The Budget Cut Sham

during this most recent round of budget cut talks, amid all the back-slapping, finger pointing and partisan speeches, people forgot to actually look and see whether anything was being done. other than the posturing...not really.

the headlines you saw and will hear about are that $38 billion was cut from the budget. but when the congressional budget office studied it, they report that in reality only $352 million is being cut. how can that be? heres an example:

For instance, Congress allotted more than $20 million necessary to build the Capitol Visitor Center at the U.S. Capitol building. The visitor center is now completed, but the U.S. Capitol still is technically owed the rest of its budget for that project. The budget deal the House votes on today takes back $15 million from that project.

only in washington is coming in under budget and then deciding to not use the money originally allocated considered a budget cut.

so now we have two budgets out there to discuss and hash over; one from president obama and one from congressman paul ryan. if you listen to the heated rhetoric from both sides, you would come to conclusion that these two budget proposals are polar opposites of one another. in reality, there is a 7% difference in the spending.

the washington post and the boston globe have put out some useful tools to help illustrate the difference between the plans as well as to look at federal spending for the past 30 years.

it was interesting to review the head-to-head comparison in contrast with the stereotypes or misinformation that you hear day-to-day.
** "the republicans draconian cuts are stealing away social security" -- the GOP budget calls for $1 billion less in spending than obamas budget ($770B v. $769B)
** "president obama doesnt care about national security" -- obamas budget calls for $3 billion MORE spending than the GOP budget ($703B v. $700B)

there are real budget problems that we need to grapple with in the coming years. medicare and social security currently account for about 1/3 of the budget. with baby boomers aging and retiring, this percentage is only going to increase. in light of the bickering over the $38B in "cuts", i dont see how our elected leaders are possibly going to address the big issues. the real answer that no one will discuss because it may effect their future elections is that we need to BOTH raise taxes on everyone AND cut unnecessary spending.

i can swallow a tax increase but only after the federal government illustrates some ability to rein in the spending. but when you see things like harry reid complaining about the "heartless" loss of federal funds for a cowboy poetry festival or watch as massachusetts builds a shrine to ted kennedy with $38M in taxpayer money, you dont get the sense that any spending restraint can happen.

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Only Citizens Pay Taxes, Not Corporations

recently, i made a reference to GE not paying any taxes this year despite earning $12-14 BILLION in profits. then i saw this statement from senator bernie sanders of vermont and am extremely outraged.

i get hounded from the IRS because i try to claim a few deductions, meanwhile check out how these corporations are able to manipulate the tax code:

1. Exxon Mobil made $19 billion in profits in 2009. Exxon not only paid no federal income taxes, it actually received a $156 million rebate from the IRS, according to its SEC filings.

2. Bank of America received a $1.9 billion tax refund from the IRS last year, although it made $4.4 billion in profits and received a bailout from the Federal Reserve and the Treasury Department of nearly $1 trillion.

3. Over the past five years, while General Electric made $26 billion in profits in the United States, it received a $4.1 billion refund from the IRS.

4. Chevron received a $19 million refund from the IRS last year after it made $10 billion in profits in 2009.

5. Boeing, which received a $30 billion contract from the Pentagon to build 179 airborne tankers, got a $124 million refund from the IRS last year.

6. Valero Energy, the 25th largest company in America with $68 billion in sales last year received a $157 million tax refund check from the IRS and, over the past three years, it received a $134 million tax break from the oil and gas manufacturing tax deduction.

7. Goldman Sachs in 2008 only paid 1.1 percent of its income in taxes even though it earned a profit of $2.3 billion and received an almost $800 billion from the Federal Reserve and U.S. Treasury Department.

8. Citigroup last year made more than $4 billion in profits but paid no federal income taxes. It received a $2.5 trillion bailout from the Federal Reserve and U.S. Treasury.

9. ConocoPhillips, the fifth largest oil company in the United States, made $16 billion in profits from 2007 through 2009, but received $451 million in tax breaks through the oil and gas manufacturing deduction.

10. Over the past five years, Carnival Cruise Lines made more than $11 billion in profits, but its federal income tax rate during those years was just 1.1 percent.

im not saying that these companies have done anything illegal, but enough is enough. the president has made reference to closing the loopholes in the tax code. its now past time that the president and congress do something about it.

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is it a full time job or not?

got a chuckle from a post at massachusetts liberal commenting on the lack of activity in the first two months of the year. if it's a part-time job, let's pay them that way.

Milk carton Legislature

It's March 7 -- do you know what your full time Legislature has done?

Two months into the first year of their two-year session, the Great and General Court of the Commonwealth has approved exactly one law -- authorizing the Mayor of Medford to appoint a director of budget and personnel. The House and Senate have met -- formally or informally -- 22 times in two months and have held sessions commemorating John F. Kennedy's City on the Hill speech and the 200th anniversary of Massachusetts General Hospital.

