With all the talk on the stimulus bill I thought I would disect how our legislators spend money now, pre stimulus, that might give us a little indication on how they will spend this new money. These amounts are tiny in comparison to the whopper of a stimulus bill but I just want to show the waste.
For example:
For five months of 2008 the Senate paid $215,674 for the Senate beauty/barber shop employees. If all 100 Senators got a hair cut once a month that comes $430 each a month. But in all fairness they are not only hair stylists, they do have a manicurist, and a "Shoe Shine Attendant" (at a salary of $45,000).
We have the House Chaplin. I understand and approve of having a prayer before the opening of the House of Representatives. What I don't understand is why we pay someone $161,000 a year to do this prayer.
The House paid $3,243,023 in the 3rd quarter of 2008 for communications. I thought that was what the mainstream media did for free. How come if they spend 3 mil a quarter for communications why doesn't anybody know what is actually going on in that chamber.
We paid $19,737.51 for Nancy Pelosi's speechwriter, way over paid. She has about 50 staff members and I just wondered what is the title of the guy that holds her brain.
Earmarks:
Who had the most earmarks in 2008? Hillary Clinton $1,583,115,755 not bad for actually running for President at same time.
Chuck Shummer is number 2 with $1,463,846,355. So I guess if you live in NY you are doing pretty good.
You get you a taste of what I am looking for So am am going to back to digging and see what I come up with...
Saturday, January 31, 2009
Saturday, January 24, 2009
1,000,000,000,000
This painless little number a 1 followed by 12 zeros. On paper it doesn't seem that big, only a couple of inches using the biggest font. What is all the fuss about then, when it comes to all this "stimulus" money. Let me try to put it into a little perspective, so it is a little easier to grasp.
A trillion dollars will buy:
About 9,000 Riverside Parkway Projects
About 11,000 Police/Fire Stations Projects
About 2,747 Invesco Fields at Mile High
About 5,000,000 new $200,000 homes
Assuming the current population of the United States is 305 million people, distributed evenly a trillion dollars would be $3278 for every man, woman or child.
400,000,000 living room furniture sets (I put that one in there for Mrs. T., she would like new furniture).
33,333,333 New $30,000 cars.
1,610 Capitol Visitor Centers
111 months of terrorist suppression in Iraq
2.3 Complete Interstate Highway systems (425 billion each using 2006 dollars)
333 Freedom Towers (at planned cost)
or simply 923,500,000,000 dollar menu items at McDonald's (minus the 76.5 billion in sales taxes).
Please call your Representative and Senators and request they not support the Stimulus bill. It is simply crazy to think that you can spend your way out of debt. Help make it stop Please!
A trillion dollars will buy:
About 9,000 Riverside Parkway Projects
About 11,000 Police/Fire Stations Projects
About 2,747 Invesco Fields at Mile High
About 5,000,000 new $200,000 homes
Assuming the current population of the United States is 305 million people, distributed evenly a trillion dollars would be $3278 for every man, woman or child.
400,000,000 living room furniture sets (I put that one in there for Mrs. T., she would like new furniture).
33,333,333 New $30,000 cars.
1,610 Capitol Visitor Centers
111 months of terrorist suppression in Iraq
2.3 Complete Interstate Highway systems (425 billion each using 2006 dollars)
333 Freedom Towers (at planned cost)
or simply 923,500,000,000 dollar menu items at McDonald's (minus the 76.5 billion in sales taxes).
Please call your Representative and Senators and request they not support the Stimulus bill. It is simply crazy to think that you can spend your way out of debt. Help make it stop Please!
Sunday, January 18, 2009
Our New Government
I thought I would write a post about the new Presidency in a bit of a different way. That way I can get a little different perspective on the people who are in Obama's cabinet and the current Congress. I'm going to write about the Cabinet in order of succession to the Presidency, heaven forbid something happened where our new President Could not perform his duties...
Being the Vice-President and President of the Senate, the first in line is Joe Biden of Delaware. Before the election he was most noted for his multiple gaffs in speaking. So not a great communicator. Likes to spend money traveling on the train to and from Delaware. Other than that I can not figure out one thing that would make him a great President. Essentially I think he was picked as "Assassination Insurance" Meaning no one would want to assassinate Obama for the fear of having Biden as President.
The next in line is Speaker of the House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi. A San Fransisco nut job that quite frankly is a bit scary. I could make a ton of comments about her but I don't want to get that angry today.
Third in line is the President pro Tempore of the Senate, Robert Byrd. A notable guy for his involvement with the KKK in the 40's. Oldest living Senator at 82. I watched him on CSPAN recently and he could hardly talk. Sixty of his 82 years he has held public office, mostly in the Senate. So a career politician, need I say more.
