|
1. Hennepin County Strikes Out
2. Stupid Stimulus Contest Winner: David Anderson!
3. Yes, Yes, Yes
4. A Five Year Payoff – Unbelievable
5. Health Care Reform at What Cost?
1. Hennepin County Strikes Out
Last Tuesday, the Hennepin County Board of Commissioners debated the question of how much to increase the property tax levy for 2010. The recommendation from the County Administrator was to set the levy increase at 3 percent. The Board members decided at the last minute to hike the property tax levy by an additional 2 percent, setting the levy increase at 4.95 percent.
First it was the ballpark tax, now it’s a whopping property tax increase. Does anyone on the Hennepin County Board get it?
To read more click here.
2. Stupid Stimulus Contest Winner: David Anderson!
Our “Stupid Stimulus Spending Contest” encouraged taxpayers to send in the most wasteful and egregious ways they had seen the federal government spend stimulus money. David Anderson of Lonsdale, MN won 1st place in the contest for his “Minnesota Board of Arts” entry.
Here is our Stupid (most wasteful) Stimulus winner again:
Minnesota Board of Arts
Amount: $316,000
Project Description: To help preserve jobs in the nonprofit arts sector that are threatened by the current economic downturn.
Preserve jobs threatened by the economic downturn? The federal government must have overlooked the fact that the Minnesota State Arts Board already received a $21.65 million first-year appropriation from the arts and culture constitutional tax increase, combined with about $8.62 million from the general fund this year. That not only tripled the board's annual budget of recent years, but it also catapulted Minnesota to No. 2 in state government arts funding.
Last week, Phil Krinkie, president of the Taxpayers League, awarded David a $100 check and “Pork Barrel” the pig under the dome of the State Capitol.
3. Yes, Yes, Yes
In a recent Pioneer Press article, the question over whether Minnesota’s next governor can erase a projected $5.4 billion budget deficit without raising taxes was posed.
Six of the seven GOP candidates responded that the budget can be balanced without raising taxes! Sounds like six are on the right track!
To read more click here.
4. A Five Year Payoff – Unbelievable
U.S.taxpayers are spending more than $40,000 per month on office space, staff, cell phones and a leased SUV for former House Speaker Dennis Hastert, even as he works as a lobbyist for private corporations and foreign governments.
The payments are permitted under a federal law that provides five years of benefits for former speakers — but only if Hastert never makes use of his government-funded perks in the course of his lobbying work.
A spokesman for Hastert pointed out that he is authorized to spend as much as $840,000 annually to run his office but has not used all the money made available to him by Congress. Well then, let’s all thank the Former House Speaker for his fiscal restraint.
To read more click here.
5. Health Care Reform at What Cost?
On a straight party-line vote, the Democratic-controlled Senate advanced a massive and bloated $871 billion health care bill on Monday – a measure aimed at crowding out private business in favor of a big government takeover.
Buried in the health care bill is a boat load of special earmarks (i.e. pork barrel spending). For instance, Nebraska will receive $100 million in assistance for its state Medicaid program as a payoff for Sen. Ben Nelson’s (D) vote on the Senate's healthcare reform bill.
Also tucked within the bill is a provision that could provide billions of dollars for walking paths, streetlights, jungle gyms, and even farmers’ markets. The add-ons - characterized as part of a broad effort to improve the nation’s health “infrastructure’’ - appear in both House and Senate versions of the bill.
Not only does it appear taxpayers were conned into a government takover of health care, it appears taxpayers will also fund community projects in the name of health care!
To read more click here. |