Oh, and they took a week off for vacation.

music on a desert island

everyones done it before. you get shipwrecked on an island. you can only take 5 albums with you -- as apparently this island has a cd player and power source. ive slightly cheated by choosing one double album, which i have deemed legal. but you cant choose box sets. what are your album choices?

my current top 5 "stuck on a desert island" albums, in no particular order and subject to change at any moment.

1. nirvana "mtv unplugged"
i wasnt a huge nirvana fan during their heyday and i actually didnt pick up this album until 1996 which was 3 years after it was released and 2 years after kurt cobain died. just a great collection of live music with some interesting covers. it will always remind me of the year i spent living in atlanta as this cd got a lot of rotation from me at the time.












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2. johnny cash "live at folsom prison"
come on, The Man In Black, says it all. the ultimate in country music. you hear the prisoners cheering for him and the performance is periodically interrupted by prison guards making announcements. you even get a duet of "jackson" with june carter. no, thats not where my sons name originated.












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3. kings of leon "only by the night"
just a top to bottom great album. sure, some of the songs got overplayed on the radio but i still turned up the volume every time they came on.













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4. dave matthews band "live at red rocks"
im a big dave fan. though i still very much enjoy some of their newer stuff, this live collection of the early stuff will always be the best music for me. im sure getting to know this band during my college years and watching their rise to stardom has something to do with it too. in fact, this album was released the summer after i graduated. i was on a cross country trip but drove through colorado 2 months before this show.













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5. david gray "white ladder"
you have to have something to relax to on the list. another top to bottom solid album. incidentally i found out about david gray when he was opening for dave matthews band shows in 1999. this is always my go-to, quiet sunday morning music.













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what recession?

while the nation is lingering around 10% unemployment and families are cutting back in order to make ends meet, "The number of federal workers earning $150,000 or more a year has soared tenfold in the past five years." in fact, "Federal workers earning $150,000 or more make up 3.9% of the workforce, up from 0.4% in 2005."






















on a similar note, a recent analysis of the net worth of congress found that we now have approximately 237 millionaires in congress or 44% of our representatives compared to 1% of all americans. despite a yearly salary of $174,000, the average senator has a net worth of $1.7 million and the average representative has a net worth of $622,000. and while some in congress saw their net worths drop in recent years due to the economic downturn, others actually profited from investments in companies that received federal bailouts.

so what should happen from here? well the white house is proposing a 1.4% pay raise for all federal employees in the next budget.

why not?

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political fundraising

in a previous post i noted my objection to the decision in citizen united v. FEC that essentially determined that corporations have free speech rights akin to individuals and therefore could not be stifled in their political contributions.

in recent weeks, president obama and other prominent democrats have been complaining about the chamber of commerce's political advertising and making accusations that our political system is being influenced by shadowy figures and possibly foreign entities. of course, this is without any proof whatsoever. the chamber of commerce denies using foreign money. factcheck.org can't find any wrongdoing. in fact, when obamas senior advisor david axelrod was asked for evidence of the chamber of commerce using secret foreign money the best response he could provide was "well, can you show me evidence that it's not?" so now the focus has moved to the chamber revealing their list of donors. however, being a tax exempt organization the president knows that the chamber is under no legal obligation to do so.

it is interesting that there is a demand for donor lists. in 2008, obama made a pledge to use public campaign financing but then quickly backtracked on that pledge when he saw how much more money could be raised via private funding. with this private funding came a closer inspection of the source of these funds. go here to see a thorough list of articles that illustrate the pledge and possible foreign sourced funds being given to the obama campaign.

opensecrets.org has an excellent breakdown of where all the campaign cash is coming from this campaign season.
here's a snapshot:
** 53% of all business contributions go to democrats
** 53% of all ideological contributions go to democrats
** 93% of all labor contributions go to democrats

considering the majority of campaign contributions are being steered towards the democratic party, the white house complaints about the chamber of commerce just seem like sour grapes that the chamber doesn't agree with the administrations policies. or is it really a realization and fear that the chamber's anti-administration message has become more resonant with the public?

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wasted toll money

in previous posts ive discussed the cost per mile that every state spends on their roads. ranked #1 is new jersey at and astounding $749,000+/mile. those must be some mighty fine roads!

then i see this article today about the new jersey turnpike. i guess its no wonder that tolls continue to go up for taxpayers.

Auditors say the New Jersey Turnpike Authority wasted $43 million on unneeded perks and bonuses. In one case, an employee with a base salary of $73,469 earned $321,985 when all payouts and bonuses were included.
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The biggest expense uncovered in the audit was $30 million in unjustified bonuses to employees and management in 2008 and 2009 without consideration of performance.
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The Comptroller's Office audit released Tuesday says taxpayers also paid $430,000 for free E-ZPass transponders and nearly $90,000 in scholarships for workers' kids.
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the excesses happened as tolls increased on the Turnpike and Garden State Parkway in 2008. They're slated to rise again in 2012.

but people continue to vote for the same people and never learn the lesson.

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