Georgia, Oregon become economic test case
Ten years from now, it’ll be fascinating to look back and see who turned out to be right.
Across the country, falling tax revenues are forcing deep cuts in state budgets. Under Gov. Sonny Perdue’s proposed budget here in Georgia, for example, “per student state spending on k-12 education and the university system will fall to their lowest levels in a decade” after inflation, the Georgia Budget and Policy Institute reports.
Some states have tried to soften such blows with strategic tax increases that will raise a total of $24 billion in new revenue, according to the National Governors Association. But at a press conference Thursday, Georgia legislative leaders announced plans to slash rather than raise state revenue by cutting business fees and taxes and the state capital gains tax.
Asked about the impact on an already ravaged state treasury, state Rep. Tom Graves turned the question around: “We don’t see this as a cost to the state, we see this as a savings to the taxpayer.”
In Oregon, on the other hand, leaders are taking the exact opposite approach. They’ve already cut spending significantly, but this week, Oregon voters easily approved ballot measures that will increase taxes on business and on households with incomes higher than $250,000. The new revenue will close the remaining budget gap of $727 million and fend off further cuts in education and other public services.
That sets up an interesting test case. While Oregon raises taxes to preserve its public infrastructure and services, Georgia believes that it can stimulate a boom by offering investors a cheaper business environment. “We’re going to be the economic beacon and leader for the rest of the country” in recovering from this recession, Graves confidently predicted.
Today, median household incomes in Georgia ($50,861) and Oregon ($50,169) are quite similar. They start from a similar base on taxes as well, since Oregon voters have a tradition of fiscal conservatism equal to that of Georgia. In 2005, Oregon ranked 41st in per capita state taxes ($1,791) while Georgia ranked 42nd ($1,726), according to the Census Bureau. So it will be interesting to see where they stand in a decade.
Given Georgia’s already low tax structure and the condition of the national economy, I personally have a hard time believing that state taxes have been a significant hurdle to investment here. Dropping from 42nd to 44th or 45th in the tax rankings doesn’t seem like it will accomplish much except force more furloughs of teachers, but I guess we’ll wait and see.
This won’t be the first time that Georgia and Oregon have set themselves up as test cases. Beginning 15 to 20 years ago, the two states also took starkly divergent approaches to growth in their major urban areas.
Under Oregon law, the three-county Portland metro area was given the power to tax itself as a region for transportation. It has used that authority to commit to mass transit, investing in light rail, trolley lines and more recently commuter rail. That’s a stark contrast to the Georgia strategy, which has relied almost exclusively on highways and denied metro Atlanta the right to act as a region.
Wendell Cox, a highway advocate and a favorite transportation consultant for Georgia conservatives, argued in the Atlanta Constitution back in 1999 that the Georgia model would prevail. In fact, he predicted, “traffic congestion in Portland is likely to be worse than it is in Los Angeles by 2015.”
Well, it’s not 2015 yet. But when Cox wrote those words, Portland was 18th worst in the country in rush-hour delays per traveler; by 2007, it improved to 34th. Meanwhile, Los Angeles stayed at number one and Atlanta stayed at number three.
In the latest rankings, Portland has also improved significantly in the time-travel index, considered a standard measure of congestion. Again, Los Angeles and Atlanta didn’t budge.
Those trends have consequences on the quality of life a region can offer, a factor that in the modern world often has more impact on growth than low taxes. Quality of life has an especially strong appeal to the young college-educated people that high-paying employers need to prosper and innovate.
From 1995-2000, according to the Census Bureau, Atlanta was the fourth most attractive destination for that desired demographic. Portland was fifth.
Late last year, the Wall Street Journal took an updated look at what it called “the next hot youth magnets.” Portland was fourth; Atlanta didn’t make the list, and was mentioned only as another formerly ascendant Sun Belt city now in eclipse.
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466 comments Add your comment
Outhouse GoKart
January 29th, 2010
9:37 am
BoB…Just trying to find a solution to the problem. Our president did make mention of he had heard no better ideas for HCare the other night. Our blog Pro-Tax Progressives are constantly spouting about the dumb reps have no ideas and “The Party of No”, selfishness etc.
