Errors of Enchantment

The Feed

“Green advocates”: eliminating subsidies would be devastating; also, we’re the cheapest!

06.30.2025

It is always amusing when the “renewable” energy crowd starts whining about he elimination of their subsidies. Here is an opinion piece that appeared in Sunday’s Albuquerque Journal from the head of New Mexico’s Renewable Energy Industries Association in which he claims that plans in the “One Big Beautiful Bill” now moving through Congress to eliminate subsidies for “renewables” from the Inflation Reduction Act will “devastate” New Mexico’s renewable industries.

Meanwhile, advocates for so-called “renewables” simultaneously argue that they are actually cheaper than fossil fuels. So, which is it?

The reality is (not surprisingly) wind and solar ARE more expensive especially when required backup sources are considered as energy expert Bjorn Lomborg points out. In reality as New Mexico is already finding out thanks to its Energy Transition Act, there is no such thing as cheap wind and solar.

 

 

What to think of Zohran Mamdani (socialist NYC mayoral candidate)

06.30.2025

In a recent New York City primary election self-identified socialist candidate Zohran Mamdami won and appears to have the inside track at becoming New York City’s next Mayor. Mamdami believes in things like city owned and operated grocery stores, rent control, steep new taxes, and “free” public transportation. While NYC is definitely a bastion of left-leaning politics, Mamdami appears to be a political outlier in the Big Apple.

But the real issue is the continued shift leftward by Democrats across the United State. In New Mexico we went from tax-cutting, pro-gun, pro-market Democrat Bill Richardson to “progressive” Michelle Lujan Grisham and now Deb Haaland is looking to take the Democrats even further left (by opposing outright oil and gas development as she did as Secretary of Interior). Democrats in the New Mexico Legislature which voted to adopt Richardson’s tax cuts back in 2003 have moved further left over this time frame as have Democrats up and down the line. Even as recently as 2024 so-called “progressives” captured several legislative seats previously held by moderates.

Will Democrats nationwide or in New Mexico move back to the center? They show no signs of doing so. Deb Haaland is the fundraising champion in the early primary for Gov. (over her moderate challengers). It is up to Democratic (and now those who register as DTS under New Mexico’s new “open primaries” law) to move the party back towards the center. The new law could help by adding new, moderate voters to the mix in primaries, but candidates will need to make a concerted effort to reach out to these voters and get them engaged in primary elections.

Considering how long and thoroughly Democrats have maintained control over New Mexico’s politics it is a question that will have real implications in the Land of Enchantment.

 

 

Even Joe Biden thought Medicaid Provider Taxes Were a Scam

06.30.2025

Reducing the scope of Medicaid provider taxes is one of many provisions contained in the Big Beautiful Bill now moving through Congress. The Rio Grande Foundation has argued in support of eliminating them because they allow states like New Mexico (and others) to “game” the Medicaid system. In fact, New Mexico’s Legislature passed an additional “provider tax” to help the State leverage an additional $1.5 billion of federal dollars in the 2024 session.

It’s not JUST conservatives who oppose provider taxes and consider them a “scam.” Check out the quote below from Joe Biden on the medical provider tax scam .

New Mexico health outcomes fail to improve despite massive spending increases

06.27.2025

Recently, I tweeted about the “evergreen nature” of the following post: “Increase in ____ spending has yet to deliver results”

It didn’t take long for another such headline, this time from the left-wing Source NM site. I’ve posted the headline below:

Of course, this is the massive spending we are talking about (below). We have pointed out the failure of Medicaid spending to improve health care outcomes before.

 

Paul sits down with Vance Ginn for “Let People Prosper” podcast

06.27.2025

Why does New Mexico, rich in resources and culture, remain poor in economic freedom?

That’s the question I explore in this week’s Let People Prosper Show with Paul Gessing, president of the Rio Grande Foundation. Paul brings nearly two decades of insight into New Mexico’s political and economic trends, offering a sobering look at why the state is falling behind and what must change to turn it around.

New Mexico has a shrinking population, high poverty, and a growing dependency on government, despite a $61 billion sovereign wealth fund and booming oil revenues. The problem isn’t money; it’s policy.

