A new project?

As drudge says, Developing...

www.watchyourgov.org

Visclosky voted for the Porkfest... I mean "Stimulus"

Maybe it was unrealist to expect "Mr. Earmark" to vote against the mother of all pork laden bills, but after voting against the TARP 3 times, I had hoped that Visclosky would also vote against the so called Stimulus.

Alas, I'm a fool. True to form, he voted for it.

Visclosky is a socialist. He voted against the TARP because it bailed out fat cat bankers. He voted for the Stimulus because it was a porkfest and advances the cause of socialism on a number of fronts, especially in healthcare and schools.

Tax cap vote goes along party lines.

Surprise, surprise. The Senate tax comittee voted on making the property tax caps a part of the state constitution.

All the Republicans voted for the tax caps.

All the Democrats voted against it.

In their statements, all Democrats talked about was the undue burden the caps would put on government:

But Sen. John Broden, D-South Bend, argued the caps disproportionately harm cities.

He cited a state financial report which shows cities losing three times more funding to the caps than outlying areas around the state.

Broden wondered why county councils would enact additional local income taxes to fix what is essentially an urban budget problem. He said many cities are holding down costs, but can't make ends meet under the restrictions of the caps.

And Sen. Lonnie Randolph, D-East Chicago, urged caution as the state sinks deeper into a recession. Lawmakers might want property tax flexibility, which won't be available once the caps are set in the constitution, Randolph said.

I agree that the city form of government is untennable under the tax caps. There simply isn't enough money generated by 1/2/3% caps to fund the level of services provided by cities.

But that's not an argument against the tax caps. That's an argument against the level of services that cities provide. They need to cut back and live under the caps.

Fear of law

Interesting opinion piece here about how the proliferation of laws and the regulation of everyday life has taken away a lot of our freedom.

Being a parent, this is something that comes up frequently. Parents are no longer parents alone. Their authority has been usurped in all kinds of instances. Whether it is how their kids ride in a car, what they eat, how they are disciplined, etc. etc. etc. parents are constantly second guessed.

The schools are even worse. Why do only 38% of each dollar spent on education reach the classroom? Because there are so many school bureacrats needed to make sure schools are in compliance with all the laws and regulations our there.

That's what happens when you have legislative bodies that produce laws like Hery Ford used to produce Model T's. The Indiana House had over 700 bills proposed last session, for example. That's a stunning example of how we have simply too many laws, and that too much of our lives are subject to regulation by the government.

In my ideal world, every legislature in America would spend 10 years or so going through every law on the books and deciding if it still applied. Go through the legal code and throw out all the dead wood.

Mrs. Buzzcut slams media for not slamming Michelle Obama

My wife is not the most political person, but she noticed the media crowing over Michelle Obama's 2 designer dresses and $500 shoes at the Inauguration and wondered why no one is asking who paid for them?

You know, like all the reporters who wanted to know who paid for Sarah Palin's clothes during the campaign.

Do you think that, if Obama went up to someone like Chris Mathews and told him to blow him, Mathews would get down on his knees and do it? I don't think that there is a reporter in America who wouldn't, male or female.

The Inauguration itself cost $150 million. Who paid for that?

Obama raised $1 billion during his campaign by disabling all the security features on his web sites credit card storefront. He most certainly raised illegal money from non-citizens, foreigners, etc. Anyone with a foreign address could donate, and your credit card address didn't need to match the address you put in the website. All of these are red flags of illegal fundraising.

Did the same happen with the Inauguration?

If only there were reporters in this country, instead of partisan hacks masquerading as journalists.

Message to Lugar and Bayh: Vote against Geithner

I just sent this message to both Lugar and Bayh:

Dear Hon. Senator Lugar:

I am appalled that Mr. Geithner's appointment passed committee today. Please vote against Mr. Geithner when the vote comes to the floor.

The bailout money has been misdirected from the start, and as an author of that plan Mr. Geithner must be held accountable.

