All Categories - Jay Evensen

America's sport gambling experiment has failed

5/12/2025

Seven years ago this May 14, when the Supreme Court issued a ruling that allowed states to legalize sports betting, a New York Times news story speculated that, “The decision seems certain to result in profound changes to the nation’s relationship with sports wagering.”
And how.
Today, in 38 states, every fractional piece of a sporting event is subject to wagering, from whether a football team’s current drive will result in a touchdown or a punt, to whether a basketball player will score less than or above his or her seasonal average per game. And it all can be done with the convenience of a smartphone, utilizing legalized betting companies whose commercials seem to saturate many nationwide telecasts.

How the tariffs stole Christmas

5/12/2025

The plot is like any of a dozen or more Christmas movies you may have seen. A villain either steals all the presents or gets in the way of Santa’s routine, and suddenly it appears there will be no gifts under the tree.
Only, this time it’s not clear whether any hero can swoop in and save the day. No hastily organized singing of Christmas songs in Central Park can make the reindeer fly higher than the 145% tariffs the White House has imposed on the largest supplier of Christmas in the United States — China.

Why monument designation process must change

5/12/2025

Back near the turn of the 20th century, the United States faced a crisis of disappearing Native American artifacts. So-called “pot hunters” were ravaging ancient sites across the West.
On July 29, 1903, the New York Times recounted a disturbing observation from the Chicago World’s Fair that had taken place 10 years earlier.

Utahns are among the most taxed people in the U.S.

5/5/2025

In five years, Utah lawmakers have cut income taxes to the tune of about $1.4 billion.
Many conservatives believe the income tax inhibits growth and productivity. There is some truth to the old saw that says if you want less of something, tax it more.
But now a new report by the research group WalletHub shows Utah, despite its tax cuts in recent years, still ranks among the nation’s highest-taxed states.
WalletHub examined each state’s tax burden, or the proportion of total personal income rerquired for state and local taxes. Utah came in 14 highest. It did best in property taxes, finishing 36th highest, but not so good in sales and excise takes, at 14th, and worst in income taxes, at 11th. However, eight states have no income tax at all, and Utah’s burden was measured at only 3.3% of personal income, which hardly seems onerous.

Trump wants Americans to start a new baby boom

4/25/2025

If I learned anything during a trip to China a few years ago, it was that anti-family policies can be awfully hard to reverse once they take hold.
My wife and I were there with our son’s family, which included three small children. This was not long after China had lifted its one-child-per-family policy, which had been in place 35 years. China, like many nations today, was beginning to come to grips with the realization that it faced a demographic catastrophe if it couldn’t reverse a child-limiting trend that had become part of the nation’s psyche. But after 35 years, it appeared many young Chinese didn’t want children. Large families, meanwhile, were, and likely remain, as rare as unicorn sightings.

The refugees I have known

4/25/2025

During my long career (approaching 39 years at the Deseret News and 43 years overall in the news business), some of the most inspiring interviews I have conducted have been with refugees.
The ones I have met have an unusual grit and determination, and a love of freedom unique to those who have struggled against oppression.

Are we addicted to cheap things?

4/17/2025

My wife likes to tell the story of how, as a girl in the 1970s, she carefully saved money over a period of time to buy a pair of shoes she had been admiring in a local store.
Finally, the day came when she had exactly enough cash in-hand. She eagerly went downtown — only to find that the price had gone up.
The story has two morals. First, people who are under 50 today can’t comprehend the relentless inflation of the ‘70s; and second, Americans haven’t always enjoyed an over-abundance of cheap clothing. Our children are full-grown, but the memories of endless T-shirts, shorts and, yes, shoes strewn across their bedroom floors remains vivid.
So, when I read that Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent last month told the Economic Club of New York, “Access to cheap goods is not the essence of the American dream,” I had to nod in agreement.

Tariffs were controversial in the 19th century, too

4/4/2025

Donald Trump and Grover Cleveland are the only two men elected to non-consecutive terms as president, but the similarities end there. For one thing, they couldn’t be more opposite each other when it comes to tariffs.
In his biography of Theodore Roosevelt, author Nathan Miller describes how, when Cleveland was finishing his first term in 1888 and running for re-election, he ignored the advice of his Democratic Party and railed on tariffs.

Why are Scandinavians so darned happy?

4/2/2025

Pop quiz: If you knew you were going to lose your wallet, which country would you choose to lose it in?
That’s an unhappy question to which, fortunately, there is a happy answer. If you said Finland (or any of the Scandinavian countries), you would be right. And it’s not a coincidence that those countries also rise to the top of the list as the happiest nations on earth.
The second question is, what can we, in the increasingly unhappy United States, do to be more like Finland?

Help, my car has switched political parties!

3/23/2025

Mike Maxwell is the same basic guy today that he was in 2016.
He considers himself center-right in his politics — not an extremist by any stretch. By day, he’s the Salt Lake Chapter chair of a group called the LDS Earth Stewardship. He is mild-mannered.
But he drives political lightning rods.

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