Category Archives: Politics: North Carolina

Union Mentality

Posted on August 11, 2009 | Leave a comment

This from WRAL.com:

Although it is still unclear how many teaching positions could be cut because of the state’s long-awaited budget, educators are just now learning that their salary for the upcoming school year will be the same as last year.

How is that possible?

Leave a comment

Posted in Economics, Education, Politics: North Carolina

Tagged , ,

Now Who?

Posted on August 6, 2009 | Leave a comment

While this news doesn’t take me by surprise, I am sorry to lose a guy like Lawson.  As far as I know, Lawson was a Libertarian running under the banner of the Republicans.  I thought that Lawson was a fine candidate in his own right and deserved to hold the seat no matter who was sitting there now.  But with Rep. Price sitting there, we really need someone to come along and offer Change We Can Believe In.

I have been trying to get Rep Price to clarify his position on the Health Care bill moving through the House.  I can’t do it.  His staff at all of his offices ware very vague when asked about his position.  As far as answering me:

I have not talked to Congressman Price in person.  I would not want to speak for him.

Now, with the recess in progress, I have been asking if he is going to hold any Town Halls.  As always, I am referred to his website.

It will be updated with any information.

When?

When new information is made available.

Do you think that he is going to conduct a Town Hall meeting?

I don’t know, I am not sure.  But I think that he is talking about having a Town Hall conducted over the phone.

It is the same attitudes and non-answers when I ask for more detailed information on the specifics of the bill.  For example, where does he stand on single payer?  Where does the Congressman stand on the thought of denying private plans if I want to change plans?  I get sent to the website.  From there I am able to e-mail the Congressman.  However, when you do go and send this “e-mail” you are simply sent the blurb that was the non helpful information on the website.

Silly.

We really need to see someone run and win against this man.

Leave a comment

Posted in Health Care, Politics: North Carolina

Tagged , , , ,

Unions and More Unions

Posted on August 6, 2009 | Leave a comment

More and more I am seeing evidence that the Labor movement is continuing to gather strength here in North Carolina.  We are seeing more stories in the newspaper, we are hearing more about it in the news broadcasts and we are beginning to see more action in the political front here in Raleigh.  See this article.

Unionists poured at least $4.7 million into Tar Heel political campaigns, and they put at least 1,000 boots on the ground, knocking on doors, putting up signs and handing out literature.

It’s clear, the efforts by the union have been ramped up.  And this might represent the last best chance for the unions here; their window of opportunity is now.  Right now.  They have a ground swell of Democratic support, both here in State and nationally as Obama helped the Democrats sweep into power.  And now, right now, is when we have to do our best work.  We have to be willing to do the hard work to make sure our voices are heard; both from the Democrats here in the tar Heel state as well as the Republicans.  See, Carolina is unique in that both sides of the aisle support business here.  It’s to both of our benefits to see that business are not held down by the horrible horrible weight of a union and the absolute drag on the economy they represent.

And don’t think that this fight is something that is limited to our humble state.  This fight is being fought in the National arena as well:

There is a bill in Congress that would allow all the nation’s sworn officers — police, firefighters and correctional officers — to bargain collectively. Its primary targets are North Carolina and Virginia.

In short, don’t sit back and think that others are going to work to stop this.  In fact, that is the opposite of reality; others are working to advance the cause of Labor.  And with it, the loss of jobs, the reduction in wages, the lack of investment In Carolina.  Basically, everything that we don’t wanna see come to North Carolina.

Leave a comment

Posted in Economics, Economy, Politics: North Carolina

Tagged , ,

Priorities and Scare Tactics

Posted on July 16, 2009 | Leave a comment

Look, it’s simple.  We all do it.  There are times in every good household when something unexpected comes up.  Or, in times of over spending, perhaps it shouldn’t be unexpected, but, you get the point.  You look in the checkbook and look at the bills and confirm that it isn’t going to add up.  You are going to have to reduce spending or get another job.  It happens to all of us.  Happens to me.  Will happen to me again.  And this is healthy; it forces us to keep what is important to us and shed what isn’t.

