11/8/12 Another Day and another train wreck in California. Proposition 30 Governor Jerry Brown uses California Citizens as his personal ATM machine. November 8, 2012

Looking back at the political spots that Governor Moonbeam where he used children as mules to get his tax increase passed, he promised that the schools would benefit from the passage of California Proposition 30.

Governor Jerry “Moonbeam” Brown Uses Children as mules to get proposition 30 passed.

When Jerry Brown used this tactic, he led people to believe that the state would have to close schools if Proposition 30 was not passed.  That was far from the truth.

California parks department finds $54-million surplus

So what did Jerry Brown do exactly?

He partially funded a train to nowhere.

Calif. Governor Signs Bill for High-speed Train on July 18, 2012

Now keep in mind this train will use California funds AND Federal taxpayer funds to build.

So what is the problem?

First, this is a train to nowhere.

California high-speed rail to nowhere.

Second, The monies collected from Proposition 30 go to the general fund.

This means that only a very small amount of the money will go to education and all the rest will go to pork barrel projects like the Train to Nowhere.

Third, What happened to this?

CALIFORNIA LOTTERY CONTRIBUTION TO EDUCATION.

Local education administrators, elected school boards and the administrators of higher education make the decisions regarding how Lottery funds are spent in their schools and we are not involved in this decision-making process. According to the Lottery Act, Lottery contributions can be used only for instructional purposes and it bans use for the acquisition of property, the construction of facilities or the funding of research. Approximately 80-90% of Lottery funds are used in California’s public schools to attract and retain teachers. Some districts, especially the smaller school districts and higher education, have used funds for computer labs, teacher workshops, science programs, as well as art and music programs.

So what does this mean? The monies from the Lottery cannot be used to build new instructional facilities. Do you think that the money from Proposition 30 will be used for new schools or will the moneys be used to pay union teacher benefits. Let me be clear in my statement. I agree that most instructors are underpaid and that is a problem. However, when a teacher or instructor is not performing where the student is learning anything, that teach should be allowed to be fired and the teachers or instructors that are successful in the classroom should be paid more money. If all teachers are paid the same union scale, then he or she as a teacher or instructor does not have any incentive to keep performing better and better as they cannot earn a higher income rewarded by higher performance.

So in conclusion Governor Jerry “Moonbeam” Brown has just falsely told the citizens of California that they were doing the right thing buy letting him (Jerry Brown) use them as his personal ATM machine/Money Printing press. The money will be squandered to special interest groups, mostly the Unions. This is the way of the Democratic party that pretends to “Fight For The Middle Class”…..unless the middles class does not pay the ransom that the Democratic party demands.

11/6/12 A Sad Day in the History of the United States. November 7, 2012

Today we look at Washington DC and we discover that the people of the United States have decided on taking the easy path of having government controlling their lives. Again for the second time Barack Obama has promised an easy life for everyone where he (Barack Obama) will provide everything one needs to “Survive.” What we we have witnessed in this election is “Social Masturbation” 15 Minutes of pleasure, 15 Minutes wasted, 15 Minutes of getting absolutely nothing constructive done. A radical liberal president, a radical liberal Senate and a strong conservative House of Represenatives. So as in the past two years, virtually nothing will get done as far as improving the economy.  Even if the United States does not go into a full blown recession, it will never recover to the levels of success that we enjoyed in the Reagan Era. What does it say about a country that witnesses the turmoil in Greece, France and Germany and still elects a radical socialist president back into office?  Why can’t the voting public look at those European countries and take a cue an not become that. Why did the public elect a president that support the Occupy Movement? Barack Obamas core is seeded in community organizing and social discourse.  It was widely known that if Barack Obama lost this election cities through out the country would burn. Why is that? Very simple. If the voting public would have dislodged the person that promised free living elements to the public, then the community expecting those free entitlements would have reacted very violently.  So now this presents the issue that this has now set a precedent in what people are going to expect out of future leaders of this country. Does this finally fulfill  Barack Obama’s promise to “Fundamentally Change” the United States of America? The Fundamental  cornerstone of this country is the Constitution of the United States.  “Fundamentally Change” means radically alter the Constitution of the United States of America.  We witnessed how hard Barack Obama worked to get re-elected.  Do you or anyone think he will just give up after a second term. Think about this for a moment. Barack Obama passed Obama Care without the blessing of a Republican Controlled House of Representatives. Subsequently a Liberal Supreme Court made the decision to instead of declaring Obama Care unconstitutional, it declared the revenue collecting part of Obama Care to be a “Tax.”  According to the Constitution:

