When the conservative Wall Street Journal editorial page excoriates House Republicans, you know it's serious.
That's just what happened recently when House Republicans rejected a heavily bipartisan bill to extend payroll tax cuts to $160 million Americans. The Senate voted 89-10 to pass the two-month extension (all but seven Republicans voted in favor), with the idea being to negotiate another one after the holidays.
Sen. Minority Leader Mitch McConnell negotiated that deal with Senate Democrats, who with Obama, agreed to a number of Republican ideas. Everyone seemed to think McConnell had worked with his friend Speaker John Boehner fashioning a Senate bill that would pass the House.
No so. And no one seems to know how the confusion or debacle occurred. My inside Washington sources tell me even if the Senate agreed to a conference committee now, procedural rules call for a minimum 90 hours of debate, something that would be tough to do before Jan. 1.
Those same sources also point to Tea Party Republicans again defying the leadership with Boehner's speakership on the line.
CBS News headlined the story: "House GOP takes a political beating in payroll tax fight."
Here's the story that quotes The Wall Street Journal editorial page, numerous other Republican Senators who I have never seen be this critical of their own party.
CBS story
Some samples from the Journal editorial.
"Given how [Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell] and House Speaker John Boehner have handled the payroll tax debate, we wonder if they might end up re-electing the president before the 2012 campaign even begins in earnest."
"The GOP leaders have somehow managed the remarkable feat of being blamed for opposing a one-year extension of a tax holiday that they are surely going to pass. This is no easy double play."
And here are quotes from the CBS story from Republicans about their own House leadership.
Sen. Scott Brown, R-Mass., said "now is not the time for drawing lines in the sand," while Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., said the ongoing fight is "harming the Republican party" and "harming the view, if it's possible anymore, of the American people about Congress."
Sen. Dean Heller, R-Nev., said there was "no reason" for House Republicans to keep up their fight, adding that "what is playing out in Washington, D.C. this week is about political leverage, not about what's good for the American people."
I'm not sure you can be more damning than that of part of your own party.
More from the Journal editorial: (full editorial)
"But now Republicans are drowning out that victory in the sounds of their circular firing squad. Already four GOP Senators have rejected the House position, and the political rout will only get worse"
"The GOP leaders have somehow managed the remarkable feat of being blamed for opposing a one-year extension of a tax holiday that they are surely going to pass. This is no easy double play."
Journal's advice: (which I agree with)
"At this stage, Republicans would do best to cut their losses and find a way to extend the payroll holiday quickly. Then go home and return in January with a united House-Senate strategy that forces Democrats to make specific policy choices that highlight the differences between the parties on spending, taxes and regulation."
Wednesday, December 21, 2011
Wednesday, December 14, 2011
Put out your flag: It's Bill of Rights day
I'm putting up my flag Thursday, Dec. 15. It's the 220th anniversary of the ratification of the Bill of Rights and the First Amendment.
If we celebrate the 4th of July, we should definitely celebrate the Bill of Rights. The Founding Fathers could've been drunk when they wrote the Declaration of Independence. It's clear, they had to be sober when writing the Bill of Rights.
This country would look a lot different if the 70 or so people who met in Philly in 1791 hadn't decided the English common law our Constitution was modeled after needed some basic guarantees for average folks.
Alas, the First Amendment allows me to raise more hell at my newspaper editor job than is probably socially acceptable most places.
Today, I encourage you to make your kids learn the five freedoms of the First Amendment. Of religion, of the press, of speech, of assembly and the right to petition your government.
Pay attention Occupy Wall Streeters and Tea Partiers.
Yes, people with money and big media may have "more free speech" than most of us, but we still all have two choices: Speak or be silent. Silence is worse.
So raise your glasses, raise your flags. Be impertinent, outspoken and a pain to your government, corporations, politicians or whoever you want.
There's no penalty.
