A slick, well-produced video on the Internet (posted below) is making several spurious arguments about a number of issues relating to both data centers and the purchase of PNM by a private equity firm called Blackstone. RGF is generally supportive of data centers, but we have not taken a position on the PNM purchase.

Regardless of this we want the debate over these issues to be factual. The following video (specific to NM and with 580,000 views at last count) produced by the left wing group More Perfect Union needs a good fact-check, so here it is.

1. Whether you support the PNM merger with Blackstone or not the fact is that PNM is hunting for a buyer (previously this was Avangrid) that has deeper pockets and a better bond rating. PNM is having to rework its grid AND spend massive sums on new, “renewable,” power sources and power lines because of the Energy Transition Act of 2019. If Blackstone’s bid is rejected it will only be a matter of time before PNM looks for yet another buyer. This is left out of the video because the group behind it doesn’t care to publicize this “inconvenient truth.”
2. Utility costs in New Mexico have already risen and will rise even further due to the shuttering of coal-fired San Juan Generating Station which was caused by the Energy Transition Act and the need to replace all that power with diffuse and redundant wind, solar, and battery.
3. No matter who owns PNM it is a heavily regulated utility. It is amusing that leftists in the video express such support for a traditional publicly traded company (which they usually hate) and such concern about a private equity firm. The regulatory structure will remain the same.
4. There is simply no connection between Blackstone’s takeover of PNM and data centers. Under New Mexico law these data centers like Project Jupiter operate on “Microgrids.” There was a bill filed in the 2026 session to specifically limit these Microgrids by forcing them to use so-called “renewable energy” for Microgrids/data centers. The bill failed, but with Microgrids instead of the grid being used to provide electricity to data centers New Mexicans won’t be affected.

The video in question is below. It is full of distortions and implications. It ignores the forced push to “renewables” and it lumps our left-wing Gov. and numerous Democrats into alignment with President Trump which is simply not the case. Whatever your views on data centers and the purchase of PNM decisions should be made on facts.

According to recent news reports a coalition of activists is working to get weight loss drugs covered in New Mexico under Medicaid.  The drugs can be expensive with monthly supplies of the medications can run more than $1,000 for wholesale buyers, according to the government website TrumpRx.gov.

Last night the City Council in Albuquerque rejected a massive gross receipts tax proposal that RGF worked very hard to stop. Paul and Wally discuss that, the latest on ranked choice voting, and the passage of a bill to make ABQ a sanctuary city.

Does a UNM branch campus really make sense downtown?

Here’s one California policy we can get behind.

MLG’s free childcare is already running a big deficit.

Washington State went ahead and passed an income tax. Guess what happened next?

Should Medicaid cover obesity treatments? Some advocates want it to.

The Albuquerque City Council late last night rejected a major tax increase. The Rio Grande Foundation spoke out against the tax hike directly and helped our friends at Americans for Prosperity organize opposition. The vote wound up 8-1 against the tax hike although support was much stronger as both cosponsors of the bill voted against the amended version.

Ultimately the vote was good for the City and its residents and businesses. Many government employees DID show up to testify in support, but with the City budget having grown dramatically in recent years (approximately doubling under Keller over 8 years) it is impossible to justify a significant tax hike.

RGF is pleased to have helped lead the charge in opposition to this unnecessary tax hike. We suggest ending the City’s taxpayer-funded “free” bus program and abandoning the overpriced rail trail not to mention other city spending.

The City Council postponed a vote on ranked choice voting until April 6. We’ll be working to ensure that fails as well.

While the mere idea of cutting taxes in cash-rich New Mexico remains a near impossibility due to political opposition (the Legislature passed and MLG signed significant tax increases this session (a 25% increase in vehicle registrations and an increase in taxes on corporations contained in SB 151), “progressive” politicians in cash-strapped California which faces a $2.9 billion budget deficit are proposing significant tax reductions.

Katie Porter is a US House member who is also running for Gov. of California, she recently announced a plan to eliminate income taxes on families making under $100,000 annually. See her video on the subject below. In New Mexico which according to its politicians has “money to burn” those making up to $100K can pay rates varying from 4.7% to 4.9%.  Although our strong preference is for lower income taxes for ALL New Mexicans combined with long-overdue reforms to the gross receipts tax, we certainly would be willing to support a plan to exempt families making less than $100K from income taxes.