Article 1 Section 7.3

7.3 Every order, resolution, or vote to which the concurrence of the Senate and House of Representatives may be necessary (except on a question of adjournment) shall be presented to the President of the United States; and before the same shall take effect, shall be approved by him, or being disapproved by him, shall be repassed by two thirds of the Senate and House of Representatives, according to the rules and limitations prescribed in the case of a bill.

And Article 1 Section 8.1

8.1 The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts and excises, to pay the debts and provide for the common defense and general welfare of the United States; but all duties, imposts and excises shall be uniform throughout the United States;

The Congress is both the Senate and the House of Representatives.

Barack Obama and the Democratic controlled Senate passed the Obama Care “Tax” without the consent of the Republican controlled House of Representatives.
That being said, what would prevent Barack Obama from “Fundamentally Changing America” buy fundamentally changing the constitution so that he can run for a third term. Keep in mind when a person accrues that much power over a country, do you think that person would just walk away from that power just because some piece of paper that he or she does not agree with says that he or she cannot continue that control of power?

The Unions have wielded an enormous amount of power under the promise that they (The Unions) represent the middle class workers (of which 16% are unemployed) and will bring them “Social Justice” which is a fancy word for Socialism where all are in an a government or organizationally planned society.

Modern socialism originated from an 18th-century intellectual and working class political movement that criticised the effects of industrialisation and private property on society. In the early 19th-century, “socialism” referred to any concern for the social problems of capitalism irrespective of the solutions to those problems. However, by the late 19th-century, “socialism” had come to signify opposition to capitalism and advocacy for an alternative system based on some form of social ownership.^[8] Orthodox Marxists later considered scientific assessment and democratic planning to be critical elements of socialism. In the late 20th century, the term “socialist” has also been used by Third way social democrats to refer to an ethical political doctrine focusing on a common set of values emphasizing social cooperation, universal welfare, and equality.^[9] It is used in this way by Third Way proponent Anthony Giddens, who rejects conventional definitions and implementations of socialism.^[10]

Here is a peek into the future : Vegas Employer: Obama Won – So I Fired 22 Employees script

Will unemployment go to 10% or 12%. Will Obama impose further excessive taxes to make up for the diminished tax base of the unemployed?  This is what Governor Moonbeam of California choose to do. Instead of encouraging business in the state of California to increase tax flow and the tax base, he choose to increase taxes on those that can afford it the least through higher sales taxes. In the end this will force businesses to close and entrepreneurs to take a harder look at Texas to start their businesses if they decide to even start a business.

God help us in the future.

StMarie.

An Open Letter to Gov. Jerry Brown (D-CA) January 13, 2011

I hope you all enjoy this.

Gov Brown.

First things first.
1. I did not vote for you

2. What you allowed the Nurses Union to do to Meg Whitman was the the iconic show of how low a politician will go to get a vote.

OK now on to the the budget.  Read this sentence over and over again.

Gov. Jerry Brown wants to spend millions of tax payer dollars on a special vote to ask taxpayers for millions of dollars.

Let me repeat that.

Gov. Jerry Brown wants to spend millions of tax payer dollars on a special vote to ask taxpayers for millions of dollars.

That my friend is absolutely the dumbest thing I ever heard of. Especially when the taxpayers already told Sacramento NO in 2009.
The Tax and Spend Liberal Marxist Socialists in power in Sacramento now have all but destroyed the business climate in California.