Would seem the “Party of Yes” would be happy to contribute!!? After all “we are all the same, all in this together” and all those other Pro-Tax Progressive mantras…
TnGelding
January 29th, 2010
9:37 am
Balance Our Budget
January 29th, 2010
9:02 am
That 10% must have been the dead wood. Hats off to the productivity of the remaining workforce.
md
January 29th, 2010
9:38 am
” people who are shown a graph of global temperature”
I’m still waiting for the big picture graph, the one that shows the entire 4.5 billion years of earth’s history, and all I keep getting is a little picture graph showing less than 1%.
I Report (-: You Whine )-: mmm, mmmm, mmmmm!
January 29th, 2010
9:42 am
For the whole of 2009, the economy contracted 2.4 percent, the biggest decline since 1946, the first year after the end of World War II.
Just sayin….
Excluding food and energy prices, the price index for gross domestic purchases increased 1.2 percent in the fourth quarter, compared with an increase of 0.3 percent in the third.
So either people ate a lot more in the last few months or they spent more on energy<—–duh.
USinUK
January 29th, 2010
9:42 am
Doggone – re: md’s and whack’s posts – they’d, of course, compare it to the original temperature of the earth as it formed and justify to you that the earth is actually cooling from when it was molten lava …
Balance Our Budget
January 29th, 2010
9:42 am
USinUK
My apologies girrrrl.
TnGelding
January 29th, 2010
9:43 am
USinUK
January 29th, 2010
9:35 am
You go girl! Hope everything is okay in your world.
Love that GDP number. Obama, the miracle worker! Makes you wonder how much the reported 16% unemployed were contributing. And the GOP wanted to get rid of Ben?
“The confirmation vote was preceded by a critical preliminary ballot to block a filibuster by opponents. He needed 60 votes rather than a simple majority and got 77, to 23 against. The closest previous final confirmation vote for a Fed chairman was 84-16 for Paul Volcker’s second term in 1983 following another severe recession.”
USinUK
January 29th, 2010
9:43 am
whiner – “So either people ate a lot more in the last few months or they spent more on energy”
um. do you not understand the word “exclude”?
USinUK
January 29th, 2010
9:44 am
BoB – no probs (just thought you’d want to know)
md
January 29th, 2010
9:44 am
usinuk,
For a numbers person, you surprise me that you would hang your hat on data less than 1%.
Jenifer
January 29th, 2010
9:47 am
Economy Soars 5.7 Percent, Fastest In 6 Years
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20100129/bs_nm/us_usa_economy
USinUK
January 29th, 2010
9:47 am
md – sorry – just to be clear – what are you referring to in your 9:44?
Bob
January 29th, 2010
9:48 am
Maybe this is why some are not believing that temps are going up.
http://www.bobbyshred.com/fools/falsetemps.html
TnGelding
January 29th, 2010
9:49 am
I Report (-: You Whine )-: mmm, mmmm, mmmmm!
January 29th, 2010
9:42 am
That was the “price index.”
Doggone/GA
January 29th, 2010
9:50 am
USinUk…yes, I know. Sad, isn’t it?
md
January 29th, 2010
9:51 am
“Doggone – re: md’s and whack’s posts – they’d, of course, compare it to the original temperature of the earth as it formed and justify to you that the earth is actually cooling from when it was molten lava …”
Snarky….excellent debating strategy. Wish you well with that one.
Bubba
January 29th, 2010
9:51 am
Not to belabor this, but the AJC, in a story by Marcus Garner, reported Jan. 20 that Atlanta’s traffic was ranked 22nd worst in the nation, not third as reported by Bookman. The same study ranked Portland at 16th worst.
USinUK
January 29th, 2010
9:52 am
TnG – hey, just because people are unemployed doesn’t mean that they aren’t eating and making other purchases (just a lot less) – they contribute to GDP, as well.
USinUK
January 29th, 2010
9:53 am
md – YOU were the one who said that you wanted to see data for the last 4.5 billion years of the world’s history and you’re calling ME snarky???
da noive.
Outhouse GoKart
January 29th, 2010
9:54 am
If just 1 million people from the GA Party of “Yes we can” would contribute a mere one time gift/donation of say…oh, $35 that would be an extra for $35,000,000 to the State cofers.
A small price to pay for getting the homeless an extra blankee, that child an extra bowl of Count Chocula, that unwed mother an extra 200 cellphone minutes…yes a small price to pay.