For example, as I monitor my “play money” fund and see that it’s going to be bankrupt in 3 months I am forced to review what I am paying for in terms of “play”.  I see that I have 3 magazine subscriptions and 5 on line subscriptions.  Further, I am spending 90 bucks a month on aikido and so on and so on.  Given that I have to shave off $50 a month, I go through what everybody goes through.  I itemize my “play money” expenditures, rank them in order of value and cut the ones that are of LEAST VALUE!  Notice I say value, not dollar expenditure.  See, I really appreciate my aikido and am willing to keep that program intact even though it has a higher dollar value than say, Forbes.  Sadly, Forbes is a redundant source and it gets wacked.

What I don’t do is this:

Democrats generally agree that tax increases are needed to avoid what they say would be devastating cuts to education and social services for children and the state’s poor.

See, to me, that’s disingenuous.  Who DOESN’T want to avoid cutting these programs?  There’s not a person in the world that wants to cut education and social services.  First.  It has to be at the top, or close to it, of every single politicians value list.  Or should be.  And that’s what makes me mad about Liberals.  They want and take the easy way out every time.

  • When forced to cut, they won’t.
  • When asked to prioritize, they won’t.
  • When required to do what all adults do-they balk.

Now, this doesn’t mean that Education won’t have to cut back some.  It doesn’t mean that schools have a green light to spend spend spend.  But what it does say is that there HAVE to be places where we can cut before we have to implement “devastating cuts to education and social services”.

Sheesh.

Leave a comment

Posted in Economy, Education, Politics: North Carolina

Tagged , , , , , ,

Corporate Good Will

Posted on July 16, 2009 | Leave a comment

This is how it should be done.

The state’s largest natural gas utility is asking its customers to pay a little extra each month, in a novel effort to help cover heating bills for low-income residents.

Piedmont Natural Gas, with 725,000 customers in the state, expects a surge of delinquent bills this winter in the midst of a grinding recession and is hoping to avert a corresponding increase in disconnected accounts.

The company this morning introduced a program to let its customers sign up to “round up” their bills, with the difference going to a fund to help residents who can’t afford to pay their utility bills. The program rounds up Piedmont customer bills to the nearest dollar and will result in an average monthly donation of 50 cents, or about $6 a year.

If 100,000 people sign up, Piedmont would raise about $600,000 a year toward the program. The company is contributing $100,000 of its own money and will contribute $50,000 more if 100,000 people sign up.

The money would be given to the state Department of Health and Human Services to distribute to social-service agencies. The donations would be distributed to all customers who can’t pay their utility bills, not just natural gas customers.

Here is a corporation that is using it’s position in society to help society.  Further, it is doing it by asking, not forcing by fiat.  Further, Progress is putting it’s money where it’s mouth is; they are donating $100,000 of their own money to the program.  Lastly, they are giving the money to social-service agencies to distribute as needed; not force those agencies to simply return that money to Progress.

Kudos to Progress Energy!

Leave a comment

Posted in Economy, Energy, Politics: North Carolina

Tagged , ,

A Lot Different Than Motorcycles

Posted on July 13, 2009 | 2 comments

I live out in the county of Wake county.  There are a lot of old windy country roads.  Many of them are heavily wooded and would cause a person to think, “I would LOVE to ride bike through these roads”.  But the fact remains that these roads are barely, BARELY, two lane roads.  There is NO shoulder to speak of; the white line delineating the edge of the lane to the right side almost all of the time has 2-4 inches before giving way to grass, rocks or a ditch.  And we constantly have bikers riding these roads.

These raos are roads where cars are moving at speeds of 45-65 miles per hour.  Sure, most of that is speeding, but even at 45 MPH, the bike has no chance when facing a car.  Further, these bikers don’t just ride single file and give way to traffic, they often ride in groups; small or large.  Each of which presents it’s own problems.

I really don’t think that the roads here in Wake county are meant for bike riders.  There is not enough room on the side of the road and the speeds these guys are carrying is just too dangerous.  Both for the car traffic and for the bikers.

Which is why this comment reported on by the News and Observer makes me upset:

“…the N.C. Coalition for Bicycle Driving, an organization that works to educate bikers on safe ways to ride, while emphasizing that bicycles have as much right to the roadways as cars do. People often forget the high speeds that bicycles can go, Pein said.