Forth is the new Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton. Her best qualification for the Presidency in the fact that she knows the layout of the White House and already has a lot of the furnishings that were there.
Fifth is Secretary of the Treasury, Timothy Geithner. The head of the IRS that didn't pay his taxes, nice.
Sixth is Secretary of Defence, Robert Gates. A Republican holdover from the Bush administration. He's the guy that will not get to speak in cabinet meetings, Republicans only hope of a voice in the Obama presidency. I'm sure he was picked because Democrats only knowledge of Defence is to surrender. To be fired within the first Obama term.
Eric Holder, Attorney General is seventh. Or shall we call him Mr. Pardon. Wants to close Gitmo. Guess he like criminals to be free. He worked for Bill Clinton in the 90's.
Our own Ken Salazar is Eighth. He is the Secretary of Interior. Our hope that Western views and water will be protected.
Ninth is Secretary of Agriculture, Tom Vilsack. Likes large industrial farms (goodbye family farmer) and genetically modified crops (what is this, a corn-beet?).
Tenth is Secretary of Commerce, Richardson is out. Who will be next?
Secretary of Labor is next. Her name is Hilda Solis. In favor of card check program, big unions.
Health and Human Services: Tom Daschle. Believes the government should pay for all health care. Great more taxes for less quality.
Head of HUD is next, Shaun Donavan. Former housing head in NYC. No clue what he will be like but I have noticed that a lot of people have houses in NYC, can he deal with a lot of people not having houses in the USA?
Ray LaHood. Transportation Secretary, a Republican. He must have a little power, Obama's first thing to do in office is give a ton of money for roads and bridges.
Department of Energy is next: Steven Chu. Nobel prize winner in physics. Smart people in federal politics usually doesn't work out.
Education Department head is Arne Duncan. A former pro basketball player in Australia. Head of Chicago Public Schools. Obama must need help on his game when they rip out bowling ally in White House and put in basketball court.
Eric Shinseki, Department of Veterans Affairs. A former, well decorated, four star General. A fitting post for a 4-star General, he knows what our heroes have had to deal with and will give them the best. I think this might be a good pick.
Janet Napolitano is last of the Cabinet as Homeland Security Secretary. Anita Hill's lawyer against Clarence Thomas's Supreme court nomination.
One last not person who is not in line for the Presidential job is the Chief of Staff. Arguably the second most powerful man in Washington. He has the Presidents schedule control, if he does not want you to talk to the President you don't talk to the President. His name Rahm Emanuel. A hard nose Chicago politician. Mixed up in Blago-gate. Believes we need civilian mandatory service corps. I think he is a real scary guy, don't think I could trust him.
So as a conservative I'm not real hopeful of the change that is going to be dished out the next four years. I just hope that they do not change my country so much that I do not recognize it anymore.
Being the Vice-President and President of the Senate, the first in line is Joe Biden of Delaware. Before the election he was most noted for his multiple gaffs in speaking. So not a great communicator. Likes to spend money traveling on the train to and from Delaware. Other than that I can not figure out one thing that would make him a great President. Essentially I think he was picked as "Assassination Insurance" Meaning no one would want to assassinate Obama for the fear of having Biden as President.
The next in line is Speaker of the House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi. A San Fransisco nut job that quite frankly is a bit scary. I could make a ton of comments about her but I don't want to get that angry today.
Third in line is the President pro Tempore of the Senate, Robert Byrd. A notable guy for his involvement with the KKK in the 40's. Oldest living Senator at 82. I watched him on CSPAN recently and he could hardly talk. Sixty of his 82 years he has held public office, mostly in the Senate. So a career politician, need I say more.
Forth is the new Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton. Her best qualification for the Presidency in the fact that she knows the layout of the White House and already has a lot of the furnishings that were there.
Fifth is Secretary of the Treasury, Timothy Geithner. The head of the IRS that didn't pay his taxes, nice.
Sixth is Secretary of Defence, Robert Gates. A Republican holdover from the Bush administration. He's the guy that will not get to speak in cabinet meetings, Republicans only hope of a voice in the Obama presidency. I'm sure he was picked because Democrats only knowledge of Defence is to surrender. To be fired within the first Obama term.
Eric Holder, Attorney General is seventh. Or shall we call him Mr. Pardon. Wants to close Gitmo. Guess he like criminals to be free. He worked for Bill Clinton in the 90's.
Our own Ken Salazar is Eighth. He is the Secretary of Interior. Our hope that Western views and water will be protected.
