Iowa
Big old house provides a lesson in economics • Iowa Capital Dispatch
There was a big old house located at 502 South St. in Toledo, Iowa.
The dwelling has a living room, dining room, kitchen, den, and bath on the first floor, four bedrooms on the second. The basement is divided, with a gray painted cement floor, into a laundry room and the other half has a work bench and a furnace. To the side of the furnace was, in the late 1940s and early 1950s, a coal bin. Once or twice a year, a dump truck would pull up alongside the house, drop a chute down to the window and allow the coal to fill the bin.
My job, when I reached 10 or so, was to shovel the coal into a hopper, which then fed it down to the furnace where it would burn. Every so often, I would open the furnace door and pull out the “clunkers” (burned up coal) and place them in a bucket for emptying in the alley behind the house. The coal would burn, and the heat would spread up throughout the house.
In the spring, along the south side of the building, flowers would be planted and watered by pouring the water on top of the plant, soaking the ground and saturating the roots.
I have now explained all you need to know about the differences between a conservative Republican economist and a Democratic one. Others may try to confuse you by talking about supply and demand, but economic policy is pretty much determined by where you put the emphasis, cutting taxes for the earners at the top of the scale or to those at the lower end.
For conservatives, the supply side theory holds that cutting government revenue (taxes) frees the money up to be used to create jobs to increase the supply of goods and services, thus causing the economy to grow. The more goods that are supplied to the market, the more the economy will grow and revenues will increase.
Democrats hold that emphasis should be placed on government spending, i.e. public works like roads, bridges and infrastructure that creates jobs, which provides the money necessary to purchase goods and grow the economy. Since consumer spending is the major engine that drives economic growth, it also increases government revenue.
One thing is for sure, whether you are liberal or conservative on government policy as it pertains to the tax code: In 2025, it is very likely changes will take place in tax revenue, if only because former President Donald Trump’s 2017 tax reductions are set by law to expire. If Trump wins, the tax cuts remain in place and will likely be expanded. But Vice President Kamala Harris, is not yet supporting further across-the-broad tax reductions, instead targeting increased tax rates for higher-income people, and at least extensions of the tax credits for lower-income individuals, like the earned income tax credit for children and a $25,000 credit for first-time home buyers.
There is a bit of irony in all of this. In 1935 a British economist, John Maynard Keynes, upset conventional thinking that the way out of recessions and depression was to balance the federal budget. Instead, he argued what is needed in down times is increased spending by the government. This proposition was, except within the Roosevelt administration, almost uniformly rejected. But by the 1970s, President Richard Nixon’s economic adviser Milton Friedman admitted, “we are all Keynesians now.”
Taxes: Where do Trump and Harris stand?
All of which brings us to Arthur Laffer and his advocacy that high tax rates cause a loss of government money. He developed the Laffer curve, meant to illustrate that when tax rates get too high, they become counterproductive. Reducing tax rates will motivate people to work and produce more since they get to keep more of their own money, leading to more revenue; raising tax rates produces the opposite effect.
Now maybe to everyone’s surprise, and whether intended or not, Harris’ economic consultants are saying turn the Laffer curve upside down: Reduce taxes on the lower half of the economic scale and you will have individuals with money to spend.
That is really the choice the two candidates offer. If you are a supply conservative proponent, then you should stand in the shade of the elephant. If you believe in the Democratic reversal of Laffer’s proposal, ride a donkey. Pretty simple really — coal in the furnace or water on the flowers, just like when I was a kid.
This column was originally published in the Waterloo Cedar-Falls Courier.
IOWA CITY, Iowa (KCRG) – Three people were arrested after allegedly assaulting a 63-year-old man in Iowa City over the weekend.
Criminal complaints say Treighton McGlothlin, 20, of Waterloo, Braden Jordan, 20, of Cedar Rapids, and Pierce Horak, 21, of Urbana, were following the victim, yelling at him in the area of Clinton Street and Lafayette Street at around 5 a.m. on Sunday.
Police said the three then hit the victim from behind, knocking him to the ground.
The victim suffered injuries to his face and leg. He also had a large, bloody goose egg forming on his head when police arrived.
First responders said it is believed the victim lost consciousness, and he claimed to have been momentarily “stunned.”
The victim was able to identify three men as his attackers.
The criminal complaints for Horak, Jordan and McGlothlin say the men smelled of alcohol, had bloodshot watery eyes and slurred speech and were wearing bar wristbands when police encountered them.
Police also said they found fake ID’s in their wallets.
