I am learning more and more in life that if you wanna get something done:
It would appear that I’m not alone:
Posted in Economics, Liberty, Lobby/PAC, Politics: National, States Behaving Badly
Troubling news in the Tar Heel State.
RALEIGH — Unemployment rates increased in 99 of North Carolina’s 100 counties in November, according to statistics released today by the state’s Employment Security Commission. The rate remained the same in Davie
County.
Not so good. I continue to hope for the best here in North Carolina, but we continue to struggle. I’m not sure why. Even though we are a Democrat dominated State, and have been for well over 100 years, even the Democarst have been relatively pro-business here in North Carolina.
I suspect that the reason we continue to see jobs drift away is that we have been so heavily dependent on furniture and textile mills. And, as we all know, that work has been moving over seas for some time now.
I’ll have to do some research to see how long it took other cities [see Pittsburgh] to recover as they saw their jobs vanish. In any event, let’s hope that 2011 does better than 2010:
Over the year, the unemployment rates dropped in 81 counties, remained the same in one county, and increased in 18.
So, year over year, Carolina has dropped its unemployment, but only by 0.7%.
Posted in Economics, Economy, Politics: North Carolina
Tagged North Carolina, North Carolina Politics, Politics, Recession, Unemployment
Like a drum beat in the background for nearly three years now we’ve heard that we need to pass stimulus bills to fund “shovel ready infrastructure” . Somehow we have left our roads and bridges in such disrepair that failure to raise taxes to spend money on their repair is simply…is simply…is simply too much for words.
That idea has always left me a little unsatisfied. I mean, how do we budget for and then pay for the repairs of bridges and roads normally? I mean, does it take a stimulus bill to pay for this maintenance?
Look, an asteroid shower hits roads and bridges Kentucky, I’m all for a spending bill that repairs those bridges and those roads. But the routine upkeep. That CAN’T require stimulus. Right?
Federal highway programs are funded not from general tax revenue but from various highway user taxes, mostly the federal tax on gasoline and diesel fuel. Legally, all those monies constitute the source of funding for the Highway Trust Fund. When Congress decides on spending for highways (and since the Reagan era, for mass transit), the dollars are supposed to come from this Trust Fund.
What the appropriations committees used to do was to approve funding for those purposes that was less than the user-tax revenues coming in. That meant federal revenues for surface transportation exceeded federal spending in that area, which made the overall budget deficit look smaller than it really was—and was manifestly unfair to the highway users who were paying the bills.
Nice.
See, they tax us on usage–which is AS IT SHOULD BE- for the infrastructure that we use. Then they don’t use that money to keep the infrastructure up. Then they claim that we need to pass massive stimulus bills to fix the infrastructure that they didn’t fix with the money they spent somewhere else.
Damn it!
Posted in Government, Politics: National, States Behaving Badly
Tagged Abuse of Power, Budget, Deficit, Roads and Bridges
Out with the new. In with the old.
So, something happened to me today that sent shivers down my spine. Something so horrible I couldn’t even bring myself to tell my family. I was left all alone, in the dark, all by myself.
Did I say I was alone?
And in the dark?
That’s cause the light bulb in the lamp on my night stand went out!
I haven’t run the numbers yet, so I don’t know if this makes sense or not, but I like the innovation of the whole thing.
See, typically when a government agency is faced with a problem, they work hard, REALLY hard, at fixing the problem. Not eliminating it.
For example, the county works hard at repairing roads, not making roads that don’t need repair. The post office works hard at delivering mail netter, not at reducing the need to deliver mail.
And to be fair, there ARE some instances where government embraces technology. Take the DMV for example. You can now renew your registration and license online as oppossed to going to the office and doing it in person.
Awesome.
Which is why programs like innovating the water utility makes me so happy.
Posted in Politics: North Carolina, Technology
Tagged Cary, North Carolina, North Carolina Politics, Politics, Water Meter
The boys are at it again. Back on health care. And, to their credit, it’s gonna be the news of the day. For many many days.
For example, the new House is going to convene Wednesday and theya re going to, repeat, going to, vote to releal Obamacare. Gonna happen.
And then we’re in a world of debate as the country wrestles with this problem throughout the next two years. And when I say 2, I mean that Obama is going to be fighting this through his next election campaign.
Anyway, onto Brad and Britt
Posted in Health Care, Liberty, Politics: National
Tagged Barack Obama, Brad and Britt, Insurance, Politics, Socialism
You call 911. The voice on the other end is polite, urgent and confident. “A fire?” she says “We’ll have the fire department right there! Hold on!”
And sure enough, within 7 minutes you here the sirens and the trucks roar into the yard in less than 10.
Now. You only have an 80% chance that it even matters!
2010 saw the power of people. For the first time we saw strong, committed conservatives take to the streets. The movement grew from individual to individual. All of America was swept up as everyday Americans gathered arm in arm to protest bad policy, bad politics and bad politicians.
And it worked. Scott Brown in Massachusetts, New Jersey and Virginia in 2009. And, of course, the massive statement made this past November.
It’s clear, America capital “L” loves Tea!
Posted in Elections 2010, Liberty, Lobby/PAC, Politics: National
Tagged Christine O'Donnell, Joe Miller, Lisa Murkowski, Marco Rubio, Politics, Rand Paul, Sharron Angle, Tea Party