Of course we don’t want ALL of California’s latest policy ideas to come to New Mexico. So far, at least, the Land of Enchantment hasn’t seen a serious “wealth tax” proposal. The idea which may be on California ballots this fall is already pushing wealthy Californians out of state. 

0% state income tax for California families making under $100,000. That’s thousands of dollars back in your pocket where it belongs.

As Governor, I’ll work the issue at both ends—lowering taxes for those who are struggling and raising them on the biggest corporations that can… pic.twitter.com/s5EUYlANni

— Katie Porter (@katieporterca) March 13, 2026

As part of the federal Big Beautiful Bill passed in 2025 the Trump Administration created a $1,700 federal tax credit for school choice. The credit would “cost” the State of New Mexico nothing and instead would benefit not just “private” or “non-public” schools but charter schools and even potentially school districts as well. We’d simply note that, “While primarily designed for private school tuition, these scholarships can fund public school expenses like tutoring, fees, and supplies, offering potential benefits to students in district schools.”

We decried MLG’s plan to forego participation in the tax credit back in October here.

But, according to this article by Education Week MLG may be having a change of heart. The article states, In New Mexico, Lujan Grisham spokesperson Michael Coleman said Wednesday, “We are seeking more federal guidance on the use of these dollars before making a final decision.”

That’s a start. In fact, we urge New Mexicans of all walks of life to send the Gov. a message of support. You can do that here. 

Something along the lines of: I urge you to have New Mexico participate in the federal school choice tax credit as created under the federal “Big Beautiful Bill.” Make the text your own, but there’s no need to complicate things. Participation in this plan would be a huge win for New Mexico!

Recently, Albuquerque Mayor Tim Keller spoke to a business group. His “stay the course” comments raised some eyebrows, but with him having won a 3rd term with a resounding 58% of the vote, it is hard to see what else he would say.

However, there are other aspects of Keller’s speech (as reported here) that raised OUR eyebrows.

Keller remains fixated on bringing a University of New Mexico campus downtown. Keller is even talking about using city money to subsidize this effort. Keller is trying to use the campus to bring people downtown. This has nothing to do with demand for a downtown campus. UNM’s main campus is right up the road just two miles away with ample transit options. There is simply no need for yet another UNM branch campus and, like so many past downtown development schemes, this too will likely wind up wasting a lot of money.

Keller’s already bad “pitch” for a downtown campus only worsened when he made the incorrect claim that “We have one of the most underfunded universities in the country.” In reality, New Mexico’s higher education system is the third biggest recipient of tax dollars (per full time enrollee) relative to other states (see page 43). UNM is New Mexico’s flagship university. It is NOT underfunded.

Keller then addressed New Mexico’s massive “permanent funds.” At the Rio Grande Foundation, we have noted many times that New Mexico could do something with this money to diversify the economy and preferably reduce taxes and make our state a more desirable place to live and do business.

Sadly, Keller suffers from the same “government-first” mindset of many New Mexico politicians. Instead, he seems to believe spending even more money is the path forward, “We have a crime problem that can be solved by technology and we are sitting on mountains of cash. We have an addiction problem that can be solved by actually paying incentives for people to move here to do treatment and building places for their new treatment and we are sitting on billions and billions of dollars.”

Yes, New Mexico is “sitting on piles of cash,” but it does not follow that technology can solve our crime issues or that our addiction problems require even more money than has already been spent.

Albuquerque City Council considering a big tax hike. Act now to stop it!

Also, a plan to institute “ranked choice voting” is making its way through Council.

MLG signs medical malpractice bill. Worth noting is the fact that SHE and legislative Democrats created the problem in the first place.

New Mexico is now sitting on $70 billion in its permanent fund.

Paul will be speaking at an Americans For Prosperity event about the recent legislative session alongside Sen. Jay Block.

Paul and Wally discuss the impact of Iran War on NM economy/oil and gas.

Finally, some political news happened in both parties over the weekend. 

RGF fully expects the taxpayer-funded childcare scheme cooked up by Gov. Lujan Grisham and Democrats in the Legislature to become a nightmare on numerous fronts, but today’s post is on the financial aspect. Check out this document which was produced by the Legislative Finance Committee. Specifically, the part on page 2 about “Early Childhood” where it states the following:

“Projections for the Early Childhood Education and Care Department childcare assistance program show the department will likely overspend the program’s revenues in FY26 by an estimated $60 million if no cost containment efforts are put in to place before the end of the year.”