I’ll save you the millions of dollars on a special election for a tax extension.  THE ANSWER IS NO TO THE TAX EXTENSION.

OK then what should you do? A lot of people always complain about what the politicians are doing wrong but never offer a solution as to what they should be doing.
Eliminating Cell Phones and getting rid of unnecessary state vehicles…….Nice bandages. But the those motions are only short term and will be over and done by the next fiscal budget expiration date.
Here are my suggestions:

1. There are going to be thousands of California State Workers that are in line to get huge golden parachutes in the form of pension payments for the rest of their lives and free or heavily subsidized health care for the retirees and their families for the rest of their lives. These entitlement programs are unsustainable as by shear statics of there not being enough taxpayers in the future to fund this future financial train wreck.
What should be done in the future?  Simple. All new Employees of the state starting July 1 will not get a pension, instead they will get a matching fund 401K just like any other company.  When a state employee not longer works for the state either by early choice or retirement, they get their 401K at the end of employment and the state owes the ex employees no more money after termination date.
So now you are saying But what about all the pensions that are intact now.  This is easy, well sort of. The state Comptroller will have to figure out a formula for what each pension is worth today for every state employee.  That is the hard part…or maybe not.
Then by let’s say January 1 2013 all employees will have their pension rolled into a 401K. Again the long term fix is elimination the legacy costs for ex state employees or retirees. This is the long term fix. Not a bandaid like cell phones or state vehicles.

2. SEIU cannot hold a gun to the State Government for future entitlement programs. The same solution above applies to all State Union Workers.

The problem with Government entitlement programs is that it give a false sense of hope to the employees by eliminating the responsibility for the employee to be responsible and save for their own future retirement.
In addition to a Government matching 401K the government should also promote that the employees contribute to a personal IRA in addition to the 401K. No they cannot take the IRA contributions as a tax deduction as long as they are contributing to a 401K, But in the end they will have a comfortable savings so they they will not have to depend on tax payer dollars for the rest of their lives to live on.
The same condition with baby boomers will also apply to Social Security and Medicare. There simply will not be enough people to subsidize those entitlement programs in future years with payroll taxes.
Keep in mind when FDR came up with the entitlement program of Social Security People were only living to maybe 65 or 70. So FDR was betting that after a life time of contributions to Social Security an individual would not live long enough to drain the Social Security System. Social Security turned into a Huge Ponzi Scheme that now when people want to get paid for their investments there will not be the money there to pay back the people that are part of it when they live to 80 or 90 years old.

3. Illegal immigrants.  I know the unions and illegal immigrants voted you in.  What do you think that not one illegal immigrant voted for you?  LOL they either did with false documents or highly influence legal voters to vote for you. The State of California has to stop funding people that enter this country from all over the world illegally.
The state of California has to discourage more people from entering the US Illegally. The State of California can no longer be safe harbor for people that disregard the laws of the United States.  You really need to follow in the foot steps of AZ Gov. Jan Brewer.

4. Lower sales tax to 5% so people can start to spend money again on goods and service. More jobs will be created in the PRIVATE SECTOR.

5. Lower Corporate taxes by at least 20% to entice companies to expand or even start in California to create jobs.

6. Lower the maximum personal income tax bracket to 6%.  Again if more people spend then more jobs will be created.

7. Here is the most important role you can play to get California financially stable again.   You have to become California’s Business Ambassador to the world. Your job it to entice companies to start or expand businesses here in California to create jobs with generous, permanent tax break incentives.

Jerry, if you want to fix the financial condition of California you have to get the unemployment rate down to 5% or less.  If you continue the bad business attitude that Sacramento has had over the years then everything you do, all the bandaids that you put on the wound will not help the wound heal.

8. Finally it is sad that the majority of people that voted you in either were not born yet or did not even live in this country during your last time wrecking the economy in the State Of California.

If you don’t do the things mentioned above then you will be as ineffective as Arnold, Gray and Pete were.  I hope you do not want that reputation to follow you.

