Archive for the ‘economy’ Category

One year ago today Massachusetts elected Scott Brown…

Posted: January 19, 2011 by datechguy in congress, economy, opinion/news, politics
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…in an attempt to stop Obamacare. In a broadcast by 73wire with Stacy McCain and Ali Akbar (Brown’s new media guy) we talked about the healthcare bill and there was an interesting exchange. I stressed how important this election was because it was necessary to stop obamacare BEFORE it was passed prompting the following:

Ali: “And if it does pass, we will repeal it!”

DaTechGuy: “No we won’t.”

It was very telling that Ali (who is a really smart young man) didn’t argue the point with me and changed the subject.

Well Scott won, but the democrats realizing that the only chance to get the bill passed now was for the house to pass the version that had already gone through the senate did so avoiding both a conference and the chance of a filibuster.

So the repeal bill is now coming up and we will find out who was right. I think Ali knows the its very hard to repeal a law once passed. He knows businesses and government have already adjusted their plans based on it. A lot of favors were done for a lot of people in that bill and those lobbyists who had those favors inserted want them preserved. Most importantly as a rule it’s easier to stop something than to do something in congress. A determined minority and frustrate the majority every time.

Yet there are real reasons to think he might be right. The left and the media are declaring that effort dead and phony but are doing their best to discourage this vote. If my original thought was right why would they bother? After all the senate is still a majority democratic institution. Very little chance on any change there is there?

The dirty little secret is until the house passes this bill the senate doesn’t have to even pretend to care, but once it IS passed than it is before the Senate. There are quite a few democratic senators who are in a tough spot. They either ran against Obamacare (WV) live in states where it is unpopular (MO) or face uphill reelection fights (Va). The retirement announcement of Kent Conrad in ND actually hurts the repeal effort because he can now vote to preserve it while the democrat who does run in his state can claim opposition.

However there is another factor involved. Every single democratic senator was the deciding vote to the passage of Obamacare this means that every vulnerable senator on the democratic side has that vote hanging around their neck. Those senators desperate to retain their seats and the power and privileges thereof will not want to run on Obamacare. A repeal vote would give them a chance to vote against it saying they’ve “reconsidered”.

Harry Reid might, in order to increase the chance of holding his senate majority allow a vote. If a democrat filibuster blocks it then vulnerable dems can clam they voted against said filibuster and if he allows it to reach the floor he can either “Fishbait Miller” the vote (let the three most vulnerable dems vote against it) or allow it to pass and let the president veto it.

This is the position that the White House least wants to be in. The president casting a very prominent vote to preserve a law that he pushed for against popular opinion. This would be a great gift to Republicans going into 2012 and represents (along with the rising price of gas and oil and high unemployment) the best chance for this president to lose re-election.

This is the importance of the house vote. It turns 2012 into a referendum on Obamacare. The closer these actions come to election day 2012 the worse the situation gets for democrats. The second best move for them would be to allow a Senate vote ASAP and get this whole thing over with early. The best option for democrats? That I’m not saying until the day after the presidential election.

Obamacare will not be repealed before the 2012 election but this vote might be the first step to insuring its repeal with a new person in the White House.

What a shock 300k Fitchburg appropriation gone

Posted: January 7, 2011 by datechguy in congress, economy, local stuff
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When I wrote about Massachusetts getting the government it deserves I included this paragraph to the voters:

Maybe it will be the shock when you discover that all these democrats that you returned to congress are now in the minority and all of those tax dollars taken from you that they returned in lump sums at .82 cents on the dollar will not be coming back since they don’t have the clout to gain them and the republican house where all spending must originate is unlikely to approve them. If you had sent even a single republican to the house at least in one district there would be clout, but nope, no can do. You will miss that .82 cents on the dollar, but don’t worry the feds will meet you halfway. They will still take that dollar it was part of.

Well lo and behold we have a new congress and guess what the Sentinel and Enterprise reports isn’t coming

A $300,000 appropriation to help complete renovations at the ARC Community Services building on Main Street has hit a stumbling block and will likely not be approved by Congress, said ARC President Mary Heafy.

Despite news that the U.S. House of Representatives had approved the $300,000 appropriation, the office of U.S. Rep. John Olver, D-Amherst, informed Heafy this week that there’s a 99 percent chance the money will not come through.

But but I thought we HAD to re-elect John Olver and company because of all he could bring home for Fitchburg et/al?

“We were hesitant at first to announce publicly that the appropriation was approved, but officials for Olver said they were confident it would be approved based on past experiences.”

