House Democrats Vote To Raise Your Taxes
[T]he House Democrats pushed through a series of tax increases on Michigan residents and job providers in order to balance the state's budget, while stalling for the last nine months!
In bills ultimately approved by the Democrat-led state House, the proposals raise taxes by almost $400 million, including the elimination of $116 million in Michigan Business Tax credits that Livingston County businesses have been utilizing, a new health care tax, and the elimination of a scheduled $100 increase in per person deduction for state income taxes.
It is unbelievable to me that we even considered tax increases when Michigan families and businesses already took a massive hit in 2007 with an income tax increase and a massive 23% surcharge tax added onto the new Michigan Business Tax (MBT). To bring up tax increases at the 11th hour under the cover of darkness is a stunning breach of the public trust. We had a bi-partisan, signed agreement to balance the state's budget without raising taxes, and now the Democrats have broken that deal!
House Dems block 15 key money-saving government reforms offered by GOP
Elsenheimer also noted that the Democrats had to lock the members onto the House floor, for their tax votes to be approved. The Democrat tax increases were narrowly approved, with bipartisan opposition on all tax increases.
The House Republican caucus offered 15 amendments that provide serious reforms for state government. Republican cost-saving reforms include:
· Eliminating lifetime benefits for lawmakers;
· Stopping job-killing actions by the Department of Environmental Quality;
· Freezing the Earned Income Tax Credit at 2009 levels;
· Rooting out unemployment fraud;
· Encouraging local government consolidation of services;
· Allowing school districts flexibility in designing student curriculums; and
· Improving transparency by creating a Web site that details every dollar of state government spending.
Survey: Customers Regret Buying Small Cars
The Pittsburg Post-Gazette (link) has an interesting article about sagging demand for small cars in the face of cheaper gas. AutoPacific did a study that asked buyers of small cars what they thought of their purchase, and unsurprisingly (to me), many indicated they'd rather go large next time.
Cash for Clunkers was a complete failure
“This is the one stimulus program that seems to be working better than just about any other program,” said Ray LaHood, Secretary of Transportation, in August.
Well if that’s the case, than every government program should be thrown out.
The Wall Street Journal explains what a disaster “Clunkers” truly was, calling it one of Washington’s “all-time dumb ideas”.
Last week U.S. automakers reported that new car sales for September, the first month since the clunker program expired, sank by 25% from a year earlier. Sales at GM and Chrysler fell by 45% and 42%, respectively. Ford was down about 5%. Some 700,000 cars were sold in the summer under the program as buyers received up to $4,500 to buy a new car they would probably have purchased anyway, so all the program seems to have done is steal those sales from the future. Exactly as critics predicted.
19% PetPlace.com Readers Think That Pets Should be Allowed to Sue Owners
I subscribe to a Cat newsletter called PetPlace.com. A few days ago I received an email for a poll asking people if they think pets have the right to sue. Today I received the results of the poll ...
SATURDAY OCTOBER 24, 2009 (alternate rain date is Nov. 7)
Let Freedom Reign “Death of our Freedoms” funeral procession. (Hopefully this will help to prevent us from losing even more of our freedoms!!)
We will assemble at 12:00 noon at Walton and Telegraph in Pontiac.
MICHIGAN GUN GRAB!
The report also calls for a better approach to crime gun tracing, the process that tracks a seized weapon back to its first retail sale. The ATF lacks the structure or resources to “fully realize its power,” the report says, and information is not regularly shared with field offices, and state and local law enforcement.
To this end, the study wants ATF to be funded to create a new “Office of Tactical Trace Analysis,” which would replace the current crime gun analysis branch.
Because serial numbers are sometimes obliterated on crime guns, the study also wants ATF to require that manufacturers stamp new guns with a second, hidden serial number.
Detroit Public Schools: Another Outrage!
The Detroit Public Schools (DPS) school district is among the very worst in the civilized world. Its graduation rate is around 25%, pitiful by any standard whatsoever. Its student population has gone from about 160,000 just nine years ago to a projected 83,777 this year—a decline of more than 47% in under a decade! It is unsafe and has a bureaucracy that socialists envy. Its financial integrity is mocked by Bernie Madoff.
so what do you do on Count Day? Do you attempt to restore financial integrity? Do you announce new academic expectations? No. You bribe students to come to school.
A 5-second video illustrating what is about to happen to the commercial housing market
The commercial real estate market is in the tank and many banks are said to be unprepared for it. The numbers aren't good at all. The Fed and other experts are anticipating a crash that could be worse than anything we've seen in a long while in that area. And the broader implications for the economy are, obviously, not very good.