And just to show Im not such a mean, nasty, party of NO, republican I would contribute my $35 also…
Or perhaps a “Party of Yes/Party of No” come to Jesus meeting? Kinda like the foster child or Big brother programs. Each participating Pro-Tax Progressive could assist some dumb ole backwoods trailer living PBR drinkin Rep in making a contribution…here again that old adage “lead by example”.
md
January 29th, 2010
9:54 am
Less than 1% – the amount of data in relation to the subject of any global temperature graph.
Pretty silly if one truly looks at the big picture.
Balance Our Budget
January 29th, 2010
9:55 am
Gelding
The unemployed are dead wood? Not a very good campaign slogan.
USinUK
January 29th, 2010
9:55 am
md – “Merely pointing out a “fact”, debate the fact”
as was I – that you are talking about comparing the temperature of the earth NOW to what it was when it was molten lava.
md
January 29th, 2010
9:56 am
“md – YOU were the one who said that you wanted to see data for the last 4.5 billion years of the world’s history and you’re calling ME snarky???”
Merely pointing out a “fact”, debate the fact.
Whacks Eloquent
January 29th, 2010
9:56 am
“Doggone – re: md’s and whack’s posts – they’d, of course, compare it to the original temperature of the earth as it formed and justify to you that the earth is actually cooling from when it was molten lava …”
I said millenia, not eons. Since the last Ice Age should suffice…
I have seen plenty of graphs that show the last 100 years or so, again I want to look back further.
Here is site for a few such graphs (for those of y’all who know how to read them!)
http://www.geocraft.com/WVFossils/ice_ages.html
| My Green ATL
January 29th, 2010
9:58 am
[...] Bookman’s full column is worth a read because it rolls forward to a plan by Georgia Republicans to cut taxes. [...]
NRB2
January 29th, 2010
9:59 am
Oregon voted to raise taxes on corporations and citizens making more than 250,000 per year.
Boy, it sure is easy to vote in a tax increase if you don’t have to be the one paying it?
And I always love how the solution with libs is to tax more, as opposed to say…spending less?
Intown Lib
January 29th, 2010
9:59 am
Jay: You are right on the money. Our state leadership over the past 8-10 years has seriously harmed Georgia’s economic future. Unless there is dramatic progressive action on water and transportation, I foresee a long period of decline for Georgia and metro Atlanta. Take a look at what the Governor’s budget does to effectively end the GEFA program of low-interest loans going toward water and wastewater infrastructure. It is short-sighted public policy of the worst kind.
USinUK
January 29th, 2010
10:00 am
good gravy. must everything lead to global warming or abortion?
it’s friday. can’t we debate the merits of chilli vs. wings at a Superbowl party???
Outhouse GoKart
January 29th, 2010
10:00 am
USinUK
January 29th, 2010
10:00 am
I vote chili!! The game, regardless of its outcome, would be blow-out!
Doggone/GA
January 29th, 2010
10:00 am
“debate the fact.”
If you have a relatively stable environment, and one factor changes and that factor alters the environment, with the potential to alter it radically in the future…then it’s useless to use graphs of the time BEFORE that changed factor as an indicator of the future of the environment. The only thing that matters is the graphs that begin when the changes due to that new factor begin to show the future trend.
Bosch
January 29th, 2010
10:01 am
Chili.
Matilda
January 29th, 2010
10:01 am
If we want successful companies to relocate here, or rise up from our own citizenry, then we need an educated workforce, not a state full of knuckle-dragging, math-ignorant Dumb*bleeps*! The technologies of the future are under development now, and (like the President said the other night before I dozed off) WE should be the ones making the cool energy and techie stuff that the rest of the world buys, not China or India. WE should do it here first!
What part of “Test scores and graduation rates indicate an epidemic of STOOOOOOOOPID down there in Georgia” is lost on the pro-business crowd? Stick a crowbar in your wallet and let’s invest in education already, and stop expecting people to pull themselves up by their bootstraps when the only jobs in their towns are at Hardee’s and WalMart. Fat, dumb, and stupid is no way to go through life, son.
Bosch
January 29th, 2010
10:02 am
USinUK,
I don’t think it’s gonna snow where I live. No sledding for me this weekend.
USinUK
January 29th, 2010
10:02 am
Bosch – are you stocked up on hot dogs for the Great Blizzard of 2010: Revenge of the Black Ice
NRB2
January 29th, 2010
10:02 am
can’t we debate the merits of chilli vs. wings at a Superbowl party???
