To Taxation WITH Representation!

[AVG-JOE]

Click HERE to find and write to YOUR Representation in Government

Dear Senator Nelson,
Dear Senator Rubio,
Dear Congressman Hastings,

To accurately represent this average Voter in the budget battle looming for the summer of 2011, the following should be considered:

1. Deficit Spending MUST be relegated to the history books.

2. Ground up reformation of our bullshit tax code should be a tool used in conjunction with Spending Reformation. (See # 1.)

3. Military Spending is NOT a sacred .

4. Please don't forget how much the average voter between 30 and 55 has already contributed to Social Security - I expect a return on my investment.

Thank you for working hard to keep my support.

An Average American Joe.

 

[Valerie]

I was thinking... The federal budget for the year 2010 was $3.5 Trillion +


That amounts to 70 Billion per state.


Why are our states going bankrupt...?

 

[xsited1]

I was thinking... The federal budget for the year 2010 was $3.5 Trillion +


That amounts to 70 Billion per state.


Why are our states going bankrupt...?

This was meant as a joke, right?

 

[California Girl]

Dear Poisonous Pelosi and Boxer the Bitch,

I can sum it up no better than to quote one of your lyin' ass colleagues, "Die Quickly". If I had my way, you would both be in prison for treason against my country. You make me ashamed to be Californian. If you can't do us all a favor and "Die Quickly", have the good grace to leave office - and the country.

Thanks in advance,
California Girl

 

[AVG-JOE]

I was thinking... The federal budget for the year 2010 was $3.5 Trillion +


That amounts to 70 Billion per state.


Why are our states going bankrupt...?

Simply put, the states are in trouble because they are forced by proximity to the voter to be closer to 'fair' in their tax codes and the middle class has little left in its pocket after the federal government takes it's dip. Fair taxes at the national level will yield fairer taxes at the local level and when it does, a greater interest in local politics would be a good thing.

We're wasting our time and resources debating things like education and abortion at the national level.

 

[AVG-JOE]

Dear Poisonous Pelosi and Boxer the Bitch,

I can sum it up no better than to quote one of your lyin' ass colleagues, "Die Quickly". If I had my way, you would both be in prison for treason against my country. You make me ashamed to be Californian. If you can't do us all a favor and "Die Quickly", have the good grace to leave office - and the country.

Thanks in advance,
California Girl

Don't sugar-coat it CG... Tell them how you FeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeL.

 

[California Girl]

Dear Poisonous Pelosi and Boxer the Bitch,

I can sum it up no better than to quote one of your lyin' ass colleagues, "Die Quickly". If I had my way, you would both be in prison for treason against my country. You make me ashamed to be Californian. If you can't do us all a favor and "Die Quickly", have the good grace to leave office - and the country.

Thanks in advance,
California Girl

Don't sugar-coat it CG... Tell them how you FeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeL.

I can't help it, I'm just a charming individual.

 

[AVG-JOE]

Click HERE to find and write to YOUR Representation in Government

Dear Senator Nelson,
Dear Senator Rubio,
Dear Congressman Hastings,

To accurately represent this average Voter in the budget battle looming for the summer of 2011, the following should be considered:

1. Deficit Spending MUST be relegated to the history books.

2. Ground up reformation of our bullshit tax code should be a tool used in conjunction with Spending Reformation. (See # 1.)

3. Military Spending is NOT a sacred .

4. Please don't forget how much the average voter between 30 and 55 has already contributed to Social Security - I expect a return on my investment.

Thank you for working hard to keep my support.

An Average American Joe.

Just to clarify... my current stake in Social Security is $80,000 and growing daily, with no plans by me to slow it down for 15+ years.

I expect a return on that investment.

 

[Valerie]

State Structural Deficits

Moreover, the confusion between short-term cyclical deficits and debt, pensions, and retiree health insurance — and the overstatement of the magnitude of the latter set of problems — draw attention away from the need to modernize state and local budget and revenue systems and address structural problems that have built up over time in these systems.

States suffer from “structural deficits,” or the failure of revenues to grow as quickly as the cost of services during healthy economic times; this makes it difficult for states to continue meeting their responsibilities each year. Structural deficits stem largely from out-of-date tax systems, coupled with costs that rise faster than the economy in areas such as health care. Fixing these structural problems would help states and localities balance their operating budgets without resort to one-time measures or gimmicks. It would also help states rebuild their rainy day funds before the next recession and meet critical needs for infrastructure investment and adequate funding of pension obligations. It is far more constructive to focus on fixing these basics of state and local finance than to proclaim a crisis based on exaggerations of imminent threats.

