Opinion

Conservative News, Cronyism, Democrats, Elections, Government Incompetence, Michigan, Michigan Politics, Opinion, Rent Seeking, Republicans, Taxes

She is going back to her old ways.

by KG One • March 30, 2017 • 2 Comments

OABTW, where IS Macomb County Prosecutor Eric Smith or Michigan AG Bill Schuette in all of this?

Well, that didn’t take long.

After crushing deeply ~~entrenched~~ embedded Macomb County Public Works Commissioner Anthony Marrocco last November by nearly a 40k vote margin, former U.S. Congresswoman Candice Miller packed her bags and moved back home to Macomb County. People were scratching their heads on why someone with a VERY safely gerrymandered political district would want to give up a cushy job in Washington and take a literal/figurative cut in position for this post.

Thank you, President Trump (and the fact that Lake St. Clair is undeniably a cesspool).

Then Public Works Commissioner-elect Miller danced around the question when interviewed repeatedly after her win last November regarding WHY she made this career move. Needless to say, THE reason is not as ominous as some theorists have speculated (yes, THIS writer does know the answer to that question…it is the worst kept secret in Macomb Co. circles), but since it is not germane to this post, I’m moving on.

Also late last year, a sinkhole (later determined to be very “man-made” sinkhole) developed in Fraser about 10 miles north of Detroit. Travel into some adjoining neighborhood streets was blocked and restricted until the severity of the situation could be determined. Families in several homes near the sinkhole were prohibited from returning to their homes for their own safety.

Several of those homes were ultimately condemned and demolished.

The cause of the sinkhole was determined to be a main interceptor line running under 15 Mile Road that had collapsed.

One would think that major sewer line falls under the purview of the Macomb County Public Works Department (and you’d be right).

And since it was their responsibility after all, that the Macomb County Public Works Commissioner would be on the scene immediately coordinating the investigation and repair efforts.

Well, did I mention that the previous Public Works Commissioner was a democrat?

And a very likely dirty one at that.

No, that wasn’t a bad pun.

This is where our story gets interesting.

{More tantalizing details below}

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Cronyism, Michigan, Michigan Politics, Opinion

Repeal The Federal McCarran Ferguson Law

by Jim Fuscaldo • March 27, 2017 • 5 Comments

The False Political Narrative About the Sale of Health Insurance Across State Lines

FYI TO MICHIGANIANS:An abbreviated version of this was submitted to the Leelanau Enterprise for publication. Watch for it and share!
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Congress and state politicians have proselytized a false narrative about the inability to sell health insurance across state lines. The simple solution is repeal the Federal McCarran Ferguson Law. Why?

Health insurance providers in each state are protected from interstate competition by the McCarran Ferguson Act of 1945. This law grants the states the sole right to regulate health insurance within their borders. It insulates health insurers from the legal effects of the Interstate Commerce Clause of the United States Constitution. Consequently, McCarran Ferguson permits insurance companies to establish INTRASTATE insurance oligopolies or monopolies “sub silentio” by also exempting them from the Sherman and Clayton antitrust and anti-monopoly laws.

Insurance companies lobby state insurance commissioners, legislators and governors to protect their INTRASTATE oligopolies or monopolies, and when desirable for political or other economic reasons, mandate with the help of the state politicians the purchase of unnecessary insurance such as pregnancy coverage for women who are beyond child bearing age. This allows insurance companies to increase premiums for everybody even though the insured event is low risk for many within the insured pool.

Consider these insurance anomalies. About one-fourth of states require heath insurance to cover acupuncture and marriage counseling. Seven states require coverage for hair pieces and nine for hearing aids.

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Conservative News, Cronyism, Democrats, Elections, Government Incompetence, Liberty, Michigan, Michigan Politics, Opinion, Philosophy, Rent Seeking, Republicans, Taxes

So, now what?

by KG One • March 26, 2017 • 2 Comments

And what does this mean when it comes to other campaign “promises” made to The American People like tax reform, the wall, bringing back American business and removing illegal aliens?

It really shouldn’t have been difficult.

Not at all.

All you had to do was to fulfill the promise that you made when running for Congress and REPEAL Obamacare.

It was not as if this day wasn’t coming?

After sneaking Obamacare through in literally the dead of night, the democrats learned a valuable lesson on stupidity and the resulting payback from it when they lost the House.

Give us the Senate, chimed in republicans and we’ll repeal it.

