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Taxpayers League of Minnesota eUpdate
1. Taxpayers League Live! with David Strom.
2. A brief respite from the coming crush of new transit construction.
3. Last one out the door remember to turn out the lights.
4. 2006 Index of Government Dependency.
5. One last tribute to Milton Freidman (sort of).
1. Taxpayers League Live! with David Strom.
Tune in this Saturday to AM 1280 The Patriot from 9 – 11am when David will be joined by Larry Pogemiller. Pogemiller, the incoming Senate Majority Leader, will give us his thoughts on the 2007 legislative session and what to expect from the expanded Democratic majority.
2. Which is still just rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic.
Though the constitutional amendment to fully dedicate MVST revenue to transit and transportation projects by 2012 passed last month, in the short run, prospects for buses and trains don’t look too promising. Why? Because Minnesotans (who have already registered more vehicles than they have the ability to drive), aren’t buying cars fast enough. What this means for the current system (which only dedicates 54% of MVST to those projects), is that the Met Council has less to spend on bus routes, new (and old) rail lines and the rest of their socialized transit plans.
Speaking of new rail lines, the story linked above mentions that work on the proposed Central Corridor line between the downtowns may have to be held up – which I suppose is good. But let’s say someone finds some money to spin it back up (either from the state’s general fund or from new taxes) and construction begins in the near future. Has anyone thought about what impact that might have on the GOPs convention in 2008. I can’t imagine shutting down the length of University Avenue would make a week that already promises to be a transportation nightmare any better.
3. Conservatives will reap what Republicans have sown.
What started with such great promise in 1994 today comes to an unspectacular end. After years of ideological drift and mounting evidence of sustained corruption peppered by a sense of legislative entitlement and the hubris of incumbency, this chapter of GOP leadership comes to a close. But while the 109th Congress finally exits stage left, right on their heels follows a cast of Democratic managers that promises to put new terror into the phrase, “I’m from the government and I’m here to help.” Case in point, Captain of the Fun Police, the saturnine Henry Waxman. Waxman, who will most likely chair the House Government Reform Committee, has summed up his plans thusly: “if I were chairman, it would be a lot different. The biggest things that we’re not taking up are oversight issues, in a lot of areas where I think we should be very, very active.”
4. Any guesses as to how many Americans are dependent on Uncle Sam?
If you find yourself with a little free time this weekend, take a couple of minutes to read through this just-released study from the Heritage Foundation, the 2006 Index of Government Dependency. The study, which looks to track the percentage of Americans who are dependent on government for a range of services like housing, health and welfare and retirement, seeks to answer the question, “how much have such programs ‘crowded out’ what were once social obligations and services carried out by community groups, family networks, and even local governments? In other words, has the civil society yielded significant ground to the federal public sector?” Of course the existence of such a survey kind of answers the question by itself, but I’m guessing a lot of folks aren’t aware of the extent of our dependency on government.
“Today, 52.6 million people (18 percent of the total U.S. population) receive some level of assistance through the programs included in the Index. However, this percentage grows to 25 percent when federal and state employees are included. In 1962, the sum of these two categories (Index participants and government employees) stood at 33.9 million. This total grew to 81.7 million by the end of 2005, an increase of 141 percent. This is two-and-a-half times the growth rate of the U.S. population over the same period.”
5. Amazing things happen when people are “free to choose.”
So New York City has decided to ban trans fats from the food served in restaurants – which isn’t really surprising I guess when NYC repeatedly considers their population of 8 million nothing but of bunch of drooling invalids. But look at what happens when government gets out of the way and allows people to decide on their own how to eat and live. Revolutionary, isn’t it?
The Taxpayers League of Minnesota's E Update is written by Mark Giga
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