Well…I was going to lie out in the sun for a while but it was just too hot to do it comfortably so I took a pass….looks like I’ll have to live with the weird looking tan for another day….I did want to get to the Michigan tax thing….I saw an analysis the other day that really describes what the “shared sacrifice” that our gov and the rest of the repubs here are trying to sell. Under the new plan, and with the deletion of the homestead tax credit for the middle class…a retiree making around 50K a year in retirement benefits will pay more than 3,000 dollars a year more in taxes…taking almost 8% additional from that meager amount. But, people making over 250K per year that are still working will pay less than that in their tax increase. Now, does that sound fair to anyone? Does that sound like shared sacrifice. Nope, it didn’t to me either….I have only one more comment….where are the jobs from the 2 billion dollars you just gave away to business? There are none….but ceo pay just went up again and I am pissed about having to pay for a raise for someone making millions a year….
Tag Archives: Rick Snyder
Pushing toward 1,000…
Well…got lunch in the oven (making some Texas style ribs with roasted red potatoes)…can you smell that? That’s some good food that I’m really looking forward to…made them with G’s recipe in a foil pouch…yummy….was just looking at the dashboard for this thing and found that I’m quickly approaching the 1,000 post mark and I’m not sure how I feel about it….I know it’s some sort of an accomplishment to have written more than two of these every day for over a year…but then I sit back and think what has been the point? No, I’m not dropping back into depression…just thinking about a lot of things…doing a little introspection over the past two days and I’m not sure if I like what I see…always too self critical but that’s me I guess…
Now, on to other stuff…I find it funny that the repubs are bitching so much about the stimulus package not working and that it was such a waste of money even though over 200 billion of the 800 was tax cuts and other tax relief. Now, what its it repubs? Do tax cuts spur job creation or don’t they? If we look at the math, and I want to, let’s compare what they are doing here in Michigan with the 2 billion in tax cuts for business that our gov Snyder and all of the other repub crazies here say will create thousands and thousands of jobs. If that will work here, why hasn’t the 200 billion in tax cuts on the federal level resulted in millions and millions of new jobs across the country? This just points out the repubs reliance on outdated ideas that have been shown over time to not work…but here’s the kicker…why do the repubs want so much measurement of middle class workers (i.e teachers) and to eliminate the jobs of those that don’t perform while they give billions and billions to corporations with no strings attached? In the latest budget giveaway to business here in Michigan, no metric is in place that would tie the tax breaks for business to anything…that means they can spend the tax windfall any way they want…outsourcing jobs, giving the ceo’s raises, or stock buybacks that do nothing to spur the economy or create jobs. This just isn’t fair and I think America is starting to see who these idiots for who they are…a paid arm of business that is ruining our democracy…
Just musing around…
Well…just sitting here waiting for the Man U match to start and thought I’d get to some of the musings that I promised a few days back…the rail trail is looking so cool now with the foliage finally filling in and making it a green tunnel that not even light can get through and that makes it it almost immune to the wind, too. Pretty neat stuff and the other day “No Quarter” came on when I entered the tunnel and it fit just so well that I couldn’t help grinning….as I’ve always said, it doesn’t take much to make me happy. It seems that lately the people on the trail are nicer, too, paying attention and reining in their dogs when I go by…maybe the “thank yous” are starting to help…hope so…it is nice to see smiles and not scowls when I blow past in a sprint. I do have to put the bike on the back of the car soon to take it to the car wash to clean it…it is as dirty as I can remember it and I am a little ashamed even thought I know that bikes are supposed to be dirty if you’re using them right.
I wasn’t going to talk about politics today but some heartening patterns are starting to emerge when we look at the overreach of the radical right wing of the repub party….they have lost almost every special election that has been held this year and people are rejecting their vision of America where all of the benefits of the country accrue to just the few rich and business. And we see the plummeting approval ratings of the repub governors that have pushed through anti worker legislation and given away their states to business. I hope the recall of gov Snyder gains steam here in Michigan since he is governing only to his base and his business masters…we are ripe for a revolution here where the dems are going to take back both houses and then where will that idiot be? Okay….the match is ready to start in a few so I’ll end here…
More repub hypocrisy…
Well…just sitting here a few minutes ago…well…have been just sitting most of the day recovering from the all day party yesterday and I had a thought…I’m sure you’ve heard the repubs go on an on about accountability, results, and measurement when they talk about education and are always first in line to impose these things on teachers, but what about all of the money they are handing out to business with the new business tax cuts that have just passed the legislature here in Michigan? Nope, not a thing about any regulation whatsoever or even about any accountability for job creation that has been held up as the sole purpose for these cuts. After all, with taxes being raised on you and me, we are paying for these cuts and shouldn’t we be able to ask to see the results? Shouldn’t we be able to recapture these tax cuts if they don’t do anything to create jobs here? I find it funny or maybe consistent that the repubs are all about using the power of government to control individuals behavior, but business gets a free ride to claim our money for their own personal use….since we all know cutting taxes for business without strings attached just puts more money into the hands of the already rich…and has never created one job…not since Reagan…not with Bush, not with anyone…geez…
Shenanigans, Shenanigans….
