Have you ever offered to take a friend out to eat and when he realized you were paying he ordered the steak instead of the pasta? Your friend realized someone else was footing the bill and so ordered the most expensive thing on the menu.

Some friends are like that (friends like U.S. Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao).

The government is a lot like that too, except worse. That’s because the government “spends other people’s money on things it won’t consume,” as former Congressman Bob McEwen puts it. “It doesn’t care about the price or the quality.”

The Gulf Coast Rail Project is a perfect example of this dilemma: something we don’t really need at a price tag that is too high. Of course, “the government” won’t be paying for it, or even riding on it. You will: the taxpayers and residents of Mississippi.

The Gulf Coast Rail Project would bring a coastal Amtrak train back to Mississippi after the service was halted by Hurricane Katrina 14 years ago. The route will feature two trains a day running between Mobile and New Orleans, with four daily stops each in Bay St. Louis, Gulfport, Biloxi, and Pascagoula.

The project is supposed to cost $65.9 million, with $33 million being covered by federal taxpayers. Louisiana, which looks to benefit most, has committed another $10 million. The Mississippi Department of Transportation recently decided to kick in almost $16 million, money not apparently appropriated by the Legislature that just happens to be lying around. Alabama is on the fence, having committed no state funds.

The goal is to provide “new, regular, reliable passenger service along the Gulf Coast.”

Sounds great, doesn’t it? But is this really a good use of $33 million in federal funds and $16 million in Mississippi taxpayer funds? I can imagine about 100 other priorities that would put this money to better use.

It’s “free money,” though, right?

Nothing is free. First, let’s begin with one of the primary reasons Alabama is gun shy about this project. Right now, the Gulf Coast rail line is being used to carry freight by a company called CSX. In order to commence passenger service, Amtrak will have to work with CSX to craft a schedule to minimize delays and scheduling conflicts. (Under federal law, passenger trains have preference over freight, usually resulting in delays for both.)

CSX’s rail line carries a wide array of goods and supplies, ranging from agricultural products to automobiles. The new Amtrak service may well increase the cost of carrying every single one of these items. Sure, some businesses will benefit from the new passenger service, but many others will be harmed by higher freight costs.

Second, if the Gulf Coast Rail Project were a good idea, a private company would be investing in it. Instead, it’s being subsidized by millions in federal and state funds.

Amtrak’s business model is to lose money. Amtrak has never made a profit since its inception in 1970. It expects to run mostly empty, inefficient and expensive trains. “We have to get away from this idea that Amtrak has to make a profit. It does not have to make a profit,” explains Jim Mathews, one of the Gulf Coast Rail Project’s biggest supporters.

Since 2012, Amtrak’s customer base in Mississippi and Alabama has declined every year. In Louisiana, the customer base decreased all but one year. A 2015 study by Amtrak itself projected 26 riders per train at an annual loss of millions of dollars a year. Amtrak cheerleaders consider this a win. Maybe it is for a boondoggle that has soaked up $46 billion in federal subsidies over the years. 

It is well-documented that Amtrak loses money on nearly all of its routes. Ironically, one of the only routes it doesn’t lose money on is the Northeast Corridor, whose ridership is “highly educated, affluent and influential,” with an average household income of $170,000 a year.

In fact, none of Amtrak’s most popular routes are in the South, where most people would rather drive the two hours from Mobile to New Orleans instead of sitting on a train for four hours. This is not even to mention Amtrak’s mounting expenses from remodeling and retiring old trains like the “City of New Orleans” and the “Sunset Limited,” both of which serve New Orleans and, presumably, are part of the business model for the Gulf Coast Rail Project.

If the Gulf Coast Rail Project were a filet mignon, I’d still complain about the high price. It looks to me, though, that we’re paying top dollar for yesterday’s leftovers.

Mississippi should join Alabama in backing away from a deal that’s mostly going to benefit New Orleans and Amtrak at the expense of Mississippi taxpayers. 

This column appeared in the Sun Herald on September 1, 2019.

Over $1.5 billion have left the city of Jackson and Hinds county between 1992 and 2016, mostly for Madison and Rankin counties. 

That is according to IRS tax migration data. As the old saying goes, “money talks”, and this mass movement of money leaving Jackson is a serious testament to the need for changes in the state’s core urban center.

Between September 2015 and 2016 alone, Jackson lost more than $5 million (almost ten percent) of its tax revenue. City leaders have taken to hiking taxes in order to offset the tax revenue lost from the movement of its citizens to the suburbs, yet in so doing it has made life all the more expensive for those who have stayed, further incentivizing the suburban exodus of others and exacerbating the existing problem.

