Tag Archive for Proposal 1

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

Snyder’s People Really do Struggle to Keep Their Lies Straight

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Check out the latest installment from MediaNews Group who appears to have taken on a pro Prop 1 slant.

McLellan_Mac_Cen_Vote_Yes_man-behind-the-sceneWith one week until the special statewide election next Tuesday, the Safe Roads Yes ballot campaign is deploying teams of volunteers to call voters and track down unreturned absentee ballots over the proposed constitutional amendment linked to boosting road funding $1.2 billion annually [No it DOES NOT. That is disinformation, Chad.]. The campaign wouldn’t divulge who will be on the bus. [maybe an AFSCME stooge?]

“I don’t care what side you’re on, everyone agrees Michigan’s roads have gone from bad to worse, and they’ve got to get fixed,” said Roger Martin, spokesman for the Safe Roads Yes campaign.

“It is the only solution before us.”

That so, Roger? Your boss doesn’t think so.

You know, it’s become typical of these creeps who get elected to office. They always start believing the lies they spin and overload their asses.

Some of us out here do have memories, you know?STOP-167

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Conservative News, Cronyism, Democrats, Elections, Humor in Michigan, Michigan, Michigan Politics, Proposal 15-1, Rent Seeking, Republicans, Taxes

Proposal 1 Liars Club Expands

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Crushed School Bus
Not willing to be out lied by their frenemies in Michigan’s business community, the Laborers’ International Union of North America (LIUNA) created an entirely bogus propaganda by crushing an old school bus with a piece of bridge, complete with guard rail.  It will be a featured propaganda for their ‘Getting Schooled in Infrastructure’ tour which commenced in Flint today.  You are allowed to speculate on their altruistic motives.

Note the ‘white shirt’ law enforcement officer congratulating these union pranksters. Saginaw County Sheriff William L. Federspiel with a new dye job?  The same Sheriff who bailed on this year’s Ann Arbor Hash Bash at the last minute?  His ‘honor students’ in Saginaw took a breather so the good Sheriff could visit the only county in Michigan with a higher murder rate?  Oh, I forgot, he doesn’t want any of his sensitive deputies exposed to the horrors of Saginaw, the city.  Unless they can ride around in an MRAP.  How much damage does an MRAP do to our roads, might you ask?

You can bet dollars to donuts he won’t sic a motor carrier officer on this illegal, unsecured load.  Under any other circumstances, a trucker hauling this load around Michigan would get an impressive collection of ‘green stamps’ and an overnight stay in the crowbar hotel.  An opportunity to try on Federspiel’s natty new black and white jail attire.  Who said political convenience doesn’t tip the scales of justice in Michigan?

Favoritism never crosses the mind of our Michigan leaders. Too busy engaging in media opportunism.

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Conservative News, Cronyism, Democrats, Detroit, Elections, Michigan, Michigan Politics, Proposal 15-1, Rent Seeking, Republicans, Taxes

Today’s Mystery

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SafeRoadsYes! Has A Phantom Contributor

Mystery Money

Today was the deadline for the last campaign finance filings with the Michigan Secretary of State before the May 5th vote on Proposal 1. SafeRoadsYes! filed five late contribution reports and a pre-special general report. Contributions supporting Proposal 1 now exceed $ 8 million and, as you might expect, the roster of SafeRoadsYes! contributors reads like a Michigan road constructors’ directory. SafeRoadsYes! expenditures now exceed $ 7.2 million, and SafeRoadsYes! still has more than $ 843,000 yet to be spent.  Of course there may be massive contributions yet to be made which would not be reported until after the election.

MGM Grand Casino and FireKeepers Casino contributed $ 50,000 each, presumably to curry favor with the Lansing power elites. BlueCross/Blue Shield and the Michigan Township Association each threw in $ 100,000 which was picked from your pockets by ObamaCare and your property taxes, respectively. Dick DeVos, after having his stooge knife Representative Gamrat for not supporting Proposal 1, got in late with a $ 50,000 contribution from his Alticor investment group.