—————————–
Why can’t we have both?
USinUK
January 29th, 2010
10:03 am
Outhouse – 10:00 – dammit. I wasn’t expecting that – had a mouthful of tea …
Outhouse GoKart
January 29th, 2010
10:03 am
“Stick a crowbar in your wallet and let’s invest in education already, and stop expecting people to pull themselves…”
THATS THE SPIRIT!!! Im proud of you Mati!! We have our first contributor from the Party of Yes We Can…a fine younr Pro-Tax Progressive has stepped up to the plate and will be loaning her crowbar to those in need.
And how much did you say you would be contributing…Ahem.
NRB2
January 29th, 2010
10:05 am
WE should be the ones making the cool energy and techie stuff that the rest of the world buys, not China or India. WE should do it here first!
—————————————————-
The problem is that Democrats only know how to demonize and punish business. This is why all the jobs are in China and India.
Why should someone in America go through the hassle of setting up a tech business here when they’ll just get raped by the government, and have to put up with a workforce of people who think everything should just be handed to them on a silver platter.
Thanks Democrats.
Paul
January 29th, 2010
10:06 am
Bosch
Both.
Bosch
January 29th, 2010
10:07 am
Matilda,
But, but, but – can’t we all get vouchers and send our kids to private schools and then they’ll all get the smarts?
FinnMcCool
January 29th, 2010
10:07 am
Oregon voters easily approved ballot measures
Voters APPROVED it. People don’t mind paying a little more in taxes when it is shown to lead to a higher quality of life.
For us in Jawju we can invest in trailer parks cause business will be booming. Move over Alabama – we will take your spot as the last state ranked in EVERYTHING!
TaxPayer
January 29th, 2010
10:07 am
Yes, you too can be a Taxpayer, Haywood Jablome. All you gots to do is git yoreself edjumicated and then git yoreself imploied and then yore emploier will take keer of the rest fer ya.
Outhouse GoKart
January 29th, 2010
10:08 am
UK
USinUK
January 29th, 2010
10:08 am
University of Michigan confidence – ALSO up – from 72.8 to 74.4, as expectations rose from 68.9 to 70.1 and the measure of current conditions rose from 78 to 81.1.
(link will be provided when the article is up)
Bosch
January 29th, 2010
10:08 am
Chicken wings are a waste. They are messy and the cost/benefit ratio is simply atrocious.
NRB2
January 29th, 2010
10:09 am
This is what you progressives don’t understand.
We already pay enough money in taxes to fund education to the hilt.
The problem is that government wastes so much money, or directs it to the wrong things, that they can’t get anything done right.
The government has a spending problem, not a revenue problem. There’s a stark difference. But really the problem is with Democrats, who keep voting in entitlement after entitlement after entitlement, and all these programs just implode because they’re train wrecks right out of the gate.
That and the mentality on the part of libs that says “if you want to keep what you’ve earned, you’re gready…and if I want to take what you’ve earned I’m noble”.
Bosch
January 29th, 2010
10:10 am
Chicken wings are simply a mechanism or means to chew on chicken fat coated with some kind of sauce that is usually gross.
Outhouse GoKart
January 29th, 2010
10:10 am
FinnMcCool
January 29th, 2010
10:07 am
YES WE CAN!!! Another Pro-Tax Progressive steps up to the plate. Finn McCool…come on down!!! So…how much will you be contributing to the State cofers? Did you need to borrow Mati’s Crowbar?
Ahem…how much did you say?
Bosch
January 29th, 2010
10:11 am
Excellent column by the way Mr. Bookman. A nice round of polite ballet claps to you for that one.
TaxPayer
January 29th, 2010
10:11 am
I’m still waiting for the big picture graph, the one that shows the entire 4.5 billion years of earth’s history, and all I keep getting is a little picture graph showing less than 1%.
You locate the pre-historic thermometers and I’ll plot the temperature data from them for you and even share it with cave men such as Inhofe.
NRB2
January 29th, 2010
10:11 am
People don’t mind paying a little more in taxes when it is shown to lead to a higher quality of life.
—————————————————————-
two quick things:
#1: the people who voted in the tax aren’t paying more in taxes, the new taxes effect those making $250,000 or higher….you know, the “evil rich” that you dumb libs hate so much that provide jobs etc.