Madison and Rankin counties showed large growth over the same time period, altogether expanding their wealth indices by about a combined $1.5 billion.

Around the state, Desoto county also showed a positive rate of growth, gaining over $1.34 billion almost entirely from Shelby county, Tennessee. However, this growth in some counties was offset by losses throughout the state, resulting in a net negative for Mississippi. Every county within the Delta lost wealth. Altogether well over $1 billion left the area.

While some counties have continued to grow, overall the state has lost over $100 million. This has made Mississippi the only state in the Southeast besides Louisiana to see a net wealth lost.

A similar trend accompanies with population loss, as Mississippi and Louisiana were the only states in the Southeast between 2017 and 2018 to experience declines in population.

In total, for the time period, the state gained wealth from Louisiana, Tennessee, Illinois, California, and Michigan, while it lost wealth to Texas, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, and North Carolina.

Two major questions arise from this data, first, what is motivating internal migration? It is clear that citizens are voting with their feet, and are showing their preference for the better fiscal management of Madison and Rankin county, among other reasons.

This movement of cash has created serious shortfalls in Jackson’s tax revenue, and rather than continue to place greater financial burdens on those who remain, the city needs to tighten the proverbial fiscal belt.

The second question is why Mississippi is seeing a net loss overall, and especially why neighboring states, including Tennessee, Arkansas, and Alabama have become more attractive options for those seeking to move into the Southeast. Mississippi ought to answer the first question before the second. There are clear reasons motivating large numbers of people to choose Desoto, Madison, and Rankin counties. These areas should be used as a model for statewide growth and policy change.

This week, Mississippi Center for Public Policy will be looking into the underlying reasons as to why Jackson is struggling, exploring the legislative and regulatory climate which encourages migration and business stagnation both within our capital city, and across the state.

The U.S. Department of Transportation announced Thursday that the Federal Railroad Administration has awarded a $4,360,000 grant to the Southern Rail Commission.

The grant would assist the implementation of twice-daily rail service between Mobile, Alabama and New Orleans, which would have stops on the route along in the Mississippi Gulf Coast.

“This funding will help Mississippi, Louisiana and Alabama resume passenger rail service between New Orleans and Mobile to enhance regional economic growth and rural mobility,” said U.S. Transportation Secretary Elaine L. Chao in a news release.

Amtrak’s 2015 feasibility study said two trains daily between Mobile and New Orleans would have ridership of about 38,400 annually and require an annual subsidy of $6.97 million. For those keeping score at home, that adds up to about $181 per passenger in subsidies.

The funding is being awarded under the FRA 2017 Restoration and Enhancement Grants Program, which provides assistance grants for implementing, restoring or upgrading passenger rail service between cities.

Passenger rail service between Mobile and New Orleans was canceled before Hurricane Katrina in 2005 amid years of declining ridership. According to the Amtrak 2015 feasibility study, total trips declined from 148,387 in fiscal 1993 to 81,348 in 2005, a decrease of 45.2 percent.

In June, U.S. Sen. Roger Wicker announced a $33 grant to fund infrastructure and capacity improvements along the rail line connecting Mobile and New Orleans, which is owned and operated by freight operator CSX. Amtrak is supposed to provide $6 million as well.

Federal money won’t be the only financial component.

Mississippi taxpayers will have to fork over $15 million as a match, along with Louisiana ($10 million).  Alabama is balking about providing its share of the matching funds, $2.2 million. 

The SRC cites a May 2018 study by the Trent Lott National Center at the University of Southern Mississippi that says restoration of passenger rail on the Mississippi Gulf Coast between Mobile and New Orleans would add $6 million annually to the economy.

An underlying theme of the 2019 gubernatorial election, and the few competitive legislative races, will be the size of government in Mississippi. It just hasn’t been framed in those words. 

Rather, we will hear about how much more taxpayers need to spend. We will hear how we should expand Medicaid, how we need to increase funding for education, and how we should raise the gas tax to spend more on roads and bridges. Sounds wonderful. Big problems addressed with an expansion in government, financed by taxpayers. 

If you’re not in favor of these big ideas, you’re a terrible person. “How else can we move off the bottom of most rankings?,” the politicians ask.

But it all comes back to one question: How much of the economy should government control?

Contrary to what you might have heard, our government is larger than most. Fifty-five percent of the state’s economy is controlled by the government. Said another way, government is in charge of more than half of our economy. 