In other words, the program is already running a $60 million deficit for the current fiscal year (FY 2026) which ends on June 30.

Since the program was instituted by the Gov. on November 1 (without legislative approval) and only approved by the Legislature in the recently-completed 30-day session, what does this all mean? It means that “free” childcare is going to be incredibly expensive and that cost will be borne by New Mexico’s taxpayers in one way or another. And, more than likely, some future governor will have to make changes to the program to make it less-than-universal.

Over the weekend Republicans gathered in Ruidoso for their “pre-primary convention.” Among other news from the event is that Rio Rancho Mayor Greg Hull led the vote tally with 239 votes from delegates. Doug Turner, a businessman and latecomer to the race, got 104 votes, meaning both will be on the ballot for Republican voters June 2. Other candidates can collect more signatures to get on the ballot. While an interesting barometer the pre-primary convention is not a particularly barometer in determining electoral success.

The same is true for the CD 2 race where Greg Cunningham is on the ballot running against Rep. Gabe Vasquez but Jose Orozco will need to collect more signatures. The race represents the best opportunity for Republicans to win a US House seat in New Mexico this year.

At their meeting on Monday, March 16, Albuquerque’s City Council will likely be voting on a plan to increase the City gross receipts tax by a massive 0.4875%. We’d like your help to stop it. We believe that Councilors Lewis, Grout, and Champine are solid “no’s” but it is worth contacting ALL other members of the council including co-sponsor of the tax hike Brook Bassan.

You can reach each or all councilors here. 

Fresh off a legislative session during which New Mexicans saw increased vehicle registration fees and business tax hikes Albuquerque’s City Council is going to be considering a massive 0.4875% increase in the local gross receipts tax. The tax hike has been introduced by councilors Joaquín Baca, Brook Bassan. Although Council elections are non-partisan Bassan is widely considered a Republican while Baca is a Democrat. The current total tax rate is 7.625% in the City meaning the tax hike would take the City to 8.113 percent. Neighboring Rio Rancho which also has substantially lower property taxes has a 7.4375% GRT.

The planned GRT hike would be a 6.4% increase in the overall GRT rate. But, Albuquerque currently collects GRT at a rate of 2.3125% meaning that from the City’s perspective this is a massive 21% tax hike in Albuquerque’s gross receipts tax. 

While New Mexico’s politicians tout “affordability” the reality is that politicians in the State simply cannot get enough of our tax money. In 2017 the City spent $926,388. That number jumped to $1.5 billion by 2026. Yet, once again there are plans afoot for another tax increase at City Hall. As a reminder the gross receipts tax is considered a “regressive” tax meaning that it impacts lower income taxpayers the most.

Here are a few proposed messages you can send (or edit for your purposes). Use this link to find councilor contact information. 

1) I urge you to vote NO on the proposed tax increase which, if adopted, would increase the City’s gross receipts tax by a significant 0.4875%. Council rejected a 3/8ths cent tax hike last year and should do the same this year. If adopted, this tax would push the City above 8%. The City which has been flush with revenue in recent years simply doesn’t need the money. This is an unnecessary cash grab and I urge you to reject it.

2) I urge you to vote NO on the proposed gross receipts tax increase. City spending approximately doubled over Mayor Keller’s first 8 years in office from $750 million to $1.5 billion. We have resources available to address core city functions without raising taxes.

3) I urge you to vote NO on the proposed gross receipts tax. The GRT is a “regressive” tax meaning that the poor are impacted more than are wealthier people. We should ALL be concerned about affordability and bringing down the cost of living for all Albuquerque residents. This is absolutely NOT the time to enact big tax increases on those least able to afford it.

With Albuquerque City Council having taken a sizable step leftward in the last election it is only a matter of time before the bad policies start moving forward through Council. Next up is “Ranked Choice Voting,” a confusing voting system that would, if adopted, make election night results a thing of the past as a complicated series of calculations would need to be made in order to decide the winner in a race of three or more people. You can reach each or all councilors here to let them know you oppose this complicated voting scheme which also lacks transparency.

Legislation is to be heard in a committee on Monday, March 9. This is NOT final passage. We’ll keep you posted on that. You can find the text here.  As Trent England and Jason Snead write:

Ranked choice voting tabulation starts by eliminating the least popular candidate, which really means eliminating the votes (first-place rankings) for that candidate. If affected voters ranked other candidates, their votes are shifted to their second-place rankings, and this repeats until a winner clinches a “majority.” But here is the kicker: along the way, if voters run out of rankings before the final round of tabulation, their ballots are eliminated from the final results. It’s as if those people never voted—all to make it appear that the winner has majority support. Their votes simply disappear from the final results.