Tipping Point NM episode 720 Gregg Hull – Candidate for Governor of New Mexico

06.26.2025

On this week’s Tipping Point interview Paul sat down with Rio Rancho Mayor and GOP candidate for Gov. In this discussion Paul and Gregg discuss his major accomplishments as mayor and why those and other experiences in business make him qualified to be New Mexico’s next governor. Paul and Gregg also discuss some of the top economic and education policies of the Rio Grande Foundation like the gross receipts tax and school choice and his stances on those critical issues. Tune in!

A bizarre take on New Mexico child well-being

06.25.2025

New Mexico has a LONG track record of attempting to solve (or at least appearing to try to solve) problems by simply throwing money at a government program and calling it a day. It hasn’t worked. Not only hasn’t it worked, but in the area of childhood health and well-being (as with so many others) New Mexico is dead-last. The Annie E. Casey Foundation’s Kids Count report is just one recent example.

But, a troubling new opinion piece written by the head of a child care center based in Farmington and the Republican Senate Minority Leader attempts to portray New Mexico’s child care situation as a “success.” How so? The article cites  the fact that “infants, toddlers, preschoolers and school-age kids now have access” to state-funded child care programs. There is no data backing up the point aside from the sheer number of children being involved.

Not surprisingly the Gov. took to Twitter to highlight the opinion piece. This is exactly what MLG is talking about when she talks about New Mexico’s “cradle to career” plans for its citizens.

Sadly, the connection between government-funded child care programs and childhood outcomes is tenuous at best. According to the Legislative Finance Committee, “evidence linking participation in child care with long-term impacts on educational
outcomes is lacking.”

Government programs have been tried repeatedly in New Mexico and elsewhere and have had limited success in improving childhood outcomes. What is particularly frustrating is that Sen. Bill Sharer signed onto the op-ed.

What COULD help is for New Mexico to:

  • Reform its economy to by adopting lower taxes, right-sizing regulations, and using other reforms to reduce overall and of course childhood poverty. 6 of the 16 Kids Count variables are poverty-related.
  • Improve its education system through school choice or even the Mississippi Model (MS is now ranked 16th on education by Annie E. Casey in Kids Count). 6 of the 16 Kids Count variables are education-related.
  • Focus on reforming/reducing welfare programs to encourage cohesive two-parent families (yes, even liberal Annie E. Casey includes that as a variable).

As can be seen below, while Mississippi struggles overall  (like New Mexico) it has made great strides in education while New Mexico hasn’t. New Mexico COULD and should be following Mississippi on education AND enacting free market economic policies, but we aren’t. Focusing on the supposed success of “free” child care is a cop out whether you have an “R” or “D” by your name.

 

New Mexico looking to add subsidies for illegal immigrants to ObamaCare policies

06.25.2025

The following was shared with us by a legislator on the Legislative Finance Committee. One shock is the 400% subsidy the State hands to those receiving health care through ACA (ObamaCare) marketplace health plans.

The other is that New Mexico is currently developing a subsidy program for illegal immigrants (see highlighted text). These are fungible resources meaning the State COULD use these same resources to help businesses afford health care for their workers or they could be used to address the medical provider shortage. But that’s not what they’re doing.

The messy story of Sawmill development incentives

06.25.2025

Recently, Albuquerque’s City Council approved a $227 million Industrial Revenue Bond (including some serious tax emptions) for a group of projects in the Sawmill area of Albuquerque. They are being undertaken by Jim Long of Heritage. Long is without a doubt one of the most successful businessmen in New Mexico.