#2: name even one case or example where higher taxes have led to a higher quality of life? Mass and Calif have the highest taxes in the country and they’re both bankrupt sh*t-holes. So much for your theory.
Paul
January 29th, 2010
10:12 am
Bosch
Steam’em for about 10 minutes to render of most of the fat. Then just bake’em for 18 minutes on a side and toss with sauce.
USinUK
January 29th, 2010
10:12 am
Bosch – not to mention, if they’ve been sitting out for longer than 15 minutes, they’re grotty.
give me a steaming bowl of chilli at a party – yeah, there’s more to clean up (and then there’s the methane contribution to global warming), but, hey, you also get a chance to play in your food with all the extra condiments: guacamole, sour cream, cheese, extra japalenos, tortilla chips and / or tortillas … it’s NOM-ilicious
FinnMcCool
January 29th, 2010
10:12 am
Proof NRB is proving he is already drunk this morning:
Average weekly wage of a blue collar employee in India/China tech industries: Venture a guess of what? $100 a week? Less?
Average weekly wage of a blue collar employee in US tech industries: Let’s venture a guess of $750 – $1,000
But, hey, them danged Democrats is demonizing and punishing biznesses here in the US…that’s the reason they move the jobs overseas!
Go sell that 3rd rate Fox News/ talk radio stupidity somewhere else, NRB
Outhouse GoKart
January 29th, 2010
10:13 am
“Chicken wings are simply a mechanism or means to chew on chicken fat coated with some kind of sauce that is usually gross.”
There went my appetite. No more Taco Mac.
Perhaps instead of Hot Wings, Hot Brocolli or Hot Carrots might work.
Paul
January 29th, 2010
10:13 am
Bosch
That’s why you render the fat and make your own sauce.
Off topic: White House told Justice to find someplace else for the 9-11 trials. Somehow, I don’t think Justice has thought of the most obvious place – Gitmo – they aren’t gonna get the place closed, anyhow -
retired early
January 29th, 2010
10:13 am
I am so proud of our legislature. They have managed to keep us #1 in something. We are still the only state that does not allow Nurse Practitioners to write basic drug prescriptions. When all those bs move to rural Ga due to that low tax rate they won’t have worry about some “nurse” writing the wrong prescription. They can just make that extra 100 mile drive to see a “real” doctor.
FinnMcCool
January 29th, 2010
10:14 am
Mass and CA are shi*oles?
Do you live in Georgia? Don’t get out much, do you?
NRB2
January 29th, 2010
10:15 am
So to correct Finn a little more concisely, people don’t mind voting in a new tax as long as they’re the ones NOT paying it.
NRB2
January 29th, 2010
10:15 am
Finn: I used to live in Mass and I’ve been to Cali. Sorry to burst your lib-tard bubble.
Also:
“Average weekly wage of a blue collar employee in India/China tech industries: Venture a guess of what? $100 a week? Less?
Average weekly wage of a blue collar employee in US tech industries: Let’s venture a guess of $750 – $1,000″
Do your research, the average weekly Salary in China $500 USD. You also have to factor in the difference in the cost of living between the two countries. A dollar here in the USA is like having $3 in China.
Don’t think about it too hard, your head will implode.
Paul
January 29th, 2010
10:15 am
USinUK
[[and then there’s the methane contribution to global warming]]
Anything with beans is not chili – just sayin’
Bosch
Where do you go for wings?
Hooters!!!
Where do you go for chili?
Bubbas – lookin’ at a guy with a hairy beer belly stickin’ out from under his t-shirt.
But…. it’s your choice, old friend….
Outhouse GoKart
January 29th, 2010
10:16 am
“give me a steaming bowl of chilli at a party”
Followed my a rousing game of twister or a finger pulling contest. Now thats a Party!!
Doggone/GA
January 29th, 2010
10:16 am
“the people who voted in the tax aren’t paying more in taxes, the new taxes effect those making $250,000 or higher”
Wonder how they kept all those rich people from voting?
Bosch
January 29th, 2010
10:17 am
Paul,
But, you go to all that trouble for like a morsel of chicken meat, if even that. It’s simply not worth it to me. I don’t want to work that hard for my food.
USinUK,
Oh yes, chili condoments – it’s like a different meal everytime!!!
