Tag: Massive Federal debt is not a factor

The state is poised to have $100 million in federal funds freed up to demolish vacant homes in Detroit, Pontiac, Flint, Grand Rapids and Saginaw.

An announcement could come as soon as today that federal dollars previously allocated for mortgage relief have been approved to target neighborhoods riddled with abandoned and burned-out houses, according to four sources with knowledge of the situation.

The federal dollars come from an aid program that is part of the Troubled Asset Relief Program launched in 2010 to help unemployed homeowners stay in their houses and help families with underwater mortgages -- who owe more than their homes are worth.

The $7.6 billion program, known as the Hardest Hit Fund, targeted 18 states including Michigan, plus the District of Columbia, reeling from the housing crisis and economic downturn.

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See that?  Poof!  In only two years, TARP transcends into the Hardest Hit Fund.  Pure Magic!  Take a look at the map, it's predominately a Blue State bailout scheme for failed Progressive Utopias.  To paraphrase the late Baroness Thatcher - The problem with Socialism is that the Democrats will never run out of other peoples money in America, as long as there are Progressives in the Republican Party finding ways to steal it for them.

And, the MI-GOP in Lansing, along with the RNC in D.C., wonders why they've been going down in electoral flames ever since they dropped the ball with the 2010 Sea of TEA Partying Red demanding Constitutionally limited, fiscal responsible, sound government.

The Michigan Senate approved a five-bill package Tuesday establishing a regional transit authority for Metro Detroit and allowing public transportation projects to be funded with a voter-approved registration fee on car owners.

The bills, sought by Gov. Rick Snyder, are seen as crucial to funding a regional transit authority for Metro Detroit and empowering the authority to take over management of the region's major bus systems and create dedicated high-speed bus lanes on the area's busiest corridors.
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Senate Bill 911 would allow the transit authority to seek voter approval in Macomb, Oakland, Washtenaw and Wayne counties for a special motor vehicle registration fee to fund the authority's transportation projects. Under the bill, voters could be asked to approve a registration fee not to exceed $1.20 for every $1,000 of a vehicle's listing price.

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The recently approved DIA Tax had to be the lame-duck trial run for the convicted felon's SB 911 stink-bomb.

But, it makes the Canadians, Gary Peters, and the Governerd, are all giddy, so what the 'fiscal cliff' Hell?  Screw Grover's initiated Tax Pledge to the constituents - Goonion labor Amtrak choo-choo money pits for  e v e r y o n e!

"Michigan's citizens are tired of the divisive political culture in Lansing," Snyder said on the campaign trail. "Midnight deals, closed-doors meetings, lobbyists and special interest influence have stood in the way of long-term solutions.

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An upbeat Gov. Rick Snyder said Wednesday that there might be "shovels in the ground" for the New International Trade Crossing bridge project within two to six months.

But Ken Silfven, Snyder's deputy press secretary, later clarified, saying the governor was using "two to six months" as a metaphor for receiving the U.S. Presidential Permit needed for the project to proceed. Actual construction might begin in two to three years.

OK, by force of government, you got your bully pulpit way, Snyder.  Congratulations.  Thus, provides a perfect time for some much needed levity.

An American economist traveled to China to observe a canal project. The Chinese delegation showed him the plans and the model of everything that would be built along this new masterpiece. When they traveled out to the worksite, the economist was aghast at what he saw. The men were all using hand tools such as shovels, pick axes, and wheelbarrows.

The American economist asked the leader of the Chinese delegation, "Why on Earth are your people using hand tools? Why are there no bulldozers or other modern equipment?"

The leader of the delegation stood up straight and replied, "If we used that type of equipment, all of these men would lose their jobs in a couple of months."

The economist rubbed his chin in thought and then smiled, "Oh, it's a jobs program. Why don't you take away their shovels and give them spoons?"

The rest is worth your time.

Yessirree.  Article V, Section 18 is merely PLPD coverage on the family car.  Out of pocket repair bills is exactly the exposure that every Michigan family faces with handing the keys to their little darlings behind the Lansing wheel.  What's that?  A smart family should know to also carry collision, or, Full Coverage if entrusting others with risks to the family vehicle?  Well, with just checking the old inbox, that is the message that the good folks over at the Michigan Capitol Confidential are driving home on Prop 5.

The idea behind a Tax Limitation Amendment is to make it more difficult for the political class to pilfer the pockets of taxpayers. Research -- most notably by scholar Mancur Olson -- has shown time and again that in democratic nations the wishes of an electorate are often ignored by narrow special interests that seek costly "favors" from the government. Politicians all too frequently accommodate those favors (be they subsidies or tariffs or spending hikes or other items) in part because their contributors and powerful constituents support them. Increasing taxes also is often a path of least resistance.

Constitutional restrictions are an effective way to handcuff politicians and stymie the special interests who lobby them for more money. Academic research on balance seems to show that such restrictions do check the growth of government and tax burdens, too.

Amen!  So, the natural question must be asked, why is it that the biggest opponent of Prop 5, Rick Snyder, a CEO, and CPA mind you, is behaving like a teenager who incessantly tells dumb 'ol mom and dad who are liable for his actions that he can text and drive?

via The Detroit News

The Michigan Republican Party on Tuesday pulled a cable TV ad that bashes Detroit while touting Oakland County's GOP.

County Executive L. Brooks Patterson saw the 34-second ad and asked state GOP Chairman Bobby Schostak on Tuesday to pull it, saying it was unnecessarily negative.

Patterson, who is undergoing rehabilitation for injuries suffered in a car crash, received a resounding no, spokesman Bill Mullan said.

"I've always run political campaigns built on positive messages. My campaign has asked the independent entity that produced this ad to take it down, but they've refused," Patterson said in a statement on Tuesday. "Detroit has its challenges. But my administration has always tried to be part of the solution."

More with video of pulled commercial

And, folks still try to tell me that there is a Two Party system.  Again .. Shut up, Brooks.  Your 73-year-old duplicitous tongue needs to head out to pasture, and tell tales of how you remember your legend to your grandchildren.  Everything has a built in obsolescence, Brooks - you, like this dangerous fossil, have finally met yours.