On April 5, OK Policy sponsored a forum of leading Oklahoma economists, economic developers, and budget experts to discuss plans to reduce or eliminate the state income tax.  The eight speakers exposed fundamental flaws in the research being used to justify eliminating the income tax, explained what’s really needed for sustained economic growth in Oklahoma, and set out  the dangers that further tax cuts pose to our fiscal stability and economic prosperity. We’ve compiled a 10-minute highlight reel, embedded below, with clips from each of the speakers [click here for the transcript].

You can also watch video of the full forum, download the speakers’ PowerPoint presentations, and find supporting materials from the Economist Forum page. For all of our fact sheets, issue briefs, news coverage and other materials from the income tax debate, please go to the tax reform information page.

View other clips from OKPolicy’s Watch This video series:

• Fighting Hunger, Feeding Hope
• The Economy Bowl
• What is an IDA?
• Elderly parole
• Long term unemployment, 1967-2011
• Packed Oklahoma prisons, rising costs

Oklahoma has the highest rate of households with very low food security in the nation; 7.5 percent of the state’s households reported being hungry at times during the year because they could not afford enough food.  This six minute video from the Community Food Bank of Eastern Oklahoma discusses the increasingly precarious nature of food security in the state and interviews individuals struggling to feed their families.  For additional information on hunger and food insecurity, click here for the Regional Food Bank of Oklahoma or click here for the food bank that serves eastern Oklahoma.

View other clips from OKPolicy’s “Watch This’ video series:

The Economy Bowl

What is an IDA?

Elderly parole

Long term unemployment, 1967-2011

Packed Oklahoma prisons, rising costs

Is Texas beating Oklahoma because it lacks an income tax? That’s been a common argument made by proponents of eliminating Oklahoma’s personal income tax. But a new animated video from OK Policy bust the myths about our rivals to the south.

To learn more and find out what you can do, see our take action page. For all of OK Policy’s materials on the income tax debate, see our tax reform information page.

At a time when seemingly endless budget cuts are squeezing our public schools to the breaking point, the Coalition for Community Schools continues to advance a rich and comprehensive approach to education.  Their vision is one in which schools are not just places for kids to learn during the school-week, but also community centers open to everyone – all day, every day – making the school the hub of the community.  If you’re having a hard time envisioning how a ‘community school’ differs from the norm, watch this short video about Tulsa’s Area Community Schools Initiative (TACSI).  The transformational potential of this approach is hard to miss.

View other clips from OKPolicy’s “Watch This’ video series:

What is an IDA?

Elderly parole

Long term unemployment, 1967-2011

Packed Oklahoma prisons, rising costs

Our friends at Prosperity Works have created an excellent video on the ins-and-outs of IDAs.  What is an IDA?  It is not, as some Facebook users suggested, internet dating advice or the International Department of Awesome.  IDA stands for individual development account.  It’s a matched savings account for low and moderate income earners to save for important assets like a college education, a home, or a business.  Watch this animated short video to find out more or click here to find an IDA near you.

View other clips from OKPolicy’s “Watch This’ video series:

Elderly parole

Long term unemployment, 1967-2011

Packed Oklahoma prisons, rising costs

Creativity & Learning

This animated graph, produced by the TellTaleChart, illustrates the unprecedented spike in long-term unemployment during and after the Great Recession.  The current median duration of unemployment (or weeks out of work) represents a dramatic departure from decades of unemployment trends.  As the producer glumly observes, “The median duration of unemployment was already at 20 weeks when the recession began.  It climbed to over 25 weeks in the summer of 2010 and has settled in, now almost three years into the recovery, at well above 20 weeks.  This of course is no recovery at all.”  The duration of unemployment in Oklahoma nearly doubled between 2006 and 2010, with the latest data putting the median weeks out of work in the state at 12.3 weeks.

View other clips from OKPolicy’s “Watch This’ video series:

Packed Oklahoma prisons, rising costs

Creativity & Learning

The Great Recession

Making Ends Meet: The Medicare Generation

A tale of two (Oklahoma) cities

Oklahoma Watch has an excellent series on their Youtube channel examining incarceration in Oklahoma, with a particular emphasis on female incarceration.  The videos explore themes like overcrowding, substance abuse and domestic violence, and reentry after incarceration.  Oklahoma Watch is a non-profit investigative reporting team and we’re impressed with their thorough and thoughtful approach to covering corrections.  Incarcerations’ impact on the state budget is not a small one; 7.1 percent of appropriations go to the Department of Corrections each year.

Visit the Oklahoma Watch Youtube channel for more videos like this.

View other clips from OKPolicy’s “Watch This’ video series:

Creativity & Learning

The Great Recession

Making Ends Meet: The Medicare Generation

A tale of two (Oklahoma) cities

This enlightening hour-long film explores creativity in education by highlighting four Oklahoma schools: Educare Preschool in Tulsa, Flower Mound Elementary School in Lawton, Odyssey of the Mind at Piedmont Middle School, and Santa Fe South Charter High School in Oklahoma City.  The film interviews teachers, parents and national experts about the role of creativity in children’s’ development and the most effective ways to promote creativity while maintaining a rigorous academic focus.

Read the rest of this entry »

This video provides an excellent graphical overview of postwar recessions, putting the most recent economic downturn into grave perspective.  The video was created and narrated by Colin Gordon of the Iowa Policy Project.  For more videos like this, and additional research and resources on policies that affect working families, visit www.buildingthemiddleclass.org.

View other clips from OKPolicy’s “Watch This’ video series:

Making Ends Meet: The Medicare Generation

A tale of two (Oklahoma) cities

Living Through the Oklahoma Dust Bowl

Reducing Infant Mortality

What is Sharia Law?

Panic Nation

This ten minute documentary produced by the Kaiser Family Foundation profiles the experiences of three Medicare families struggling to keep up with health care costs and other necessary household expenses on a fixed budget.  According to the Census Bureau, 13.5 percent of Oklahoma’s population was 65 or older in 2009.  The AARP reports that 11.4 percent of Oklahoman’s aged 50 or over did not visit a doctor for needed medical care in 2009 because of cost, compared to 9.5 percent nationally.

For more information on the role Medicare plays in these and other families lives, click here for a companion report to this video from the Kaiser Family Foundation.

View other clips from OKPolicy’s “Watch This’ video series:

A tale of two (Oklahoma) cities

Living Through the Oklahoma Dust Bowl

Reducing Infant Mortality

What is Sharia Law?

Panic Nation

In this half-hour broadcast of OETA’s Oklahoma Forum, Oklahoma City Mayor Mick Cornett and Tulsa Mayor Dewey Bartlett discuss the successes and challenges facing their cities with host Dick Pryor.  The Oklahoma Forum blog succinctly sums up the challenges facing each of Oklahoma’s most populated cities:

The cities have their special challenges – Tulsa is now looking at changing its form of government and is facing population migration to the suburbs.  In the last decade, while Oklahoma City was showing a 15% increase in population, Tulsa recorded a slight decline.  Meanwhile, Oklahoma City’s “Core to Shore” development that is a significant part of the MAPS 3 project is facing opposition from some on the City Council who believe the opening of the renovated Myriad Gardens makes the Core to Shore park unnecessary.

View other clips from OKPolicy’s “Watch This’ video series:

Living Through the Oklahoma Dust Bowl

Reducing Infant Mortality

What is Sharia Law?

Panic Nation