If we celebrate the 4th of July, we should definitely celebrate the Bill of Rights. The Founding Fathers could've been drunk when they wrote the Declaration of Independence. It's clear, they had to be sober when writing the Bill of Rights.
This country would look a lot different if the 70 or so people who met in Philly in 1791 hadn't decided the English common law our Constitution was modeled after needed some basic guarantees for average folks.
Alas, the First Amendment allows me to raise more hell at my newspaper editor job than is probably socially acceptable most places.
Today, I encourage you to make your kids learn the five freedoms of the First Amendment. Of religion, of the press, of speech, of assembly and the right to petition your government.
Pay attention Occupy Wall Streeters and Tea Partiers.
Yes, people with money and big media may have "more free speech" than most of us, but we still all have two choices: Speak or be silent. Silence is worse.
So raise your glasses, raise your flags. Be impertinent, outspoken and a pain to your government, corporations, politicians or whoever you want.
There's no penalty.
Sunday, December 11, 2011
Tips on doing the Holidazzle Parade in Minneapolis
I think the last time our family checked it out was like 13 years ago, when our kids were like 7 and 5. The youngest one, now, 13 had never seen it.
The best part about it: it's not long, 30 minutes tops. Drawback, if you don't get spots early in the skyways, you have to squeeze in or stand in the cold if it's a cold night.
It's probably better viewed from the street but there are about four skyways you can view it from and there's a long verticle skyway that goes along the street at the downtown Target store.
But people get spots at skyways, and they rope them off so people can still move through them 1 to 2 hours ahead of the 6:30 p.m. start. The parade runs Thursday through Sunday every weekend until Dec. 18, I believe.
So you've really only got one more week to check it out.
The parade is cool. People walking wear suits with Christmas lights all over them. They have four or five big floats, all lit up and of course, a Santa float. (see picture).
With little kids, I'd almost recommend getting a hotel room and hanging out in the Twin Cities for a day or two.
We took the light rail in at 4 p.m. but it wasn't so crowded we couldn't sit down. We park at Ft. Snelling, but a lot of folks park at Mall of America, the first stop on light rail going back into Minneapolis.
We got downtown about 4:35 p.m. Walked about six blocks to The Local, an Irish pub/restaurant with reasonable prices for Minneapolis.
We got seated right away about 5 p.m., though with parties more than 2, I'm guessing there was a bit of a wait. We ordered a "sharing" plate of four pulled pork mini sandwiches with apple cole slaw on them and fries. $12. Beer was $5 a glass. A nice irish ice cream treat was $3.
Because air temp was like 17 degrees, we snuck into the Target skyway watch and squeezed in a spot at 6 p.m.
Place was packed after the parade, but caught light rail and did get a seat again. Back home to Grandma's in Eagan by 8 p.m.
A fun experience. My daughter enjoyed it immensely. I didn't mind it myself. A nice Minnesota holiday tradition.
She also enjoyed the big city seeing huge tree at IDS center and guys with spiked hair, or yeah, and the Tibetan protestors were walking along Nicollet Mall about an hour before the parade.
Thursday, December 8, 2011
I'm shocked, shocked; Congress in Casablanca
Many a member of Congress seem to be enthusiastically supporting an insider trading law of their very own that a few years ago was as popular as a lobbyist without a lunch ticket.
Amazing what an story on CBS "60 Minutes" can do to enable the righteous.
Congressman Tim Walz, D-1st District finds himself to be a very popular guy after taking over the authorship of the STOCK bill a few years ago from a retiring Rep. Brian Baird of Washington, who had found few if any co-sponsors.
"60 Minutes" aired a piece on the practice of several prominent members of Congress having traded stocks near the time they came into some inside knowledge about how government policies might impact a certain industry. All have denied a connection.
But since the "60 Minutes" piece, Walz has found an amazing 170 co-sponsors from both sides of the aisle.
The law, which stands for Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge, would essentially make it illegal for members of Congress to buy and sell stocks on knowledge they gained from being in a position of power in Congress.