Further, his unwillingness to pay taxes that were pointed out to him in 2006 is a slap in the face to all small business owners.

The economy is starting to turn. Banks are lending money, receivables are getting paid and contracts are being signed. We have time to make the right choice.

Please stand firm and vote against Mr. Geithner.

Respectfully yours,

Buzzcut

Needless to say, a buddy of mine wrote this letter to his senators, and I ripped him off. I'm never this nice. "Honorable"? Yeah right.

The Distressed Unit Appeals Board comes to Gary

The chairman and members of the Indiana Distressed Unit Appeals Board made a trip to Gary yesterday. They toured the city and spoke to many people, including members of the Lake County Council.

I would have loved to have been on that tour. I would have loved to see the looks on their faces as they drove through the city. Hope the doors were locked!

I wonder if they took the Hummer.

The Chairman did say that it was unlikely that the state would take over the City. He did say that annual audits were likely.

Why not make the audits retroactive? Start auditing previous budgets and expenditrues, and prosecute any wrongdoing?

How about a "Local Option Sales Tax"?

There is a bill before the General Assembly to allow municipalities to enact a "Local Option Sales Tax":

Local option sales tax. Provides that a municipality may levy a local option gross retail tax of 1% of retail sales occurring in the municipality if the office of tourism development certifies the municipality as an outstanding Indiana tourist destination. Provides that a municipality that levies the local option gross retail tax may use the local option gross retail tax revenue for any lawful purpose. Provides that the department of state revenue shall maintain several data bases of local sales tax data associated with the local option gross retail tax, in accordance with the requirements of the Streamlined Sales and Use Tax Agreement.

Bad idea. REALLY bad idea.

At 7%, Indiana already has a sales tax that is too high and needs to be rolled back. It was a mere 7 years ago that the sales tax was only 5% in this state. And you want municipalities to also be able to add their own sales tax on top?

Is "Gary's Success Important to Us All"?

Cal Bellamy of the prestigous and hooked up law firm Krieg Devault has a commentary about how we all need to be more involved in Gary:

Should I care about Gary? After all, I live in Munster and work in Schererville. Most of my volunteer activities are with organizations based in Hammond or Merrillville. So, why does Gary matter to me? Well, let's count the ways.

Jobs: Some of our largest employers -- like U.S. Steel -- are located in Gary, but there are also many smaller work sites. In fact, within the Gary city limits, there were, by the latest pre-recession count, more than 30,000 jobs. I bet you know someone who works in Gary. There is also the potential for additional employment opportunities. The Gary-Chicago airport is widely regarded as one of our most important economic development opportunities.

Recreation: The RailCats (baseball) and Steelheads (basketball) are the only professional teams in Northwest Indiana. Both claim Gary as their home. Then there is the lake. About 30 percent of all of Indiana's Lake Michigan frontage is in Gary. Yes, industry still occupies large parts of that land, but there are also beautiful beaches and sand dunes. Future enhancements can make Gary's lakefront some of the most interesting and valuable property in Northwest Indiana.

Education: Gary is home to Indiana University Northwest and a large Ivy Tech Community College campus. Gary hosts more charter schools than any other community in our area. However, despite the city's history of educational innovation, the public schools of today need improvement. Gary's students and dedicated teachers deserve inspired leadership. Now is the time for the community to insist that this happen.

Faith community: Gary has many churches with very active congregations. Wouldn't it be wonderful if people of faith from throughout Northwest Indiana could find a way to interact with each other -- working on community projects, holding joint services, engaging in grassroots interaction? If we knew each other as individuals, we would be better able to understand and appreciate each other.

People: About 96,000 people live in Gary -- more by far than any other community in Lake or Porter County. They are hard-working, family people with a rich heritage. Of course, there is too much crime, but criminals are mobile. They prey on people both inside and outside of the city. In that sense, they are "equal opportunity" criminals. If we all work together to fight crime, the result will be positive for everyone.

