5-6-2010 (Thursday)

So as part of the conversation yesterday my friend S. asked this question and made this statement.

"Well, while we're on a timely and semi-related topic, how about the fact that profit is private, but risk is shared?

All of the good things that happen are due to the hard work of the individual or entity, so they owe the public nothing. When bad things happen it's not their fault, so the public (that would be you) is left to pick up the tab."

So, I would like to hear from some of my more conservative friends or my more liberal friends or even my more centrist friends. There, I think I covered all the bases. What do you people think? Is S making a good point? Is this something to even consider?

I think he makes an interesting observation myself. I know that often to lure business to an area the state or town will offer tax incentives to the business. But, what seems to happen so often after the tax incentive runs out is that the business packs up and moves away to a new place that is going to give them some more tax breaks.

An example of the problems this can cause is below. This comes from a background paper by the Tax Foundation Check it out if you have the time.

"State lawmakers are always mindful of
their states’ business tax climates, but they are
often tempted to lure business with lucrative
tax incentives and subsidies instead of broadbased
tax reform. This can be a dangerous
proposition as a case in Florida illustrates. In
July of 2004 Florida lawmakers cried foul
because a major credit card company announced
it would close its Tampa call center,
lay off 1,110 workers, and outsource those
jobs to another company. The reason for the
lawmakers’ ire was that the company had
been lured to Florida with a generous tax
incentive package and had enjoyed nearly $3
million worth of tax breaks during the
previous nine years."

Now, I totally understand that a business is free to do what they want when they want to do it. Other then maybe being limited by whatever contracts they may have signed. But I wonder is there an ethical or moral responsibility to whatever community that a business sets up shop in? I like to think there is. I would think that after you have been a part of a community and benefited greatly from the tax cuts and incentives they gave you that you would be willing to give a little back to help support the infrastructure that was in place that allowed your business to be a success. Or am I naive to even think that this should be a consideration for a company?

What do you think folks? I do think that the precedent that the bailouts set are not going to be a good thing for this country. I think that for a long time we had given lip service to the idea of America being a place where great risk can make for great reward and when that blew up in the face of some big companies President Bush and the Congress that was in place decided to bail them out and then President Obama came along and continued the tactic. I think that was a mistake.

Please folks, tell me what you think and as always do not hesitate to correct me. I do not mind at all.

1-28-2010 (Thursday)

Good morning folks. It is Thursday and I am back on the train. I just decided that I did not want to drive today so I pulled into Wilsonville and here I am. I enjoy the driving but I was not feeling it today.

Pretty big things going on in my corner of the world. The Presidents state of the union address was last night. I didn't think that he said anything extreme or really thought provoking. If anything I think he has chickened out on his ideas of change and has begun to act just like any other politician and that is sad to me. But, I guess I should have realized that when he asked Joe Biden to be his VP. If anything said "Hey, I am going to say change but really it will be the same old, same old." The presence of Biden should have clued me in. Now granted I did not want the kind of change that McCain was pushing with Palin but I wanted something more then we have gotten from Mr Obama. I hope the next two years may allow for some of that.

In Oregon, the fallout from Measures 66 & 67 is building. It really felt like someone had died yesterday. Because everywhere I turned on Facebook there was someone expressing sadness at the bills passing. Now I realize that there were some pretty heated things being sad and statistics being thrown back and forth about job loss and such. But, the sad reality is that it really did not matter if these bills passed or not. Because in Oregon right now there would be, will be job loss. I think the biggest thing that the bills did was to decided from where that job loss was going to happen either the public or the private sector. The other big thing these bills did was to highlight the differences in what the people of Oregon think is good politics and isn't. When I looked at the county listings of the vote outcome it was pretty obvious that along the I-5 corridor and through the Willamette Valley these counties voted yes. But east of them and south it was a no vote. What this means is that the population centers of the state are controlling the future of the state. While I realize that this is frustrating for people I think that is Democracy and when the populace has a vote well sometimes you have to eat a crap sandwich.

I have also heard a few people mention, one on the radio, that they wonder about voter fraud. I hope that isn't the case. I like the vote by mail system in Oregon and I do not want it to change. I do not think there was voter fraud and until I hear actual evidence of such a thing I am going to continue thinking it was a fair vote that played out along party and population lines.