There are numerous aspects to this effort and we’re going to unpack a few of them here because it is an interesting case study of why New Mexico and Albuquerque remain mired in mismanagement:

  1. The Sawmill area is arguably the gem of the Albuquerque Metro area (thanks in part to Long and his development of Hotel Albuquerque, Hotel Chaco, and Sawmill Markets). The question needs to be asked: Does this area of town need a property tax exemption to be developed? Is it fair to give generous IRB’s to property owners (exempting 70% of property taxes) in one part of town while increasing property tax assessments in other parts of town?
  2. Despite the law not being in effect yet, on a vote of 8-1 (with Councilor Dan Champine the lone opponent) Albuquerque City Council chose to follow HB 6 (passed and signed this session) which forces recipients of IRB’s to pay union-subsidizing “prevailing wages” on their projects. HB 6 was one of the worst bills passed in the 2025 session. In real terms it shifts the costs of property taxes to other property owners and hands much of the benefit to Democrat-donor trade unions.
  3. All of these cross-subsidies and special-interest exemptions and benefits are a classic example of why New Mexico and Albuquerque haven’t developed like their neighbors. RGF is not a fan of economic favoritism in the form of IRB’s (especially in economically successful areas), but adding prevailing wages on top of them isn’t sensible either.

 

 

Tipping Point NM episode 719: New Mexico Economy, A Look Backward at Social Security, Deleting Emails at State, ABQ Mayoral Candidates

06.25.2025

On this week’s conversation Paul and Wally discuss Paul’s recent article highlighting Arizona’s superior policies relative to New Mexico’s.

Matt Mitchell recently gave a talk on economic freedom in NM. Here are his slides and an interview with Bob Clark of KKOB.

Social Security could have been solvent with private accounts full of cash if Congress had followed George W. Bush-style reforms 20 years ago.

MLG wants to completely delete emails quickly after just 30 days.

Albuquerque’s Mayoral race is set with 7 candidates. Paul and Wally discuss some best and worst case scenarios.

RGF opinion piece: Arizona policy runs circles around NM

06.23.2025

The following appeared in Albuquerque Journal on June 22nd, 2025. Similar versions appeared in numerous other media outlets.

Recently, a group of Albuquerque business and economic leaders traveled to Phoenix to get some ideas on why the Phoenix economy is so much stronger than New Mexico’s. Ideas were exchanged and I’m sure a good time was had by all.

But, the trip was a waste of time. You don’t need to travel to see why Phoenix is more economically prosperous than Albuquerque or why Arizona does better than New Mexico. It certainly has nothing to do with TIFs or BIDs or any other gimmicks that are being promoted for Albuquerque.

In reality and nearly across the board, Arizona’s superior public policies make the state a fast-growing, successful place that leaves New Mexico in the dust. Here are just a few: Arizona’s top personal income tax rate is 2.5% while New Mexico’s is 5.9%. Allowing people to keep more money means attracting more people. With our oil and gas largesse and $61 billion sovereign wealth fund New Mexico could easily reduce or eliminate our income tax, but that’s not how our politicians think.

Arizona is a “right to work” state. New Mexico remains “forced unionism” for private sector workers. Forcing workers to pay political organizations for the privilege of working is just wrong.

While it does have a high sales tax rate, 8.38%, Arizona doesn’t have a small-business-killing gross receipts tax like New Mexico. Our GRT rates vary but are not much lower than Arizona’s sales tax.

Arizona has no state-level prevailing wage law on public construction projects (New Mexico does). This means that roads, bridges and schools in Arizona are built at market wage rates, not artificially inflated rates.

Arizona’s labor force participation rate is significantly higher than New Mexico’s meaning fewer people on welfare programs and more people paying taxes. New Mexico’s Medicaid population is also the highest in the nation which sucks money from taxpayers and government programs while disincentivizing work.

Business friendly Arizona has 10 companies listed on the Fortune 500 index including Freeport-McMoRan and Carvana (to name two). New Mexico has just three publicly traded companies headquartered in the state. Our largest such company, Public Service Company of New Mexico, is in talks to be sold. Arizona’s crime (while high when compared to national levels) is nowhere near as high as New Mexico’s.

Arizona’s K-12 system has a variety of school choice options and outperforms New Mexico’s (which is dead last nationally). Arizona students outperform New Mexico’s while spending 45% less money per student.

A good school system is more than just a nice amenity. Preparing young people for 21st century jobs makes Arizona more attractive to businesses and can keep young people involved in productive behavior rather than crime and drugs.

