Lukie Crowley – Page 2 – Sound Economics

Trump’s Import Tax on Mexico: Does it make sense?

Posted on February 10, 2017 by Lukie Crowley — No Comments ↓

President Trump (just getting used to saying that) has been talking about building a wall on the border to Mexico for a while now. It’s going to be really big (yuge), the best wall you have ever seen and according to Trump, he wants Mexico to pay for it. It’s estimated that the wall would cost between $8-14 billion, a humongous price for this amazing wall. President Enrique Pena Nieto says that Mexico paying for it is not going to happen. His response: “I am dismayed by and condemn the decision made by the United States to continue building a wall that Continue reading Trump’s Import Tax on Mexico: Does it make sense?→

Trump Promises Lifting of Restrictions on Louisiana’s Oil and Gas Industry

Posted on December 9, 2016 by Lukie Crowley — No Comments ↓

Donald Trump has made a lot of promises over the past year or so on the campaign trail, some more believable than others. One of the promises that is more believable is the idea that fossil fuel energy will be let loose. Trump furthered his promise in a rally in Baton Rouge about lifting the regulations on the oil and gas industries in Louisiana. These industries are extremely important to the economy in Louisiana but come with the mark of unclean energy, something that brings caution with the continued warming of the globe. However, Trump hasn’t put any stock in Global Warming, Continue reading Trump Promises Lifting of Restrictions on Louisiana’s Oil and Gas Industry→

Interview with Lisa Nunn on Washington State Tax Policy

Posted on December 2, 2016 by Lukie Crowley — No Comments ↓

This week, I sat down with Professor Lisa Nunn to talk about the Washington State tax policy and the regressive features it includes. Take a listen!

Prime Minister of India Bans Currency in Country

Posted on November 18, 2016 by Lukie Crowley — No Comments ↓

In an effort to abolish corruption and crime throughout the country, India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi banned the largest bills on Nov. 8 from being in circulation and printed throughout the country. How would this stop corruption, you ask? A lot of crime organizations throughout Indian benefit from the country not being able to account for all of the bills in circulation. So it’s a basic thought, if India bans these bills, then they can account for the bills that are counterfeit. These rupee bills are equivalent to $8 and $15 in the dollar but bring significant more value to the Indian Continue reading Prime Minister of India Bans Currency in Country→

Pioneering Climate Change: Initiative 732

Posted on November 7, 2016 by Lukie Crowley — No Comments ↓

[Written by Max Coleman] On Tuesday October 25th, the Economics Department hosted a talk about Washington Initiative 732, a carbon tax initiative which is on the ballot for November 8th. We heard from Yoram Bauman, a University of Washington professor and “standup economist,” about why we should vote yes on I-732. Professor Bauman was one of the key economists and activists within CarbonWA, the group which brought I-732 to the ballot in its current form: “This measure was designed to impose a carbon emission tax on certain fossil fuels and fossil-fuel-generated electricity, reduce the sales tax by one percentage point, Continue reading Pioneering Climate Change: Initiative 732→

Volkswagen Still OK Even After Huge Settlement Approved

Posted on November 4, 2016 by Lukie Crowley — No Comments ↓

After burning both their customers and the environment in the carbon emissions scandal, a federal court has agreed that $15 billion was the right number to reimburse all of the owners that qualified for the settlement. In September, the customers were given the choice to either have Volkswagen buy the car back or have them fix the computer that was cheating the tests that determined how much emissions were being put into the environment during the tests. According to the Associated Press, that choice is expected to go through in the next month or so. All of the money won’t go Continue reading Volkswagen Still OK Even After Huge Settlement Approved→

President Obama Lifts Sanctions on Importing Certain Cuban Goods

Posted on October 21, 2016 by Lukie Crowley — No Comments ↓

Get your Cuban cigars, get your Cuban rum. President Obama just last week lifted the restriction of bringing in over $100 of Cuban cigars and rum to the United States. This is the continued effort of improving the relations of the two countries as they slowly rebound from decades of economic stagnancy. Obama has continued to lift the trade embargo to not only improve the two’s relationship but also stimulate the economy between the United States and Cuba. The value of a fluid relationship will increase quite a bit as United States citizens will increasingly do travel and business in Continue reading President Obama Lifts Sanctions on Importing Certain Cuban Goods→

Interesting Note on America’s Infrastructure

Posted on October 14, 2016 by Lukie Crowley — No Comments ↓

The New York Times recently posted a short article showing how bad the infrastructure has gotten in the United States and the details are quite disappointing. In the photo below from the NYT, it shows how bad the public assets have gotten across the country. It is not a good projection, and it’s a reason that presidential candidates agree to put plenty of money into the infrastructure if they become presidents. There are some other disturbing issues from the aging infrastructure as traffic has gotten worse and worse as the infrastructure has aged. That photo can be seen below this Continue reading Interesting Note on America’s Infrastructure→

Fascinating Idea to Keep Coal Market Burning

Posted on October 7, 2016 by Lukie Crowley — No Comments ↓

In the past couple of years, we have seen the energy market completely turn around. We’ve seen the demand for natural gas increase while reliance on coal has continued to decrease. Add that to increased use of renewable energy in the form of wind, solar etc. and it spells big time trouble for the coal industry. President Obama has continued to push away the use of coal and tried to focus on slowing down Global Warming in the form of renewable energy and agreements across the world. Coal companies are being forced to shut down because of how much Carbon they contribute to the atmosphere and Continue reading Fascinating Idea to Keep Coal Market Burning→