The outpouring of support from all flavor of Congressman or woman stems from a desire, I suspect, for Congress to look above board in all its dealings at a time when it has some of the lowest approval ratings ever.
The whole bandwagon jumping scenario reminds me of a scene in the movie Casablanca when the prefect of police Monsieur Renault comes into Humphrey Bogart's saloon after he is ordered to find a reason to shut it down.
When Rick (Bogart) asks why the saloon must be shut down, the preferct says "I'm shocked, shocked to find gambling occurring in this saloon." And that's just before they hand him his winnings.
Members of Congress also seem a bit "shocked" that the insider trading law had not been in place before.
Amazing what an story on CBS "60 Minutes" can do to enable the righteous.
Congressman Tim Walz, D-1st District finds himself to be a very popular guy after taking over the authorship of the STOCK bill a few years ago from a retiring Rep. Brian Baird of Washington, who had found few if any co-sponsors.
"60 Minutes" aired a piece on the practice of several prominent members of Congress having traded stocks near the time they came into some inside knowledge about how government policies might impact a certain industry. All have denied a connection.
But since the "60 Minutes" piece, Walz has found an amazing 170 co-sponsors from both sides of the aisle.
The law, which stands for Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge, would essentially make it illegal for members of Congress to buy and sell stocks on knowledge they gained from being in a position of power in Congress.
The outpouring of support from all flavor of Congressman or woman stems from a desire, I suspect, for Congress to look above board in all its dealings at a time when it has some of the lowest approval ratings ever.
The whole bandwagon jumping scenario reminds me of a scene in the movie Casablanca when the prefect of police Monsieur Renault comes into Humphrey Bogart's saloon after he is ordered to find a reason to shut it down.
When Rick (Bogart) asks why the saloon must be shut down, the preferct says "I'm shocked, shocked to find gambling occurring in this saloon." And that's just before they hand him his winnings.
Members of Congress also seem a bit "shocked" that the insider trading law had not been in place before.
Monday, December 5, 2011
Vikings stadium, property taxes and other cosmic connections
Biggest impediment to getting a new Vikings stadium approved any time soon: The Vikings 2-9 record.
People can accept losing teams though, and especially in Minnesota Nice country. The Wilf's shouldn't take Minnesota Nice for granted.
The 2-9 record isn't totally unacceptable to Minnesotans, and we're kind of like Packer fans in that respect: Keep believing in something even when the facts suggest your faith would be better appreciated at the first Lutheran church.
No, we'll accept a 2-9 record if the team looks competitive. And for the most part, the Vikings have been competitive in almost every game. They just can't be consistently competitive for the regulation amount of minutes in a game.
Embarrassing games like the second Green Bay game, though, better be gone for the season. We just don't have that much patience. At some point, we don't like stuff rubbed in our noses, even though we are humble Minnesotans.
Property taxes and the Vikings
One of the suggestions by the Vikings in recent full page ads in state newspapers was the idea very similar to what many of us know as "Tax Increment Financing." It's a tactic that has been used for every kind of small business in Minnesota and it's been used on projects from small town grocery stores to suburban strip malls.
The Vikings essentially proposed a kind of tax increment financing for the Vikings stadium: TIF as we call it, holds that revenues generated by a project be used to pay off that government's subsidy for that project.
So the Vikings proposed the public part of the stadium be paid off with revenues from player income taxes, stadium sales taxes and memorabilia taxes among other things.
The theory here is that because you wouldn't have those revenues if or (But For) there were no Vikings, it's legit to use them for a project, essentially creating a wash, or if you believe certain people, a "long-term" gain with short-term financing that doesn't really cost the general fund anything.
It's as good an argument as one might make to outstate Minnesota, where I surmise a good portion of the opposition to a Vikings stadium lies.
But I must say, of all the TIF projects I've heard proposed to small town councils in outstate Minnesota, that is one of the most creative, and possibly most saleable, ideas out there.