After numerous attempts to do so we are told that they cannot do it.

Give us the White House and we’ll repeal it.

So, after gaining majorities the House, Senate and the White House, everything was in place for a quick (and ridiculously easy) repeal.

Or so we thought.

{Oh, I‘ve got more below}

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Michigan, Michigan Politics, Opinion

Peer Review

by Jason • March 24, 2017 • 3 Comments

Just another Facebook warrior report.

I placed a post at Jack Bergman’s Facebook feed yesterday.

While the honorable General Bergman is likely too busy for such things, the leftist trolls are alive and well, and looking to protect the legacy of failed obamanomics. One millennial in particular, posting

Aaron Steppe http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMp1613981 Don’t get it twisted”

he was of course presenting the unadulterated view of his valuable and worldly knowledge.

In this case it was a document that could not be anything but truth! In this case it was the presentation of Michigan’s Medicaid expansion plan as a savior to our economy. Intellectual gobbledygook that does what all such socialist promotions do, extol great virtue while ignoring the debit in the equation.

But as things on FB go, it became a thread unto it’s own. Complete with a few participants and the expected back and forth while academia’s trained monkey defended ‘the great leap forward.’

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All the Other Stuff, Conservative News, Cronyism, Elections, Fees, Government Incompetence, Liberty, Michigan, Michigan Politics, Opinion, Philosophy, Rent Seeking, Republicans, Taxes

It took you this long to figure it out, eh?

by KG One • March 17, 2017 • 4 Comments

So, will this be the swan song for Snydercaid?

Like we didn’t see this coming?

And by “we” I mean real conservatives, not the bland neo-con, conservative wanna-bees around election season who revert back to their true selves the day after the general.

Thanks to the number-crunchers over at the SFA along with President Trump, Gov. Snyder’s signature achievement (Snydercaid), is in jeopardy of closing up shop due to its costs, and someone who had the foresight to include a weakness in the legislation which can be exploited when it grew into an ever-growing percentage of the budget.

What’s even worse (also on page 6 in the SFA link above):

“The new Federal law would increase GF/GP (General Fund/General Purpose) costs sufficiently to trigger this provision by the end of FY 2019-20. Thus, assuming no changes to the statute, the Healthy Michigan Plan would terminate.

If the State opted to continue the program (which would require Legislative action and a gubernatorial signature to change the statute), the GF/GP costs would increase significantly in subsequent years as noted above. Obviously, if the Federal legislation is enacted, the decision on whether to change the statute to continue the HMP would be impacted by the fiscal considerations outlined above.”

Gov. Snyder knew that this day was coming. He even went to Washington to personally lobby on its behalf.

But when you act like a wishy-washy, mealy mouth wimp who will not take a stand, people remember things like that.

Speaking of “never forgetting”…

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Conservative News, Cronyism, Michigan, Michigan Politics, Opinion, Republicans, Taxes

Lets Throw More Money Away!

by Jason • March 16, 2017 • 2 Comments

Commission to taxpayers - "Gird your loins."

About that blue ribbon report on education?

Governor RINO-Burger’s newly formed ’21^st Century Education Commission’ has performed as expected. One theme seems to stand out. In the end, all will be well if we follow some not-so-surprising advice from the best socialist minds around. – Free college. Preschool for every child. No more grade levels.

A report released last week from Gov. Rick Snyder’s office offered lofty goals designed to overhaul Michigan’s public education system. The state needs to offer free community college, expand preschool access, and restructure K-12 public schools, the report suggested. District leaders in northwest Michigan agreed, but they’ll need more clarity on the details.

Sure. why not?

Government employees shilling for expansion of government? But wait! More clarity?

“My first question would be if it’s free, who’s paying for it?” asked Sander Scott, superintendent at Glen Lake Community Schools. “That’s what any taxpayer would say. There’ll be a cost to be able to offer these things. … The state is really struggling to fund its public schools so adding more is interesting.”

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Cronyism, Detroit, Michigan, Opinion

Dan Gilbert Begging For Taxpayer Money Capture – Detroit News Says Please Give.

by Jason • March 2, 2017 • 0 Comments

Imagine if all industries were subsidized with capture process.

Set the example, right?

Cronyism is still alive and well, and Detroit interests still have their hands out. And maybe it’s not JUST the developers? Detroit’s high taxes, and expensive operating environment has created impediments to natural growth.

