Growth Archives - Granite Grok

ROPER: Economic Momentum, Progressive Taxation, and My Argument with AI

July 3, 2026 Rob Roper

The Vermont Futures Project made something of a splash when it released a statistic showing that Vermont ranks 51st among 50 states (D.C. thrown in for giggles) for something they call “economic momentum.” This sounds really bad and, spoiler alert, it is. But, full confession, it’s not a statistic I was familiar with. Other organizations … Read more

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Why New Hampshire’s Smallest Population Growth in a Century Is Bad News

August 17, 2021 Op-Ed

In the last decade, New Hampshire’s population grew at the slowest rate in a century, signaling that generations’ worth of astounding economic and cultural gains could be put at risk.

Data Point – Federal Debt Held by Public 1900-2051

April 6, 2021 Skip

Inflation is the short way to say “sacrificing the dollar”. It is Government’s way, via monetary policies, to pay existing debt with dollars that are worth less later.

NH Homeschooling More Than Doubles in 2020

January 4, 2021

The New Hampshire Department of Education released preliminary home education student enrollment just prior to the holidays. The enrollment figures are those new homeschooling children who notified the various Participating Agency options across the state: their local public school districts, the Department of Education, and private schools that offer this service.

Joe Biden’s Economic Agenda Is a Marxist Template for Control

October 20, 2020

What Biden brings should be self evident. Joe Biden’s economic agenda is a Marxist template for control. It would destroy millions of American jobs. His plan would crush economic recovery from the virus.

hand water help original Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

Despite Years of Water Restrictions NH Towns Keep Adding More Mouths to Drink

April 30, 2023August 21, 2020 Steve MacDonald

I can’t remember the last time my town of Merrimack did not have some sort of water use restriction. Every year, regardless of the precipitation, even in heavy years, we are told to limit water use in the summer.

Benefits of a Principled Tax Burden

May 30, 2020 Steve MacDonald

Is there such a thing as benefits of a principled tax burden? If there were; what would they be? Fact: taxes lower the economic welfare of citizens.

Shariah versus the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

The Basic Tenets: Islam’s Five Pillars… Zakat

September 7, 2019

The basic tenets of Islam’s five Pillars are not arbitrary religious rights individually Islamic tradition individually collects. Believers accept that they are a perfect. Believers accept they are holistic interlocking of spiritual practices divinely designed to engage human beings; in all that they are, all that they should be and can once again be. Sort … Read more

Why Vote Republican?

September 5, 2019

Why vote Republican? Well, would you vote for creation of almost 4 million jobs since the last election? Could you support that? Is it a good thing? Okay, the Republicans have got you covered. Jobs Would you vote Republican if you knew more Americans are now employed than ever recorded before in our history? Would … Read more

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U.S. private employers’ payrolls grew at the fastest pace in four months in August

September 5, 2019 Steve MacDonald

What is something you may not hear a lot about today? Good economic news. Details that deflate the Left’s dreams of a recession. The one they’d love you to suffer through if it helped them in the next election.

Spend Early, Spend Often, Give Up Your Freedom

July 25, 2019

The spending deal agreed to by congressional leaders and the President is appalling. We simply have to stop spending money we do not have. The operating debt currently stands at $22.5 trillion or $68,500 for every person in the country. This deal if implemented will accelerate the growth of the debt. The pocket full of … Read more

You cannot grow wages through more government spending

July 3, 2019July 3, 2019 Op-Ed

by Rep. Dave Testerman (Hill & Franklin) | With the N.H. legislative session over for the summer, I am taking time to write on current issues. The Legislature left a large conundrum on the table when it passed an irresponsible budget that the governor had to veto. Hopefully, we will be able to come to … Read more

Access to Health Coverage Vs. Access to Health Care

New Hampshire’s Monopoly Healthcare

February 15, 2019

The latest development LRGHealthcare has been hemorrhaging money since the inception of Obamacare. Having been unable to stem the losses it has now identified a potential partner. Will that partner provide deeper pockets until a turnaround can be accomplished? Let me suggest that the root cause question needs to be asked and answered. Is the … Read more

The Greatest Egalitarian Effort Ever

January 29, 2019

The start According to Harry Truman more than half the people in the world were living in conditions approaching misery in 1949. Since then the world has been making progress in lifting people out of poverty. The impoverished number fell by half as a share of the total population in developing countries, from 43% to … Read more

Data Point Last Quarter’s GDP number: 4.1% in context

September 26, 2018July 28, 2018 Skip

Steve actually broke the news here but narrative and numbers are great, I just prefer charts. For me, they give more context and a data element without context is useless. You want to see trends:

Trump Keeps ‘Winning’

September 26, 2018July 27, 2018 Steve MacDonald

It looks like the economy has managed to push aside the smothering pillow of Obamanomics.

The Commerce Department reported Friday that the economy grew at a pace of 4.1 percent in the second quarter, propelled by consumer spending in another win for Mr. Trump’s policies of lower taxes and fewer regulations.

The growth was the fastest since 2014, following first-quarter growth of 2.2 percent that was revised up from 2 percent.

The suffocating “cultural” blanket of Obamanomics is wearing thin as well.

Consumption doesn’t drive growth, it’s a consequence of growth

August 2, 2019July 9, 2017 Steve MacDonald

I found this in an article I shared over at The New Media Militia on how Obama’s Cash for Clunkers Boondoggle (which also belongs to NH Rep. Carol Che-Porter and Sen. Greene Jeanne Shaheen) was a total failure.

How Do You Take Down Poverty?

September 26, 2018May 7, 2013 Steve MacDonald

AEI Videos

How Much More Does The State Deserve Your Money Than You?

September 26, 2018May 7, 2013 Steve MacDonald

Keep in mind that New Hampshire Democrats want to spend your money to achieve immediate government growth of about 9-10% Boston.com Dennis Delay of the New Hampshire Center for Public Policy Studies told the Senate Ways and Means Committee Tuesday that New Hampshire’s recovery from the Great Recession is lackluster. … Delay predicted the state’s … Read more

There is No Ball

September 26, 2018May 3, 2013 Steve MacDonald

Do New Hampshire Democrats have their priorities straight? Think about it. The economy is creeping along. No one is projecting even moderate growth. Employment is likely to remain flat which means unemployment is as well. All in all, the best we can hope for, according to all the ‘experts’ is to drift along for a while. So what are New Hampshire Democrats doing?

In one of the safest states in the nation, with some of the most–dare I say liberal–gun laws in the country, they are investing their energy on harassing a Republican Senator (Kelly Ayotte) who doesn’t even have to run for office until 2016, over a vote that wouldn’t even do much if any good to solve the problem they claim it is meant to resolve; while at the exact same time, asking New Hampshire taxpayers to let them grow the size and cost of government as much as 10%.

Economy sucks, maybe 2% growth if we’re lucky over the next few years–New Hampshire Democrats want to give the government a permanent 9-10% raise.

Talk about not keeping your eye on the ball.

Wait. This is supposed to be like the Matrix, right. There is no ball. Look- Ayotte!