Today's Wall St Journal Op-ed page title. "How Billionaires Can Build Bridges to the Middle Class". The author's quote billionaire William Conway of the Carlyle Group lamenting that he just cannot find a good way to put $1 billion of his money to work creating jobs.
So helpfully they suggest that Mr Conway could fund "infrastructure" namely he could use his money to finance building a bridge somewhere. Cool. Let's suppose Mr. Conway takes them up on it.
Next paragraph they suggest all sorts of government regulations that should be created to make sure Mr. Conway does the right thing with his money. A public something-or-other would create a list of eligible projects and Mr. Conway would be allowed to pick one.
Wow! Here we have a public spirited billionaire, who has decided to spend his own money on a public project, and we have the chutzpah to tell this guy what projects he is allowed to finance and which ones he is not allowed? Methinks Mr. Conway would put his checkbook back in his pocket and go away, mad.
Clearly the authors have been smoking controlled substances. And spend too much time in academia.
Monday, October 17, 2011
Occupy Wherever?
What ever they are, they are getting plenty of press. Just finished watching a U tube clip that makes them look like hippies at a "be in". Passing a joint from hand to hand and making very mellow speak.
Lot of MSM and more serious newspeople have mentioned the lack of a "program". As in "what do they want", a set of political or economic demands. Apparently they don't have one. At least not yet.
Not surprising. I expect they are out of work, or still in college, and they don't like the prospect of unemployment or taking a job at the Golden Arches. Understandable. It's also understandable that they really don't know what they want, other than to end Great Depression 2.0, and return to plentiful jobs at good wages. We all want that.
Trouble is, no one really knows how to achieve that desirable end. So it's understandable that the Occupy Wherever folks don't have a clue either.
Lot of MSM and more serious newspeople have mentioned the lack of a "program". As in "what do they want", a set of political or economic demands. Apparently they don't have one. At least not yet.
Not surprising. I expect they are out of work, or still in college, and they don't like the prospect of unemployment or taking a job at the Golden Arches. Understandable. It's also understandable that they really don't know what they want, other than to end Great Depression 2.0, and return to plentiful jobs at good wages. We all want that.
Trouble is, no one really knows how to achieve that desirable end. So it's understandable that the Occupy Wherever folks don't have a clue either.
Sunday, October 16, 2011
999
Will Herman Cain's 999 tax plan work? That's a 9% income tax, a 9% Corporate income tax and a 9% national sales tax. How much money would we raise with 999? Would it pay Uncle Sam's bills?
Just for fun, I did a little surfing and got to the US Bureau of Economic Analysis. There I find that total US income is $12.8 trillion. So 9% of that is $1.152 trillion
Corporate Profits before taxes is $1.8 trillion So 9% of that is a measly $0.162 trillion.
National sales is not given, so let's guess that one half of people's income gets spent on taxable stuff. That's fair, rent and mortgage payments suck up about half of most folks income and they aren't taxable. So let's estimate the 9% sales tax brings 9% of half of total income. That's %0.576 trillion.
Add it up. $1.152 + $0.162 + $0.576 = $1.89 trillion raised by the 999 tax plan.
Is this enough? No.
Current US govt expenditures are $5.4 trillion. Of that $1.3 trillion is borrowed.
Under 999 we would have to borrow $3.51 trillion to add to the $1.89 trillion of 999 tax revenues to raise the $5.4 trillion we are spending.
Even an 18-18-18 tax plan wouldn't be enough to cover today's federal spending.
Just for fun, I did a little surfing and got to the US Bureau of Economic Analysis. There I find that total US income is $12.8 trillion. So 9% of that is $1.152 trillion
Corporate Profits before taxes is $1.8 trillion So 9% of that is a measly $0.162 trillion.
National sales is not given, so let's guess that one half of people's income gets spent on taxable stuff. That's fair, rent and mortgage payments suck up about half of most folks income and they aren't taxable. So let's estimate the 9% sales tax brings 9% of half of total income. That's %0.576 trillion.
Add it up. $1.152 + $0.162 + $0.576 = $1.89 trillion raised by the 999 tax plan.
Is this enough? No.
Current US govt expenditures are $5.4 trillion. Of that $1.3 trillion is borrowed.
Under 999 we would have to borrow $3.51 trillion to add to the $1.89 trillion of 999 tax revenues to raise the $5.4 trillion we are spending.
Even an 18-18-18 tax plan wouldn't be enough to cover today's federal spending.
Saturday, October 15, 2011
Federal law requires USAF to have 316 transports?
According to Kelly Ayotte, my US senator, there is a federal law that requires the Air Force to maintain no less than 316 "transports" on active duty. She has introduced a bill to repeal this law.
Why do we have such a law on the books in the first place? Surely the defense department and the Air Force have a far better idea than Congress of how many transports are needed to defend the country. This sounds like something dreamed up by the senators from Lockheed (C-130) and Boeing (C17).
Why do we have such a law on the books in the first place? Surely the defense department and the Air Force have a far better idea than Congress of how many transports are needed to defend the country. This sounds like something dreamed up by the senators from Lockheed (C-130) and Boeing (C17).
