Early voting for the 2023 November election is officially underway, and voters across Texas are headed to the polls.  This election held on November 7th is focused on fourteen constitutional amendment propositions, many of which will have a significant impact…

The race to fill the vacant seat for Texas House District 2 is underway, with the special election now less than a month out.  One candidate, Jill Dutton, has thrown her hat into the ring, hoping that Voters in HD-2…

Highlights Figure 1: Year-Over-Year Real Average Weekly Earnings Declined for 26 Months Before Increasing in the Last Three but Fell Again and Remain Down Nearly 5% Since January 2021 Overview Labor Market The Bureau of Labor Statistics recently released its…

What does it say about a state that has to pay off government schools and those within the government school system in order to potentially adopt a school choice system that benefits only some students? That scenario is exactly what…

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) is again promoting what could be universal school choice during the third special session in Texas that starts on Oct. 9th. That would be among the best actions Texas can make, the other being eliminating…

The Fiscal Implications of an Unsecured Border and Illegal Immigration  232,972. That’s how many illegal immigrants were encountered on our southern border in August alone, with over 181,000 apprehensions. That is up from 183,494 encounters in July and 144,570 in…

This commentary was originally published at The Center Square here. It is being republished with permission from the author. If you live in Texas, then your property taxes are skyrocketing. This has made housing less affordable, especially for the neediest among…

This commentary was originally published at EconLib here. It is being republished with permission from the author. Americans say the economy is the most important problem facing the country. But major headlines covering the latest jobs report for August do their best…

Texas politicians had a choice to make this spring. With a record $80 billion of new revenue available, they could either spend the money or give it back to Texas taxpayers in the form of property tax relief. Unfortunately for…

The Texas Legislature is widely expected to convene in yet another special legislative session in the coming weeks. This time they will reportedly focus on education freedom and parental choice or school choice and salary increases for government school teachers….

$33 trillion. Written another way, $33,000,000,000,000. The U.S. National Debt is estimated to surpass $33 trillion in a matter of days. Sadly, milestones like these seem to have become all too regular. Just one year ago I wrote a similar…

Highlights Figure 1: Year-Over-Year Real Average Weekly Earnings Declined for 26 Months Before Increasing in the Last Three but Remains Down Nearly 5% Since January 2021 Overview Labor Market The Bureau of Labor Statistics recently released its U.S. jobs report…

Today is Labor Day in the United States, and for those who are celebrating, resting, or firing up the grill, it is appropriate that we revisit the origins of this national holiday, and examine the state of human labor in…

Recently a song from an independent music artist Oliver Anthony went viral on social media, ultimately topping many song-ranking charts, much to the chagrin of many well-established music artists. The song is chalked full of anti-elitist themes, presumably speaking to…

Introduction In the realm of global finance and economics, the potential introduction of a gold-backed currency by the BRICS countries—Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa—has gained attention as a potential challenge to the established fiat dollar system. This proposal…