Powering the Economy SRY Late Contribution Report 4-24-15There is one phantom entity in the SafeRoadsYes! late contribution reports which is worth investigating. An organization called ‘Powering the Economy’ gave $ 75,000 on 22 April. The problem here? ‘Powering the Economy’ doesn’t exist in either the Michigan LARA corporate database or the Secretary of State’s searchable PAC database. So who are they?

Best guess, the merry screw ups at the Detroit Regional Chamber have created a new ballot question PAC to replace their recently terminated – and heavily cited – ‘Detroit Regional Chamber PAC II‘ ballot question PAC. DRC PAC II earned eighteen citations from the SoS since 2013 for filing screw ups. DRC PAC II filed a dissolution notice on 02 April and paid the $ 875.00 dissolution fee on 07 April. ‘Powering the Economy’ has the same address as the Detroit Regional Chamber, One Woodward Avenue in Detroit – which used to be known as the MichCon or ANR Building before Dan Gilbert bought it. And DRC has trademarked ‘Powering the Economy’ as one of their signature catch phrases.

Somebody is ignoring Michigan’s campaign finance laws. Not just ignoring them, trampling them. But this has been a routine practice during the Proposal 1 proponents’ campaign. Our Attorney General is supposed to enforce these laws, but he hasn’t been exactly active on this front despite Schuette ostensibly opposing Proposal 1. So all we can do at this late date is tell you about another scam behind Proposal 1 and let you spike this dragon at the ballot box. Sweet revenge is $ 9 million of your opponents’ money down the drain. Vote May 5th.

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Conservative News, Democrats, Detroit, Michigan, Michigan Politics, Proposal 15-1, Rent Seeking, Republicans, Taxes

When It Becomes Serious, You Have To Lie

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TRIP Boosts Their Lies 109% to Get Your Vote

dozer-money

The proponents of Proposal 1 never envisaged the losing position they now occupy two weeks before the vote, so their media shills have resurrected the titillating lies projections of a road builders’ organization called TRIP to bolster their case. Here are the most visceral quotes from Michigan’s two largest newspapers, demonstrating their well-honed propaganda skills:

Detroit Free Press

“Michigan’s poor roads threaten to derail its economic recovery, according to a new report by a national transportation research group.”

“The report says that 38% of Michigan roads are now in poor condition, up from 23% in 2006. It also found that 45% were listed in fair condition and 17% were listed as good.”

“The report estimates that Michigan motorists pay an average of $686 in increased operating costs, including vehicle repairs, because of the state’s poor roads.”

Detroit News

“By 2025, the share of major roads in poor condition is projected to increase to 53 percent,” TRIP said in its report. “Keeping roads in good condition by performing minor maintenance is far more cost-effective than waiting until roads are in fair or poor condition when it becomes far more costly to make needed repairs.”

“According to TRIP, driving on rough roads costs Michigan motorists a total of $4.8 billion each year in the form of extra vehicle operating costs, representing an average cost of $686 annually per motorist.”

”That’s the conclusion of a report released Monday by TRIP, a Washington-based nonprofit organization that researches, evaluates and distributes information on surface transportation issues.

The Detroit Free Press only identified TRIP as “a national nonprofit transportation research group” in this pivotal story.  They were a little more candid in a previous story, so they can’t claim not to know what TRIP is.  The Detroit News identification of TRIP was every bit as dishonest.  Only our ‘newer’ media is more truthful, if still not entirely accurate:

Mlive.com

“The annual TRIP study, conducted by a national research group funded by transportation industry interests, pegs the yearly cost at $686 per Michigan motorist.”

“TRIP findings have long been cited by road funding advocates, including Gov. Rick Snyder.”

