Blog Archives - Jay Evensen

At least politicians are talking about families again

4/29/2021

At least people in Washington are talking about families again.
If any part of President Biden’s speech Wednesday night should make Utahns feel good, that’s it.
It’s been a long time since family values dominated any party platform in the capital.
Of course, the family measures Biden outlined in his American Families Plan would cost $1.8 trillion, added onto his $2.3 trillion “infrastructure” plan, which would be added onto the $1.9 trillion pandemic relief bill he already got Congress to pass, which was added to earlier stimulus bills, which … you get the idea.

2020 Census portends a population disaster

4/27/2021

Utah won the Census jackpot this week. Unfortunately, being the fastest growing state in the nation over the last decade doesn’t get you much immediate reward — in this case, not even a new seat in Congress.
It does, however, get you a great economy. The unemployment rate was 2.9% in March, even though the pandemic hasn’t officially ended yet. If you’ve tried to buy a house lately, you understand what demand can do when supply is low. If you already own a house, you understand how a growing economy can build personal wealth without much effort.
The question is, do Americans understand what the opposite is like?

History shows why court packing is a bad idea

4/26/2021

The debate over enlarging the U.S. Supreme Court would be largely unnecessary if Congress would take its power to legislate seriously.
Even so, history has plenty to offer on the subject, clearly demonstrating that court size has been used as a political weapon before. No one should doubt that, once unsheathed again after lying dormant for 152 years, it would be weaponized again.

Still on that highway to San Francisco home prices

4/26/2021

For Utah housing costs, the highway to San Francisco is moving at full speed.
It’s the traffic going the other direction we ought to worry about.
If you doubt that the Wasatch Front is headed toward Bay Area real estate prices, consider this:
Zillow, the real estate marketing company, reports that the typical home in Park City now sells for $1,027,216. In San Francisco, it’s $1,419,714.
The difference is that Park City’s home values shot up by 11.2% over the past year, while San Francisco’s fell by 3.2%.

The buck stops here for Utah's homeless programs

4/26/2021

If you were to imagine a czar, in the traditional, Russian sense, Wayne Niederhauser’s image probably wouldn’t come to mind. Which may be why Utah’s new homeless services coordinator doesn’t like the informal title of “homeless czar.”
“That’s a negative. That’s not my style of leadership,” he told me when I asked if he wanted to be called that.

If Zoom-bombers stay away, Utah might get new districts

4/15/2021

Songs with racist lyrics, pornographic pictures and people purporting to be Russian hackers — tell the truth now, is this how you envisioned an independent redistricting process in Utah when you voted for Proposition 4 in 2018?
Or maybe you voted against it, but I’ll bet it wasn’t because you thought this might happen.
“It sounds like a deliberate hit,” Rex Facer, chair of the Utah Independent Redistricting Commission, told me as he described the first meeting Tuesday night.

This isn't the right time period for ranked-choice voting

4/12/2021

If ranked-choice voting belongs anywhere, it is in non-partisan municipal elections. Salt Lake City will consider adopting this method at a meeting April 20, and the city council probably ought to do it.
Use it for anything bigger than that, however — especially congressional races — and this otherwise intriguing way to vote will run straight into the buzzsaw of ultra-partisanship that defines so much of American politics these days.

Voting law is one area where Utah is progressive

4/8/2021

Utah knows a thing or two about being punished for the acts of its elected officials. About four years ago, the Outdoor Retailers show, which brought tens of thousands of people annually to Salt Lake City, went elsewhere because of the state’s attitude toward public lands.
That cost about $45 million in direct spending each year. That’s not much, especially compared with what Delta, Coca-Cola and Major League Baseball could do in Georgia … or what Delta could do to Utah, if it ever decided to.
But at least no one has a gripe when it comes to Utah’s voting laws, for good reason.
Boycotts and threats do not generally allow for nuance. So it is with Georgia’s new law governing elections in that state.

Will vaccine passports be the future for the U.S. economy?

4/2/2021

If you love the culture war but think it’s been waning lately or that struggles over mask-wearing have become boring, take heart. Vaccine passports are looming.
Back in January, President Biden signed an executive order that directs government agencies to find ways to link COVID-19 vaccinations to vaccine cards, which are known as “international certificates of vaccination or prophylaxis,” with the idea of creating a digital version.
The thought is that, if you want to travel, attend an event, or perhaps even dine out, a business might require you to flash your passport to gain entry.
Cue the apocalypse.

weebly statistics

weebly reliable statistics

weebly statistics