“We’re essentially motorcyclists with an organic engine,” he said.”

No.  No they are not.  Motorcycles are capable of full speed.  They are able to keep up with traffic and not force it to change speeds.  Further, motorcycles are required to carry insurance.  Last, motorcycles have licenses, inspections and purchase gas; all of which entitles them to the use of roadways.  Bicycles have none of these.  Simply put, bicycles on roadways are “unsafe at any speed”.

2 Comments

Posted in Fun, Politics: North Carolina

Tagged , , ,

Hope and Change

Posted on July 13, 2009 | Leave a comment

Look, by now you should know that I am no fan of Obama.  However, I am a BIG fan of me.  And when it comes to me, I like to apply the concept of “value” in my life.  In fact, I was describing just such a concept to my 1st grader this afternoon.  We were discussing haircuts and price.  See, I don’t like to spend money on haircuts AND I don’t like crappy haircuts.  So, this means that I often times don’t get haircuts even when I need ’em.  Further, because I will only purchase cheap haircuts, Ii have to drive to where they further reducing how often I get them.  Anyway, we priced a trim right next door to the grocery today and we began discussing value.

Back to the point–energy.  Look, I am a market believer AND I am a environment believer.  I enjoy both.  And so it is that I don’t like to pollute and destroy the nature that we live in [at the same time that I have a decent sized piece of property in rural Wake county that maybe isn’t very environmentally sound] AND I enjoy low energy bills.  What this means is that I like to spend less on gas and electricity than I do spending more.  And, according to almost everyone, you can’t have both.

See, we are stuck in the new “Don’t Pollute” meme.  In the past, you had the Indian riding the horse with a tear in his eye as he surveyed the land around him being destroyed.  Now, now you have the polar bear floating away on melting ice as he becomes extinct.  And I wonder how it works that these things are bought into every time.  I don’t know–maybe it’s because the young watch more tv and are more vocal than the elders?  Not sure.

But here ya have it.  Because of global warming, we have to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels.  And, and if that doesn’t work, then we have to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels because we import oil from countries that hate us.  And, again, if that doesn’t work, then we have to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels because we’ll run out.  Wow.  It’s tiring.

I guess the point of all of this is this story by WRAL:

Imagine your power bill going up by $200 a month.

Progress Energy spokesman Mike Hughes said Thursday that it’s a possibility under President Barack Obama’s energy plan that narrowly passed the U.S. House of Representatives last week.

The bill, which Obama has said will reduce the nation’s dependence on foreign oil and clean the air, calls for a reduction of carbon emissions by 17 percent by 2020, and for 20 percent of the nation’s energy to be renewable – such as wind and solar – by 2020.

In the end, Liberals are not so much about doing much of anything on their own, they are more interested in dictating to others who they should spend THEIR money.  As such, I don’t suspect that this will actually come to fruition, but if it does, can you imagine what the impact would be on our economy?

Leave a comment

Posted in Global Warming, Politics: North Carolina

Tagged , , , , ,

What is Good for Me is Not Good for You

Posted on July 7, 2009 | Leave a comment

Stunning.  Truly stunning.

As the State is considering adding new taxes to the mix, they are at the same time telling local municipalities that they, in fact, can not tax those same businesses.

CHAPEL HILL — Local governments are watching anxiously as state lawmakers consider eliminating one of their revenue streams.

It’s called the privilege license tax, a fee that businesses pay for the privilege of operating within a local government’s jurisdiction.

Some lawmakers say the state needs to replace an unfair hodge-podge of fees that differ by locale and businesses without clear reason.

I wonder why?

Actually, I don’t.  See.  It’s much MUCH easier to be smart with someone else’s money than it is to be with your own.  Which is why governments, ALL of them, are not to be trusted with MY money.  This has nothing to do with conservative vs. liberal [although I do posit that conservatives are more for small government than libs are].  It has to do with the fact that the best people able to make decisions about their money are those people that EARNED it.  But hey, we all know that politicians are better able to spend our money than we are!