To top it all off, according to the leading tracker of such information, which is called “State Higher Education Finance,” Arizona spends approximately one-third what New Mexico spends (per student) on higher education ($6,571 vs. $18,754). Is there anything that New Mexico policymakers can point to that we are getting for all of that additional money we’re spending? Of course, many of New Mexico’s big spending projects are funded thanks to the oil and gas industry which dominates our state budget. Arizona has little oil and gas to speak of, but thanks to superior public policies across numerous areas of the economy it is faster-growing economically and in terms of population.

Our community leaders and more importantly the governor and Legislature need to spend some time researching the numerous public policy advantages Arizona holds over New Mexico and embrace them.

Paul Gessing is president of New Mexico’s Rio Grande Foundation. The Rio Grande Foundation is an independent, nonpartisan, tax-exempt research and educational organization dedicated to promoting prosperity for New Mexico based on principles of limited government, economic freedom and individual responsibility.

Matthew Mitchell’s presentation/conversation on economic freedom in New Mexico

06.20.2025

Matthew Mitchell of the Canadian free market think tank Fraser Institute (Matt lives in Angel Fire, NM) recently made a compelling presentation on economic freedom (or the lack thereof) in New Mexico at a Rio Grande Foundation sponsored event in Albuquerque. You can find Matt’s highly informative slides here. 

While we don’t have a recording of his presentation, earlier that morning Matt was interviewed by Bob Clark. You can check out their conversation below. You can find the full report Matt and RGF president Paul Gessing put together earlier this year here. 

 

Tipping Point NM episode 718 Mayling Armijo – Candidate for Mayor of Albuquerque

06.20.2025

On this week’s interview Paul sits down with Albuquerque mayoral candidate Mayling Armijo. Armijo has been involved in economic development at various levels of government and has filled out the RGF mayoral candidate survey which highlights her views on economic development. Although new to electoral politics Armijo has plans to bring significant change to Albuquerque. Don’t miss this important conversation.

Social Security Reform Would have made Americans rich (and the program solvent)

06.20.2025

So many of our efforts at the Rio Grande Foundation are focused on New Mexico and its myriad problems, but Social Security is a major issue for all Americans. Alas, when America had a chance to reform the program back during the George W. Bush Administration the effort failed. American Enterprise Institute did a full report and the following chart was put together by our friends at the Committee to Unleash Prosperity. 

As the chart shows, no matter the plan, if Congress had gone along with Bush’s plans to allow private Social Security accounts (meaning the money was actually invested, not spent) the rate of return would have been significantly better for recipients. Alas, the plan was killed and Americans are now facing a $28 trillion unfunded obligation for the program. Worse, no one in either political party is willing to take on the politically-difficult task of reforming the program.

Episode 717: “No Kings Rally”, Route 66 Visitors Center, “Beat The Heat Fiesta” and more

06.19.2025

RGF highlights MLG’s plan to delete emails faster

06.19.2025

Many thanks to Daniel Chacon of the Santa Fe New Mexican for covering an issue that we highlighted. The following is from Chacon’s recent Roundhouse Report article.

Deleted emails to be permanently deleted faster

Emails deleted by the executive branch will disappear faster than they have in the past.

The New Mexico Department of Information Technology has implemented a new email retention policy in which deleted emails will now be “permanently purged” after a month, a major change from the previous one-year retention policy.

A memo obtained by The New Mexican states the change to the retention policy affects “deleted emails in the Executive Branch Microsoft 365 tenant.”

The information technology department did not immediately define which employees fall into that category.

“Previously, emails deleted by users were retained within the Microsoft system for one year,” the memo states. “This was to allow recovery of improperly deleted messages. However, due to concerns about the length of the one-year period, DoIT is reducing the default retention of deleted emails to one month.”

The memo notes DoIT can accommodate specific retention periods to meet agencies’ various needs.

“However, please be aware that retention periods of more than one-year may have additional costs associated with storage requirements,” the memo states.

Paul Gessing, president of the Albuquerque-based free-market think tank, expressed concerns about the new policy.

“I think it is troubling that in this day and age, where government transparency is so critical and so much important information is shared electronically, that the executive branch is planning to permanently delete emails after just 30 days,” he said. “[It’s] a real problem.”

