Rent Seeking

Conservative News, Democrats, Michigan, Michigan Politics, Rent Seeking, Republicans

Clash of Titans, EPA Wrecks the Electricity Grid

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Feds Step In, Things Get Much Worse

godzilla electrical lines 2
Part II

Things may have quieted down in Michigan after Proposal 3’s demise in 2012, but President Obama’s EPA were furiously developing their ‘War on Coal’ to dramatically increase the cost reduce pollution of electricity generation. The Mercury and Air Toxics (MATs, also known as MACT) rule requires scrubbers on all coal-fired power plants nationally, costing something north of $ 1 million per steam boiler. The Cross State Air Pollution Rule (CSAPR) requires Michigan coal-fired power plants to reduce their thermal efficiency during peak summertime generating periods to reduce oxides of nitrogen at a yet to be determined cost.

In 2014, EPA’s ‘Cooling Water Intake Structures’ rule finally went into effect after a decade of legal wrangling, requiring that Michigan’s electrical utilities take some very expensive steps over 8 years to protect the Great Lakes’ beloved zebra mussel and round goby populations.

At the end of 2014, EPA imposed newly restrictive rules on the disposal of coal combustion residuals (CCRs), commonly known as coal ash, from coal-fired power plants. Almost unique in the history of Federal regulation, EPA admitted in their final CCR rule that it had a negative cost-benefit ratio. Fly ash, the most abundant CCR, is actually a remedy for the alkali-silica reaction (ASR) which causes premature failure of many MDoT concrete structures. So EPA managed to simultaneously increase Michigan’s cost of electricity generation and reduce the lifespan of our roads and bridges. An Obama ‘two fer’.

EPA expects to finalize its ‘Effluent Limitations Guidelines and Standards for the Steam Electric Power Generating Point Source Category’ in September 2015. Known by the acronyms SEEG or ELG, these rules will change the way all electrical power stations handle cooling, process, and steam condensate water. These rules cover all steam powered turbine operations, but will most severely affect coal-fired power stations whose MATs required scrubbers and CCR required ash handling systems will generate a lot of waste water.

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Cronyism, Michigan, Opinion, Proposal 15-1, Rent Seeking, Taxes

So… Safe Roads, yes?

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Michigan traffic deaths fall 8% in ’14

Even the helmet-less motorcyclists strawman numbers are down. So much for the alleged ‘untouchable’ $18,000,000,000.00 *fund* that Lansing politicians are protecting for their insurance industry lobbyist friends, huh? It’s on the table for discussion now, governor Snyder.

You also have noticed that Snyder’s Martin Waymire, and McLellen is now pushing the repair cost meme, right?

GasTaxRegistrationFreesHikeDave Waymire, a spokesman for the Safe Roads Yes ballot committee campaigning for the measure’s passage, said most residents do not claim itemized deductions on federal returns. Crummy roads cost drivers an extra $539 a year in vehicle operating costs [Snyder’s people really cannot keep their figures straight, can they?] due to repairs, tire wear and increased fuel consumption, according to the proposal’s proponents who cite a report from the transportation research group TRIP [another quasi-governmental organization like PASER – that’s a Fact].

“Many Michigan residents today pay a hidden tax for our poor roads by virtue of [incompetency bordering criminal intent] the high cost of repairs that are incurred due to potholes, extra wear and tear on their vehicles,” Waymire said. “If you consider the hidden tax [or the BIGGER hidden tax on top of the 16.7% hike that is Proposal 1], which our opponents refuse to acknowledge, this is a substantial [Zero] savings for Michigan.”

Stop-100Another “unadvertised feature” of the plan is that taxes on fuel sold for boats, off-road vehicles and lawnmowers would rise significantly because the fuel would not be exempt from the sales tax, Anderson said. The new 7 percent sales tax [hike of 16.7%] would only be removed from fuel used to operate motor vehicles on public roads, raising compliance issues [see Here and Here] since the vast majority of fuel is sold by gas stations without regard to whether someone is filling up a car, boat or gas can, according to the nonpartisan Citizens Research Council of Michigan.

“Some promise it will be fixed. It’s not fixed now, so we included it,” said Anderson. He said he is not a “fan” of Proposal 1 but when his research company crunches numbers, “we do them straight.”

