Trying To Sell Trump's Tax Reform: "The Middle Class Project"

One of the biggest pro-Trump outside groups of 2016, backed by the Adelson and Ricketts families, plans to spend "eight figures" — at least $10 million — backing tax reform.

• The 45Committee is launching "The Middle Class Project," a 501(c)(4) with an opening TV spot, "What's In It For You," that will debut nationally with tomorrow's bill introduction.

• Why it matters: The size of the spend — from some of the most important donors in the party — is correlated to the stakes: Republicans know this is existential for them. If they fail to pass tax reform on the heels of failing to repeal Obamacare, the GOP could might as well be renamed R.I.P.
• The project will be run by Brian Baker, longtime Ricketts family political adviser, who also directed the 2016 campaign of the 45Committee and its affiliated super PAC, Future45.
• The spending will be aimed at "Republicans and Democrats, including national and targeted advertising in key states and districts, grassroots efforts ... and a heavy investment in data and digital operations."

Coming attractions ... With the release of the House Republican tax bill delayed until tomorrow, a source close to House GOP leadership gives Jonathan Swan this preview:

• "I think people are going to be underwhelmed by this because of all the offsets. ... [M]embers will be seeing this for the first time and reacting badly to all the difficult decisions they had to make to pay for the corporate tax cut."
• "The Ways and Means Committee has the benefit of thinking about this for 10 months. For the rest of the conference, ... [members'] reaction will be: 'Wait a minute. To get to a corporate rate of 20[%,] we've got to do all this other [stuff ]? I don't like that other [stuff]."
• Bottom line: "I think momentum is going to stall. But I think they'll be able to put it back together because they have to."

Alternate History > What if . . . The USA Never Existed?

Published on Nov 1, 2017

What would the world be like if the United States never existed?

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Jeff Bezos Receives the HRC National Equality Award

Published on Oct 28, 2017

HRC honored Jeff Bezos with the HRC National Equality Award, which recognizes the outstanding efforts of those who publicly stand up for the LGBTQ community, committing their time and energy to improve the lives of LGBTQ people and advance equality for all Americans. A longtime advocate for LGBTQ equality, Bezos was one of the largest financial backers of the fight for marriage equality. Under Bezos’ leadership, Amazon has taken several public policy stances in support of LGBTQ equality, ranging from public support of marriage equality to joining HRC’s Business Coalition for the Equality Act. Under his leadership, Amazon also launched the multi-award-winning series Transparent — a show revolving around a family grappling with the transition of their transgender parent. During a 2016 Emmy Award acceptance speech, creator Jill Soloway specifically thanked Bezos for his leadership in making the show possible. Transparent has helped to shape audience’s understanding of what it means to be transgender and increase LGBTQ visibility in homes around the world.

2017 LISC Phoenix Exemplary Partner Nordstrom Bank

2017 LISC Phoenix Exemplary Collaborative Phoenix Indian School Visitor ...

Posting this because I missed the annual LISC Breakfast @ Mesa Arts Center this morning.... bad me!

Top Mormon Leader Admits Mis-Match With Same-Sex Marriage Law-of-The-Land

Mormon leader reaffirms faith's opposition to gay marriage

Published September 30, 2017  

Associated Press

SALT LAKE CITY –  A top Mormon leader reaffirmed the religion's opposition to same-sex marriage on Saturday during a church conference — and reminded followers watching around the world that children should be raised in families led by a married man and woman no matter what becomes the norm in a "declining world."

The speech by Dallin H. Oaks, a member of a top governing body called the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, followed a push in recent years by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to uphold theological opposition to gay marriage amid widespread social acceptance while trying to foster an empathetic stance toward LGBT people.

Blogger Note: What's missing here is the distinction between what can be practiced in personal lives that is different from what works in the public sphere.