Years after Dan Gilbert took money from taxpayers to move his employees into Detroit where they would pay a new income tax, and endure travel challenges, he want to see more of the bottom of the taxpayer purse through capture strategies. And he has cheerleaders.

The Detroit News has opined in favor of taking money from Michigan families and giving it to big developers to subsidize otherwise unprofitable real estate projects. The News wrote:

“In Detroit and other older Michigan cities, rents are still not high enough to fully offset construction costs without incentive packages.”

If the News extended the same logic to its own situation, we might see something like this in a future editorial:

“In Detroit and other old two-newspaper towns, subscription and ad rates are still not high enough to fully offset continuing operations without incentive packages. If we were to get subsidies captured from the taxes paid from our employees, our success would be guaranteed, and [those] taxes would increase!”

Just think of the page rent decreases it could offset!

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All the Other Stuff, Conservative News, Cronyism, Democrats, Government Incompetence, Liberty, Michigan, Michigan Politics, Opinion, Philosophy, Republicans, Taxes

Just in case anyone is wondering why Michigan Taxpayers are getting screwed over (again)…

by KG One • February 25, 2017 • 5 Comments

And what ever happened to that whole “I-BELIEVE-government-must-practice-fiscal-responsibility-and-allow-individuals-to-keep-more-of-the-money-they-earn.” mantra?

All I’ve got to say here is: “Beware of bipartisanship”.

{More below the fold}

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Cronyism, Democrats, Detroit, Elections, Fees, Flint Water Fiasco, Government Incompetence, Michigan, Michigan Politics, Opinion, Pensions & Retirement Benefits, Proposal 15-1, Rent Seeking, Republicans, Taxes

Who Rules Michigan?

by 10x25MM • February 18, 2017 • 1 Comment

The Administrative State or the People?

The titanic political struggle unfolding in Washington is sucking the oxygen out of Michigan politics, but is analogous to the central political struggle which has been playing out here in Michigan for 48 years. Political media breathlessly report on a struggle between liberal Democrats and conservative Republicans. This struggle is not between Democrats and Republicans, liberals and conservatives, nor RINOs and true believers. The Democrats, liberals, and RINOs are completely discredited in Michigan, as they are across most of the United States. All that remains of them is jammed into the Hillary archipelago.

The present political struggle is between the people and the administrative state. Call it bureaucracy, deep state, or administrative state: they are unelected government employees, their agents in the media, and the select beneficiaries of government largess. Their opponents in this struggle are the majority of Americans and Michiganders who pay the price for the administrative state; a now seething mass whose ascendancy was a rude surprise to the administrative state.

The outcome of the struggle in Washington is yet to be determined, but in Michigan the administrative state is clearly winning despite its total responsibility for the Flint water fiasco. The administrative state owns Governor Snyder body and soul. The administrative state will stop at nothing to manipulate the Michigan Legislature when the chips are down. Refractory (but innocent) legislators are expelled before legal process while cooperative (but guilty) legislators sit unfettered until legal process is completed.

How else can you explain the PA 177 of 2015 road tax package, indistinguishable from the soundly trounced Proposal 2015-01? Or the bogus Detroit bankruptcy which somehow neglected a $ 491 million financial hole which will haunt the city with a vengeance in 2024? Half the city’s annual budget. Or the refusal of Michigan government units at all levels to even consider tax reductions due to the simmering public employee pension catastrophe? Those pensions enjoyed by members of the administrative state are but a distant memory to the Michiganders who pay them. Indeed, all of Michigan’s units of government are jacking up fees to get around Headlee Amendment taxation limits.

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Michigan, Michigan Politics, Opinion

Moderation

by Jason • February 14, 2017 • 0 Comments

Post, Comment, Whine. this isn't Facebook.

Sometimes you gotta make the call.

Usually I prefer to let things lay. If someone posts a comment that is especially rude, it may come down, but there is a high threshold. Sometimes an article is a little too ‘titillating’ to be allowed, at least on RightMi.com. Again, it takes a pretty bad piece for me to kick in website survival mode.

Some contributors have no such survival instincts however. They could care less about the their own reputation, much less that of this site. And for a conservative web log, the liberal practice of allowing random postings for self (or specialized) promotion has been allowed to continue.

But if your only post is to slander another member of the community here, or to whine about how badly you were treated, it goes into the private (members only section)

I’ll let you figure out how to get there.

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