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You do realize that you are being lied to by Snyder’s cabal of *safe roads yes* pushers, right?

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All the Other Stuff, Conservative News, Cronyism, Democrats, Michigan, Michigan Politics, Rent Seeking, Republicans

Clash of Titans Coming to Michigan

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After Proposal 1, After Plan B, Electricity Front and Center

godzilla-biollante
Part I: Background

Later this year, Michigan’s electrical utilities are expected to satisfy the 10% Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS) requirements of PA 295 of 2008. Partial reregulation of electricity in Michigan under the same PA 295 of 2008 denied choice of supplier on 90% of electricity consumption, while exempting large, politically potent, electricity consumers. At the same time, the U.S. EPA is progressively tightening their noose around the neck of the coal industry with an array of ever more restrictive regulations upon coal-fired power plants. A political clash of titans is looming in Michigan.

Taken together, these circumstances will trigger a wild four-way donnybrook pitting electrical utilities, electricity consumers, and environmental wackos against one another later this year. But this is only three parties, so why do you say four-way? Large industrial consumers have substantially escaped the consequences of PA 295, while smaller Michigan consumers – including residential consumers – have experienced the fifth highest rate of electricity cost increases in the nation. These two electricity consuming groups’ interests do not coincide.

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Cronyism, Elections, Michigan, Opinion, Philosophy, Rent Seeking, Taxes

Breaking Wind: Oh it’s a Gas Alright

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Busy weekend so, short and sweet.

Natural Gas to Wind Energy: You’re Nothing Without Me

Been saying it for years, “so, when you going to cut off its gas supply?” All should go brush up on this stuff before we all get stuck with more of it. A good starting point can be found here, and here.

Yep. Now, add this monolith of government control in the pipeline, which has already spawned it’s new Tsaritsa, and if this outrageously schemed package of theft and redistribution embedded with fraud passes on May 5, I am relatively sure that I will be putting my place on the market before others figure out that they cannot give away a house in this state due to the exorbitant cost of living expenses from higher taxation reinvented by a Republican governor with every lever of power in Lansing, dominated by the same Party.

I certainly don’t relish the idea, however, I’m tired of being fleeced by those sent to Lansing.

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Cronyism, Detroit, Elections, Michigan, Opinion, Proposal 15-1, Rent Seeking, Taxes

Proposal 1 Comment Of The Day

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Well, yesterday’s, as I just noticed today but, it is noteworthy: Click here.

You see, once one moves past what I call Chuck’s cutesy outhouse-genius mentality of telling wondering tales, it all comes down to the $116,000,000.00 baked into Proposal 1 that Chuck & Co. would like to get their hands on for Rick Snyder’s perpetual Detroit bailout and his Utopian moving of chattel schemes.

einstein_simpleThere are many viable Plan B options in the works, and we all know that. The end.

Ps. we all should thank our lucky stars for term limits. Moving to a part time legislature is way past its needing, too.

Pps. does one wonder why Chuck is so sensitive about protecting the insurance lobby sitting on $18 Billion without ever opening up their books for audit?
GasTaxRegistrationFreesHike
Just sayin’…

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Conservative News, Cronyism, Democrats, Michigan, Michigan Politics, Rent Seeking

February Michigan Unemployment 5.9% – Really?

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Philadelphia Federal Reserve Bank Questions BLS State Level Employment Data Revisions

Philadelphia Fed Website 2015-04-06

Kurt Weiss at the Michigan Department of Technology, Management, and Budget (DTMB) reported on March 25th that Michigan’s February 2015 seasonally adjusted unemployment rate dropped to 5.9% from January’s 6.3% figure. This was followed on April 2nd by the DTMB release of non seasonal adjusted employment data for February 2015. This quite large one month drop is great news for Michigan workers, if it indeed reflects our labor market. But does it?