Dallin H. Oaks, in the image to the right, spoke during the morning session of the two-day Mormon church conference Saturday, Sept. 30, 2017, in Salt Lake City.(AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)

"We have witnessed a rapid and increasing public acceptance of cohabitation without marriage and same-sex marriage. The corresponding media advocacy, education, and even occupational requirements pose difficult challenges for Latter-day Saints," Oaks said. "We must try to balance the competing demands of following the gospel law in our personal lives and teachings even as we seek to show love for all."
Oaks acknowledged that this belief can put Mormons at odds with family and friends and doesn't match current laws, including the recent legalization of gay marriage in the United States. But he told the nearly 16-million members watching around the world that the religion's 1995 document detailing the doctrine — "The Family: A Proclamation to the World" — isn't a policy statement that will be changed.
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To close this post:

 

2017 Top State Business Climate Rankings: Arizona #15

NEW! Business Climate Ranking Smart Money
Site Selection Magazine
A publication providing current and pertinent data to governments, investors and corporations for over 60 years.
https://conway.com/about-site-selection-magazine 
http://siteselection.com/
Site Selection online is a worldwide service of Conway, Inc. Please note that Data is from many sources and not warranted to be accurate or current.

Site Selection’s 2017 Top State Business Climate Rankings

	State	Executive Survey Rank	Competi-tiveness Rank	2016 New Plant Rank	2016 New Plant Per Capita Rank	2017 New Plant Rank (Jan.- Aug.)	2017 New Plant Per Capita Rank (Jan.- Aug.)	Mature Firm Tax Index Rank	New Firm Tax Index Rank	Final Total Points
1	Georgia	3	3	5	9	1	2	3	6	98
2	North Carolina	6	1	4	7	2	5	7	13	94
3	Texas	1	4	1	11	6	30	12	42	93
4	Ohio	9	6	2	3	9	17	5	3	88
5	Tennessee	4	2	14	12	13	11	29	29	87
T6	Alabama	4	18	16	8	21	19	13	19	85
T6	South Carolina	2	11	18	13	14	8	32	34	85
8	Kentucky	13	9	7	2	7	3	18	7	82
9	Virginia	13	6	8	10	4	9	11	39	80
T10	Indiana	9	14	17	17	11	10	43	15	78
T10	Louisiana	17	10	11	4	7	4	10	2	78
T12	Florida	7	19	13	38	12	29	19	36	72
T12	Nevada	9	23	32	26	22	13	4	38	72
14	Michigan	17	5	10	18	15	16	25	25	70
15	Arizona	8	16	22	29	26	36	14	31	69
16	Nebraska	25	20	20	1	18	1	9	1	67
T17	Oklahoma	13	26	23	23	34	39	16	5	64
T17	Mississippi	12	21	31	25	25	18	37	21	64
T17	Wisconsin	21	22	19	19	17	12	35	4	64
20	Utah	17	24	36	33	27	26	6	10	62
21	Illinois	31	13	3	5	5	14	45	24	54
22	New Mexico	17	39	37	34	30	25	22	14	51
23	Colorado	16	28	30	31	28	37	33	47	50
24	Wyoming	21	33	42	27	45	41	1	9	48
25	Missouri	31	12	15	14	20	15	36	26	47

Source: Conway Projects Database

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What Matters Most:

Site Selector's Most Important Location Criteria

1	Workforce skills
2	Transportation infrastructure
3	Utilities (cost, reliability)
4	State and local tax scheme
5	Land/building prices and supply
6	Quality of life
7	Workforce development
8	Ease of permitting and regulatory procedures
9	Incentives
10	Higher education resources

Source: Site Selection survey of corporate real estate executives, October 2017

2017 Executive Survey Business Climate Rankings

Rank	State
1	Texas
2	South Carolina
3	Georgia
T4	Tennessee
T4	Alabama
6	North Carolina
7	Florida
8	Arizona
T9	Ohio
T9	Indiana
T9	Nevada