This gives Mississippi the fifth largest government share of economic activity, behind only Alaska, Minnesota, Hawaii, and Kentucky. That’s not a good sign for a growing economy, which should be our goal (not a growing government). 

Looking at our neighbors, government controlled between 47-50 percent of the economies in Alabama, Arkansas, and Louisiana. It is 43 percent in Tennessee, the most prosperous of our neighboring states. 

The current economic system too often rewards political favor-seeking and lobbying rather than private sector activities. That only increases as the government grows. Therefore, the shift is from creative entrepreneurship towards lobbying and regulatory capture. Such actions benefit some companies and corporations, but they do not benefit the economy at large.  Worse, such actions act as a drag on economic growth at a time when we need more private sector activity from a broader group of industries and participants.

Economic growth from the private sector unconnected to government action should be our goal, and should certainly be the goal of anyone in elected office. 

Wealth does not come from the government. Government doesn’t have anything that it did not already take from someone else. All government can do is redistribute wealth from one person to another as it chooses, whether that’s a social welfare program or a corporate welfare one. Government only moves money around. It doesn’t create new wealth or build a bigger pie. 

Only the private sector can do that. Individual initiative is the most powerful economic engine we have. Wealth is generated when individuals risk their own resources in hopes of meeting a need in the lives of other people or businesses, and do so in a manner that earns them a profit. That need might take the form of a new product, a more efficient service, or fresh, capital needed by a business to start or expand its operations.

It's very easy, and very tempting, for any government official to give out tax dollars, get their picture taken, and talk about how much they are doing for you and me because of that new government initiative. 

You don’t get a shovel for reducing regulations, freeing up the healthcare industry, or reforming occupational licensing. But the most helpful thing an elected official can do is be serious about pursuing policies that will make it easier for free enterprise. We’ve seen the results of our elected officials trying to manipulate, organize, and orchestrate the economy. That’s not how markets work and Mississippians are smarter than most politicians think they are.

At the end of the day, to generate sustainable, long-term growth, the only option is to grow the private sector through lower taxes and a lighter regulatory burden. It doesn’t make for a sexy campaign slogan and many people who work in government or depend on government for jobs and contracts won’t like to hear it.

We are hopeful that over the next few months, we will hear how we can grow the economy, not the government. Or at least we can hear an honest discussion about the current size and cost of our government. 

As a candidate for insurance commissioner in 2007, then-State Sen. Mike Chaney floated the idea of making the position he was running for appointed.

He went on to win election that year and is the odds-on favorite to win a fourth term in a couple months. The legislature never considered making this position appointed. And likely never will. Because we love electing people. Even if we don’t really know what the office does, who is running, or what other states are doing.

Today, Mississippi is one of 11 states that elect insurance commissioners. That’s not the only anomaly. 

The agriculture commissioner is elected in 12 states, mostly in the Southeast. Mississippi has three public service commissioners, divided among the northern, central, and southern regions of the state. We are one of 11 states that elects public service commissioners. That’s better than our other regionally elected office – transportation commissioner. We are the only state that still elects transportation commissioners. 

We find a little more election popularity among other statewide offices. The auditor is elected in 24 states, so close to half. The secretary of state is elected in 35 states and the treasurer is elected in 36 states, so we can at least claim to be with the majority of other states for those two positions. 

And every judge on the supreme court and the court of appeals is elected. Not to mention many of the county and municipal posts that could easily be appointed. 

Could we ever see an elected position become appointed?

The lack of interest in appointing a position like the insurance commissioner probably answers that question. But we have seen minor change here and there. 

We use to elect the state superintendent of education. And four years ago, the legislature switched to appointed school superintendents for every school district. At the time, we were one of the last three states to make the move. 

Odds are we won’t be seeing much change. People like electing officials even if the office is simply a regulatory post where the focus should be on the most qualified individual, not the one who is best at receiving the most votes. 

As Ole Miss gets ready for their first football game of the season on Saturday, university officials are marching forward with plans to remove the Confederate statue near the entrance to campus. 

Interim Chancellor Larry Sparks, who holds the position while the Institutions for Higher Learning searches for the next Ole Miss chancellor, said the school intends to move the statue to the Confederate cemetery, near the old Tad Smith Coliseum. 

The university has submitted plans to the Mississippi Department of Archives and History and the IHL. Once the university receives the green light, the school hopes to have the monument relocated within 90 days. 

The push for the statues removal began to get increased attention last fall when a group known as the Students Against Social Injustice staged a protest and issued demands of the administration, something that is now common practice among left-wing campus organizations. 