People can accept losing teams though, and especially in Minnesota Nice country. The Wilf's shouldn't take Minnesota Nice for granted.
The 2-9 record isn't totally unacceptable to Minnesotans, and we're kind of like Packer fans in that respect: Keep believing in something even when the facts suggest your faith would be better appreciated at the first Lutheran church.
No, we'll accept a 2-9 record if the team looks competitive. And for the most part, the Vikings have been competitive in almost every game. They just can't be consistently competitive for the regulation amount of minutes in a game.
Embarrassing games like the second Green Bay game, though, better be gone for the season. We just don't have that much patience. At some point, we don't like stuff rubbed in our noses, even though we are humble Minnesotans.
Property taxes and the Vikings
One of the suggestions by the Vikings in recent full page ads in state newspapers was the idea very similar to what many of us know as "Tax Increment Financing." It's a tactic that has been used for every kind of small business in Minnesota and it's been used on projects from small town grocery stores to suburban strip malls.
The Vikings essentially proposed a kind of tax increment financing for the Vikings stadium: TIF as we call it, holds that revenues generated by a project be used to pay off that government's subsidy for that project.
So the Vikings proposed the public part of the stadium be paid off with revenues from player income taxes, stadium sales taxes and memorabilia taxes among other things.
The theory here is that because you wouldn't have those revenues if or (But For) there were no Vikings, it's legit to use them for a project, essentially creating a wash, or if you believe certain people, a "long-term" gain with short-term financing that doesn't really cost the general fund anything.
It's as good an argument as one might make to outstate Minnesota, where I surmise a good portion of the opposition to a Vikings stadium lies.
But I must say, of all the TIF projects I've heard proposed to small town councils in outstate Minnesota, that is one of the most creative, and possibly most saleable, ideas out there.
Wednesday, November 30, 2011
Revenue future: Minnesota's dilemma
A two hour meeting with Mankato businesspeople and Minnesota Commissioner of Revenue Myron Franz revealed some surprises.
Business people were willing to "give up" some exemptions like sales tax rebate on capital equipment, willing to have legal services taxed, willing to give up somebody else's property tax break, in exchange for reforming tax code, mostly away from the property tax.
Franz told the group that Gov. Mark Dayton was "committed" to Minnesota tax reform but wants to gather information from public meetings around the state, from Republicans and Democrats, and then make a proposal for reform in 2013.
He said Dayton was a "taskmaster" who works very hard and doesn't want his advisors to sugarcoat anything.
Franz produced the prop of a three legged stool with each leg representing property tax, income tax and sales taxes. The percentage that state gets from each was proporotional to the length of each leg of the stool. A few years ago, the stool was pretty even and it stood up.
Now, with property tax making up almost 40 percent of all government revenue, the stool fell over. Interesting visual.
Most of the feedback on what needs to be fixed centered around the property tax. One business owner said three of her properties had increases of 20 percent. A manufacturing plant faced an increase of 7 percent.
Another business owner said their taxes were up 43 percent.
The commissioner and his staff will be traveling to dozens of cities throughout Minnesota in the next year where they will meet with businesspeople and host evening Town Hall meetings for the public.
In a conversation with members of The Free Press editorial board after the meeting, Franz said the Legislature gives the revenue commissioner a number to increase collections by and it goes into the state budget forecast.
That number is $83 million for this biennium. So Frans has to hire staff and figure out where to find $83 million and Legislators even push for more. But it will be a number he has to answer to.
The meeting was organized by Greater Mankato Growth.
Business people were willing to "give up" some exemptions like sales tax rebate on capital equipment, willing to have legal services taxed, willing to give up somebody else's property tax break, in exchange for reforming tax code, mostly away from the property tax.
Franz told the group that Gov. Mark Dayton was "committed" to Minnesota tax reform but wants to gather information from public meetings around the state, from Republicans and Democrats, and then make a proposal for reform in 2013.