I wish you the best in these hard decisions.
RJ
PS incase you are wondering.
I am a Libertarian and I follow the small government, personal freedom, and the opportunity to be everything good that I can be without big government intervention creed.
RJ

Socialism: A Failed Social Economic Business Model. January 11, 2011

December 11, 2011

It is now time to pay the piper as they say.  California and Illinois have the worst credit ratings than any other state in the Union.

Both of these states have been dominated by Liberal/Socialist/Democrats for years that are pro union and anti-business.

Gov. Jerry Brown (D. CA) has announced draconian cuts to welfare related entitlement programs through out the state (I. E. Greece and Ireland).

This will affect the poorest of the poorest in the state that the  Liberal/Socialist/Democrats proudly tout in campaign speeches to represent and protect so that these economically challenged people will vote them back into office year after year.

Even though Jerry Brown is proposing these draconian cuts he is not planning on cutting the HUGE Government/SEIU entitlement/retirement costs that at least California suffers from.

Here is a hardcore fact. There are thousands and thousands of “Baby Boomers” that work for the State of California as well as other states.  Starting this year (2011) Baby Boomers turn 65 and are starting to retire.  When they retire they are going to collect sometimes up to 80% of their salary for the rest of their lives along with health coverage that is 100% funded by tax payer dollars.

This is unsustainable going into the future. Simple math. A growing number of “Baby Boomers” retiring and a dwindling number of people paying taxes compared to people collection pension money and healthcare from the state.  Keep in mind this same scenario that exists at the federal level.

This employee pension time bomb. is going to force two things.

1. California declares bankruptcy that will make all government and Government Union contracts Null and Void.

2. The Fed starts to print money (Inflation that will not lead to new jobs subsequently not generating a new tax base.) to prop up California’s economy.

This will put California’s financial burden on the US tax payer.  That means that someone in Vermont,
Massachusetts etc. are paying to bail out California and maybe Illinois.

The poor get massive cuts and the government employees and government unions are allowed to be paid the crippling entitlement programs that are the biggest costs in running California Government.

Here is Jerry Brown’s Plan, Ready for this?: Jerry Brown wants to spend millions of dollars for a special vote in June to ask taxpayers for millions of dollars in tax increases.

Does that make sense to you?

Jerry Brown has been Governor before for two terms.  The majority people that re-elected him were not even born then or did not even live in this country during his last term of Governor.

So they have no idea of the damage that he did the last time.

Here in California we have a very unusual proposition that was passed on June 6, 1978.  Proposition 13 helps home owners to able to afford and keep their homes.

Jerry Brown states that he has no intention of dismantling Prop 13, however he wants to attack the subsequent affects of Prop 13 to allow local counties and cities to collect additional taxes to shift the tax burden from the state to county and local municipalities. What exactly does that mean?

People are losing their homes and could be subject to additional property taxes that will further exacerbate the rate of home foreclosures in the state of California.

So instead of being an ambassador to business and courting businesses to start and expand businesses with tax incentives in California creating jobs to increase the tax base,

Jerry Brown has decided to punish poor people with entitlement cuts and even worse punish the responsible working class with tax hikes to pay the unions and fund the state pension train wreck.

The bond rating for California has dropped significantly,  Reason? You need taxpayer dollars to payback municipal bonds. When a municipal bond is issued it has to be backed by tax payer dollars to repay the bond when it is due. If the state is broke it can either raise taxes, issue municipal bonds or cut government spending. Those are the choices. There are only bandaids in the interim  to temporarily patch the fiscal budgets of the state of California.

Stay tuned to what happens in California. As they say “As California goes, so goes the rest of the country.”

ST Marie.

Barack Obama’s Destructive Business Agenda July 13, 2010

So today I went to go to my favorite Sabarro Pizza at

1731 N VICTORY PLACE

BUILDING R9

BURBANK, CA 91506

This is what I found.

So what happened here? To be honest I really don’t know.