Leave a comment

Posted in Economy, Politics: North Carolina

Tagged , , ,

How to Get More of a Thing

Posted on July 6, 2009 | Leave a comment

I have posted a in the last week about getting less of a thing here and here.  I posit that when something becomes more expensive you get less of it.  As that same thing becomes less expensive, you get more of it.  For example, when you tax jobs, you get less jobs.  When you reduce the price of beer, you sell more beer.

Real life example is here.

MAIDE — Dirt could start moving as soon as August on a new $1 billion facility Apple is planning to build in Maiden, officials said Monday.

Catawba County commissioners and the Maiden Town Council approved incentives at a Monday evening meeting for the project, which is expected to create roughly 50 jobs 60 miles northwest of Charlotte.

The local incentives approved Monday are on top of changes to North Carolina law intended to attract the technology company. In June, Gov. Bev Perdue announced the expansion just hours after signing legislation that will cut the California-based computer company’s tax bill in this state by about $46 million over a decade. Apple must agree to invest $1 billion over nine years in land, property and equipment to qualify for the benefit.

See how easy this is?  When you reduce thhe cost of doing business, you do more business.  Funny that.  Truth and Facts!

Leave a comment

Posted in Economy, Education, Politics: North Carolina

Tagged , , , ,

Strange Numbers

Posted on July 6, 2009 | Leave a comment

This past Thursday, workers at a Smithfield Foods went to work covered by a Union contract.  And from all accounts, they are very very happy to finally be so covered.   For example, the article mentions as benefits:

  • Guaranteed sick leave
  • Time-and-a-half holiday pay
  • $1.50 an hour raise over the next four years

“We really did accomplish something with this union,” said Mattie Fulcher.  “We might not have gotten the raise that we wanted, but that will come in time. This is our first contract, and it is a start.”

Now, it’s hard to gauge “success” of this contract for the members.  Among the most glaring omissions of the article are the pre-contract benefits.  For example, what have the pay increases for the average worker been for the past 4 years?  Or, what was the pay multiplier for holidays and overtime before the Union came in to “save the day”?  We do get an idea of what pre-contract life might have been in respect to sick leave:

Fulcher said that on Thursday she got a 40-cent-per-hour raise…and she began earning sick time for the first time since going to work for Smithfield. The sick time is unpaid, but in the past workers earned disciplinary points that could lead to firing if they stayed home sick.

Okay, so lemme get this straight.  The new Union contract says that Ms Fulcher is able to begin to accumulate sick time.  Sick time that is unpaid.  And this is different than in the past when the worker was afforded unpaid sick time but could, if abused, be fired for taking too much sick time?  Now, the article doesn’t mention this specifically, it does point out that employees were given “discipline points”; whatever that means.  Look, I work in corporate America and my sick leave policy is pretty straight forward and generous.  If you are sick, stay home.  As often as you are sick.  And guess what?  few of us ever really call in sick.  But when we do, our bosses mark it down and track us.  Cause, ya know, far be it from an employee to take every other Friday off and claim to be sick.  Sheesh.

Next on the hit list, guaranteed hours:

The contract will also guarantee workers at least 30 hours of work each week…

Awesome.  Really awesome for peope who wanna work more than 29 hours a week.  Really REALLY bad for folks who don’t.  Cause guess what?  Those people get fired.  No company in their right mind is going to pay someone 30 hours of pay for 15 hours of work.  Nice.

And the last piece of good news:

Union members will begin paying dues of about $7 a week…

So, Ms Fulcher gets a $0.40 per hour raise AND gets to pay $7 bucks a week.  Let’s say, just for fun, that she works 40 hours a week.  40 hours at $0.40 is $16.  Assume a 15% tax burden and that 16 bucks goes to $13.60.  Of which $7 goes to the Union.  In the end, she gets $6.60 a week, or about $26.40 a month.  The Union’s take?  7 bucks.  7 bucks or $28 a month.  Guess who makes out better here?  The worker or the Union?  In this specific case, even considering that Ms. Fulcher kept her job, the Union made more money than she did.  But let’s not forget the folks that lost their job as a result of this.  In the end, they have lost the most.

Leave a comment

Posted in Economy, Politics: North Carolina

Tagged , , , ,