Ninth is Secretary of Agriculture, Tom Vilsack. Likes large industrial farms (goodbye family farmer) and genetically modified crops (what is this, a corn-beet?).
Tenth is Secretary of Commerce, Richardson is out. Who will be next?
Secretary of Labor is next. Her name is Hilda Solis. In favor of card check program, big unions.
Health and Human Services: Tom Daschle. Believes the government should pay for all health care. Great more taxes for less quality.
Head of HUD is next, Shaun Donavan. Former housing head in NYC. No clue what he will be like but I have noticed that a lot of people have houses in NYC, can he deal with a lot of people not having houses in the USA?
Ray LaHood. Transportation Secretary, a Republican. He must have a little power, Obama's first thing to do in office is give a ton of money for roads and bridges.
Department of Energy is next: Steven Chu. Nobel prize winner in physics. Smart people in federal politics usually doesn't work out.
Education Department head is Arne Duncan. A former pro basketball player in Australia. Head of Chicago Public Schools. Obama must need help on his game when they rip out bowling ally in White House and put in basketball court.
Eric Shinseki, Department of Veterans Affairs. A former, well decorated, four star General. A fitting post for a 4-star General, he knows what our heroes have had to deal with and will give them the best. I think this might be a good pick.
Janet Napolitano is last of the Cabinet as Homeland Security Secretary. Anita Hill's lawyer against Clarence Thomas's Supreme court nomination.
One last not person who is not in line for the Presidential job is the Chief of Staff. Arguably the second most powerful man in Washington. He has the Presidents schedule control, if he does not want you to talk to the President you don't talk to the President. His name Rahm Emanuel. A hard nose Chicago politician. Mixed up in Blago-gate. Believes we need civilian mandatory service corps. I think he is a real scary guy, don't think I could trust him.
So as a conservative I'm not real hopeful of the change that is going to be dished out the next four years. I just hope that they do not change my country so much that I do not recognize it anymore.
Sunday, January 11, 2009
City Calender
As I was thumbing thought this week's junk mail, I noticed something real interesting...a city calender.
At first I didn't give it much thought and as I thumbed through it, it dawned on me "Hey I don't live in the city, why am I getting a calender." Then the paranoid fear set in..."What if they annex my house into the city, what if they already have already annexed me in and I somehow missed it?"
As I made my way to the computer to check the city GIS to see if I was actually already in the city, I started thinking.... I would get the advantages of spring cleanup and leaf pickup how nice that would be to have someone come to my house and pickup my old trash and leaves once a year. Since I don't have a tree, so no leaves that little "perk" is gone. I actually pay for a service to collect my garbage on a weekly basis instead of annually but I guess I can collect my garbage through out the year to give to the city, instead of my weekly pickups.
I guess the other "perk" of being in the city is actually being noticed in our little area of Pear Park. If you live south of E road between 30 and 32 roads you are in "no-mans-land". You are not part of all the efforts to be part of the new City of Clifton and too far away to be part of Grand Junction proper. Maybe that isn't a "perk" maybe that is a blessing.
I would get a say in city elections, that would be nice to vote down every monetary request of the city. Is it worth it thought when one of those proposals actually slip through and I end up with yet more taxes.
I would get the service of the city police and fire departments but with no new building downtown, I'm not sure how they could respond in a timely manner.
So taxes vs. voting privilege being a wash, slower police and fire service and no need for leaf pickup, my sole advantage to being in the city over the county is an annual pick of my junk, that saves me the 5 or 10 bucks it costs me to haul it to the dump, all by myself, once a year. That couple hundred extra I will be paying in property taxes is well worth being in the city then.
At first I didn't give it much thought and as I thumbed through it, it dawned on me "Hey I don't live in the city, why am I getting a calender." Then the paranoid fear set in..."What if they annex my house into the city, what if they already have already annexed me in and I somehow missed it?"
As I made my way to the computer to check the city GIS to see if I was actually already in the city, I started thinking.... I would get the advantages of spring cleanup and leaf pickup how nice that would be to have someone come to my house and pickup my old trash and leaves once a year. Since I don't have a tree, so no leaves that little "perk" is gone. I actually pay for a service to collect my garbage on a weekly basis instead of annually but I guess I can collect my garbage through out the year to give to the city, instead of my weekly pickups.
I guess the other "perk" of being in the city is actually being noticed in our little area of Pear Park. If you live south of E road between 30 and 32 roads you are in "no-mans-land". You are not part of all the efforts to be part of the new City of Clifton and too far away to be part of Grand Junction proper. Maybe that isn't a "perk" maybe that is a blessing.
