I read the papers. I look around. I see things that are either annoying or goofy. I write about them. My sister suggested that I start a blog. (Thanks for liking my stuff, Julia.) So, in no particular order, here are my thoughts.
September 23, 2026
Repeat the following:
A million dollars
A hundred million dollars
A billion dollars
A tax credit of a million dollars is a lot of money. A tax credit of a billion dollars is a lot more money. But it’s the hundred million that makes people stop and think. Because they realize what’s going into it.
Suppose instead of saying “a billion” somebody asked for a thousand million in tax credits. Would calling it “a thousand million” give you pause?
September 23, 2026
Is Bob Onder playing tax-credit chess?
The St. Louis lawyer wants $1.5 billion in tax credits from a town whose median household income is $47,524.
Maybe that’s his opening bid. After being turned down, he sweetened the pot by offering a drop in the bucket in the form of a $7.5 million donation to a non-profit (connected, coincidentally, to a town council member).
Maybe he’s hoping to keep bargaining until he can whittle the figure to a mere $100 million or so.