If we wish Northwest Indiana to reach its full potential, all of us -- black, brown and white, north county and south county -- need to be involved with Gary. Northwest Indiana will thrive only if we are together. It's time to start living like we understand that.

My response is that those 96,000 Gary residents are not hard working people. They are not educated, they are not wise. They are not particularly faithful. They are tolerant of criminality, if not criminals themselves.

Most of all, the people of Gary are liberal Democrats, and they elect the worst kind of liberal Democrats to run their city. And because they have the population, they largely control Lake County as well. The quality of governance coming from Gary is the worst that it could possibly be.

These are not people that you can work with. These are people who need to be politically defeated. Their community needs to be isolated, and the criminals in their midst kept within the city limits.

One example of this is the September Flood in Munster. The root cause of the flood was that Gary allowed the culverts that take the Little Cal under the Bohrman to fill with debris. The City of Gary doesn't maintain the culverts. The culverts dammed up, and the Little Cal backed up into Munster.

So what is needed is the maintenance of those culverts to be done by Munster, or Lake County, or some other responsible entity. The City of Gary is not competant to do it.

This commentary goes to the larger point of this blog: Lake County needs Republicans to be elected to more offices. Democrats are beholden to interests in Gary, and those interests are not to the benefit of anyone, inside or outside of Gary.

Letter to the editor

I just wrote this letter to the editor at the Times:

In response to the commentary by NICK EGNATZ of Veterans for Peace, "U.S. workers need large pay raises", in the Times on the 19th, Mr. Egnatz is not correct that increases in the minimum wage, or imposition of a "living wage" would do much, if anything, to improve the poverty situation in this country.

As I have documented on my blog, "Blue County in a Red State", when you actually look at the Census Bureau's Household Income Statistics, and you regress household income by hours worked, number of income earners per household, and the years of education of those income earners, you find almost perfect correlation.

Thus, the households in poverty are those who don't have any income earners at all, have no hours worked, and don't have even a high school education.

On the other end, the households with two married professionals, both working, and each working lots of hours, have very high incomes indeed.

Now, if we raised the minimum wage, or imposed a "living wage", what would happen? Businesses would respond by laying off workers and getting more productivity out of the few workers that remained. Employment would actually go down, and more people would be in the group of non-working people in poverty.

The way to alleviate poverty is to fix the cultural pathogens that lead to poverty: high schoool dropouts, welfare, single motherhood, criminality, laziness, etc. That's a lot more difficult than simply raising the minimum wage.

Regards,

Let's see if they publish it.

Is my analysis of Census Bureau Household Income Stats faulty?

Commenter "Jonathan" takes issue with my analysis of the Census Bureau's Household Income Statistics:

As abhorrent as this guy's views are, we still have to deal with them rationally. A few things on hours worked:

1. Minimum wage jobs routinely have their workers work off the clock so they don't have to pay overtime wages. Look at the fast food industry as one example.

And you know this how? "The fast food industry" does no such thing. If they did, the trial lawyers and the Labor Department would be all over them so fast it would make Ronald McDonald's head spin.

Perhaps it occurs in some situations, with small, privately owned restraunts or something, but it does not happen routinely, and would have little to no impact on the statistics I cite.

2. A lot of minimum wage jobs are cash and they likely won't declare much of it. Getting stats on these kinds of jobs is much harder. Look at the construction industry as an example.

Okay, let's say that #2 is true. How does it effect the Census Bureau's Household Income statistics? A lot of people that are shown as having no income and not working actually do have income and are working. Isn't that a net wash in my regression? I think that it is.

3. This doesn't account for hours worked at home, the vast majority of a single mother's time is spent working to maintain the home, which won't show up as work here but is just as hard work.

Again, so what? It doesn't change the statistics. And it isn't like everybody else doesn't work in the home. My wife does the jobs of laundress, nanny, teacher, cleaner, chauffer, etc. etc. etc. She's worth like 100 grand a year for all she does for the family.

