Embarrassed, yet?
No, we haven’t forgotten this either.
Reflex Conditioning Drives Uncontrolled Government Spending
The brilliant, Nobel Prize winning physiologist Ivan Petrovitch Pavlov demonstrated that you could condition a dog to salivate by sounding a metronome. All he had to do was sound the metronome when putting out food for his dogs. It did not take long for his dogs to associate the sound of the metronome with food. Then he no longer even had to put food out to get the dogs to salivate; he only had to sound the metronome.
Today, inferior rank politicians have been conditioned to salivate when a financial grant is offered by superior rank politicians. The only problem with these grants of largess is that they always come with caveats, and usually require matching funds. These restrictions are a deliberate – and successful – effort to frustrate all efforts to manage government expenditures.
And all the king‘s men
Wouldn’t put our Constitution together again.
Just another way our Elected Elite provides for their unionized protectors to seek pathways of supplemental income in their retirements.
Sen. Jones, you’re only as good as your last attaboy. Your village called, again.
Matter of fact, RightMi.com’s phone has been ringing a lot lately asking if we’ve seen him and his peers.
And our nominees are:
– Gov. Rick Snyder’s 16.7% sales tax hike raising $1.945-billion in order to spend $1.2-billion on roads.
– Sen. Rick Jones/Rep. Tom Barret’s school tax (extrapolating the same supporting arguments from the above can be easily made here).
– Rep Joel Johnson’s horse-drawn vehicle tax (no, I’m serious…this guy really wants a tax horse drawn carriages).
– Rep. Robert Kosowski “sinking fund” school bus tax.
Oh, and there’s one more.
{After the fold, of course}
Boy, the desperation is getting thick within the Ineptocracy that is Lansing, and D.C.
The Federal Highway Trust Fund, which accounts for nearly one-third of the state’s transportation budget, made about $1 billion available to Michigan in 2013. That’s 8 percent less than five years earlier and 15 percent less when adjusted for inflation, according to figures compiled by The Associated Press.
So, where the Hell were Senators Levin, and Stabenow? Why did they allow our state to flounder while their man Harry Reid, was in charge? $3 Trillion?
The funding that generally comes from federal gasoline and diesel taxes was up 20 percent over a decade but down 5 percent in inflation-adjusted dollars [happens when .FEDGOV prints money].
The AP analysis also shows that Michigan ranked seventh-lowest among states in per-capita federal transportation funding in 2013 and second-lowest in per-capita overall spending on highways, roads and bridges [why is that?]. Only Georgia spent less per capita.
The same problem that has left the Highway Trust Fund teetering with insolvency [snip]
Go figure. Can you imagine why the Highway Trust Fund is insolvent? Remember, there’s 535 of them all doing the same thing.
is vexing Michigan — people drive less and with more fuel-efficient vehicles while paying per-gallon gas taxes unchanged for two decades. For the last four years, Gov. Rick Snyder and lawmakers have had to divert money from the general fund [snip]
Call it what it is. The diversion or, *stolen* money is a replacement, and an additional tax mostly because a Granholm era boob running MDOT is unaccountable for infrastructure spending, and frivolous railroad schemes – more here – among other wasteful nomenclature frills. Seriously, MDOT has been a documented rogue agency since at least 2006 (yes, guess who?), which oddly enough has ample resources for making videos. Try doing that in the private sector and one would be out of business or, fired, and sued for criminal and/or civil damages.
to ensure the state receives its matching federal transportation money because traditional revenue sources — state fuel taxes and vehicle registration taxes — are lower or stagnant.
Registration taxes are drying up? Well, gee, go figure what happens when Lansing’s Republican Majority loots what isn’t theirs. Went after pensions when it wasn’t necessary? Instantly $10,000,000,000+ flew the coop. Broke the 2007, promise by raising the State Income Tax, which they applied to those pensions. Those two raids alone stole money from folks who have decided to put off vehicle purchases, especially, the retirees who got plundered by Snyder. Look, it ain’t the undischargable student loan debt-slave Millennials who have money. Hell, they can’t even figure out that when borrowing for higher education it effects tuition rates to rise (another cluster**** conversation for another time).
Back on-point.
Today, marks what would’ve been our nations’ leader’s 283 Birthday.