Projected Operating Deficits

Most states and localities have experienced unprecedented projected operating deficits — which their balanced-budget rules require them to close — in this recession and its aftermath. State revenues are 12 percent below pre-recession levels, and localities also are experiencing diminished revenues. There simply are few good choices for meeting state and local balanced-budget requirements during an economic downturn this long and this deep.

The unemployment rate is close to a post-World War II high and remains stubbornly elevated 15 months after the official end of the recession. There were 7.4 million fewer people employed in December 2010 than there were prior to the recession, and many workers who are employed have found only part-time work or work at lower wages. [8] When residents lose jobs and incomes they pay less in state income taxes, and the drop in consumption reduces state and local sales and excise tax revenues. The weak housing market also is placing downward pressure on local property taxes and sales taxes.

Yet the need for public services does not decline during recessions. To the contrary, increases in unemployment and poverty have swollen Medicaid rolls and expanded the need for social services, community college education, and job training, among other public services.

Most states and localities are required to balance their operating budgets, even when the economy is weak. Closing operating deficits requires immediate action: most states have to enact balanced budgets, and gaps that develop during the year usually have to be closed within that year or biennium. In this recession and its aftermath, the gaps between revenues and needed expenditures have been particularly large because of the unprecedented drops in revenue. Although states entered the recession with record levels of “rainy day funds” and reserves, and the federal government has provided fiscal assistance, states out of necessity have made rather massive cuts in services and raised additional revenues. State general fund spending in 2011 will be 6 percent lower than it was in 2008, without adjusting for inflation, according to data from the National Association of State Budget Officers.

In a few well-publicized instances, states or localities have closed portions of their deficits in ways that will harm their future financial health. For example, some states and cities have sold income-producing assets such as toll roads, lotteries, or parking meters, and a few have sold buildings that they then had to lease back at more expensive rates. While in nearly all cases the state or locality would have been better off in the long run simply raising additional revenues, these deals represent a small fraction of all deficit-closing actions.

States have closed the vast majority of deficits by drawing on rainy day funds and reserves, using federal stimulus funds, cutting expenditures, and raising new revenues. Only a few states — particularly Illinois — have failed to close their deficits responsibly in recent years, instead using a combination of payment delays, borrowing, and other gimmicks. (The fault in Illinois has been largely political gridlock rather than a lack of reasonable options, as explained below.)


The severity and consequences of these operating deficits should not be minimized. Throughout the country, residents are losing services on which they depend — sometimes on which their very life depends, as in the refusal of Arizona’s Medicaid program to fund organ transplants. But these deficits are cyclical and temporary; they will diminish as the economy improves. [9] They should not be confused with the longer-term structural budget problems that a number of states have. [10]


State and Local Debt

Almost all state and local debt is long-term debt incurred to pay for capital expenditures, not to cover operating expenses. (Unlike the federal government, states and localities maintain separate operating and capital budgets.) States issue long-term debt — various types of bonds — primarily for infrastructure projects such as roads and bridges, schools, water systems, and hospitals. States typically prohibit the use of bond proceeds for funding operating expenses,[11] although that has occurred in a few instances, most notably in Louisiana in 1988 and Connecticut in 1991. [12] One recent example occurred in Connecticut, which in 2009 sold a bond to cover its operating budget, with a seven-year repayment schedule.

A small number of states issue short-term debt instruments, known as revenue anticipation notes, which they use to match the timing of their revenue collections to the timing of the expenditures in their operating budget. This type of debt must be repaid during the same fiscal year as the borrowing. California, a major user of this type of debt, made headlines in 2008 by saying it could not find buyers for its debt and asking the federal government for financing. Ultimately, however, California was able to sell the bonds without federal assistance, as was Massachusetts when it faced a similar situation.

In the vast majority of states, debt levels have risen only modestly during this downturn, largely as states took advantage of the federal Build America Bonds program (which expired at the end of December 2010) to encourage infrastructure development and thereby create jobs. Claims that state and local governments are using the new bonds to finance their operating budgets are incorrect, [13] since the bonds can only be used to finance infrastructure. [14] Claims that Build America Bonds have led to an explosion in outstanding state and local bond debt are incorrect as well, as outstanding debt remains within its historical range. In the second quarter of calendar year 2010, state and local government outstanding debt stood at 16.7 percent of GDP, up from a recent (and relatively brief) low of 12 percent in 2000 but similar to the average levels from the mid-1980s to the mid-1990s. [15] (See Figure 1.)