4. I haven't looked carefully enough into how these stats were tabulated to say for sure, but it strikes me as ludicrous based on my personal experience working in shelters to say that the poor are poor because they don't work long hours. Most of the people who come through the shelter system (who aren't too depressed to function at a job) end up working very long hours for minimum wage just to get by. But that's personal experience, so take it for what it's worth.

Homelessness is a completely different issue. People aren't homeless because they're working at McDonald's. They're homeless because they're mentally ill and on drugs, and they're defiantly so. If they refrained from drugs and took their medication per their doctor's orders (i.e. if they were forcibly institutionalized), they wouldn't be homeless.

That's a completely different blog post, dude.

5. You are completely ignoring the role of luck in people's lives. To think that life is as simple as if-you-work-hard-you'll-succeed (so it follows if you aren't successful you must be lazy) is to ignore sickness, bad/abusive family situations, unwanted pregnancies, injuries and depression which in my experience are the main causes of people's financial troubles. Most of these can happen to anyone (although no doubt you must think it's because 'they' are stupid or lazy).

No doubt, luck plays a large role in people's lives. I was lucky to be born to the parents that I was born to. I've been lucky never to have gotten involved in the criminal justice system.

But even for those who are unlucky, personal values play a large role. I could have been involved in the criminal justice system for a mistake, but does that excuse the people who are repeat offenders? I may have shitty parents, and go to crappy schools, but does that excuse not even graduating from high school, or me myself getting knocked up as a teenager?

What about the families that are mired in poverty for generation after generation? Do you really think that families can have multigenerational streaks of bad luck?

6. Like all financial conservatives you subscribe to a simple world where work leads inevitably to success, I suggest you look at reasoning behind social progams in First World countries and why we in Canada have universal health coverage, education etc. It's because compassion is more important than every-man-for-himself and sometimes you may find yourself in a tough spot. Remember that if you ever need help, and before you think that everyone in trouble must just be lazy.

Ah yes, blessed Canada. Heaven on earth, with its generous social programs and whatnot.

First of all, Canada is as white as white bread. There's no black underclass, historically discriminated against and brought to Canada in chains. If you compare Canadians to white Americans of similar ethnicity, we do just as well as you, if not better. Perhaps I'll get the relevant data and crunch the numbers myself.

Secondly, you fail to realize the extent that Canada relies on the US for its wealth and livelihood. Whether it be the security umbrella that the US extends, the export markets we allow you access to, etc. etc. Canada would be much worse off if the US were as socialized as you are. Our markets would be closed to you, we'd have no military to speak of, and our growth rate would be negative, and as a result so would yours.

And that doesn't even account for Canadaian manipulation of the Loonie, to make Canadian manufactured good cheaper in the US.

So... no, I don't think Canada has anything to teach us here in the US. Ditto for all those other "First World" nations.

Lake County Comissioner in Indianapolis lobbying against Lake County Taxpayers

Lake County Comissioner Roosevelt Allen Jr. (who I think is as big a clown as Gary Mayor Rudy Clay) was in Indianapolis yesterday lobbying downstate legislators.

Mr. Allen wants the Lake County property tax levy unfrozen.

You will recall that the legislature froze the levy to blackmail us into passing a 1% County "Option" Income Tax.

You will also recall that Mr. Allen voted for that tax, but that the other two Commisioners voted against it.

So we in Lake County now have the best of all worlds: no income tax and a frozen levy. And we've got tax caps as well. We're golden.

Mr. Allen doesn't like this situation. He needs to get jobs for incompetant relatives and other neerdowells.

Michelle Obama's $300k "job" is being eliminated

Michelle Obama was "Director of Community Relations" at the University of Chicago Hospitals.

U of C totally gave her the job because her husband was a US Senator. And the move paid off when Obama got the hospital earmarks worth millions.

