Given the debate over Gov. Chris Sununu’s vetoes of two bills to further subsidize the state’s forest products industry, it’s an important question. No one seems to know the answer. Supporters of the two bills, Senate Bills 365 and 446, say the subsidies would save 900 jobs. Sometimes […]

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A turning point for public sector unions

Labor Day weekend is a time for last trips to the beach, first trips to apple orchards, and getting into heated political arguments over the role organized labor in the 21st century. Ah, autumn. This is the first Labor Day after the U.S. Supreme Court’s famous June 27 Janus decisionin which the court held that […]

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Diversifying New Hampshire

New Hampshire, Vermont, and Maine are so white that if a map of the United States were colored according to the skin pigmentation of its residents, Northern New England would look like a snow-covered peak. We could go as a ghost for Halloween without even dressing up. And that’s a potential problem. Some New Hampshire business […]