Link
Saturday, July 11, 2009
Detroit Public School System may declare bankruptcy
Link
Detroit -- Faced with a massive, multiyear deficit, Detroit Public Schools took another step Thursday in consideration of bankruptcy to help alleviate the district's financial woes.
Emergency Financial Manager Robert Bobb met with retired U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Ray Reynolds Graves at the district's offices in the Fisher Building for a "deep and in-depth discussion" on Chapter 9 bankruptcy.
"It's a sad day when we have ... to even consider the option of bankruptcy for the Detroit Public School system," Bobb said after the meeting. "We've had seven consecutive years of overspending and that's not insignificant.
Govt Healthcare: Pulitzer Prize winning investigation
From 2004 to 2007 the LA Times ran an investigative series on the horrendous problems at the County Govt Run King-Drew Hospital. The hospital was a disaster of corruption and incompetence many times resulting in patient deaths.
Spend any time at the county-run hospital near Watts and it's easy to reach the same conclusion: Patients linger unattended, walls are gouged with holes, mattresses are worn and stained, even ink cartridges are in short supply.
The numbers, however, tell a different story. Though widely believed, the notion that King/Drew is being shortchanged is false.
The difference is stark when King/Drew is measured against the three other general hospitals run by Los Angeles County.
Friday, July 10, 2009
New Hamsphire says NO to collecting taxes for
other States....hooray!!
NASHUA, N.H. — New Hampshire Gov. John Lynch has signed a bill intended to protect retailers from becoming tax collectors for other states.
New Hampshire doesn't have a general sales tax, a selling point it uses to attract out-of-state retail dollars. Lynch said today the new law will protect the state's businesses and will help to strengthen our its economy.
Retailers wouldn't have to provide sales information to out-of-state tax collectors. The other state would have to prove a good or service bought in New Hampshire is used, stored or consumed in the other state.
The bill was filed in response to action Massachusetts took against a Connecticut-based tire store chain. Massachusetts tried to collect $108,000 in “use” taxes from Town Fair Tire for sales it made to Massachusetts customers at its New Hampshire stores.
114 Million would be forced OUT of private Health Coverage
If the Democratic "health" plan is passsed.
- 114 million Americans would be forced out of their current private health coverage, including more than 106 million Americans who currently have employer-provided health care.
- There will be substantial cost shifting to private health plans. The "public" plan will significantly underpay health care providers, generally compensating them at rates 20-30% below what private health plans would pay for the same services. As a result, physicians and hospitals would be forced to charge those with private insurance more in order to offset the losses they experience under the Democrats' government-run plan.
- A December Milliman Group study found current Medicare and Medicaid underpayments drive up the cost of private coverage for the average family of four by $1,788.
- The Lewin Group study estimates that a government-run plan that pays Medicare-based rates would increase the cost shift to $3,628.
- Medicaid enrollment will increase by 16 million.Many of those newly enrolled would previously have had employer-provided health care.
Chambers of Commerce=Tax Ladies of the evening
Chambers of Commerce, especially in large cities, have become the number one cheerleader for bigger government and higher taxes. They will do anything for higher taxes because they have become one of the biggest recipients of tax dollars. What do they do with the money?
• Records produced by the Chamber indicate/show the use of hotel tax funds for items that are not provided for in the contract. An example is the purchasing of gifts using hotel tax funds for items to be distributed at a Chamber of Commerce banquet and/or dinner.
• Records produced by the Chamber also show and indicate that the Chamber has incorrectly identified and overstated the percentages of administrative costs and salaries that the hotel tax may be applied to.
• Records produced show improper use of hotel tax funds to purchase advertisements of various events that have no relation to the authorized purposes of Section III of the contract.
• Failure of the Chamber to maintain complete and accurate financial records of each expenditure of hotel tax funds and to timely and promptly produce Chamber records when requested by the city.
"This city is fast becoming a job-killing machine."
Los Angeles is circling the economic toilet, having pulled its own lever.
After enduring a series of bureaucratic hearings, we anxiously awaited a ruling to find out what our tax rate would be. Everything was at stake. We had already decided that if we lost, we would move.
You can imagine how relieved we were on July 1, 1994, when the ruling was issued. We won, and firmly planted our roots in the City of Angels and proceeded to build our business.
