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Fun with Graphs
August 31, 2006
Read this story about consumer confidence reports.
Posted by paul at 06:54 AM | Comments (0)
I’m Laughing
August 25, 2006
It’s 6:48 am, and I’m laughing. Why?
Michigan Chamber Perspective
Constitutional tax limitations have been critical to Michigan’s economic growth and job creation. Taxpayers explicitly supported, and expect, the tax relief provided through both the Headlee Amendment and Proposal A. The Michigan Chamber is committed to preserving and protecting these reforms and opposes efforts to circumvent the intent of these constitutional amendments.
Taken from a Michigan Chamber of Commerce site.
Economic growth and job creation in Michigan? Where? Ha.
There is an effort to create a TABOR law here in Oklahoma, but a large number of influential business and community groups are starting to rally against it. Good.
Posted by paul at 06:48 AM | Comments (2)
Public Partnership
August 05, 2006
“Partnership doesn’t mean you work there and live somewhere else.” ~ Town Mayor of Breckenridge, Colorado.
I’m watching HGTV this morning (as per usual Saturday routine), and the show currently on is Dream Builders. The show just featured the new Wellington Neighborhood in Breckenridge, CO, a Smart Growth neighborhood that gives pricing incentives/discounts to people within Summt County itself, to further encourage the public employee partnership.
It’s refreshing to see.
We have created a program which provides that where the “local price” is paid:a) House owners must be individuals, work 30 hours per week in Summit County, and reside in the house (if a unit is not owner occupied for a period greater than twelve months, the owner would be obligated to offer the unit for sale at the highest allowed sales price); and
b) Appreciation will be limited to 3% per annum or the percentage increase in AMI (Area Median Income), whichever is greater.
80% of the units will have the deed restriction. 20% of the units will be unrestricted “market” units.
Pretty darn cool. Working in a city of 641 square miles (HUGE CITY!), I am surprised, even appalled, by the number of City employees who do not live in the City. What further annoys me, is that they don’t live in the City because it’s too expensive, rather, many of them actually live in a more expensive City to the north. Some others live in largely rural areas outside the City, which is more understandable, considering that they prefer to have horses, cattle, etc. on their property. It’s the large number of others that annoy me.
Working for the public means you should connect with them - live with them. How can you fully understand the City’s needs if you aren’t living in it? Of course, to be honest, the people I know that live out of the City are also the ones that seem to be arrogant, self-absorped, technically-career oriented, they have no grasp on the real needs of the community, just the specific needs of each engineering/problem-solving task.
To me, the most-involved public servants are the most effective public servants.
Posted by paul at 09:49 AM | Comments (0)
The Party
It’s campaign season. On July 25, we voted in the (first) primary election. On August 22, we’ll go back to the polls to decide a few runoff races. Then, in November, we’ll go out for the general election. Too much voting… Oklahoma should vote on a law like Michigan now has - only allow votes four (state-specified) times a year. Votes cost money (and waste money).
In the Governor’s race, I must choose between the Governor, Brad Henry, and the out-going U.S. Representative, Ernie Istook. I have to admit, I never thought I’d feel like the Republican candidate was too conservative for me… but here I go.
Then, in the race to replace Istook, we’ll have to choose between Dr. David Hunter, the Democrat, and either Mick Cornett or Mary Fallin as Republicans (silly runoff system). There is an Independent, but he’s a nutcase (in my opinion). Dr. Hunter was the only candidate (Democrat, Republican, Ind.) in the primary to mention the environment on his issues webpage - there were three Dems, six Republicans, and one Independent. Enough said for me. Besides, I’m still unsure what to do about illegal immigration, and almost all of the Republicans here are anti-amensty, anti-guest worker, etc.
We really don’t have any other decisions to make in our area. We live in a solidly Democratic neighborhood, so our Council Member, State Rep, and State Senator are all Democrats. Even if there was a Republican candidate, he or she would have little chance here.
One thing Oklahomans are big on is conservative spending. Most of it is just talk, but one of our Senators is HUGE in this area (Tom Coburn). There’s even a push for eliminating special projects in state spending (Hey Big Spender). I agree with some of Coburn’s efforts in the Federal government, but I’m not sure I agree with the state-level effort. The whole point of eliminating Federal spending is that states and local governments should be providing more for themselves rather than feeding off of taxpayers in other states. If we’re going to cut many Federal services to cut our Federal taxes, we’ll need to make up for most of it at the state and local level. Although, living here, I’ve found that there are plenty of people who’d rather we didn’t pay any taxes, no matter what… I know that’s not a new idea, but there are many more people who believe that here than I’m used to.
Posted by paul at 09:02 AM | Comments (0)