Uganda
Made the news last night. US will send combat troops to Uganda. According to the TV news, it's only 100 special forces troops. Jeeze. That's hardly more than the embassy guard. Any embassy has three military attaches, each with 3 or 4 NCO's to run the office, and a 20 man Marine guard force. There you have 32 troops just hanging around the embassy.
I'm sure the US has 100 man units active in dozens of countries. Why did Obama announce this 100 man unit going to Uganda? Why not just send the troops and say nothing? A 100 man operation is small enough to keep secret. Especially as anyone knows announcing ground forces going into Africa is going to put the press into orbit with predictions of "another Viet Nam".
Or does Obama fear leaks from the military? And figures he is better off with a public announcement? He shouldn't. The US military is very loyal. Besides they learned never to talk to the press back in Viet Nam.
I'm sure the US has 100 man units active in dozens of countries. Why did Obama announce this 100 man unit going to Uganda? Why not just send the troops and say nothing? A 100 man operation is small enough to keep secret. Especially as anyone knows announcing ground forces going into Africa is going to put the press into orbit with predictions of "another Viet Nam".
Or does Obama fear leaks from the military? And figures he is better off with a public announcement? He shouldn't. The US military is very loyal. Besides they learned never to talk to the press back in Viet Nam.
USPS
Why does USPS give junk mail a cheaper rate? Why should not junk mailers pay the same rate I pay to mail my bills? The junk mail travels the same routes, gets delivered by the same mail carrier and travel just as fast, which means it costs USPS just as much to deliver junk mail as first class mail. So why should junk mail get a nice cheap rate? Why should my first class stamps subsidize junk mail that just goes into the fireplace.
Friday, October 14, 2011
Franconia Notch Parkway
The NHDOT called a meeting about the Franconia Notch Parkway last night. A couple of dozen folks showed up at Peabody Slopes base lodge, most of them fire and rescue team people, along with some police and sheriff’s deputies. All of whom have vivid memories of trying to reach the sites of automobile crashes at night during blizzards and whiteouts. The DOT people all regret that the Parkway is not built to Interstate Highway standards, but were under instruction by the legislature to stick with the agreement hammered out thirty years ago between the DOT and the hikers, campers, conservationists and environmentalists back when the current parkway was built.
The outdoors people look on Franconia Notch as a beautiful and well loved wilderness area for hiking and camping. If they had their way there would be no road at all, and no ski resort at Cannon. The highway people and the rescue first responders want four lanes and a good big shoulder so they can get thru to an accident scene with a fire truck.
Thirty years ago the hikers and campers forced a the current deal, a two lane road. It took years of fighting to resolve the issue and memories linger. Nobody wants to re open that particular can of worms.
Making life difficult is the centerline barrier. Thirty years ago when the road was widened, there was no centerline barrier. Old US Route 3 thru the Notch was just an ordinary two lane blacktop country road. When the new road was blasted thru, it had no centerline barrier. Then they had a number of horrific crashes, and the existing centerline barrier was installed to prevent them. Trouble is, with the barrier there is no way to get a rescue vehicle turned around. Franconia rescue vehicles can only reach accidents in the southbound lane, North Woodstock can only reach accidents in the northbound lane, and there is no way to get past the line of cars that back up behind a bad accident scene.
There was a lot of discussion about snow removal. Someone asked about getting a big snow blower to toss the snow well clear of the road and keep the snowdrifts from encroaching upon the road. The guy from DOT replied that snow blowers were high maintenance. Everytime they suck up a rock or an unlucky road sign they break.
After a lot of discussion the meeting broke up with nothing decided or revealed. The DOT’s plans for the Franconia Notch Parkway are known only to DOT.
The outdoors people look on Franconia Notch as a beautiful and well loved wilderness area for hiking and camping. If they had their way there would be no road at all, and no ski resort at Cannon. The highway people and the rescue first responders want four lanes and a good big shoulder so they can get thru to an accident scene with a fire truck.
Thirty years ago the hikers and campers forced a the current deal, a two lane road. It took years of fighting to resolve the issue and memories linger. Nobody wants to re open that particular can of worms.
Making life difficult is the centerline barrier. Thirty years ago when the road was widened, there was no centerline barrier. Old US Route 3 thru the Notch was just an ordinary two lane blacktop country road. When the new road was blasted thru, it had no centerline barrier. Then they had a number of horrific crashes, and the existing centerline barrier was installed to prevent them. Trouble is, with the barrier there is no way to get a rescue vehicle turned around. Franconia rescue vehicles can only reach accidents in the southbound lane, North Woodstock can only reach accidents in the northbound lane, and there is no way to get past the line of cars that back up behind a bad accident scene.
There was a lot of discussion about snow removal. Someone asked about getting a big snow blower to toss the snow well clear of the road and keep the snowdrifts from encroaching upon the road. The guy from DOT replied that snow blowers were high maintenance. Everytime they suck up a rock or an unlucky road sign they break.
After a lot of discussion the meeting broke up with nothing decided or revealed. The DOT’s plans for the Franconia Notch Parkway are known only to DOT.
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