I do know that Sabarro is a franchise organization.

So why did it close?

1. Land lord raised the rent beyond what the restaurant could sustain.

2. Franchisee was a bad business person and did not run the store properly.

3. Business was just down and could not survive.

4. Local business taxes were to high.

4. All of the above.

Here are the things that I do know that happened.

1. A franchisee lost his/her livelihood and business dream.

2. A given number of people lost their jobs.

3. A great number of future jobs were lost. (Unless the landlord is lucky enough to lease the space to another business.)

4. Loss of future jobs for High School Students or potential future Sabarro franchisees that would have been working there.

5. Loss of sales tax revenue for the City of Burbank, CA

6. Loss of sales tax revenue for the County of Los Angeles.

7. Loss of sales tax revenue for the State of California.

8. Loss of revenue for the food purveyors that supplied the food products that were served.

9. Loss of federal income tax collected from the owner and employees.

10. Loss of Medicare tax collected from the owner and employees.

11. Loss of California State Income tax from the owner and employees.

Ok so here is my point. Barack Obama wants people to think that everything is getting better. Tell that to all the people and their families that lost their job at this Sabarro and all the other business that continue to close everyday. Are new businesses opening up? Of course, But it is safe to say that more businesses are closing than opening.

In the meantime Barack Obama focuses on pissing away tax payer dollars for things like lawsuits against Arizona SB 1070 instead of concentrating  on bolstering small business and creating new jobs.

ST Marie

California Sales Tax Reaches 9.75% in LA County. (Updated 7/3/09) July 2, 2009

As California’s Economy Collapses, This presents a preview of what will happen in other states and eventually in the Federal Government if Barack Obama’s out of control spending does not stop.

As you have been reading, California is on the brink of financial collapse. The Democrats are more concerned in giving away social benefits than making California business friendly, opening up businesses, and creating jobs. The greater population will not need free or reduced government, social benefits if new businesses are created, existing businesses are kept from closing, and current businesses are allowed to expand with new job creations. Not only will people not need government social benefits, the tax revenues will dramatically increase with the decrease in unemployment.

Lack of jobs, Businesses forced to leave the state because of strict EPA rules and regulations, enormous income, corporate, sales, and DMV Taxes are just creating a business vacuum in this state. So now Measure R kicks in today 7/1/09. This couldn’t have come at a worse time. Governor  Arnold Schwarzenegger has tried time and time again to stop the runaway businesses, but he is a good Republican Governor that is being made to look bad by incompetent, inept, disconnected Democrats that are running this state into the ground by spending money that does not exist.  Wow does this sound familiar? Well they say. “As California goes so does the rest of the nation.  There is only one difference. The State of California Can’t Print Worthless Money Like Washington DC Can !!!!

California’s desperation along with other states are willing to destroy on line or “E-commerce” businesses by requiring Amazon and other E-Commerce businesses to collect state sales tax on items sold by California companies that are shipped outside of the state of California.  This is an enormous expense and a huge burden to companies like Amazon.com, Barns and Noble etc. Again further eroding the business climate in the State of California.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124579383785943841.html

Here is the breakdown for sales tax in California:

http://www.boe.ca.gov/sutax/pdf/Pending_Rates.pdf

From the LA Times 7/1/09

http://www.latimes.com/news/la-me-measure-r1-2009jul01,0,183782.story?track=rss

Here is a quote from that article:

“Officials for the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority said that the worst recession since World War II would probably reduce the revenue collected under Measure R from about $40 billion to roughly $38.2 billion during the next 30 years.”

So this is saying that Los Angeles County is stuck with this looser tax from “Measure R” that the Democrats sold to the public for 30 years.  If you are not from California then I’ll explain how this works.

The people in California do not like to have taxes forced on us so we get to vote on whether we pay taxes on certain projects or not. I voted against Measure R because it would be money wasted as usual. Los Angles does need light rail improvements and expansions to reduce freeway traffic. However if  the light rail project becomes a pork barrel project and only goes to the areas in Los Angeles County where the politicians want it to go rather than where it NEEDS to go, it will be a complete waste of money.