The complaints say McGlothlin is charged with Assault, Possession of a Fictitious ID and Public Intoxication.
Complaints for Horak say he is charged with Public Intoxication and Assault.
A complaint for Jordan say he is charged with Assault.
There may be additional charges pending in this case.
Copyright 2025 KCRG. All rights reserved.
DES MOINES, Iowa (KCCI) – Before the pros hit the green at Augusta National Golf Course, one central Iowa girl got to take her swing at the Drive, Chip and Putt competition.
Earlier this month, 10-year-old Brooklynn Conard took home a fourth place finish in the 10 to 11 age division.
Brooklynn said she’s a little disappointed with her drive from that day.
But what didn’t disappoint her was playing on one of the most legendary golf courses in the world.
“It was amazing, and I really liked putting on the 18th green, because I really felt like I was there,” Brooklyn said.
Brooklynn is in 5th grade and started her golfing career half her lifetime ago.
She said she doesn’t plan on stopping any time soon and that she’s only looking to improve.
Right now, she’s working on taking her average drive from 175 yards to 200.
Copyright 2025 KCCI. All rights reserved.
Speaker Mike Johnson backs transgender bathroom ban in Congress
Rep. Nancy Mace proposed banning transgender people from using Capitol bathrooms that align with their gender identity.
- Rep. Nancy Mace praised Iowa’s new law removing gender identity as a protected class from the state’s antidiscrimination law, echoing anti-transgender rhetoric.
- Mace repeated an anti-transgender slur at the Iowa Faith and Freedom Coalition’s spring kickoff, echoing her previous use of the same slur at a February U.S. House hearing.
- An Iowa LGBTQ advocacy group condemned Mace’s language, while other GOP speakers doubled down on anti-transgender messaging.
U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace, a South Carolina Republican who is a vocal anti-transgender voice in Congress, praised Iowa’s new law removing gender identity as a protected class from the Iowa Civil Rights Act in a visit Saturday to the Hawkeye State where she repeated a transphobic slur.
“You are leading a nation,” Mace said to cheers from the audience gathered for the Iowa Faith and Freedom Coalition’s spring kickoff in Clive. “You are leading our country. It’s not just about protecting women and girls. Yes, it’s about protecting our boys, too. They deserve it. Democrats can’t even define what a woman is.”
Iowa was thrust into the national spotlight after Gov. Kim Reynolds signed the bill into law in February, ending 18 years of protections against discrimination for transgender Iowans.
The move drew heated protests that packed the Capitol with hundreds of transgender Iowans and LGBTQ advocates decrying the legislation, warning it would expose people to discrimination in housing, employment and other facets of life.
Mace later repeated an anti-transgender slur Saturday as she mentioned allegations that she was assaulted last year at the U.S. Capitol by someone who was “pro-trans.” Federal prosecutors have dropped all criminal charges against James McIntyre, the Chicago-based foster care advocate and transgender activist Mace accused of assault.
“Can I say trans in Iowa? Can I say tr—-? Can I say it three times?” said Mace, who has shared she is “seriously considering” running for South Carolina governor in 2026.
The crowd laughed as she said the slur three times, harkening back to her news-making moment in February where she repeatedly used the same slur during a House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform hearing. Reynolds was called as a witness to testify in the hearing on government efficiency.
Mace used the slur in February as she asked witnesses to weigh in on USAID, a U.S. foreign aid agency, awarding $2 million to strengthen transgender-led organizations to deliver gender-affirming healthcare in Guatemala.
The term Mace used is considered derogatory, defamatory and dehumanizing for transgender people according to GLAAD, an LGBTQ media advocacy organization.
Statewide LGBTQ advocacy group One Iowa condemned Mace’s rhetoric in Iowa in a statement Sunday.
“While it comes as no surprise that GOP leaders continue to spread anti-trans language, condoning the use of offensive slurs is a new low,” said Keenan Crow, One Iowa’s policy and advocacy director. “This kind of language serves no purpose other than to demean a group of Iowans who deserve the same respect and dignity as anyone else, and therefore should have no place in the political discourse of any serious party or public official.”
Nancy Mace is a prominent anti-trans voice in Congress
Mace has led the charge in Congress to bar trans women from using restrooms that correspond with their gender identity on federal property, openly looking to block her colleague Rep. Sarah McBride, D-Del., the first openly transgender person elected to Congress, from using the women’s restroom at the Capitol.
House Speaker Mike Johnson ultimately implemented a rule for the current Congress banning transgender women from using female restrooms near the House chamber.