I would get a say in city elections, that would be nice to vote down every monetary request of the city. Is it worth it thought when one of those proposals actually slip through and I end up with yet more taxes.
I would get the service of the city police and fire departments but with no new building downtown, I'm not sure how they could respond in a timely manner.
So taxes vs. voting privilege being a wash, slower police and fire service and no need for leaf pickup, my sole advantage to being in the city over the county is an annual pick of my junk, that saves me the 5 or 10 bucks it costs me to haul it to the dump, all by myself, once a year. That couple hundred extra I will be paying in property taxes is well worth being in the city then.
Thursday, January 8, 2009
My Household Budget
Being January 8, I thought I would start on my annual household budget (Being the timely kind of guy that I am). This year, for a change I thought I would use the federal government budget as a guideline and see how I fare.
The most important part of my budget is food (as my grandmother-in-law tells my wife "He's an eater") Since I like fresh food I think I will start with purchasing 100 acres of good farmland so I can have plenty of space to grow all the different kinds of food my family likes during the year. Because I am a meat eater and I think my boy and I could eat a 1/2 a beef at a sitting, I believe a cattle ranch should be purchased. With equipment needed to operate these ventures the approximate cost (if I keep it cheap) about $2,000,000. I think I could apply to the Department of Agriculture for a grant for this purchase.
Next housing: With interest rates at an all time low, maybe I can buy myself a little larger house that I live in now. If I use a government plan to decide on the size of my house; I guess I need to have a house that is about 10,000 square feet (Enough room for anyone who might want to move in with me for the next 30 years). With cost overruns I think I can keep it under $1.5 million. Maybe I better budget $2,000,000 because I forgot about the environmental impact statement I will have to file. I think that Fannie and Freddie are flush with cash I'm sure I could get some money from them.
Automotive: Always tricky for me cause I don't like fancy cars but I would like one more fuel efficient not knowing about the cost of fuel, and I figure I better buy an American car, so I settled on the new electric Volt, because I know I'm not in to big of a hurry and know
there are electrical receptacles within 35 miles of everywhere I drive so I should be fine. With the "bridge loans" supplied to American automakers I'm sure they will give me a good deal. Approximate cost $160,000 minus a tax credit of $3,000 = $157,000 (the inflated cost is to help payback the "bridge loan").
Clothing: I'm usually happy with the clothes I have had for a few years that I bought at Wally World or K-Mart, but I think I'll step it up and get some fancy clothes at Mervyn's or Corral West (What.... they closed up shop? Humm I guess I'll have to think about that for a while.) I guess I have to have a bidding process and see what the low bids are for a new wardrobe. My guess: $100,000 (The going rate the Republican party pays for clothes).
Savings: There will be no saving only spending in my household this year.
Now I have to figure out the income part of the budget. I figure that if I beg and beg and beg all my friends and family they will give me the money. If they can't come up with the cash for my new budget that's OK. I'll just steal the money from everybody in the country, just like the government.
The most important part of my budget is food (as my grandmother-in-law tells my wife "He's an eater") Since I like fresh food I think I will start with purchasing 100 acres of good farmland so I can have plenty of space to grow all the different kinds of food my family likes during the year. Because I am a meat eater and I think my boy and I could eat a 1/2 a beef at a sitting, I believe a cattle ranch should be purchased. With equipment needed to operate these ventures the approximate cost (if I keep it cheap) about $2,000,000. I think I could apply to the Department of Agriculture for a grant for this purchase.
Next housing: With interest rates at an all time low, maybe I can buy myself a little larger house that I live in now. If I use a government plan to decide on the size of my house; I guess I need to have a house that is about 10,000 square feet (Enough room for anyone who might want to move in with me for the next 30 years). With cost overruns I think I can keep it under $1.5 million. Maybe I better budget $2,000,000 because I forgot about the environmental impact statement I will have to file. I think that Fannie and Freddie are flush with cash I'm sure I could get some money from them.
Automotive: Always tricky for me cause I don't like fancy cars but I would like one more fuel efficient not knowing about the cost of fuel, and I figure I better buy an American car, so I settled on the new electric Volt, because I know I'm not in to big of a hurry and know
there are electrical receptacles within 35 miles of everywhere I drive so I should be fine. With the "bridge loans" supplied to American automakers I'm sure they will give me a good deal. Approximate cost $160,000 minus a tax credit of $3,000 = $157,000 (the inflated cost is to help payback the "bridge loan").
Clothing: I'm usually happy with the clothes I have had for a few years that I bought at Wally World or K-Mart, but I think I'll step it up and get some fancy clothes at Mervyn's or Corral West (What.... they closed up shop? Humm I guess I'll have to think about that for a while.) I guess I have to have a bidding process and see what the low bids are for a new wardrobe. My guess: $100,000 (The going rate the Republican party pays for clothes).