Can you say "pay to play"? Blagojevich isn't the only Illinois politician who does it. Saint Obama did too.

Further proof? U of C just eliminated the position.

Van Til is the stupidest man on Earth

Democrat Lake County Surveyor George Van Til just hired the former commisioner of the Little Calumet Basin Development Comission, who was fired for the September flooding.

Van Til is a total idiot. This is going to piss people off even more than letting his kid drive his take home car to high school or filling his personal vehicle with county gas.

Democrat Lake County Councilman Tom O'Donnell reponds

I'm underwhelmed:

Eric:

Thanks for your input.

Tom O'Donnell

----- Original Message -----

From: Buzzcut
To: t_odonnell@sbcglobal.net
Sent: Wednesday, January 14, 2009 1:20 PM
Subject: No Food and Beverage Tax, no busses, no income tax

Tom, That sums up my feelings. I am 100% against a food and beverage tax, for busses or any other thing.

The bus system in the cities is a collosal waste of money, and I want them to end, not be consolidated and expanded.

And I'm still against a COIT. Don't bring that back up.

Everybody in Lake County needs to live with the revenue they have now, under the tax caps.

Regards,
Buzzcut

How to contact Lake County Councilman Tom O'Donnell

Here.

Lake County Council puts off voting on Food and Beverage Tax

The Lake County Council has put off a vote on imposing a 1% Food and Beverage Tax. They claim to want more time to hear from the public on the subject. I'm going to give my Councilman, Democrat Tom O'Donnel, an earful.

Does Lake County have an unfair tax advantage in Indiana?

It's my thesis that, because Lake County is the only county in Indiana not to have a "County Option Income Tax", we have a huge advantage over other counties in Indiana.

To test my thesis, I started looking for data. I found the following:

1) Average adjusted gross income for every zip code in Indiana

2) County Option Income Taxes for all the counties

3) An excel file linking zip codes to town names and counties

Mashing up all this data, I could figure out the average adjusted gross income for every town in Indiana, and what the county income tax paid on that AGI.

I now can compare income taxes and property taxes and do a comparison.

For example, Munster has an AGI of $74322 and a property tax rate of $3.25/$100. We pay no COIT.

Valparaiso has an AGI of $66179 and a PTR of $3.10/$100. The COIT rate is 1/2%, so this average taxpayer is paying $330 in COIT.

But on an average home, let's say $250,000 assessment, the difference in taxes is only $375 per year.

And that's Porter County, which has a low tax rate. Marion county is taxed at 1.65%! Most of the high income areas are in Marion County. The difference between Lake and Marion County is huge.

Another good example is Columbus. Because it is the headquarters of Cummins, incomes there are high as $82237. The COIT is 1%, so that's $822. The property tax is better at $2.6/$100. On a $250k home, that's a difference of $1500 compared to Munster, largely making up the difference in COIT.

Now, this analysis doesn't take into account differences in home value, or all the replacement credits and whatnot, but it does show that Lake County has a significant advantage in taxes, because we don't have that stupid county "option" income tax. Compared to other high income areas, we pay a LOT less in taxes.

More on Lake County Property Taxes

This is a busy graph, but I sorted all the Lake County tax rates, highest to lowest. The average is 3.6 dollars per thousand assessed, the median is 3.1.

Munster is within spitting distance of the median. I guess that's not bad.

Just how bad are Lake County Property Taxes?

I downloaded the Excel file for all the certified tax rates for all municipalities in the State of Indiana and did a histogram of them.

Any municipalities stand out to you?

Is North Lake County f'ed up or what? CJ, what the hell is the problem with East Chicago? Where do they get off even THINKING about charging a $100k assessed value property over $9000 in taxes?

Honerable mention goes to St. John. Their tax rate is outstanding, especially considering that there is no income tax in Lake County. Until this year St. John included garbage collection in their tax rate (they now bill it separately).

