John T. Reed’s news blog

What will the U.S. federal government do in its inevitable financial death throes due to out-of-control entitlements. Probably similar to states and other countries who are farther down that road.   IL, in the worst financial shape of any state, is now raising its maximum income tax rate. Is that the proper solution? Probably not. They need to cut spending especially on pensions and health care for state government employees.   Raising tax rates runs the risk of pushing IL rates past the peak of the Laffer Curve. That is a graph that shows increasing rates increases revenue as the...

Who owns the phone number 805-421-0325? I ask because my bank said there appeared to be an identity theft attempt from there earlier today. Around 7PM, I got a call from that area code. I saw it appear on my TV because we have Comcast phone service. TV said the caller was in Santa Paula, CA 93060. I was not able to answer it fast enough.About five minutes later, my other line rang. The caller said he had just tried on the first number a few minutes before. Uh huh. Network Solutions? He claimed to be from Network Solutions, the...

The long 6/29/17 Wall Street Journal article about Nike deciding to sell through Amazon is excellent. (“Retail Shift Pushed Nike to Amazon”—Google it).Nike refused for years because they thought the graphics on the Amazon site were too crappy to properly display a branded product like Nike products. I suspect they also did not want to give Amazon such a cut. Unauthorized Amazon sellers The third parties selling Nike products on Amazon without authorization were buying them in tiny batches—to avoid detection by Nike—from authorized Amazon distributors on sale and such then selling them for slightly more. They also bought them...

I just took a call from a 4th grade youth football defensive coach. I have not coached in a few years, but it was like a reunion where you and your old buddies are talking as if some conversation from 50 years ago was effortlessly picked up, where you left off. . This guy, 29, happened to be the son of a West Point class of 1971 guy. “Tell your dad I was a First Beast platoon sergeant the month he entered West Point.” . Anyway, the guy has read my Gap-Air-Mirror Defense three times and used it sparingly the...

This summer, I am tutoring my 6-year-old granddaughter in first-grade math: addition, subtraction, counting by 2s, 3s, 4s, etc. coins and dollars, shapes and comparisons of size.My son, her father, asked the first grade teacher what “book” they use. IXL was the answer: an on-line bunch of questions set up like a computer game. I also use Khan Academy, and ABCya. Stumbled on this trick in high school Studying next year’s math is a trick I stumbled on in high school. Before my junior year, I decided to make a little bit of productive use of the summer since we...