Twelve Month Discrepancies Between Seasonally Adjusted and Unadjusted Data Differentials

The DTMB Michigan non seasonally adjusted (NSA) employment report for February 2015, at the bottom of page 6, showed that Michigan’s civilian labor force declined by 33,000 workers over the twelve preceding months. But the seasonally adjusted (SA) employment report for February 2015 at the top of page 2 showed that Michigan’s civilian labor force increased by 7,000 workers over the same twelve months. The growth of Michiganders employed over the same twelve month period also shows a 5,000 worker NSA/SA discrepancy: 101,000 not seasonally adjusted versus 96,000 seasonally adjusted. And the shrinkage of Michigan’s unemployed worker population over the same twelve month period shows a 46,000 worker NSA/SA discrepancy: 134,000 not seasonally adjusted versus 88,000 seasonally adjusted.

Valid seasonal corrections should produce twelve month differentials which agree with comparable item non seasonally adjusted differentials over the same twelve month period. Here we have a 0.85% discrepancy in Michigan’s total civilian labor force, a 0.1% discrepancy in civilian employment over the same twelve month period, and a 12.5% discrepancy in the shrinkage of Michigan’s unemployed worker population over the same twelve month period.

How did this happen?

The DTMB turns its employment data over to the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics for X-13ARIMA-SEAT seasonal adjustment. BLS also adjusts underlying data periodically for changes in the Michigan population estimates of the U.S. Census. The two (SA and NSA) February 2015 DTMB employment reports both reflect substantial BLS revisions undertaken in early 2015. A note at the top of page 2 in the DTMB February 2015 SA employment report:

Note: The data in this release reflects recently revised historical estimates. Seasonally adjusted labor force estimates for 1976-2014 for Michigan and 1990-2014 for the Detroit-Warren-Dearborn MSA were revised. Previous published data should be replaced with this new series. In addition, seasonally adjusted payroll job data was revised for 2010-2014. For newly revised data, please contact DTMB at 313-456-3090.

The DTMB February 2015 NSA employment report bears a similar note on its first page noting that it was also subjected to substantial revisions.

So Michigan’s employment data has been subjected to substantial revisions at BLS which produce seasonal adjustments that do not cross check against comparable item non seasonally adjusted data over the most recent 12 month period.

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Cronyism, Michigan, Opinion, Rent Seeking, Taxes

Life at “inception”

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Get a load of this smear job (No, I’m not giving links to Finley for any advertising hits).

Inception_N_Finkleyclick on image to enlarge

So, basically, slimy nincompoop Nolan wants an amoral society of worker-bees funding a big bifarceisan government or, debt slaves. Well, the bald bastard has just that in the Snyder/Calley administration. It sucks only in other fashion from the prior big spenders.

Nevertheless, there is the ugly truth about what the MI-GOP has become. For those who will be voting next month, when you look around the room at everybody, and you don’t see who “the mark” is – it is you. Tho, I’m rather confident the Party apparatchik will double-down on stupid.

History proves it has again and again!

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Cronyism, Elections, Michigan, Opinion, Proposal 15-1, Rent Seeking, Taxes

Rep. Franz Explains the Disaster That is Proposal 1

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Wait until you discover zero sales tax dollars goes to roads, and the Education Fund doesn’t mean money going to schools. Enjoy.

Think those additional costs on shipping goods to stores aren’t going to be passed along to you on top of the direct personal hit to the wallet? Better think again about that.

Thanks for voting against this convoluted, Snyder invented perpetual tax hike during the lame duck, Rep. Franz. Also, thanks for being the only Rep. to address this, and the fact there are multiple “Plan B’s” in the works.

STOP-167And, to you out there who are appalled that Lansing had the audacity to foist this abomination onto us, you better get off your asses and Vote NO on May 5, because the news outlet editorial page propagandists pushing Snyder’s agenda is already ramping up their “it’s all we got” meme as noted here and here.

Remember, requirement is 50% + 1 stinking vote is all it takes to entrench this mess into our constitution.

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Cronyism, Elections, Michigan, Opinion, Proposal 15-1, Rent Seeking, Taxes

Roads are a Healthcare Issue, huh?

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OK, Slick Rick, here’s an $18,000,000,000.00 “insurance policy” waiting for fixing only roads.

So, Snyder’s goal is to protect the insurance industry lobby? Rick Snyder and Brian Calley have a huge credibility problem, yes?

Gilligan's IslandAnd, Snyder is wasting our money on his frivolous River of Opportunity Lake of Lobbyist special interest payola pursuit of this universally despised constitution tampering disaster Proposal.

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