TRIP obligingly released a raft of new lies in a series of press releases on Michigan roads at the Detroit Regional Chamber (a kindred IRS 501(c)(6) organization, more on this below the fold) on Monday. These stories are an update to TRIP’s January 2014 lies which we covered in January. The comparable examples of TRIP’s 2014 lies (since removed from the web) are:

  • An inadequate transportation system costs Michigan residents a total of $7.7 billion every year
  • Driving on rough roads costs Michigan motorists a total of $2.3 billion annually in extra vehicle operating costs
  • Driving on rough roads costs the average Detroit urban area motorist $536 annually in extra vehicle operating costs
  • Driving on rough roads costs the average Michigan motorist $357 annually in extra vehicle operating costs

TRIP’s 2015 report on Michigan annual excessive vehicle costs is a $ 2.5 billion (or $ 329 per motorist) increase above their 2014 lies projections.  A 109% increase above their 2014 lies.  Far beyond any assessment of the 2014 to 2015 deterioration of road & bridge conditions in Michigan – even the totally bogus PASER ratings.  Since the $ 2.3 billion (or $ 357 per motorist) 2014 TRIP number didn’t move you to vote for Proposal 1, the new and improved $ 4.8 billion (or $ 686 per motorist) lie is expected to change your mind on Proposal 1.  They think you are that dumb.

So is TRIP a “nonprofit transportation research organization”? Sounds like an independent, credible source – right? Do the adjectives ‘nonprofit’ and ‘research’ give you a high level of confidence in their pronouncements?  Does ‘organization’ or ‘group’ give you the impression that hundreds of researchers are assessing road conditions across the country?  Perhaps you should dig a little deeper than our lazy, lying media scribes.

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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, Humor in Michigan, Michigan, Michigan Politics, Opinion, Proposal 15-1, Taxes

MLive Endorses Proposal 1 – Epic Math Fail or Outright Mendacity?

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Journalists Bravely Display Their Mathematical Deficit, or......?

fuzzymath
The MLive Media Group Editorial Board endorsed Proposal 2015-01 this morning. The endorsement was no real surprise, given the blizzard of slanted reporting MLive has been posting on Proposal 1 over the last 30 days. The real surprise here was the shoddy math cited in the endorsement:

If you currently pay $100 per month in sales tax, which is the average for median income households in Michigan, you’ll pay an extra $1 per month. Because the sales tax is regressive — it falls disproportionately on the poor — Proposal 1 evens the playing field by expanding the Earned Income Tax Credit, which was cut in 2011.

The fuel tax changes will result in an additional 2 to 10 cents per gallon, depending on gas prices. Some of these costs will surely be offset by reduced damage to vehicles as the roads are improved.

Governor Snyder’s FY 2015 Executive Budget projects that Michigan’s current 6% sales tax will collect $ 7.89 billion in FY 2015 on $ 131.5 billion in taxable products. This is $ 797 per year, per Michigan resident. The U.S. Census says that the average Michigan household is composed of 2.53 persons. Thus the current 6% sales tax is projected to collect $ 2,016 per household in FY 2015, or $ 168 per household, per month.  Not $ 100 per month.

Looking at FY 2015 as if Proposal 2015-01 was in effect, the 7% sales tax would collect $ 8.5 billion on $ 121 billion in taxable products. Keep in mind that road fuel will no longer be subject to the sales tax, so we have to back out S 10.2 billion in formerly taxable fuel sales on just over 4 billion gallons in road fuel. This is $ 855 per year, per person. Thus the proposed 7 % sales tax would collect $ 2,165 per household in FY 2015, or $ 180 per household, per month.

So the difference is $ 12 per month, per Michigan household. Not MLive’s $ 1 per month fantasy factoid.

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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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Elections, Michigan, Michigan Politics, Proposal 15-1, Taxes

The Disaster That is Proposal 1

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Sales Tax Retention on Off-Road Fuel Will Trigger Pandemonium in Michigan's Fuel Distribution Network

ORFUTU-nerd-RM

Part II

As Proposal 2015-01 stands now, ORV operators, snowmobilers, boaters, lawn mowers, generator users, and others purchasing non road use fuels from gas stations will be in violation of PA 167 of 1933, the Michigan sales tax act. The way PA 167 of 1933 is worded, compliance is primarily the responsibility the fuel retailer. However those who, for whatever reason, escape paying the sales tax become liable for the Michigan use tax under PA 94 of 1937. This includes tourists who trailer in fueled boats from out of state. The ‘Amazon tax’ returns with a vengeance in a new guise.