Everything was fine until the city started running out of money in 2007. Suddenly, the city announced that it was going to ignore its own ruling and reclassify us in the higher tax category. Even more incredible is the fact that the new classification was to be imposed retroactively to 2004 with interest and penalties. No explanation was given for the new classification, or for the city's decision to ignore its 1994 ruling.
Their official position is that the city is not bound by past rulings -- only taxpayers are. This is why we have been forced to file a lawsuit. We will let the courts decide whether it is legal for adverse rulings to apply only to taxpayers and not to the city.
Broken Promise number....what????
Link
"When there's a bill that ends up on my desk as President, you, the public will have five days to look online and find out what's in it before I sign it...so that you know what your government's doing." (At the one minute mark in the video)
"When there's a bill that ends up on my desk as President, you, the public will have five days to look online and find out what's in it before I sign it...so that you know what your government's doing." (At the one minute mark in the video)
Thursday, July 09, 2009
$1.1 Trillion deficit for 9 mos-A Slow Trainwreck
The federal budget deficit was $1.1 trillion for the first nine months of fiscal year 2009, CBO estimates, more than $800 billion greater than the deficit recorded through June 2008. Outlays are 21 percent higher than they were in the first three quarters of 2008, but revenues have fallen by 18 percent. The estimated deficit reflects outlays of $147 billion for the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP), recorded on a net-present-value basis, and spending of $83 billion in support of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
$18 million to redesign one freaking Govt website
Link
I wrote here enthusiastically about the plans of the Sunlight Foundation to go after this contract, saying “[T]he contract award will now be subject to public scrutiny. Value-for-dollar to the taxpayer will be easily discernible, and that will raise the political risks of awarding the contract based on cronyism or go-with-whatchya-knowism. Transparency in all things.”
Sunlight did not ultimately bid. Instead, it took some lessons about the government contracting business. The transparency I wrote about materialized, though, and we can take a lesson, too: The federal government will pay $18,000,000 for one freaking Web site.
GAO: Auditing for stimulus tax dollars is a joke
Link
Translation: In the GAO’s opinion, the system for making sure that stimulus dollars are spent properly simply isn’t up to snuff. The report goes on to note that state auditors — whose job is to make sure that public dollars are appropriately spent — don’t have the funding to exercise their own responsibilities under the stimulus bill, something that ProPublica wrote about back in May. (We’ve called the GAO for more details on its concerns, and we’ll update the piece as soon as it responds.)
The GAO reported that “significant questions have been raised about the reliability of the data on www.USAspending.gov,” which is mandated by law to track financial information about who gets federal funds. The GAO points out that because the numbers on the site come from those receiving funds, the quality of their data can’t easily be verified. (Of course, as ProPublica has reported before, verifying numbers associated with the stimulus package is never easy.)
Ringtones that can be heard or not based on age
Link HT: Red Ferrett
The short version, A tone outside the audible range of hearing for most people over the age of 30. This means that you can get phone calls and receive text messages in class or school without teachers hearing it. For more in-depth information on how the mosquito ringtone works, please see the Mosquito RingTone FAQ. For information on how to get the ringtone on to your phone, see our Mosquito Ringtone how-to Guide.
Wednesday, July 08, 2009
Bombs assembled in DHS DC Bldg
Link
WASHINGTON — Undercover investigators sneaked bombs and detonators past security guards and into federal buildings occupied by the Homeland Security, Justice and State departments, according to testimony to be delivered Wednesday.
Investigators for Congress' Government Accountability Office said they succeeded on each of 10 attempts in April and May to enter federal office buildings with a hidden liquid explosive and detonator. Inside the buildings, investigators assembled the bombs, carried them in a briefcase and "walked freely around several floors," according to a statement the GAO will make at a Senate hearing Wednesday morning. A copy of the statement was provided to USA TODAY.
Tuesday, July 07, 2009
BC Canadians oppose their new Carbon Tax
Strategic Communications President Bob Penner says that despite the recent re-election of Premier Gordon Campbell, who introduced North America's only carbon tax, it is still strongly opposed.
"It's obvious nobody likes paying a tax increase, but it's pretty clear from this poll, and previous ones that we and others have done, that regardless of the substance of the issue, the Liberals have so far completely failed to sell this carbon tax," Penner says.
[...]
Every age group of British Columbians surveyed opposed the gas tax hike, from 50 per cent of younger people opposed and 35 per cent supportive to 50 to 64 year olds being 71 per cent against it and 25 per cent in favour.And interestingly, women are more opposed than men -- by 66 per cent to 63 per cent.
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