Major Mike's Musings » government

Only In America

Mike — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 20:31:24 +0000

We just received a letter from the U.S. Department of Commerce telling us that our 2010 Census form will arrive in about a week. I’m glad the government is spending billions to tell us this. Last year we received a letter from the government telling us that our stimulus check would arrive in about a week. Anybody else think this is a waste of money?

Oh, Good. Another Bailout

Mike — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 19:12:05 +0000

President Obama announced another bailout. It’s not likely to work, but he has to do something besides blame the “previous administration” for the economy.

Here’s why government spending won’t fix the economy: Government money has to come from somewhere.

Taxes. Taxes come from the economy in the first place, so the net effect of government spending from taxes is zero.
Borrowing. Sure that puts extra money in the economy, but because of the interest, each dollar spent is worth less than a dollar.
Printing. Each extra dollar printed reduces the value of all the dollars already in circulation. Thus, each dollar spent is worth less than a dollar.

Government spending doesn’t create new wealth or extra jobs, it just redistributes money from those who pay taxes (or loan the government money) to those who help politicians get elected.¹

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I had a little help here from Glenn Beck’s Arguing With Idiots.

Government at Work

Mike — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 21:44:23 +0000

USA Today reports that the contractors who spent 16 billion dollars of the stimulus package created 30,383 jobs!

Incredible, the stimulus package is working. It only cost $528,610 per job. If the rest of the package is as successful, the stimulus should create just over one million new jobs.

Let’s turn over more stuff for the government to run.

Veterans in Congress

Mike — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 14:00:33 +0000

The numbers of veterans in Congress has significantly diminished over the years. From the 70′s to today the number of veterans in Congress has dropped by 75 percent. According to a recent report published by the Congressional Research Service:¹

There are 121 total legislators who have served in the military (five less than the last Congress)
There are 96 veterans in the House and 25 in the Senate
Their collective wartime service includes World War II, Korea, Vietnam, the Persian Gulf, Kosovo, Afghanistan, and Iraq

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Quoted from the Aug 21, 2009 MOAA “Legislative Update”

Cash for Clunkers

Mike — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 15:19:09 +0000

Anyone out there taken advantage of the cash for clunkers program?

The Reason for Taxes

Mike — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 20:11:37 +0000

“Remember, the reason government is funded by taxes is because it produces almost nothing that people will pay for willingly.” — Mark Hillman

Federal Income Taxes and You

Mike — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 13:58:12 +0000

The Congressional Budget Office released the following figures:¹

% of Population	Approx Annual Income	% of Tax Burden Paid
Top 1%	$1.3 M or more	38.8%
Top 20%	$512 K or more	86.3%
Top 40%	$58 K or more	99.4%
Bottom 60%	Less than $58 K	0.06%
Bottom 40%	Less than $37 K	0.00%²

Of course these figures do not include Social Security and Medicare taxes nor are state income or sales taxes included, all of which (except the income taxes) will skew the figures toward the lower income folks.

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Historical Effective Tax Rates: 1979-2005. Released December 2007
Many in the category will get money “back” even though they paid no taxes.

Government At Work

Mike — Sun, 12 Nov 2006 18:38:41 +0000

Quoted from The Villages Daily Sun:

Georgia: The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Oops.

Animal-control officers in Cobb County have cited tow women for having their dogs off leashes–even though the women were in a park created specifically to let dogs off leashes. When Cobb opend an off-leash dog park last month, it seems, officials didn’t take the county’s leash law into account.

“It’s ludicrous to say it’s off-leash and to give people tickes for having them off the leash,”¹ said Clare Salkin, who was ticketed for violating the law. She has a court date in about three weeks for unleashing Bob, her Labrador-mix.

The county says it has stopped enforcing the leash law in the park². It plans to clarify its ordinances to make it legal for people to unleash dogs in the park, said a county spokesman.

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Duh
Even though those already ticketed are being prosecuted

Only in California

Mike — Thu, 21 Sep 2006 19:43:29 +0000

The Villages Daily Sun, Wednesday, September 20, 2006.

Santa Rosa, Calif.

One-time JonBenet Ramsey murder susptect John Mark Karr was offered a plea deal Tuesday on child pornography charges that would free him on probation.

Assistant District Attorney Joann Risse said prosecutors would waive three of the five child pornography charges against him if he pleaded guilty on two remaining charges.

Karr, 41, would get credit for time served and would be placed on probation for three years.

Maybe this kind of stuff happens in other states, but I can’t help thinking that, in light of the outcomes of the O.J., Robert Blake, and Michael Jackson trials, prosecutors in California are just a little gun-shy about taking criminals before its citizens. I know; I know. Karr is not a pop icon…or is he out there on the coast?

How Sin City Got It’s Name

Mike — Wed, 26 Jul 2006 13:58:42 +0000

Nevada

Las Vegas Review-Journal¹

Don’t feed the people. That’s the warning from officials in Sin City. A new city ordinance in Las Vegas makes it illegal to give food to homeless people in city parks. The law, which went into effect yesterday, carries a maximum penalty of $1,000 and six months in jail. city council members say the ordinance is aimed at mobile soup kitchens that attract large groups of homeless people in the parks. The American Civil Liberties Union of Nevada says the law is unenforceable and unconstitutional.

No wonder Las Vegas is called, “Sin City.” What kind of “love one another” is this?

I think this is one of the few positions that the ACLU has taken correctly. I don’t know if it’s unconstitutional but it certainly is immoral.

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quoted in The Villages Daily Sun, July 26, 2006