I’m taking the North Dakota property all day every day. No desire to live in Vail. But that’s fine, Laramie might not be everyone’s cup of tea. Laramie isn’t going to magically become something that it’s not and it should embrace its identity.
dc.claremont.org
Because a college kid would never smoke pot if it was illegal? The world needs more potheads like we need another pandemic. Thank god my kid is looking at the institution, recreational ops. (mtn biking, hunting, fishing, climbing, skiing/snowboarding, etc.), D-1 sports, and quality of life vs. the availability of recreational drugs. To each is own though, no judgment by me.
Glanced at it, I would bet any amount of money that it was written by someone who did not graduate from UW.Restoring Confidence in the University of Wyoming
Conservatives have been frustrated with the direction of higher education for decades. Yet conservative responses like protecting free speech and ending racial preferences have not kept the higher education machine from veering ever leftward.
You guys should probably critique that. I probably don't care enough to spend time fact checking it, lol.
Then you and I are in violent agreement. I would much rather invest in making UW attractive as an institution - one that is growing and not shrinking, one that is filled with the brightest and best, one that innovates and takes risks, one that contributes to the growth of the state's economy and active retention of our kids (at least giving them the option to stay if they want), one where politicians don't meddle and is so involved in the fabric of the state that no legislator or governor would dare diminish or hamstring it. When you have that sort of juggernaut, the money for athletics and other stuff will come.
Well stated.
Restoring Confidence in the University of Wyoming
Conservatives have been frustrated with the direction of higher education for decades. Yet conservative responses like protecting free speech and ending racial preferences have not kept the higher education machine from veering ever leftward.
You guys should probably critique that. I probably don't care enough to spend time fact checking it, lol.
The Claremont institute is a conservative think tank. Nothing in this is surprising, coming from that point of view.
Conservatism currently and will likely always hold the purse strings at UW. This pub is likely guiding or at least being considered in Cheyenne.
I am very willing to pay taxes for this. I was even before I adopted my son and was childless.
Here's the deal, nothing is free and, in this vein, there is a base cost of operating government, which is only increasing (costs of roads, infrastructure, services, health care, education). As oil and gas, coal and other traditional revenues that support the general fund decline, we face growing budget deficits over the next 10 years (not immediate, but in time). Add cuts and the likely need to backfill local governments (to just fund the standard stuff), we are facing either a sales tax (on the order of over 20%, based on what the analysis of a similar effort in NE demonstrated) or an income tax - but likely both. A sales tax above 8% will devastate a Wyoming main street that is already tenuously hanging on - especially along the borders of the state. We cannot cover the bill with investment income only and cutting budgets may yield some gain against the deficit but is not a magic bullet to save us.
Yes, but the people in charge in Wyoming's legislature have no idea how to manage a government. They just want to cut taxes.
Correct
I think most of Wyoming would agree with you on these statements. It is the question of what does a "more rational, practical, enlightened approach" look like? I hear all of the time that we need to diversify our economy. I have yet to see a proposal from a politician on how! The only plan that is out there is from the freedom caucus, cut taxes. We know how that is going to go. The only thing that has been publicized that was labeled as diversifying our economy that I have seen is the bit coin stuff coming from UW and nuclear waste facilities. If there is an actual plan from the state then they need a PR guy to get the information out there because I haven't seen much lately other than those 2 things.
The Natrium nuclear plant outside of Kemmerer is proceeding apace, as is the construction of multiple data centers from Evanston to Cheyenne. This all represents diversification from extraction/ severance economics. It all represents a start, but both of these industries/ projects have encountered resistance and hostility that, while raising prudent and reasonable concerns, also come across as NIMBYist and somewhat unhinged.
This is exactly the problem we have. The idea that they will return and spend their retirement back in Wyoming flies in the face of finance 101. We need short and medium-term return to off-set long term investment. What you're describing is the wishful thinking since 1988. It no longer works. This State has to either get serious about somewhat forceful investment, or resign itself to being the West Virginia of the Intermountain West. It's a cultural and addictudinal issue that will either die out as things bottom out, or the folks of Wyo who fancy themselves as rugged individuals capable of anything will figure out the need for investment and a new trajectory.
Notice, I said "if" we play the long game... Sorry, I should have put the sarcasm emoji at the end of the sentence. I agree that it isn't a long term strategy, but the way the state is currently set up, this is what we are hoping for.
yeah, nuclear plants are cool, they will create jobs for families and, in general, grow the economy. Increased sales tax, and all the other taxes we pay will be the result