“Bless their hearts, the far left in our society today no longer understands the difference between male and female, and this is a battleground that Congresswoman Mace and I have shared within the last few years,” said state Rep. Steve Holt, R-Denison, who was born and raised in South Carolina.
Holt said he received death threats and had to have armed security with him during the week that Iowa lawmakers fast-tracked the civil rights law changes to the governor’s desk. He was floor manager of the bill, tasked with shepherding it through the legislative process.
Republicans have said the law was necessary to protect other recent Iowa legislation from court challenges, including a ban on transgender youth from receiving gender-affirming medical care, restricting transgender students from using school bathrooms that align with their gender identity and banning transgender women and girls from competing in female sports.
“We restored immutable truth to the Iowa Civil Rights Code,” Holt said. “The governor signed into law despite thousands of transgender activists screaming profanity and calling us Nazis.”
Jeff Pitts, a lobbyist for the Iowa Faith and Freedom Coalition, expressed gratitude to lawmakers who “removed the great gender identity fiction from the state civil rights code.”
“Thank you for standing strong for women, thank you for standing up for girls and maybe most of all thank you for literally laying down the law in defense of what’s real,” Pitts said. “The truth still matters, at least in Iowa.”
GOP speakers double down on anti-transgender messaging
Mace’s remarks underscored an evening that heavily featured GOP messaging against policies supporting transgender people, signaling anti-transgender rhetoric may become an even more common message on the campaign trail leading up to the 2026 midterms.
It’s an increasingly prevalent Republican campaign message although transgender people make up an estimated 1% of the U.S. population, Census Bureau data show.
Attorney General Brenna Bird, who hinted at throwing her hat in the ring to the wide-open race for Iowa governor in 2026, touted joining a lawsuit against the Biden administration “to keep him from forcing that radical gender ideology into our Iowa schools.”
The lawsuit argued Biden’s proposed Title IX rule changes would force schools to allow transgender and nonbinary students share locker rooms and restrooms with female students and would penalize students who oppose transgender rights on religious grounds. The Trump administration has dropped the federal government’s appeal in the case.
“Here in Iowa, we protected our girls and women in school, didn’t we?” Bird said. “… We sued and we defended the laws that we have as a state, and I’m proud of our Legislature and what they have done, lighting the way to show America what it looks like.”
U.S. Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks, the Republican representing southeastern Iowa’s 1st District, joined in cheering for Republicans’ November election wins thwarting Democratic policies on transgender issues.
“We were told that boys can play in girls’ sports because it’s fair,” Miller-Meeks said. “We slayed that dragon. We were told that men can be women just because they say they are. We’ve got another thing coming for them. We’ve slayed that dragon, and we’re going to continue one after another after another, until every single one of those woke dominoes fall.”
In her closing remarks, Mace portrayed the nation as being “in a battle” between good and evil and cast the political left as a dangerous force that the room full of Republicans needed to defeat in the 2026 midterms.
“I will never apologize for saying men don’t belong in women’s locker rooms,” Mace said. “Men don’t belong in women’s sports and they don’t belong in women’s shelters. I will never apologize for saying a woman is an adult human female, because women were made by our creator.”
USA Today reporter Kinsey Crowley contributed to this article
Marissa Payne covers the Iowa Statehouse and politics for the Register. Reach her by email at mjpayne@registermedia.com. Follow her on X, formerly known as Twitter, at @marissajpayne.
The Rock to co-author true crime book about Hawaii mob boss to be adapted by Martin Scorsese
Gov. Little signs $14M childcare bill to expand access across Idaho
‘My dream’: Illinois basketball freshman Kasparas Jakucionis will enter 2025 NBA Draft
Indiana lawmakers approve property tax overhaul
Three arrested for allegedly assaulting 63-year-old in Iowa City
-
Politics1 week agoDems slam Elon Musk, Melania Trump with xenophobic attacks: ‘Go back to South Africa!’
-
News1 week agoFiring of National Security Agency Chief Rattles Lawmakers
-
News1 week ago
Trump goes all in with bet that the heavy price of tariffs will pay off for Americans
-
Politics1 week agoUS revokes all South Sudan visas, bars future issuance until deportees accepted
-
News1 week agoAnti-Trump Protests Get Underway Across the Country
-
Politics1 week agoH2Go: How experts, industry leaders say US hydrogen is fuel for the future of agriculture, energy, security
-
News6 days ago3 Are Killed in Shooting Near Fredericksburg, Va., Authorities Say
-
News1 week agoAmericans Wrestle With How Trump’s Tariffs May Change Shopping Lists