Of course they were. After all it wasn’t as if there was any kind of nationwide movement or something concerning wasteful spending was there?

Heafy said she received a letter stating that the fiscal 2011 Transportation HUD Appropriation Bill, which included the $300,000 for ARC Community Services, had not been passed by Congress but would be brought back up during its next session.

Oh in the next session, and tell me how many representatives do we have in the republican majority in that next session? Hmmm nearly, nearly one.

However, Republican leadership has stated it will not allow any earmarks to be approved in the bill when Congress takes it up in session again, Hunter Ridgway, Olver’s chief of staff, said Wednesday.

It looks like those who voted for Congressman Olver based on bringing home the bacon need to remember the disclaimer that investors have become familiar with “past performance is no indicator of future gains”.

Add to that democrat states like NY and Mass losing seats and republican states like Texas gaining them wholesale I suspect that it will be a long time before Mr. Olver and company have the clout in the house to raid the treasury.

We will as always get the government we deserve and will have to live with the votes we’ve cast, until at least 2012.

Imagine the New Hampshire line times 49

Posted: January 7, 2011 by datechguy in economy
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When I go door to door around the area to sell advertising for the show, one of the things business’ tend to tell me is that the sales taxes are murder particularly with NH only a town or two away. If you live in Townsend or Ashby a retail store doesn’t have a chance.

Now here comes Illinois deciding it want to tax net sales. I can’t imagine anything more foolish. Instead of one border state that is not taxing drawing sales from the state. Now Illinois web sellers have 49 states that can undersell them by a percentage. That certainly will not help.

Every dollar not spent on those Illinois business is a dollar not re-spent by them, and taxes are generated by dollars that move within a closed system. If those dollars don’t move within Illinois they will move elsewhere.

And if that isn’t enough Amazon and overstock will be ending relationships as Backyard Conservative has just discovered:

Greetings from the Amazon Associates Program:

We regret to inform you that the Illinois state legislature has passed an unconstitutional tax collection scheme that, if signed by Governor Quinn, would leave Amazon.com little choice but to end its relationships with Illinois-based Associates. You are receiving this email because our records indicate that you are a resident of Illinois. If our records are incorrect, you can manage the details of your Associates account (here).

Please note that this not an immediate termination notice and you are still a valued participant in the Amazon Associates Program. But if the governor signs this bill, we will need to terminate the participation of all Illinois residents in the Associates Program. After that point, we will no longer pay any advertising fees for sales referred to amazon.com, endless.com and smallparts.com nor will we accept new applications for the Associates Program from Illinois residents.

If you are looking to raise money, is it dead foolish, but it’s not a question of raising revenue, it’s a question of a government wanting control.

How’s that blue state way of doing things working out?

Update: I have the feeling that Illinois is taking advice from this lady.

Update 2: And it looks like the Chicago papers aren’t interested in this story

No reporting on this in the Chicago Tribune or Chicago Sun Times. Like this isn’t news? Here is the Trib copy off their website. It’s not even the top story.

As Moe Lane point out Illinois has the right to be wrong and will pay for it:

At this point we usually hear from the people who want to ‘yes-but’ along the lines of “Yes, but the state of Illinois has a right to those sales taxes.” Indeed, the state of Illinois has the ‘right’ to raise and levy taxes on in-state purchases. No matter how burdensome and archaic that might be when it comes to online purchases; and no matter that it might be wiser to consider that possibly the fact that people shop online to avoid state sales tax implies that state sales taxes are generally too high. Wiser… but not politically safe; Democratic politicians prefer that government revenue be high, even when it’s at private revenue’s expense. That hypothetical sales tax money wouldn’t be going towards business-friendly programs, after all: it’d be largely going towards government entitlement programs, which are notoriously unprofitable*.

But then, having groups like Amazon pull out of Illinois would be a win, for a certain class of smug types: after all, they showed those corporations who the boss was! – And, really, they don’t actually care about anything else.

Like Massachusetts Illinois is getting the government it deserves.

Ah the joys of running a business

Posted: January 7, 2011 by datechguy in DaTechGuy on DaRadio, economy
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A license to get a license, a fee to get an application, the joy of collecting bills.

When you are a one man operation it is a lot of work and a lot of tension.

Oh and Rush Limbaugh is right. If you want to really appreciate how much you are paying in taxes, try paying them without large amounts of withholding. You will really get it. It’s like the prices at rental places. It seems small but the end result is pretty high.

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