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.
Five people were shot and injured at an Iowa City pedestrian mall near the University of Iowa campus overnight, police said Sunday. Students from the university were among the injured, according to school officials.
The Iowa City Police Department responded to a report of a large fight in the 100 Block of East College Street at 1:46 a.m. early Sunday, the department said in a news release. Arriving officers heard gunfire.
Multiple victims were hospitalized, police said. Police confirmed to CBS News that one person was in critical condition, while the other four victims are stable.
University of Iowa President Barb Wilson said in a statement that three students were among those shot. None of the victims has been publicly identified.
No arrests have been made, and the investigation is ongoing. Police said they are seeking information about five “persons of interest associated with this shooting.” The university also shared the request for information.
The pedestrian mall was closed for several hours and reopened Sunday afternoon.
Here are the candidates for High School on SI’s Iowa high school athlete of the week for April 13-18. Read through the nominees and cast your vote.
Voting closes at 11:59 p.m. PT on Sunday, April 26. The winner will be announced in the following week’s poll. Here are this week’s nominees:
Taylor Roose, Pella boys track and field
Roose competed in three events at the Norwalk Invitational, winning all three in the 100-meter dash, 200-meter dash and long jump.
Daxon Kiesau, Urbandale boys track and field
Kiesau swept the throwing events at the Norwalk Invitational, taking first place in the shot put and the discus.
Alex Burger, Southeast Valley boys track and field
Competing at home, Burger dominated, earning four gold medals. He won the 400-meter hurdles and the long jump while running on the winning 4×200-meter relay and shuttle hurdle relay.
Kolby Hodnefield, Clear Lake boys track and field
Hodenfield, a defending state champion, broke the meet, venue and school record in the 200 and the 400 at the Clear Lake Invitational. He added victories as part of the 4×100 and 4×400 relays. Both relays also set meet records.
Easton Moon, North Polk boys tennis
Moon has started off his senior season on the courts unbeaten, winning all four matches while dropping just one game in 44 played.
Ava Lohrbach, Gilbert girls golf
One of the top golfers in the state, Lohrbach has had a hot start, firing a 35 in her nine-hole debut and a 72 for her 18-hole opener.
Nathan Manske, Algona boys golf
An elite quarterback and basketball player, Manske is showing his golfing skills this spring, coming out with a state-low 30 in a nine-hole event.
Ella Hein, Tipton girls track and field
Hein set school records in the 400-meter run and long jump at the Tiger/Tigerette Relays while also locking in the Blue Standard and qualifying for the Drake Relays. She won the long jump (18-6) and was second in the 400.
Maeve Bowen-Burt, Iowa City High girls track and field
The sophomore helped the Little Hawks land three Drake Relays events on the last night of qualifying, advancing in the 400 hurdles, along with the sprint medley and 4×400 relays.
About Our Athlete of the Week Voting
High School on SI voting polls are meant to be a fun, lighthearted way for fans to show support for their favorite athletes and teams. Our goal is to celebrate all of the players featured, regardless of the vote totals. Sometimes one athlete will receive a very large number of votes — even thousands — and that’s okay! The polls are open to everyone and are simply a way to build excitement and community around high school sports. Unless we specifically announce otherwise, there are no prizes or official awards for winning. The real purpose is to highlight the great performances of every athlete included in the poll.
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The late boxing great George Foreman lies buried in a cemetery in the northwestern corner of Iowa – a place he has no connection to outside of a lone visit to the region nearly 40 years ago.
Foreman died March 21, 2025, at the age of 76 in Houston and was buried in Logan Park Cemetery at Sioux City, Iowa, a month later, city officials confirmed. Foreman’s family returned Thursday to his burial site, holding a news conference with Sioux City Mayor Bob Scott to reveal Foreman’s burial place, marked by a large monument that bears an image of him as a teen following his Olympic gold medal boxing win.
The family explained in a statement released by Sioux City officials that he had visited the Iowa city in 1988, and often recalled the sense of peace he experienced there.
After traveling to the city on April 17 last year to bury Foreman, his family said they immediately understood the region’s appeal.
“Our father lived a life of purpose, faith and gratitude,” the family said in a statement released by Sioux City officials. “To see him laid to rest in a place that brought him peace means everything to us.”
Scott joined the family at Foreman’s monument that lies just a few miles north of the Missouri River in an upper Midwest city of nearly 87,000 people. The cemetery overlooks the scenic Loess Hills, created by windblown silt deposits that reach up to 200 feet high (about 61 meters) and line the river along the Iowa border for 200 miles (322 kilometers).
“Their story is a reminder of how one place can stay with someone for a lifetime,” Scott said.
A native Texan, Foreman rose to fame when he made the 1968 U.S. Olympic boxing team, winning gold in Mexico City. He became the heavyweight champion of the world in 1973 by defeating the great Joe Frazier, only to lose the title a year later to Muhammad Ali in the famous “Rumble in the Jungle.”
A full 20 years later in 1994, Foreman became the oldest man to win the heavyweight championship at 45, defeating Michael Moorer in an epic upset.
Foreman retired in 1997 with a 76-5 career record.
He then moved on to the next chapter in his life as a businessman, pitchman and occasional actor, becoming known to a new generation as the face of the George Foreman Grill. The simple cooking machine sold more than 100 million units and brought him more wealth than boxing.
A biographical movie based on Foreman’s life was released in 2023.
Copyright © 2026 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.
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