Savings: There will be no saving only spending in my household this year.
Now I have to figure out the income part of the budget. I figure that if I beg and beg and beg all my friends and family they will give me the money. If they can't come up with the cash for my new budget that's OK. I'll just steal the money from everybody in the country, just like the government.
Saturday, January 3, 2009
Boom, Bust, Boom, 2A/2B, Bust
I have come to appreciate and understand the boom/bust cycle over my working life in three states Colorado, Nevada, and to a smaller extent Nebraska. Every business, municipality, and state goes through these cycles. Depending on the current economic conditions and the size of the entities involved these cycles can be rather traumatic. For example: I worked for several different mining companies over 10 years and one fact is always true: If it costs more to remove a mineral from the ground, than they can sell it for right now then they stop removing it from the ground. It is like money in the bank to them by not mining. I remember one company I worked for telling us: "If the price of gold hits $360 don't bother coming to work cause we'll be closed." and unfortunately it did and that mine did close. It is just simple economics and miners in Nevada understood that fact often using a term "It's worth more in the ground" when referring to layoffs and mine lives.
When I first started mining in Nevada I was a very young 19 years old, and I did not yet understand that they could and would close a mine on a moments notice. Being young and with lots of money (mines do pay very well), I spent my money like crazy till one day the mine shut down and I was left with nothing to pay for all my new junk. It was pretty bad times for a while, but I did learn that valuable lesson: You need to save for the bad times because they are imminent.
The Grand Valley has had these problems in the past as well (interesting that they all involved natural resource extraction as well). There was the uranium boom of the 50's, the Exxon 80's and now we are in a natural gas boom. It seems though, that the governments in the Grand Valley are kinda like me at 19, spend like the money is never ending, not saving anything and accumulating enormous debt. With the new drilling rules from the Ritter administration coupled with an Obama administration who dislikes (at last check) mineral extraction of any kind, I think our boom has peaked and now we are starting down the hill to an eventual bust.
I got bad taste in my mouth hearing that the city commissioned "a study" on what went wrong with 2A/2B ballot measures. Maybe something didn't "go wrong" maybe it was just the right thing to do, voting no on a measure we cannot afford at this time. You see, those of us that have been here and have lived through the boom/bust cycles, know what can come next. The people of the Grand Valley remember the days where you could drive down any street in town and all you would see was foreclosure notices and for sale signs on many of the properties. We remember and we didn't like those days. So instead of being condescending and telling the public that they were wrong in their choice for not approving the new police/fire station why doesn't the city government adapt to the public's wishes, maybe a smaller building(s) or adding on to existing buildings, or using a building that has little use (can you say infill program). Oh no they would rather spend time and money blaming the public for not doing something they wanted done. I think I know what that taste in my mouth is now....The city feeding me bul____ again.
When I first started mining in Nevada I was a very young 19 years old, and I did not yet understand that they could and would close a mine on a moments notice. Being young and with lots of money (mines do pay very well), I spent my money like crazy till one day the mine shut down and I was left with nothing to pay for all my new junk. It was pretty bad times for a while, but I did learn that valuable lesson: You need to save for the bad times because they are imminent.
The Grand Valley has had these problems in the past as well (interesting that they all involved natural resource extraction as well). There was the uranium boom of the 50's, the Exxon 80's and now we are in a natural gas boom. It seems though, that the governments in the Grand Valley are kinda like me at 19, spend like the money is never ending, not saving anything and accumulating enormous debt. With the new drilling rules from the Ritter administration coupled with an Obama administration who dislikes (at last check) mineral extraction of any kind, I think our boom has peaked and now we are starting down the hill to an eventual bust.
I got bad taste in my mouth hearing that the city commissioned "a study" on what went wrong with 2A/2B ballot measures. Maybe something didn't "go wrong" maybe it was just the right thing to do, voting no on a measure we cannot afford at this time. You see, those of us that have been here and have lived through the boom/bust cycles, know what can come next. The people of the Grand Valley remember the days where you could drive down any street in town and all you would see was foreclosure notices and for sale signs on many of the properties. We remember and we didn't like those days. So instead of being condescending and telling the public that they were wrong in their choice for not approving the new police/fire station why doesn't the city government adapt to the public's wishes, maybe a smaller building(s) or adding on to existing buildings, or using a building that has little use (can you say infill program). Oh no they would rather spend time and money blaming the public for not doing something they wanted done. I think I know what that taste in my mouth is now....The city feeding me bul____ again.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
LinkWithin