Next item is that the County of Los Angeles is also in poor economic state.  I can’t prove this fact to be true, but I would speculate that this last tax increase will end up in the “General Fund” and will not be applied to transportation projects for some years to come until the economy improves.

Yes, there are some very good intentions in Measure R. Let’s face it auto/truck traffic is horrible in Los Angeles and everyone wants it to improve.  But will people use it enough to pay for it?

http://www.metro.net/measurer/default.asp

My point here is that the Democrats have just destroyed the economy here in Los Angeles and California.  People are loosing jobs, businesses are closing. People with money are leaving the state to move to states that have no income tax like Nevada.

The state of California has reached a point of no return. The State of California has a budget deficit of 24.3 billion dollars.  These are the points of no return:

1. The Democrats are forcing businesses to close with high sales, income and businesses taxes. This problem is exacerbated by heavy EPA rules and regulations to even open a business here in California.

2. As jobs are lost, the tax base shrinks as there are less people to pay sales tax (people cut back on buying things), Income tax withholding from checks decreases, people drive less paying less in local gasoline taxes.

3. The democrats think the only way to balance the budget is by punishing the people that are still lucky enough to have jobs with even more taxes across the board.  The budget will never be balanced with this approach.

4. The Democrats have created a “State of Entitlement.” A state where  people can receive public assistace for everything from free education, section 8 housing (http://www.hud.gov/local/index.cfm?state=ca&topic=renting) to free health care at County Hospitals.

5. California has one of if not the largest population of undocumented immigrants from all over the world.  By law these people are not allowed to get Social Security Numbers so they are usually paid in cash and pay no income taxes at all.  If they do pay income taxes it is usually with a fraudulent Social Security number.

6. The EPA requirements for everything from Exhaust Emissions, handling of industrial chemicals to building material content have a crippling effect on profitability, growth, employee hiring and just keeping the business doors open.  I am concerned about the environment just like anyone else, but the government has to much control over these laws that are overkill.

7. Finally the fact that there are just to many people in this state is the major contribution to air, water and ground pollution.

So what can be done?

1. The state has to become 100% more business friendly.

2. Reduce Income taxes so people will have money to go out and spend and build the economy.

3. Reduce Corporate taxes and make it profitable to open and run a business in the state of California.

4. Reduce (not eliminate) the number of “Entitlement Programs.” These are free or low cost programs for people that do not have the incentive to get a job (any job.)

5. Decrease education fees in public colleges so more people can attend thus increasing the cash flow for maintaining the education venues.  Administer some kind of tax reward or benefit to new graduates for the first 2 years as they start in their new careers.

6. This is the tough one.  Make sure that undocumented immigrants from all over the world not just Mexico are not eligible for any state benefits including non emergency medical care, education, welfare, and child welfare.

7. Very, very heavy fines for employers that hire undocumented immigrants.

8. A minimum of a 10 year corporate tax incentive for any company that has been in existence more than 5 years in another state or country to move  to or open another facility in California. Why 10 years? It is an incentive for the companies to stay in California and create jobs here.

9.  There has to be legislation that will limit the power of the SEIU (http://www.seiu.org/splash/) I believe in good wages for talented people. But this Union is very corrupt and rewards incompetent people with high wages. Originally being from Chicago, I grew up with corrupt Democratic “Pay to Play.” The SEIU payed Barack Obama $60.7 Million dollars to play.  This is a common corrupt Union/Politician relationship.

10. This is the most important of all of these ideas.  Create a minimal corporate tax bracket for companies with 100 or less employees. We all know that the most important element in any successful  economy is “Small Business.”

The only way this will ever happen is if the Democrats are voted out of office and the State of California is run by Republicans and Libertarians. Both of these parties understand the importance of small business.

As I have said before time and time again.  As long as the Democrats can keep people uneducated, unemployed, poor and desperate they will always have a voter base.

ST Marie