According to SASI, the university must remove the Confederate statue from campus and speech codes must be implemented to “protect students from the racist violence we experience on campus.” And, the next chancellor “must” meet with this group to discuss their demands.

Last spring, the Associated Student Body voted to relocate the statue, as did three other governing bodies. 

SASI, which includes students and liberal professors, has since been putting their own markers on the statue marking the number of days since the ASB vote.

Before the SASI push to move the statue, the university placed plaques on various locations on the campus, including the statue. This was done in early 2018 as part of a years-long process. These plaques are designed to "contextualize" names or objects on campus.

Only four states have seen a higher percentage of people leave the federal food stamps program over the past year than Mississippi. 

In May 2018, 498,490 Mississippians were on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP. By April of this year, that number had declined to 443,868 participants. This represents a drop of 11 percent over the last 11 months that data is available.  

These numbers coincide with recent job numbers that show more people in Mississippi are working. Over the past 12 months, Mississippi experienced a job growth rate of 1.7 percent, good enough for 17th nationally and fifth in the SEC footprint. 

The states that saw a larger percentage drop from the SNAP rolls were Georgia (-12.6 percent), New Hampshire (-12.4 percent), Wyoming (-11.4 percent), and Kentucky (-11.3 percent).

Nationally, SNAP participation has steadily declined since the recession and over the past year it dropped by another 6.5 percent representing a decrease of about 2.5 million people. 

The percent of Mississippians receiving food stamps dropped a full two percent over the last year. In May 2018, a little less than 17 percent of the state received food stamps. Today that number is just under 15 percent. 

Percent of residents using SNAP among neighboring states

Contrary to what you will hear from many candidates running for office, Mississippi is spending more taxpayer funds to educate a decreasing amount of K-12 students, according to data from the U.S. Census Bureau.

In 2014, local, state and federal funding added up to $4.467 billion or about $9,068 per each of the state’s 492,586 students in public schools.

Fast forward to 2017, taxpayers spent a total of $4.75 billion on K-12 in Mississippi from local, state and federal sources. That added up to $10,092 apiece to educate 470,668 students enrolled in public schools.

Those add up to 7.57 percent and 6.8 percent increases, respectively, in state and local spending compared with 2014. 

During that same period, enrollment in Mississippi public schools decreased by 4.5 percent.

Mississippi ranks 41st in per unadjusted, total per-pupil spending among the 50 states and the District of Columbia. 

South Carolina (35th) is the second highest ranking Southeastern state in per-student spending, along with Arkansas (36th), Georgia (40th), Alabama (42nd) and Florida (45th). 

The District of Columbia spends the most per student nationally, an astronomical $27,696. According to a 2018 audit report, students are allowed to pass courses despite excessive unexcused absences and there is a culture of passing and graduating students who didn’t meet standards.

The highest ranking Southeastern state is Louisiana, which spends $12,683 per pupil and is ranked 23rd.

The Pelican State uses a similar K-12 education funding formula to the Mississippi Adequate Education Program, the Minimum Foundation Program, to divide up state funding among school districts. 

The difference between the two states is that the MFP amount is constitutionally mandated by the Louisiana state constitution, leaving the Louisiana legislature with precious little maneuvering room in the budget during tough economic times.

The MAEP, thanks to a 2017 decision by the state Supreme Court, is not a binding funding amount for the legislature.

In fiscal 2020, the MAEP formula amount totaled $2.477 billion and the legislature appropriated $2.246 billion, a difference of $231,505,356.

In 2017, state ($2.413 billion or 50.8 percent), local ($1.666 billion or 35.1 percent) and $671 million for federal spending (14.1 percent) composed the taxpayer outlay on K-12 education in Mississippi.

For Mississippi to equal Louisiana in per-pupil spending, the state would have to spend more than $619 million more in state K-12 spending and more than $428 million in local spending.

According to the Census data, Louisiana spends more on salaries and benefits (80.98 percent versus 79.4 percent in Mississippi) and a slightly smaller percentage — 55.76 percent versus 56.68 percent for the Magnolia State — on instruction related outlays.

Louisiana (38.79 percent) spends more on support services — defined as school and district office administration and instructional staff support — than Mississippi (36.88 percent).

No sane person would argue that Mississippi is not a place with a strong sense of tradition. Mississippi literally drips with the fine traditions of family loyalty, religious liberty, community charity, and the value of life. 

Some would also refer to a place like this as being “conservative.” From a social perspective, I would agree. However, when we look at the Magnolia State through the lens of public policy and political philosophy, the word “conservative” does not apply. 

Though Mississippi has been governed mostly by Republicans, that does not make it a conservative state. We can’t measure our conservatism by our political affiliation or social conscience alone. 