He said Dayton was a "taskmaster" who works very hard and doesn't want his advisors to sugarcoat anything.
Franz produced the prop of a three legged stool with each leg representing property tax, income tax and sales taxes. The percentage that state gets from each was proporotional to the length of each leg of the stool. A few years ago, the stool was pretty even and it stood up.
Now, with property tax making up almost 40 percent of all government revenue, the stool fell over. Interesting visual.
Most of the feedback on what needs to be fixed centered around the property tax. One business owner said three of her properties had increases of 20 percent. A manufacturing plant faced an increase of 7 percent.
Another business owner said their taxes were up 43 percent.
The commissioner and his staff will be traveling to dozens of cities throughout Minnesota in the next year where they will meet with businesspeople and host evening Town Hall meetings for the public.
In a conversation with members of The Free Press editorial board after the meeting, Franz said the Legislature gives the revenue commissioner a number to increase collections by and it goes into the state budget forecast.
That number is $83 million for this biennium. So Frans has to hire staff and figure out where to find $83 million and Legislators even push for more. But it will be a number he has to answer to.
The meeting was organized by Greater Mankato Growth.
Tuesday, November 29, 2011
Bank bailout done in secrecy: an outrageous story
There's a great story on Bloomberg financial news online that details the bank bailouts of 2008, the need to keep it secret from taxpayers footing the bill, and the sort of arrogance that must have come with people making these decisions.
Here's the story.
In my mind, the big bank bailout is ranking right up there with the biggest scams of all time.
It is most troubling because it tears down the notion that we all live in an America where hard work is rewarded and we all take the same personal and financial risks when we screw up in business or the workplace.
Not so with some of these big banks, and I mean big banks. We should not confuse these folks with your average small-town banker or even bigger regional banks.
These were the biggest of the bigs and the Bloomberg story shows they had not only influence, but more or less protection from the mean results of capitalism gone bad, something all the rest of us and our families must face without the government protecting us.
Then, they not only didn't pay the price for their mistakes, they were rewarded with low interest taxpayer loans where they turned around and made $13 billion.
At one point, Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke is saying that he didn't want to release the names of the banks getting taxpayer money because of the "stigma" it would create.
That explanation is not going to fly with folks who face the "stigma" of unemployment and home foreclosures.
The Bloomberg story is what good journalism is all about. It takes on powerful interests, (Bloomberg sued the fed and the big banks for two years and finally won its Freedom of Information case), and exposes their evil to the governed.
You will not get this kind of journalism from a blogger or a political organization posing as a news organization.
Ohio Congressman Sherrod Brown called the story one that would unite the Tea Party and Occupy Wall Street.
I couldn't agree more.
Here's the story.
In my mind, the big bank bailout is ranking right up there with the biggest scams of all time.
It is most troubling because it tears down the notion that we all live in an America where hard work is rewarded and we all take the same personal and financial risks when we screw up in business or the workplace.
Not so with some of these big banks, and I mean big banks. We should not confuse these folks with your average small-town banker or even bigger regional banks.
These were the biggest of the bigs and the Bloomberg story shows they had not only influence, but more or less protection from the mean results of capitalism gone bad, something all the rest of us and our families must face without the government protecting us.
Then, they not only didn't pay the price for their mistakes, they were rewarded with low interest taxpayer loans where they turned around and made $13 billion.
At one point, Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke is saying that he didn't want to release the names of the banks getting taxpayer money because of the "stigma" it would create.
That explanation is not going to fly with folks who face the "stigma" of unemployment and home foreclosures.
The Bloomberg story is what good journalism is all about. It takes on powerful interests, (Bloomberg sued the fed and the big banks for two years and finally won its Freedom of Information case), and exposes their evil to the governed.
You will not get this kind of journalism from a blogger or a political organization posing as a news organization.
Ohio Congressman Sherrod Brown called the story one that would unite the Tea Party and Occupy Wall Street.
I couldn't agree more.
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