With ranked choice voting, your right to vote does not include the right to have your vote count for an unpopular candidate. Nor does it include the right to timely and reliable election results.

Although Santa Fe has had ranked choice voting for eight years, the Santa Fe New Mexican headline says it all. You can read the entire article by clicking on it as well.

HB 99 which makes necessary positive changes to New Mexico’s medical malpractice laws is a HUGE victory for New Mexicans. We sincerely applaud Gov. Lujan Grisham for signing the bill today and standing up for New Mexicans who need medical care but have been unable to access it due to the shortage of medical providers. It is likely the best piece of legislation to become law in New Mexico in the 20 year tenure of RGF president Paul Gessing.

Of course, it is worth noting that Lujan Grisham and many current members of the New Mexico Legislature played a key role in causing the medical provider shortage.

On this week’s interview Paul talks to Johnny Johnson of the New Mexico Trucking Association. The organization represents the interests of the trucking industry in New Mexico.

They discuss the Legislature’s tax increase aimed at truckers and the broader impacts of the road funding bill (SB 2). They also discuss the situation with illegal immigrants/non-English speakers on the roads and broader safety issues in the wake of the death of a sheriff’s deputy near Albuquerque. Finally, they discuss federal regulations and their impact on trucking safety.

You don’t want to miss this important discussion!

New Mexico’s incredible oil and gas boom continues to pump money into New Mexico. And, while the size and scope of government continues to grow (free college, free pre-K, and now free childcare to name just three of the Gov.’s socialistic “cradle to career” priorities) average citizens and businesses haven’t seen much support. In fact, multiple tax hikes were passed in the Legislature and are likely to become law including taxes on motorists AND businesses.

According to the latest information available from the State Investment Council the value of New Mexico’s permanent funds now come to a mind-blowing $70 billion. The last time we checked in on these funds back in August of 2025 the funds’ value had risen to $64 billion.

On one hand this massive pile of cash is a great bulwark against future budgetary challenges. The money could also be used to diversify New Mexico’s heavily-oil and gas dependent economy. Sadly, New Mexico politicians patently refuse to reduce New Mexicans’ tax burdens as part of broader economic reforms to make New Mexico more prosperous, less reliant on government handouts, and more economically diverse.

RGF president Paul Gessing will speak at an Americans for Prosperity event alongside New Mexico Sen. Jay Block at a public event on March 12 at 6pm at 3791 Southern Blvd, SE #240 in Rio Rancho.

We’ll discuss the recently-completed legislative session and what happened and didn’t happen for and against taxpayers and business. See the flier below to RSVP. Don’t miss it!

The medical malpractice bill passed in the recently completed legislative session hasn’t even been signed by the Gov. (she has one week left) and Democrat House Speaker Javier Martinez has already proclaimed his plan to push for “single payer” health care in the next 60-day legislative session. As Martinez told KRQE 13, “I believe that the fix for this is a Universal single-payer healthcare system.”

This is hardly surprising considering that Martinez decried the American “for profit” healthcare model and touted the benefits of the Cuban health care system during the recent 2026 session.

As a reminder, single payer health care means that one entity—usually the government—collects funds and pays for all essential healthcare services for every resident. While single payer systems exist in many countries no other US state has enacted and stuck with such a plan. A few relevant cases include:

• Vermont: In 2011, Vermont passed legislation to create “Green Mountain Care,” intending to be the first state with a single-payer system. However, the plan was abandoned in 2014 due to unsustainable, projected tax increases.
• In 2016, Colorado voters overwhelmingly rejected Amendment 69, a ballot initiative designed to create “ColoradoCare,” the nation’s first state-level single-payer healthcare system. The measure failed by a 4-to-1 margin (roughly 80% against), due to concerns over high tax increases, the elimination of private insurance, and economic impacts.

One thing that Martinez is undoubtedly going to rely on is the existence of New Mexico’s massive oil and gas revenues (and permanent funds which is now valued at a mind-blowing $70 billion). As mentioned above, cost concerns have been significant issues for past single payer efforts. Creating a costly single payer system in New Mexico would involve massive infusions of oil and gas cash in order to avoid unpopular, massive tax hikes that have torpedoed such efforts in other states.