Phoenix trip a waste of time: we know why Arizona does better than New Mexico

06.17.2025

A waste of time. That would be a good way to describe the “analysis” of a group that recently traveled to Phoenix to figure out why Arizona’s largest city (Phoenix) is so much more successful than New Mexico’s (Albuquerque). While the head of the Rio Grande Foundation has indeed been to Phoenix (and other parts of Arizona) many times, he didn’t need to take a trip to Arizona State University to figure out the situation.

Here are a few of many ways in which Arizona public policies or policy outcomes make Arizona a fast-growing, successful state that leaves New Mexico in the dust:

Arizona’s top personal income tax rate is 2.5% while New Mexico’s is 5.9%. Keep more money = attract more people;

Arizona is a “right to work” state. New Mexico remains “forced unionism” for private sector workers;

While it DOES have a high sales tax rate 8.38%, Arizona does NOT have a harmful gross receipts tax like New Mexico’s which is not that much lower;

Arizona has NO state-level prevailing wage law (New Mexico does). This means that public infrastructure projects in Arizona are done at market wage rates, not artificially inflated rates;

Arizona’s labor force participation rate is significantly higher than New Mexico’s meaning fewer people on welfare programs and more people paying taxes. New Mexico’s Medicaid population is also the highest in the nation which sucks money from other taxpayers and programs.

Because it is more business friendly Arizona has 10 companies listed on the Fortune 500 index. New Mexico has few publicly traded companies headquartered in the State.  

Arizona’s crime (while rather high) is nowhere near as high as New Mexico’s;

Arizona’s K-12 system has a variety of school choice options and outperforms New Mexico’s (which is dead last);

Arizona outperforms New Mexico even while spending 45% less money per student;

Despite the New Mexico delegation looking to further expand New Mexico’s higher education footprint as a means of “revitalizing” downtown, it is noteworthy that Arizona spends approximately 1/3rd what New Mexico spends (per student). 

 

 

RGF “Beats the Heat” attends “fiesta” in Albuquerque

06.16.2025

According to the local weather folks June 16th was the first 100 degree day of 2025. So, it only makes sense (not really) that folks behind the proposed “Heat Rule” in New Mexico (Healthy Climate New Mexico) were outdoors in the middle of the hottest day of the year for their first “Beat the Heat Fiesta.”

As usual we at the Rio Grande Foundation dropped by to check things out. We stopped by around 2:30 for the 2pm to 5pm event. It appeared that most people were “beating the heat” by staying home.

There was free swag to be had including some pointers on staying cool, some towels to dip in water and cool off, and some “liquid IV” drink. We didn’t pick up any condoms or Narcan.

The Heat Rule remains a costly potential extension of government. The deadline for public comment has been extended to July 17. Take a moment to comment today! (click the link)

 

Pics and thoughts from No Kings rally in Albuquerque

06.16.2025

As they did all across the country this past Saturday (which was also President Trump’s birthday AND the 250th anniversary of the US Army), protesters in Albuquerque came out in droves (perhaps 3,000 or so) at Albuquerque’s Mariposa Basin Park.

Given the location an easy bike ride away from his house (and thus not requiring sitting in traffic or parking), RGF’s President Paul Gessing felt that he “needed” to check out the situation. Pictures are below. Here are some of his comments:

        1. To the extent that the protesters were actually opposed to executive or even government power, that is a good thing. I don’t remember the left being exercised by Joe Biden’s numerous usurpations of constitutional power. And, of course, MLG has also been an authoritarian on COVID and gun rights.
        2. The protests were large and—at least in ABQ—peaceful. Perhaps protesting in the suburbs draws a different crowd than Civic Plaza or near UNM?
        3. Still a few people wearing masks even outside and after more than 5 years since COVID began.
        4. Based on their signs/flags, most of the protesters seemed to fall into one of three camps: 1) Personal dislike of Trump. 2) Pro-immigration 3) Pro-trans/LGBT. I’d have LOVED to see something about federal spending or tariffs, but this was a partisan-led protest

Tipping Point NM episode 716: Sarah Smith – Coalition of Conservatives in Action Las Cruces

06.13.2025

On this week’s interview Paul talks to Sarah Smith, an activist in Las Cruces, New Mexico, about some of the most important issues facing her area of the State. Sarah came to prominence during the COVID as a leading opponent of MLG’s lockdowns.