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Site Selection September 2017
Digital Edition
View the leading publication in corporate real estate, facility planning, location analysis and foreign direct investment right in your browser. Download the issue, share it on social media, or email to your colleagues all from your desktop

http://siteselection.com/digitalEdition/

First let's back-track to this > Logistics & Distribution Phoenix-Area DC LEEDs the Way
Insights from REI’s supply chain VP show where goods movement is moving next.
(from Sept 2017 issue of Site Selection mag)Since January 2015, Site Selection’s proprietary Conway Projects Database has tracked two dozen major corporate investments in logistics facilities in the Greater Phoenix region. Four of the top five by capital investment — from UPS ($180 million), Luxair ($10 million), Huhtamaki ($100 million) and REI ($73 million) — have landed in Goodyear.
The UPS project, announced in June, stands out in terms of jobs (1,500). But the 400,000-sq.-ft. (37,160-sq.-m.), 100-job REI project stands out in another sense: It’s the first distribution center in the United States to earn LEED-Platinum certification from the U.S. Green Building Council and achieve Net Zero energy status. The site represents a new standard for sustainable logistics operations, and thus serves as a model attracting worldwide interest. . .
REI’s team determined by the end of 2014 that “we could achieve these objectives by placing a new distribution center somewhere along the Interstate 10 Corridor from southern California to Phoenix, Arizona.”
> The Goodyear Economic Development board assisted in identifying grant opportunities that REI was able to use during the build process.
> This site was developed as a Foreign Trade Zone (FTZ). David Hansen, the commercial officer from the Maricopa County Assessor’s office, was instrumental in assisting throughout the tax policy impacts.
> The entire staff and board of Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) was incredibly supportive and helped guide REI's efforts to achieve LEED Platinum.
> The Goodyear facility was developed with a budget from $72 million to $75 million to deliver total ROI in nine years, while also delivering results in key areas such as culture, brand, technology and sustainability.
> When REI entered that Goodyear area, they immediately impacted the community with higher wages, improved total benefits and over 200 new local positions.” 

Another Take-away: In a July report, CBRE analyzed the location of last-mile distribution facilities opened within just the past two years in the 15 largest US population centers finding that they are positioned, on average, between six and nine miles from the centerpoint of the largest population areas they serve.“Development of last-mile strategies still is in the early stages, so the average distances in many metros is likely to shrink a bit more in the coming years,” said CBRE Global Head of Industrial & Logistics Research David Egan. “We’re also likely to see many different types of real estate considered for last-mile centers.”

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Ranking Methodology

 

Fifty percent of the overall Business Climate Ranking is based on a survey of corporate site selectors who are asked to rank the states based on their recent experience of locating facilities in them. The other 50 percent is based on an index of seven criteria: performance in Site Selection’s annual Prosperity Cup ranking (formerly the Competitiveness Award); total Conway Projects Database-compliant facility locations and expansion projects in 2016; total projects in 2016 per capita; total 2017 projects year to date; total 2017 projects year to date per capita; state tax burdens on mature firms and on new firms according to this year’s Tax Foundation and KPMG Location Matters analysis.

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About Conway

Our Mission

“We are an integral part of a great system that provides a better quality of life for the people of the world. This system develops productive facilities to meet ever-growing needs for food, shelter, clothing and essential services. It provides jobs that sustain families. It pays for medical, education and government services for communities. Without this vital system there would be chaos.
Specifically, we provide an important communications link between productive companies and those seeking to attract them who represent cities, states and nations around the world. We are part of the development process. We play a role in the future. And we help bring a better quality of life to areas today.
Those who lack vision may say that we are merely helping to sell real estate or personal services. It’s only for the money, they may think. They are wrong. Without constructive economic development and the related necessary infrastructure, the world economy would collapse.
Looking at the world landscape we know that our small company is but a grain of sand. However, joining with many others we know that we are part of a wonderful vista.”

-McKinley Conway
Founder