My town, Munster, is a little on the high side. That tax rate is 1 standard deviation above the mean. Again, considering that most of the "competition" has at least a 1% county income tax, that ain't bad.

More evidence that Gary will go bankrupt

An audit of their books for the Indiana Distressed Unit Appeals Board questions if Gary can operate as a City under the tax caps.

As I have said before, I think that they can't. They're going to go bankrupt, and need to be dissolved. They could merge with Hammond and East Chicago to form a larger, North Lake County City, or they could just become another part of unincorporated Lake County.

The later is not a bad idea, I think. Lake County Sherrif would provide police protection. The highway department could take over street maintenance. Gary has already outsourced garbage collection to Allied Waste. The only wild card is fire service. It would have to go volunteer. I don't know how that would work.

Post Tax Cap tax shifting is about to begin

Just because we've got property tax caps doesn't mean that the politicians won't try and raise other taxes to make up for lost revenue.

The tax caps are making bus service in Hammond, Gary, and East Chicago unaffordable. God forbid that the people who ride this god-forsaken form of transportation actually pay for its costs.

Instead, Democrat Lake County Councilman Tom O'Donnel is trying to push through a 1% food and beverage tax to fund bus service.

The council will consider the tax on Tuesday at 10AM in the Council chambers in Crown Point. If I can get out of work, I will go (God forbid they do this stuff outside of normal working hours!).

Gary's Democrat Mayor is the stupidest man alive

Gary's Democrat Mayor, Rudy Clay, is by far the stupidest man alive.

The Indiana Distressed Unit Appeals Board, which Gary is appealing its tax cap before, chastized the mayor for driving around in a city owned Hummer. While the cost of the Hummer is a small part of the $30 million deficit the City is facing, it is very symbolic of the problems Gary has. A more modest vehicle is called for.

So what does the mayor do the VERY NEXT DAY after getting grilled by the DUAB about the Hummer?

HE BUYS A NEW ONE!

F him. F Gary. Let the bastards go bankrupt.

Gary asks to rape businesses

The City of Gary appeared before the Indiana Distressed Unit Appeals Board and asked for the right to rape businesses:

Gary is asking the appeals board to raise property tax caps for business owners to 5.4 percent in 2009, 4.68 percent in 2010, and 4.149 percent in 2011. By 2012, those caps would return to 3 percent.

Gary is not appealing the tax caps for homeowners and renters. They are just trying to rape businesses. Since there aren't any businesses in Gary except US Steel, this is a huge tax increase on that one company.

Considering that homeowners and renters are the ones who use all the "services" that are threatened by the tax caps, wouldn't it make more sense to leave the business caps alone, and raise them for homeowners and renters?

I think that the best course of action would be for the DUAB to eliminate the homestead exemption but keep the tax caps. This would put more property on the tax rolls, but make sure that the tax rate on that property is relatively reasonable (a $45000 home, of which there are many in Gary, would then pay $450 in taxes, rather than zero as now).

Indiana House Democrats are out to screw taxpayers

It looks like Democrat House Speaker Pat Bauer might not even let making the tax caps part of the constitution come up for a vote this year:

Republicans also might find it hard to convince House Speaker Pat Bauer, D-South Bend, to take a vote to set up a 2010 referendum allowing voters to place new property tax caps in the Indiana Constitution.

Most Democrats argue lawmakers should wait at least another year to see if local government can withstand spending cuts triggered by the caps, which promise to eventually limit homeowner bills to 1 percent of assessed value, or $1,000 on a $100,000 home. But Republicans say delaying the effort would violate an unwritten pledge to the public, and Daniels warns taxpayers should be wary of a "double cross."

The local government reforms could face a similar roadblock from Bauer, who has dismissed them as "an academic's view of how government should operate." While it's not clear how many of the proposals will emerge from the Senate, GOP leaders express support for putting a single elected executive in charge of county government.

Once again, Democrats put the interests of their supporters in government ahead of taxpayers.