Some who claim there is a state debt crisis have likened states’ problems to those in Greece or other European countries. [16] There is no way directly to compare the state debt situation with a national government’s debt situation, but Greece’s situation was clearly far worse than the situation in the U.S. today. Greece’s total governmental debt stood at 115 percent of GDP at the end of 2009 and was projected to peak at 150 percent of GDP if countermeasures were not taken. [17]

It also should be noted that states and localities spend a modest 4 or 5 percent of their budgets on debt payments. [18] (See Figure 2.)

Other observers have suggested that the problem in some states isn’t the aggregate state and local debt, but rather debt issued by localities for specific projects. They worry that some states may have to “bail out” or assume their local government debt, which in turn would put pressure on state finances. Alternatively, they worry that many localities will repudiate their debt through bankruptcy or other means, undermining confidence in state and local bonds. (Localities can and occasionally do declare bankruptcy, but states cannot.)


One frequently cited instance is Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, where a trash-to-energy project using experimental technology for which the city had borrowed did not work out, resulting in higher debt service than the city could afford. The state provided extra financial support to the city in the fall of 2010 and is helping the city find options to work its way out of its problems. Another frequently cited example is a sewer project in Jefferson County, Alabama that ran into trouble relating to corruption and fraud, causing the price of the bonds issued for the project to drop precipitously.

Although there were consequences — employees were laid off, sewer rates increased, people responsible for the problem went to prison, and some Wall Street firms are being sued — and the county did technically default in 2008, actions have been taken to protect the bondholders, who will likely be paid.[19] [20]

Studies show that defaults on municipal bonds are rare. As the National League of Cities has pointed out, the annual default rate for municipal (local government) debt is a miniscule one-third of 1 percent across the three bond rating agencies. [21] Moreover, the large majority of defaults (74 percent in a Moody’s study and 80 percent in a Fitch study) were in the health care and housing sectors. Between 1970 and 2009, only four defaults were from bonds guaranteed by cities or counties; the remainder was from bonds based on the revenues from specific projects. Defaults in these non-general obligation bonds are not an indicator of state or local fiscal health.

A Barclays Capital December 2010 report states, “Despite frequent media speculation to the contrary, we do not expect the level of defaults in the U.S. public finance market to spiral higher or even approach those in the private sector. We hold this view in large part because of the steps taken thus far by the preponderance of municipalities and the control that public entities can exert over the expense and revenue portions of their balance sheets.”[22] Other financial advisers and the bond rating agencies [23] have issued similar statements. Finally, states and localities have many options, from raising taxes or fees to reducing spending, to make good on their bonds. As mentioned above, states and localities generally will pay their bondholders before paying nearly any other expenditure.

In sum, there is no bubble in state and local bonds. States and localities in aggregate have not overextended themselves with respect to their debt-financed capital spending. Indeed, many analysts decry the deteriorating state of infrastructure in this country and its negative effect on economic development.[24] For this reason, and to shore up the economy in the short run, the manageable uptick in outstanding state and local capital debt is entirely appropriate.

Misunderstandings Regarding State Debt, Pensions, and Retiree Health Costs Create Unnecessary Alarm — Center on Budget and Policy Priorities

 

[AVG-JOE]

State Structural Deficits

Moreover,

<snip>​

local capital debt is entirely appropriate.

Misunderstandings Regarding State Debt, Pensions, and Retiree Health Costs Create Unnecessary Alarm &mdash; Center on Budget and Policy Priorities

Another good (and quite lengthy on paper) reason to simplify national politics and focus more attention on local politics.

 

[AVG-JOE]

Dear Poisonous Pelosi and Boxer the Bitch,

I can sum it up no better than to quote one of your lyin' ass colleagues, "Die Quickly". If I had my way, you would both be in prison for treason against my country. You make me ashamed to be Californian. If you can't do us all a favor and "Die Quickly", have the good grace to leave office - and the country.

Thanks in advance,
California Girl

Don't sugar-coat it CG... Tell them how you FeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeL.

I can't help it, I'm just a charming individual.

Check out this Phoenix post - a true 'must see' video for California. Makes sense to many of the rest of us too.

http://www.usmessageboard.com/music...ning-to-right-this-moment-22.html#post3517800