FinnMcCool
January 29th, 2010
10:17 am
Paul, that sounds like Alton Brown’s recipe from Good Eats.
Great show.
USinUK
January 29th, 2010
10:18 am
Paul – “Anything with beans is not chili – just sayin’ ” spoken like a true Texan!
(I don’t think you’d like my chilli – I use black beans, cannelini beans, ground turkey, red and yellow bell peppers, onions and corn in addition to the tomatoes, japalenos and spices)
Outhouse GoKart
January 29th, 2010
10:18 am
NRB2
January 29th, 2010
10:15 am
We have a WINNER!!
Good luck getting the Party of YES we can to admit it. I would join their party but just a little too self-righteous for my taste.
Pass the beer nuts!
USinUK
January 29th, 2010
10:18 am
Paul – I forgot the most important ingredient – BEER – one MUST sacrifice a bottle of beer to the Chilli Gods to appease them …
Matilda
January 29th, 2010
10:18 am
NRB2, you make a valid point at 10:09. It’s frustrating to see our tax dollars wasted or spent inefficiently while not meeting the needs of the collective public good — for which taxes are intended.
So what is YOUR solution? I hear lots of “conservatives” who think the answer is to starve the beast (government), until it shrivels up and dies. (Um, not gonna happen.) Guess what? When you hire people to run the government who’s platform is “Government sucks,” they prove it, and then say, “See? Told ya!” at reelection time. What does that solve?
Why not hire people who actually CARE about getting down to the nuts and bolts of spending the money appropriately, efficiently, and for the collective public good FOR A CHANGE? The real work there is not glamorous, but it’s important. If you think you could do a better job, and you can demonstrate honorable intent (ditch the venom, it’s pointless), then I’ll come work your campaign. But I’m really sick of the logic: “Everything is wrong, but it’s nothing that I’m willing to help fix!”
NRB2
January 29th, 2010
10:19 am
Wonder how they kept all those rich people from voting?
—————————————-
I’m sure they did vote. But if only 2 people out of 100 are making that much money it shouldn’t be too hard to figure out why their vote was moot.
USinUK
January 29th, 2010
10:20 am
Bosch – “you go to all that trouble for like a morsel of chicken meat, if even that. It’s simply not worth it to me”
that’s how I feel about steamed crabs … too much work for too little return …
FinnMcCool
January 29th, 2010
10:21 am
Outhouse, I have never complained about paying taxes. It’s a citizens duty to help pay to support the system we live in.
You folks get pee’ood that people who got nothing aren’t paying anything in taxes. Well, the system isn’t working for them as well as it’s working for the people who are making money, now is it?
Let’s get our panties in a wad that some people don’t make enough to get by instead of that they don’t make enough to contribute tax dollars. If we get angry enough, maybe we can offer them a living wage for the work they do?
Paul
January 29th, 2010
10:23 am
Finn
It is, with a couple of mods. I steam’em longer and cook’em less time. Plus I make a completely different sauce. His is more appropriate for northeasterners not in Buffalo.
Bosch
That’s why I pick out my own wings at the market. Not all brands are created equal. Plus, wings come with built-in toothpicks!
USinUK
I’d probably like it as long as I didn’t think it was chili!
Speakin’ of which, it’s frakkin’ cold and rainy here.
Paul
January 29th, 2010
10:24 am
USinUK
One must sacrifice TWO bottles – one for the pot and one for the cook!
Matilda
January 29th, 2010
10:24 am
Bosch and USinUK, I like hummus with my football! Mmmmmmm, and olives stuffed with garlic and jalepenos. I know meat dripping with grease is more traditional, but chick peas are heart healthy, and some of my friends tell me that heart attacks are no fun — especially if you don’t have health insurance!
TaxPayer
January 29th, 2010
10:24 am
It seems to me it would be in the best interest, regarding taxes that is, of the current batch of rich folks to work toward making a majority of rich folks soes they can vote for more tax cuts. Either that or just buy themselves a few hundred lawmakers.
FinnMcCool
January 29th, 2010
10:24 am
If you want to eat a bowl of spicy wet meat, be my guest. I prefer a meal which includes vegetables and perhaps a little cheese as well.
