Tim Pearce The Seattle city council voted 7-2 to repeal its less-than-a-month-old ‘head tax’ on the city’s businesses Tuesday in a win for employers, The Seattle Times reports. On May 15, the council unanimously approved an annual tax of $275 per employee to fund housing programs for the city’s homeless population. The tax was expected to net…
Evie Fordham At least 13 people, including children, are dead after a duck boat on a lake in southern Missouri capsized during a sudden thunderstorm on Thursday night. There were 31 people on board the boat when it sank, reported CNN. There were 14 survivors including the boat captain, said Stone County Sheriff Doug Rader. Four…
Starting in 2019, the city of Stockton will join San Francisco and Oakland in testing a “Universal Basic Income” (UBI) program that could eventually be expanded to a state or national level. The official website for the initiative explains: “The [program] will provide at least 100 Stocktonians with a Guaranteed Income of $500 per month for 18…
Elon Musk is one of the most admired men in America. He founded Tesla, SpaceX, and numerous other entrepreneurial ventures that have captured the public’s hearts and imaginations. Who wouldn’t get excited about spaceships and the possibility of colonizing Mars? But people look to Musk for far more than just his technological vision. The internet…
While recently participating in a course on business and networking skills, I took part in an interesting exercise. Pairing every individual with another class member, the instructor gave each team a couple minutes to discover two previously unknown things they held in common. The results were fascinating. Not only was an amazing number of topics…
One of the most popularly cited silly laws in my home state is a prohibition on crossing state lines with a duck atop one’s head. Fortunately, or unfortunately, depending on whether you see it from the perspective of the duck or the individual wearing said duck, this so-called law is bogus. An urban legend. There are,…
Eric Lieberman Someone in San Francisco purchased a full-page ad Friday telling city residents to “Watch your backs — nobody else is.” “As if stepping over used syringes and filth in Maiden Lane wasn’t bad enough,” reads the next part, which is paid for by the Fed Up Populace Campaign. The ad was first spotted by Business…
Celebrated this past July 4, America’s founding story of freedom is truly remarkable: unity, courage, integrity, and national integration (incorporating people from around the world). In most other places, the freedom story is bloody, exclusive, and, ultimately, tyrannical. Take Nicaragua, for one example: In 1979, the Sandinistas overthrew dictator Anastasio Somoza. Nearly four decades later, hundreds…
The Japanese Imperial Household Agency recently announced the forthcoming engagement of Princess Ayako, granddaughter of Emperor Akihito. Amidst the excitement of the engagement to Kei Moriya, she must also prepare to relinquish her status as a member of the Imperial family. Under Imperial Household Law, any female member of the royal family who chooses to…
I’ve come into contact with various contractors in recent weeks. These contractors have a few things in common. First, they are swamped with work. Second, they have a terrible time finding capable and reliable workers to do the job. I thought of the plight of these contractors when I saw a new report from Pew…