Well…after the huge giveaway to business paid for by the workers here in Michigan, guess what happened? The health of Michigan’s economy is no where near as bad as the repubs projections made it out to be. Doesn’t anyone else see shenanigans here? They come out in January with dire budget projections used to drive their anti-citizens agenda and raise taxes on us while giving the state away to business and the rich, an now, magically, they find that the projected 1.5 billion dollar shortfall is now only a billion dollars and dropping every day. And, Snyder and his cronies are still out there pitching that we need to bribe businesses to stay in Michigan…and that is just what it is, holding the people of Michigan up to bribes in the form of tax breaks to keep business from taking their ball and going home if we don’t give them what they paid for in this new repub controlled state. When do we, as citizens of Michigan, get the truth out of these repub liars?
One other thing that is happening in repub controlled states is another oldie but goodie where they are putting structural “reforms” in place that will suppress the votes that normally go to the dems….leaning on the old chestnut of “widespread voter fraud” that has never happened anywhere except in the heads of the repub strategists….shenanigans, shenanigans, shenanigans…geez…
Oh, one last thing, the repubs in the US Senate blocked the ending of 4 billion dollars a year in subsidies for the oil companies…yep, you heard it here, the repubs won’t give unemployed workers any help but they will give 4 billion dollars to the oil companies…I can’t even work up any outrage anymore since this is always the pattern…we can’t afford any safety nets for individuals but we can for oil companies….I fear for this country’s future…
Thoughts, thoughts, and more thoughts…
Well….I haven’t been able to make a coherent long-form thought in a couple of days so I think I’ll just go with it and write what I like to call short stories…pretty original, huh? Starting with the headline in the USA Today that states that American taxpayers are paying less in taxes than they have in any year since 1958…yep, so when you hear the repubs say that taxes are still too high and want to cut them more for the well off, remember that if we went back to the tax rates of the booming 1990′s, the deficit would be cut by more than a third without cutting the aid to college students, seniors, and the rest of the middle class that the repubs are saying is absolutely necessary. Remember, too, that it has never been shown that tax cuts for the rich and business do anything but make them richer…no jobs created, no benefit to those who are struggling.
Another one that got a rise out of me was an editorial in the Detroit News that did nothing but denigrate the people in localities around Detroit for approving millages to continue to pay their firefighters, police, and to maintain the services that make their communities more livable. The News goes on to assert that the voters in those localities are stupid for raising their own taxes instead of buying into the draconian cuts that gov Snyder is jamming down the throats of the rest of Michigan. Where the hell does the News get off telling the voters how to vote? I see this as just a huge snit by the News since they blindly think Snyder is the savior of Michigan and that only his ideas are worthy of action….and they are so irritated that the elected officials of those communities have decided not to attack their neighbors and buy into the bogus attempts that the repubs are making at playing the middle class off against each other. What’s next Snyder? Are you going to take over those communities that voted to raise taxes and appoint emergency managers since they are obviously crazy to not drink your repub kool-aid? I guess the Snyder honeymoon is over…can’t wait for 2012 when we can say goodbye to these idiots…geez…okay, only two thoughts so the title is not accurate….maybe there are more than one thought in each one?
Okay, let’s make it three….another report that came out today saying that the compensation for CEO’s is higher than it has ever been as compared to normal workers and has completely recovered from the blip of a downturn it took last year…I don’t have to tell you what that means…okay, I will anyway….these guys were not touched at all by the recession that decimated the rest of the nation….great work if you can get it…geez…
There’s a theme here….