Barring further convoluted legislative action, on October 1st Michigan gas stations will have to collect the 7% sales tax on gasoline and diesel fuel sold for any purpose other than propelling a vehicle “used to operate a motor vehicle on the public roads or highways of this state”. Seems simple enough given the electronic calculation capabilities of most modern gas pumps, right? Just push a button and the sales price increases by 7%.

Wrong.

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Conservative News, Democrats, Detroit, Elections, Michigan, Michigan Politics, Proposal 15-1, Taxes

$ 70 Million More Down the Drain Every Year

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Michigan Triples Down On The Most Abused Federal Program

Flushing-Money

The U.S. Government Accountability Office released its FY 2014 estimates of improper payments made by the Federal Government in testimony before the U.S. Senate’s Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs on Monday. The Improper Payments Information Act of 2002 and the Improper Payments Elimination and Recovery Act of 2010 require Federal Executive Branch agencies to estimate the levels of improper payments in all Federal programs. The GAO assembles this data and reports the levels of improper payments, along with recommendations to minimize such improper payments.

At the Federal level, all improper payments amounted to about $ 125 billion dollars in FY 2014. Even by casual Federal accounting standards this is breathtaking.  Three cents of every Federal Government dollar spent. Going through the GAO’s estimates by program, the Earned Income Tax Credit is at the top of the list by percentage of improper payments: 27.2 % of all EITC payments are improper. The GAO estimated FY 2014 improper EITC payments by the Federal Government alone amounted to $ 17.7 billion dollars. Other Federal programs burned more dollars, but none had the percentage rate of improper payments that the EITC has. Not even close.

The most obscure element of the tax increase package which Michigan voters will be asked to approve on May 5th is Senate Bill 847 of 2014. This bill is a $ 260 million annual increase in the State of Michigan’s version of the EITC. The EITC will increase from its current 6 %, to 20 %, of the Federal EITC credit allowed under Section 32 of the Internal Revenue Code. Currently, the Michigan EITC pays out about $ 80 million from the Michigan Treasury every year at the 6 % rate.

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Cronyism, Democrats, Detroit, Elections, Michigan, Michigan Politics, Proposal 15-1, Taxes

Where’s The Bridge?

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Questionable MDoT Database Compromises Auditor General's Bridge Inspection Performance Audit

Jefferson Rouge BridgeThe Michigan Office of the Auditor General released its overdue performance audit of MDoT’s Bridge Inspection Program Friday afternoon, just in time to miss last week’s news cycle. Weekend news reports focused on bridge inspection frequency, but there is a more fundamental question which should be answered first: Are the MDoT bridge records which were audited complete and correct?  Even remotely so?

The Federal Highway Administration collects bridge data from the State DoT’s and other sources to create and maintain the National Bridge Inventory. It is supposed to list all American bridges which have roads running across them or below them, along with ownership, identifiers, and condition data. Condition data is given as a number from 0 (failed) through 9 (good beyond current standards). These numbers then get converted into the descriptors you read in the press, such as ‘structurally deficient’, poor, good, etc.

The MOAG performance audit is replete with statistics derived from MDoT’s bridge inventory database which show – no surprise – that some of Michigan’s bridges are in poor shape. You can see MOAG’s statistics as of April 30th, 2014 in the audit or go to a searchable database of individual bridge data across the entire country, as of 2012, brought to us by Alexander Svirsky of MassRoads.com.

A first pass at the MOAG bridge inspection audit involved looking at the worst condition category of bridges, those rated 0 or 1 for failed or imminent failure. Going through the Wayne County owned bridge summary on Page 51 of the new MOAG audit, I was heartened to see that Wayne County has no condition category 0 or 1 bridges. But there are at least two zero condition category major bridges in Wayne County across the Rouge River, so let’s say I am experiencing a little cognitive dissonance just now.

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