In 1968, congress did away with recognizing President Washington’s birthday on February, 22, to provide government bureaucrats and their staff to get their 3-day weekends, which has become commercially known as Presidents Day Sales for the retail industry.
Sometimes, I wonder what all of our Founding Fathers would think if they saw their gift to us today.
My thoughts are that they would be repulsed at what we’ve allowed their dream to become. I wouldn’t blame them.
At least there is record of what General Washington, thought of this.
The twenty-five year old John Locke Foundation has just released its First in Freedom Index for 2015. The Freedom Index ranks states for the level of freedom allowed their citizens in four weighted areas of policy:
Fiscal: 50%
Education: 20%
Regulation: 20%
Health Care: 10%
Michigan ranks 31st overall among the states in the Freedom Index. Dismal per capita levels of state taxes, spending, and regulation weighed down Michigan’s rankings. Michigan’s ranking in the individual policy categories are:
Again, a shame to see the UnityCard™ played.
To put it kindly, it’s a farce.
The latest ongoing MDOT buffoonery from Auditor General, Doug Ringler.
“Our review … identified 48 of 92 [52%] expired warranty projects that needed corrective action,” the report said. “As of June 30, 2014, 24 of the warranties had been expired for over one year without MDOT having addressed the corrective action.”
MDOT said it agrees with all six recommendations made by the auditor general and is taking action to improve its system of monitoring and enforcing warranties.
“By October 2015, MDOT, in working with the Department of Attorney General, will develop a procedure for non-responsive contractors that have been notified to perform warranty work,” the department said in part of its response to the audit.
But the auditor noted that similar issues were raised in an earlier audit, released in 2010, and at that time the department said it would “strengthen its procedures to assure the completion of inspections.”
Hmmm, something to hide here, Mr. Steudle? And, the AG is involved? Can one say like placing a fox to watch the hen house? I can, as they all, the AG, the MDOT Director, and MSP Director, sit on the same committee endorsing Snyder’s Democrat wooed Proposal 2015-1 better known as the $2,000,000,000 16.7% Sales Tax Hike with double taxation for off road agricultural and recreational fuels, 30% registration fee increase, and loss of IRS deduction – among other handouts to buy votes.
Bonus? Just like clockwork, it’s Norm partying in Tampa Shinkle and Dan Pero’s wife Colleen to Snyder’s rescue (No, seriously!). How about it, Rule of Law Ruth? Nah, not so much as a peep.
Shame on those who seldom follow the linked information here on RightMi.com, because we all are truly getting the government that’s deserved, and getting it good and hard.
Think that EITC part of the Proposal 2015-1 equation isn’t a fool’s errand? Look at what $9,400,000,000 gets us just to maintain floundering employment while buying poverty moocher’s votes.
“The goal should be to try to honor these agreements or, in the context that if there are changes, they’re mutually agreed to,” Snyder [Mr. Avalon, founding chair. Yes, that John Truscott] said in a Detroit News editorial board interview. “These are major job creators. They’ve helped bring us back economically [what Team Obama says] in the state and we shouldn’t overlook that fact.”
Snyder said he wants to work with companies holding the business tax credits to “bring better visibility” and “transparency” [a Snyder priority. No, seriously.] to the tax credits, which will consume more than $500 million a year in general fund tax revenue until 2029. The final tax credits awarded under the Michigan Business Tax [thank Brian] don’t expire until 2031, according to the Michigan Economic Development Corp.
The MEDC [Snyder’s Mini-Me] has asked companies to agree to redeem their credits in the year they were issued and give the state a three-year forecast on using tax credits to help governors and legislators budget for the subsidies.
But Snyder did not rule out pursuing legislation to put new rules in place for when the tax credits could be cashed in. [here, pull this finger.]
“I think the starting point should be what we can do in a mutually agreed-upon fashion,” Snyder said.
Mike Johnston, vice president of government affairs for the Michigan Manufacturers Association, said his members, which include Detroit’s three automakers [$3,000,000,000 yes, Ford too], are open to helping state officials know when they will seek tax refunds.
The games all these mother******* play with other people’s money is downright obscene.
We now return you to your regular Team R points its collective finger’s at Granholm programming…