Category Archives: Business

Tulsa Music Census Launches Today

By David Arnett

The Tulsa Office of Film, Music, Arts & Culture (Tulsa FMAC) today launched the Tulsa Music Census, an initiative to gain a better understanding of the current needs of the Tulsa music community.  

The survey (available by clicking here) is live and being distributed in collaboration with more than 50 community engagement partners including institutions like Philbrook Museum of Art, WOMPA, Marshall Brewing Co. and more. Click here for the full list of community engagement partners. 

This effort is part of a multi-city cohort program, administered by Sound Music Cities, a leading Austin-based provider of music ecosystem studies and music census work. The program will allow Tulsa to gain insight from other cities and their best practices. Community engagement partners will have their brand affiliated with the project and will receive a sneak peek of the census results in exchange for their assistance sharing the survey. 

“Tulsa is such a great addition to this cohort,” said Don Pitts, president of Sound Music Cities. ”They are ready to engage their community and take a data-driven approach to growing Tulsa’s rich musical heritage into a destination. Their eagerness to embrace the data in generating a practical and impactful action plan with the community is inspiring and elevating the whole cohort.”  

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Tulsa & OKC in Top 10 for Value

By Jaclyn Dejohn, Managing Editor of Economic Analysis, SmartAsset

With taxes, housing, food and other costs varying widely across the U.S., a $100,000 income can look drastically different depending on where you live. Even places that don’t charge residents a state or local income tax can see a wide range for how far a dollar stretches thanks to cost of living differences. Because of the nature of compounding, the wide differences in the value of a $100k income can have life-changing effects on your long-term finances, particularly early on in your investment career.

With this in mind, SmartAsset adjusted a $100,000 income for federal, state and local taxes, as well as local cost of living premiums, to find the purchasing power – or effective value – of that money in 72 of the largest U.S. cities. Good News in Oklahoma, both Tulsa and OKC score in the top ten for value.

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OK Tax Cuts on the Table

By Mike Mazzei

Analysis: Would you like to pay less taxes? I’d like to pay less taxes. Who wouldn’t? For the 2024 Oklahoma Legislative Session, everyone is talking about a tax cut, and several proposals are flying through the halls of the Capitol.

Gov. Kevin Stitt has asked the Legislature to pass a tax cut of 0.25 to lower the state income tax from 4.75% to 4.5%. The reduction in tax collections would be approximately $250 million.

The leaders in the Senate have wisely discussed caution to await the latest financial analysis on tax collection projections that come out this month. They would like to see the effects of the tax reductions for both personal and corporate income taxes that passed two years ago.

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Google has Usurped Democracy

By Robert W. Malone MD, MS

Across the globe, fair elections no longer exist.

We hear a lot about “election integrity” or lack thereof, particularly around the issues of counting the vote and the ballot box. But the truth is that elections are more likely to be stolen via search engine manipulation effects (SEME).

In a series of randomized controlled experiments, it has been shown that more than 20% of undecided voters can be manipulated into voting one way or the other, by simply manipulating the rankings of search engine results.

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Drummond commends New York Exchange

By David Arnett

Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond is commending the New York Stock Exchange for listening to him and his fellow attorneys general by withdrawing a proposed rule change that would have allowed the listing of “Natural Asset Companies” (NACs) on the exchange. NACs are a novel corporate structure designed to take land off the market to prohibit productive economic uses, which would have negative effects on domestic oil and gas exploration and production he said in a statement today.

“The strict requirements for NACs would have significantly halted the development of natural resources, particularly energy exploration,” Drummond said. “Such a move would have had severe economic consequences for Oklahoma. I applaud the NYSE for listening to the counsel of this coalition of attorneys general and withdrawing this ill-advised and illegal proposed rule change.”

NACs are a new, untested corporate structure created to lease so-called “ecological performance rights” from landowners, including the federal government. NACs manage “natural assets” in lieu of generating revenue. Any “revenue-generating operations” an NAC engages in must be both “sustainable” and consistent with “its primary purpose” of protecting nature. 

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