The following image is from a group called The Third Way. Massachusetts has “RomneyCare” which is much more similar to “ObamaCare” and is NOT single-payer.

Ben Ray’s big dumb idea.

Did you know: NM has money to burn?

Deb Haaland touts left wing policies but makes an admission on the minimum wage.

In the wake of the 2026 legislative session House speaker Javier Martinez says he wants to push for a Universal single-payer healthcare system.

Medical malpractice bill was a major victory, but more is needed.

An audit found New Mexico’s child welfare agency did not properly spend $4.2 million from an appropriation intended for behavioral health services.

ICE could sign a contract with Hobbs detention facility circumventing a recently passed New Mexico law.

The following appeared in the Albuquerque Journal on March 2nd, 2026 and in other newspapers across New Mexico.

The passage of medical malpractice reform is the most important public policy success in New Mexico in more than a decade. It took support from New Mexicans of every political stripe and a bipartisan coalition in the Legislature to achieve this success, but at long last the state’s malpractice-driven doctor shortage may be over.

In addition to the medical malpractice bill, the Legislature entered New Mexico into the national doctor compact and enacted a $10,000 tax credit for physicians. Combined, this may be enough to start turning the tide. It is cause for celebration, but please don’t misunderstand, New Mexico still faces major challenges in attracting and retaining doctors.

Rather than being lulled into believing that the problem has been solved, New Mexicans need to focus on additional ways to make our state more attractive for doctors. The good news is that many needed policy changes, if enacted, would make New Mexico more attractive for other professionals as well. The bad news is that it took such overwhelming support and effort from all sides of the political spectrum to get essential medical malpractice reforms through the Legislature. It will be hard to marshal the same resources and political consensus in the future.

In fact, the Legislative Finance Committee in its pre-session survey of medical providers and why so many of them are considering leaving, found that behind medical malpractice and punitive damages, the next biggest issues facing doctors were issues around “quality of life” and “compensation.”

While the victory on medical malpractice this session was challenging enough, solving issues around quality of life and compensation could be even more of a challenge, especially for New Mexico’s majority Democrats. After all, “compensation” at least partly means long-overdue reforms to the gross receipts tax, it also means New Mexico’s top income tax rate is too high, and with so many in our state on Medicaid, the program offers a lower reimbursement rate than private insurance.

The gross receipts tax remains a big, unnecessary problem for the medical field. In 2026 Senate Bill 133 was introduced. It proposed to deduct receipts from selling in-office, nondiagnostic equipment to health care practitioners. Another bill, House Bill 338, would have extended New Mexico’s GRT deduction for medical deductibles and copays beyond the current exemption’s 2028 expiration deadline (just two years away).

Both these concepts should be adopted and soon. Better yet, the gross receipts tax needs to be thoroughly reformed to remove business inputs from taxation. Such a move would benefit all areas of the economy including the health care sector. And, considering how much was spent in growing government this session, the state clearly has plenty of money available despite lower oil prices.

Quality of life issues are even more difficult. While New Mexico’s weather, mountains and culture are considered unique in good ways, the state’s crime problem (especially in Albuquerque) and its poor schools are big challenges that require bold reforms. Of course, the GRT, New Mexico’s high poverty rate, poor schools and high crime are nothing new to policymakers.

In fact, there are clear and obvious reforms that would unleash New Mexico’s economy, especially at a time of record oil and gas revenues, but our Legislature and governor have refused to make necessary reforms for many years, even a few years ago when our state had multibillion-dollar budget surpluses.

Positive change in New Mexico comes hard. It’s why we tend to rank poorly on so many state comparison lists. Medical malpractice is a massive win for New Mexico and those seeking medical treatment here, but there is much more to be done to make New Mexico an attractive destination for highly paid professionals, medical or otherwise.

Paul Gessing is president of the Rio Grande Foundation, an Albuquerque-based think tank focused on the importance of individual freedom, limited government and economic opportunity. 

Fresh off a legislative session during which New Mexicans saw increased vehicle registration fees and business tax hikes Albuquerque’s City Council is going to be considering a massive 0.4875% increase in the local gross receipts tax. The tax hike has been introduced by councilors Joaquín Baca, Brook Bassan. Although Council elections are non-partisan Bassan is widely considered a Republican while Baca is a Democrat. The current total tax rate is 7.625% in the City meaning the tax hike would take the City to 8.113 percent. Neighboring Rio Rancho which also has substantially lower property taxes has a 7.4375% GRT.