Paul
January 29th, 2010
10:24 am
USinUK
That’s why I stick with the higher-grade (larger) King crab legs -
Doggone/GA
January 29th, 2010
10:25 am
“But if only 2 people out of 100 are making that much money it shouldn’t be too hard to figure out why their vote was moot”
Well, if they don’t like it they can always move somewhere else, right?
I Report (-: You Whine )-: mmm, mmmm, mmmmm!
January 29th, 2010
10:26 am
Now it all becomes clear as to why Nasty Pelosi is such a wunderdunce-
WND Exclusive OBAMA WATCH CENTRAL
Taxpayers pay $101,000 for Pelosi’s in-flight ‘food, booze’
Speaker’s trips ‘are more about partying than anything else’
Posted: January 29, 2010
12:20 am Eastern
By Bob Unruh
© 2010 WorldNetDaily
Part of the tab for alcoholic drinks on a congressional trip arranged by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi
It reads like a dream order for a wild frat party: Maker’s Mark whiskey, Courvoisier cognac, Johnny Walker Red scotch, Grey Goose vodka, E&J brandy, Bailey’s Irish Crème, Bacardi Light rum, Jim Beam whiskey, Beefeater gin, Dewars scotch, Bombay Sapphire gin, Jack Daniels whiskey … and Corona beer.
But that single receipt makes up just part of the more than $101,000 taxpayers paid for “in-flight services” – including food and liquor, for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s trips on Air Force jets over the last two years. That’s almost $1,000 per week.
Gulp, gulp, gulp, duuuuhhhhhhhhhhhh.
Outhouse GoKart
January 29th, 2010
10:28 am
“living wage”
uh…no. Employees receive what “the market” will pay. I also dont mind paying taxes, however, resent paying for other mistakes and/or lack of planning.
Then again there is the Voluntary Pro-Tax Progresives Donation Foundaton…the VPTPDF, if you will…Mati will loan you her crowbar should you need it.
“Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor? When the going gets tough…the TOUGH get goin.”
Outhouse GoKart
January 29th, 2010
10:29 am
I Report (-: You Whine )-: mmm, mmmm, mmmmm!
January 29th, 2010
10:26 am
One thing for sure…If Pelosi knows as much about Scotch as she does about legislating then we are doomed I say…DOOOOOOMED!!
Doggone/GA
January 29th, 2010
10:30 am
“Employees receive what “the market” will pay”
If pay was solely left to “the market” we would ALL be working for free.
TnGelding
January 29th, 2010
10:30 am
USinUK
January 29th, 2010
9:52 am
Thanks to the stimulus and Fed.
USinUK
January 29th, 2010
10:31 am
Paul –
I’m with you on the 2-beer rule !!
as for crabs, I lived in DC 8 years and never understood the attraction to the whole MD steamed crab thing … crabCAKES, absolutely … but hitting a crab with a mallet, then getting Old Bay seasoning in all your tiny cuts, no thanks.
Matilda – that’s why I make my chilli with turkey!!
FinnMcCool
January 29th, 2010
10:31 am
So, how do we appease the biznesses, NRB?
Forego the pensions? did that
Don’t get too upset when the companies stop contributing to 401K’s? Already started
Slowly but consistently allow other benefits be stripped away? Ongoing
Slowly but consistently watch health insurance premiums rise WHILE co-pays are rising and health benefits are being scaled back? ditto
NRB wants us all to work for free and keep our damn mouths shut…and smile broadly.
Perhaps we can go back to the 72-hour work week, too. We don’t need 2-day weekends. Sacrifice, people, sacrifice fer crying out loud!
Paul
January 29th, 2010
10:31 am
Report/Whine
She’s not paying, why should she care?
Off-topic followup:
Anyone know the status of cutting off the $400 Billion in Medicare fraud Democrats identified in the health reform savings?
Any legislation, hearing, investigations,,, anything?
Or is it going to go the way of “The CIA lied to me! I didn’t know anything about waterboarding!”
Personally, I always thought it was (searching for a polite way of saying ‘not true’ or something more blunt) a sleight-of-hand to force the CBO numbers to come out the way they wanted them to.
USinUK
January 29th, 2010
10:31 am
as promised – the consumer confidence article
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601068&sid=aq.4kbPaDaUs
ROLLERGIRL
January 29th, 2010
10:32 am
notice how voters NEVER approve sweeping tax cuts across the board, they always vote to tax someone other than themselves more..the so called rich(and 250K sure as hell isn’t rich).