We must look deeper into the meaning of conservatism. Being conservative in America means, by definition, you favor constitutionally limited government, the mechanism of free markets, and the personal liberty and responsibility we have as individuals. 

A conservative is willing to stand up to encroaching power of all forms of government (city, county, state and federal), to the growing corporatism that seeks to govern us from the boardroom, and to the menace to our society that is a progressive culture. Being a conservative means holding your representatives to account for fiscal discipline, for reducing our regulatory burdens, and for keeping our taxes low so that every Mississippian keeps more of his or her own money and freedom.

The recent gubernatorial race was particularly instructive. A candidate for governor, who constantly referred to himself as a conservative, ran on a plank of raising the gas tax and expanding Medicaid. 

Distinguished, non-partisan organizations all across the country have provided empirical evidence and shared instructive data on the imprudence of states expanding Medicaid, like this one from my counterpart at the conservative Pelican Institute in Louisiana. The conservative and libertarian think tanks all over the nation are opposed to the expansion of Medicaid by states. Yet, a candidate for the highest office in the state supported the policy of expansion while referring to himself as a conservative. 

That’s a head-scratcher for me.

On the issue of the gas tax, the current governor called a special session last year and passed what was then called “landmark” legislation to address the infrastructure issues of our state’s highways and bridges. Through a combination of an internet sales tax, sports gambling taxes, lottery revenues, and bonding, it was announced that government found a way to commit over a billion dollars to infrastructure projects over the next five years. Full-page ads were taken out by trade groups and chamber of commerce-type organizations to “recognize the historic achievement.” 

Less than a year later, a candidate for governor was claiming we needed to “do something to address our crumbling roads and bridges.” This is despite the fact that our state roads and bridges are ranked as the 11th best in the nation by Reason Magazine in their 23rd Annual Highway Report. I’ve driven most of the roads in the Southeast; our state roads are just fine. The crumbling streets, roads, and bridges are found mostly in a few of the cities and counties of Mississippi. Jackson/Hinds being the worst example and the one most of the political class has to contend with on a daily basis. As a Jackson resident, I agree. Our roads are among the worst in the country, but that’s not a state issue. That issue is one of municipal funding and management. We provided an analysis on this earlier this year.

If we want to succeed and get ourselves out of last place, it’s not going to happen by deepening our dependence on government solutions. Every tax is a decision to give more power and responsibility to the state. There is no evidence that government will spend that money more effectively than we would spend it ourselves. 

We already have far too many Mississippians who seek to petition government to solve problems we’re better off solving through the private institutions of free enterprise, churches, nonprofits, communities, and families. Too many individuals and companies are looking to the government for a contract, a job, a partner, or protection from competition. 

When we allow government to wield this much power, we weaken the free market. We create a disincentive to the formation and deployment of capital. We thwart the opportunity for all Mississippians to prosper. What’s more, such reliance on government ensures only those with power have significant influence on Mississippi, including determining who represents us in the legislative and executive branches of our government.

What makes a “conservative” is not a party or allegiance to a particular leader or political campaign, but the power of ideas. As conservatives, our ideas are based on bedrock values and fundamental truths. Freedom is a policy that works. A limited and restrained government is the essence of our system. And the principle of ordered liberty holds it all together. 

Our goal at the Mississippi Center for Public Policy is to play a leadership role in building a Mississippi where individual liberty, opportunity, and responsibility reign because government is limited. We believe this is the only way nations, states, and cities have ever enjoyed durable prosperity.

If we remain committed to these ideas and work hard to convince others of their value, we can all experience a magnolia renaissance. And we can say conservatism made it possible. Real conservatism. The kind of which Bill Buckley, Ronald Reagan, and Milton Friedman spoke. The kind where we are free to pursue our individual liberty and speak our minds. The kind where we encourage people to take action and take risks in pursuit of their happiness. The kind where we take personal responsibility for our futures and stop looking for government to solve all of our problems.

There is an important role for government but it must be limited. Government functions best when it is closest to the people and when it is open and transparent. 

Although our national government continues to grow into an unwieldy and bureaucratic swamp, our country is still federalist. We are a collection of semi-sovereign states. Federalism is a conservative idea. As Reagan stated in his first inaugural address, “The federal government did not create the states; the states created the federal government.” 

Thanks to our founding fathers, the real political and policy power is supposed to belong to the states. Therefore, we hold the key to our own future. Our future does not belong to the bureaucrats and politicians in Washington. 

Let’s remember who we are...and vote accordingly.