The planned GRT hike would be a 6.4% increase in the overall GRT rate. But, Albuquerque currently collects GRT at a rate of 2.3125% meaning that from the City’s perspective this is a massive 21% tax hike in Albuquerque’s gross receipts tax. 

While New Mexico’s politicians tout “affordability” the reality is that politicians in the State simply cannot get enough of our tax money. In 2017 the City spent $926,388. That number jumped to $1.5 billion by 2026. Yet, once again there are plans afoot for another tax increase at City Hall. As a reminder the gross receipts tax is considered a “regressive” tax meaning that it impacts lower income taxpayers the most.

There are many bad ideas in Washington, but leave it to New Mexico’s Democrat Sen. Ben Ray Lujan to come up with one of the dumbest. He has co-sponsored the S. 3892 which they are calling the “Stop Price Gouging in Grocery Stores Act of 2026.”

Setting aside for a moment the fact that grocery stores operate on margins of between 1% and 3% and that any “price gouging” would be readily-apparent to shoppers, there are some other “off-the-wall” parts of this bill including the following:

“Stores larger than 10,000 square feet cannot use electronic shelf labels or digital displays for pricing. They must present prices in non-digital formats, such as printed tags.” The idea that Congress should make this a federal law is an affront to federalism (for starters), but what is the point of forcing grocery stores to send a clerk around to manually adjust prices when it can more easily and quickly done by a remote control?

And, while inflation has been high in recent years there have been ups AND downs in terms of pricing of eggs, milk, meat, and numerous other products in recent years. Is Ben Ray Lujan trying to solve a problem or just grandstand?

On this week’s show Paul interviews Fred Nathan, the founder and leader of Think New Mexico. Fred and his organization played a lead role in achieving medical malpractice reform in the 2026 session along with some other significant victories.

Paul and Fred discuss the path of HB 99 (med mal reform) through the legislative process and address what his group (and RGF) have planned next in the area of attracting medical providers to New Mexico. Check this important discussion out!

That’s not just OUR viewpoint, recently a New Mexico State Senator (Antonio “Moe” Maestas) was quoted as saying this. See story below. Of course, as we’ve said repeatedly in recent years, New Mexico has plenty of money to do nearly anything it wants. Sadly, policymakers have:

• • Found plenty of money for a costly $850 million annual universal child care program.
  • They handed MLG $308 million for “quantum computing.”
  • Eliminated 1,000 jobs in communities with ICE facilities.
  • Offered taxpayer-funded handouts to media outlets AND newspapers.

Meanwhile, just this session New Mexico’s Democrats voted to raise vehicle registration fees by 25% and increase taxes on businesses by $110-$120 million annually.

But, providing even modest reductions in taxes was simply “unaffordable” for this (and previous) legislatures. Instead, government spending has grown by more than 80% under this Gov. and New Mexicans remain among the very most impoverished in the nation with New Mexico continuing to depend on oil and gas.

We applaud Sen. Maestas’ honesty, but simply cannot understand why New Mexico voters are so willing to elect and reelect people who are more than happy to spend incredible sums of money on THEIR priorities while refusing to share that prosperity and money with the people they supposedly represent. Check out the story by clicking on it below:

Without a doubt Deb Haaland will be pushing all manner of discredited left wing policies that have kept New Mexico poor (despite its massive untapped wealth) for generations. You can read about her plans to raise the statewide minimum wage, ban rent fixing and spend more money renewable energy in the Albuquerque Journal. While the Rio Grande foundation has fully analyzed her plans here and found them to be deeply lacking, she makes a tacit admission in her statement to the Journal.

Among her plans Haaland wants to raise New Mexico’s minimum wage “from $12 to $14.50, with incremental increases over time.” We certainly disagree with that policy, but what Haaland said about that plan is the biggest “tell.” Haaland told the Journal, “We obviously can’t raise it to what it should be, right?” Haaland said. “Because it would be very high.”

So, Haaland is saying that the wage SHOULD be higher, but there might be issues with raising the wage to that level (so she’ll settle for $14.50 an hour).

The problem with minimum wages has been known for a long time. They push low-skilled workers out of the workforce by making them too expensive to hire. The Congressional Budget Office has said the same thing so it is great to see Deb Haaland acknowledging economic reality in at least this one case.

Of course getting the government involved in setting rent prices and forcing New Mexicans to use even more “renewable” energy will have their own negative impacts.