Well….there have been things happening here in Michigan that I think need some comments since it appears that there is a theme that is running through them. Hey…didn’t bury the lead…oh, yep I did…damn….okay, let’s get to it…starting with the passing of the Snyder budget proposal that barely squeeked by the repub controlled House that will eliminate taxes for 86% of businesses here…yeah, you read it right 86% of business will pay no taxes under Snyder’s plan…that means you and I will be building the roads, paying for the schools, police and fire protection that business will then be able to use for free….sounds a lot like the welfare that the repubs always say is ruining this country when it goes to individuals, but I guess it’s just peachy when it goes to the rich and business. Doesn’t it take away businesses incentive to work hard when they can just freeload on the backs of the people? If you remember, this is just what the repubs said about people getting unemployment benefits earlier in the year. Aren’t you tired of this nonsense yet?
Another thing we should remember is that the repubs were voted into office largely on the argument of the “government takeover” of healthcare and their incessant yammering that this was creeping socialism but what Snyder is doing here in Michigan is right out of the central planning of the old Soviet Union…where he and his cronies now have the power to remove elected officials an take over any entity that doesn’t toe their line. Where is the repub outcry over this egregious central government takeover?
The third thing that happened lately is the imposition of the new young driver rules that take away a parents right to control that part of their children’s behavior…inserting the state in between that relationship and not allowing a parent to set the rules for behavior….for instance, the new 10 pm curfew for new drivers…what if they work after 10? What if they have a family outing? It’s just another example of the repubs talking individual freedom and then imposing the power of the state whenever they have the chance…..
Thanks, Manny…
Well…if you’ve been here before, you’ve heard me take issue with the idiotic rantings of the Detroit News’ Manny Lopez, and I have to say thanks again for his column in today’s paper…it’s not the only thing I want to talk about but it gets me started and, hopefully, gets the outrage meter moving up. Today, Manny goes on to take issue with Bob King’s comments (Bob is the president of the UAW) that the new financial manager law is an attack on democracy by allowing elected officials to be removed if their organization, be it a city, town, county, or school district runs into financial distress. What would you call subverting the election process by appointed overseers, Manny? What’s next? Removing a congressman or senator if he votes for financially unsound practices? That would put all of your repub buddies at risk for voting for tax cuts when it results in bankrupting the country, doesn’t it? It’s just another instance where the repubs and their lapdog writers scream socialism whenever the dems do anything that will benefit the middle class but then see nothing wrong with tearing at the core of our democracy when they lie to get voted into office. Who would have voted for our gov Snyder if he would have revealed his plans for the giveaway to business and the rich paid for by taxes on you and me? Liars all….
Okay…that is the only topic for this one….I will try to get another one out later but I do feel pretty crappy and want to make salmon for lunch….I have been better lately at getting these out before you come back from lunch….I’m better than Keith at it…oh, that is one thing I did want to talk about and forgot…Keith Olbermann is coming back with “Countdown” on the 20th of June…same time, different channel…..welcome back, Keith….
I just love this…
Well…this is going to be a shorty since it is just a short thought on my part…it came from a quote from our gov Rick Snyder that I read in the papers a couple of days ago, when asked if he is concerned that his approval ratings and the polling on his agenda is moving steadily downward, this moron (or republican…today the terms are pretty much interchangeable) said that the only thing that counted was the result of the election that put he and his repub co-conspirators into office….he just doesn’t care that 66 percent of the people of Michigan do not like or want the direction he has taken with raising taxes on individuals and giving more tax breaks to business, along with the undemocratic laws that have been passed by his legislature that will allow him to remove elected officials and replace them with his cronies. I think the people are finally waking up to the shenanigans of this new crop of repubs and their anti middle class agenda once it was revealed for what it is…stealing more from the working class to give to the richest…governor, you are supposed to govern for all of the people of Michigan…not just your country club buddies…geez…
One more inconsistency…
Well….this one just popped into my head a few minutes ago and I wasn’t even thinking about it….to preface this one, you just have to remember how the repubs have been screeching and screaming about how public employees are overpaid leeches sucking the life out of our state and something must be done to cut their pay and benefits. But then, in comes the new governor and pays his top aides significantly more than the outgoing administration, saying that you have to pay more to get people to take government jobs. You see the inconsistency, don’t you? It’s okay to pay the top people (like the ceo’s and vice presidents) whatever they want, but the regular workers that take public jobs are not top, qualified, people but are just lazy, greedy folks that don’t really want to work. Just more of the same class warfare crap where the people at the top take as much as they can…where’s the “shared sacrifice” governor Snyder? Geez….