I have spent time in oregon recently , and noticed one thing..no middle ground..you have techies living in portland, and everyone else in the state living hand to mouth on the timber industry. IF you want to stay in your little portland enclave, you have good mass transit (which I still did not use..who wants to be at the whim of where public transportation goes?) The rest of the state is taxed for that of little use to them.
Matilda
January 29th, 2010
10:32 am
Outhouse, will a tire iron do? BTW, I learned the hard way that just because the flat end of the tire iron *looks* like a great big ol’ flathead screwdriver, it should not be used for that purpose on or near porcelain fixtures. Just a tip there for weekend home-improvement warriors.
USinUK
January 29th, 2010
10:36 am
Paul –
“Or is it going to go the way of “The CIA lied to me! I didn’t know anything about waterboarding!””
um, you do realize that last year the CIA admitted lying in their dealings with Congress – you may not want to use that example.
just sayin
Outhouse GoKart
January 29th, 2010
10:36 am
“and some of my friends tell me that heart attacks are no fun”
Well they can be! Take for example my heart attack scare during Dec. Woke up with chest hurting, drove to ER, sat in bed for 2.5 hours with all these lovely angels of mercy, enjoyed the pharmeceuticals then was released.
OH and here is the best part. Received the bill for approx $4500!! Why thats a mere $1800 per hour for the Angels of Mercy, Doc, X-ray technician etc….Well worth it!
Hef
January 29th, 2010
10:36 am
To my friends on the pro side of Global Warming,”here’s your sign”. You now have your most credible ally, Osama bin Laden. The best part he blames the U.S. for it. When/if we catch him and our Commander and Chief of Apology confronts him I wonder if he bows,Obama that is.
md
January 29th, 2010
10:37 am
“Wonder how they kept all those rich people from voting?”
The vote passed with 52% approval. Pure class warfare – not good for the future.
And to show how the masses in OR think, they also voted for higher business tax, with many propably clueless that the evil corporation will pass it back to them.
Paul
January 29th, 2010
10:38 am
Rollergirl
If median household income is about $50k and $250k is made by only a couple percent of all households, where would you draw the line?
Whacks Eloquent
January 29th, 2010
10:38 am
doggone,
“If you have a relatively stable environment, and one factor changes and that factor alters the environment, with the potential to alter it radically in the future…then it’s useless to use graphs of the time BEFORE that changed factor as an indicator of the future of the environment.”
Sorry to go back to this, but when has Earth had a relatively stable environment? Look at almost any variable, including temperature, outside of a very short-term period, and you will see wild fluctuations from any number of causes. Droughts, floods, hurricanes, and even prevailing wind patterns all are in cycles of varying lengths and intensity.
Should we be concerned about human-made pollution? Sure, ecological damage is provable. But the problem we have is trusting the doomsday models, or even assuming that only one factor is responsible for the change in temperature. When our meteorological models cannot even pinpoint the rain/snow line for North Georgia tonight, what makes you think we should trust the results of such models on a variable we do not fully understand? Carbon dioxide is not exactly a new variable, it was the original atmospheric gas.
Dr. Gray’s hurricane model is highly regarded as the most accurate, and he has good results. Yet some years he has been way off, and has then discovered additional variables and added them in for the next run. We should work to reduce pollution, and turn to greener energy sources. But let’s use discretion on jumping to extreme apocalyptic scenarios.
Jenifer
January 29th, 2010
10:39 am
Another Reach Across The Aisle
I love this lie, courtesy of Boner.
“There was nothing … in the president’s [State of the Union] speech to indicate that there was any willingness to sit down and work together,” Boehner said. Republicans would try to find common ground with Obama, he said, “but we’re not going to roll over on our principles.”
Boner, you lie.
All one has to do is watch the video or read the transcript of the speech.
Boner, you lie.
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/nation-world/bal-md.bipartisan29jan29,0,6494185.story
ROLLERGIRL
January 29th, 2010
10:39 am
outhouse, Taco mac food is nasty…I’m not big into the sports bar type places but get dragged there by collegeues and boyfriend, and of the local locations i’d say stats has the best food by far..and the cool table tap thingie..
FinnMcCool
January 29th, 2010
10:39 am
hmm, I make out pretty good so I guess I don’t have a grudge against the working poor like you conservatives do.
But then I don’t compete with them for jobs.