Sarah is involved with Coalition of Conservatives in Action (a Las Cruces grassroots group), New Mexico Freedoms Alliance (which operates statewide), and  the National Coalition for Health Integrity.

They discuss a recent referendum attempt that was denied by politicians in Las Cruces, plans afoot to ban natural gas in Las Cruces, and broader economic and political issues in the City. Don’t miss this conversation!

New Mexico joins federal lawsuit over EV mandate repeal

06.13.2025

Back in 2023 the Governor through her unelected Environmental Improvement Board rammed through a radical plan imposing a 43% electric vehicle mandate. As of right now and with the 43% mandate looming, New Mexico car dealers sell about 5% EV’s. Everyone admits that New Mexico will massively fail to hit 43%. No OTHER state is anywhere close to hitting 43% either. Colorado has the highest percentage of EV sales at 26.4% but that is a far cry from 43%.

So, with bipartisan votes in both houses of Congress and President Trump’s signature having recently eliminated the ability of states to follow California’s unrealistic EV mandates, it is surprising but not totally shocking that New Mexico has decided to “double down on stupid” by joining California in suing to keep its unrealistic EV mandate in place.

The suit is tactically over usage of the Congressional Review Act. It is hard to see a judge (let alone the US Supreme Court) choosing to get involved in what amounts to a squabble over parliamentary rules of Congress, but you never can tell with judges these days.

It is very “on brand” for Gov. Lujan Grisham to advocate so strongly against New Mexicans and their own needs and wants relating to vehicle preference on behalf of HER demands.

Kids Count Report (yet another fail): the left responds

06.12.2025

There is no question that New Mexico’s consistent “dead last” ranking in the annual Annie E. Casey Kids Count report is a serious and downright tragic situation. That’s because these awful rankings have real world consequences for our children and the future of our rapidly-aging state.

But, that doesn’t mean that we can’t laugh about aspects of the situation, especially the responses of New Mexico’s numerous left-wing activists and politicians to the ongoing failure of their policies. One might think that Michelle Lujan Grisham JUST took office given their “we’ll get ’em next year” rhetoric. Check out the Albuquerque Journal story on the results for details. We especially like the comment of the head of Voices for Children which seemed to throw water on the entire idea of the report itself:

New Mexico Voices for Children — which partnered with the Annie E. Casey Foundation on the report — believes the state’s ranking could change in the coming years. They also think the state’s circumstances and demographics don’t warrant a comparison to others.

“Other states have vastly different circumstances than New Mexico, whether that’s their population, their racial and ethnic makeup, their just general structure,” Gabrielle Uballez, executive director of the organization, said in a May interview. “We like to look at comparing New Mexico to itself.”

This is bordering on outright racism although the left NEVER gets called out for it. Of course, last year (2024) Voices strongly hinted that minorities can’t do well on standardized tests. They said in part, “New Mexico K-12 students of color and those who are Native American, from low-income families, and who have disabilities tend to not fare as well as their white, more affluent peers.”

And, of course New Mexico has many advantages, not just disadvantages. We have great weather and are located in a fast-growing, favorable part of the country meaning that we COULD be wealthier and more prosperous (and thus not so dependent on government anti-poverty programs). New Mexico is also sitting on more than $60 billion and has the 2nd most oil production in the nation, so we SHOULD have numerous advantages over other states. Meanwhile, Mississippi with serious poverty issues like New Mexico has improved its education outcomes dramatically. In fact, the State now ranks 16th overall in education as compared with New Mexico’s 50th ranking.

Even on her own terms, the Kids Count results are awful. From just last year (2024’s report) New Mexico’s economic well-being dropped from 48 to 49. Education remained at 50. Health dropped from 44 to 46. Family and Community dropped from 49 to 50.