All of that being said. I think Oregon will get through this. The wheel keeps turning and life moves forward. Big business will stay and return to Oregon. We will get out of this recession and the jobs will come. I am confident of that. I do not think our state is going to go the route of California or Arizona. So hang in there Oregonians there is always sunshine after the rain but we all know that sometimes the rain lasts for several years.

1-27-10 (Wednesday)

Well...in what I think is a surprising result Oregon voters decided to pass measures 66 and 67. This is the first time in 70 years that Oregon has voted in a tax increase. In fact 9 times in the past Oregon has said no to a sales tax. So I think there are more then a few of the so called experts that are shaking their heads over this one. Now as I mentioned yesterday, only time will tell if this is going to be a net gain or loss for Oregon. While the supporters of the measures feel that this is going to be a gain because of the tax revenue it is going to generate that anti people feel that the amount of private industry jobs that Oregon is going to lose because of this will make this a net loss. I have no idea and I am not even going to attempt to make a prediction on it.

Tonight President Obama gives his State of the Union address. I am not overly excited by this. I think the primary reason for me is that because Mr Obama has been out speaking so much I am not feeling a need to listen. With other Presidents it was rare to hear them speak so I would sometimes view it just because I wanted to see how they spoke publicly. But with Mr Obama that is not anything I haven't seen before. As a matter of fact, along those same lines of public speaking I saw a clip of President Obama last night speaking to a class of 6Th graders, somewhere in America I am not sure where, the clip was on the daily show. What was interesting to me and what Jon Stewart mentioned was that the President was in a 6Th grade classroom with the presidential podium set up and two 'TELEPROMPTERS' set up!! One to his right and one two his left!! I mean come on! You are in a grade school class room!! Do you really need to have teleprompters? I am beginning to feel more and more just like the old Who song says "Meet the new boss, same as the old boss" I know people will disagree with me and it isn't that Obama is the same as Bush. It is that he is becoming the same business as usual politician that infects this country. The conservatives are excited right now about Scott Browns victory in Massachusetts. I would argue that given a year or maybe as little as six months he will be sucked into the machine will be spat out the same politician as the rest of them.

It doesn't matter what party they are from. The lobbyists for the corporations and the corporations run things in Washington D.C.. I am beginning to feel more and more that the only real safe haven for people is what can happen for them at the state level. Maybe what we need is a return to federalism and a step back from the large umbrella of national government. I do feel that I am in favor of the new spending freeze idea. I just hope it works.

Tuesday, 1/12/10

Hey everybody, here we are on day number two of the work week. I hope things are progressing nicely for everyone. I am doing okay on my end. I had to drive today because I am doing some courier work this afternoon and let me tell you I did not enjoy it. I realize that I have outlined on here before my love for the train. Some people probably wish that I would stop talking about it. But, on the days when I have to drive in I realize how much better it is for me to be able to relax a little bit and not be worried about what the obviously insane person in the car next to me is doing. "Hey! Hey! Stay in your lane! Knucklehead!"

I came to the conclusion today that a lot of my frustration in the car comes from the fact that I do not know where the other drivers are going. When I am on the freeway I tend to drive looking ahead to where my exit is going to be and I do what I can to get over into that exit lane with out forcing my way in or making others slam on their brakes. So I am always amazed when someone comes flying up beside and and forces their way in. Did they not realize this was where the exit is? Or, do they just not care? It is at times likes this that I wish for a megaphone so that I can ask them these questions in what I hope is the most polite manner possible.

We are gearing up for the 'Castle Doctrine' referendum at work. The simplest way to explain it is that going back to medieval times and some would argue that back to the Torah that a mans home is his castle and he has the right to defend it from trespassers. Some states have a clause that before a person can defend themselves or others in their home there must be no chance of retreat. Other states, Texas for one, allow you to pretty much shoot someone if they enter your home. You do not even have to be sure that your life is at risk. They broke in and you shot them simple end of story. The Oregon law will not go that far and it also cleans up some ambiguity in the way the present law is written. The one thing it does that I am the most interested in is that it will stop a land owner from being sued if someone gets hurt trespassing on their property.

I feel like I am okay with that. Having been a landowner I was always a little fearful that if someone climbed into our hot tub and drowned I would be negligent even if I hadn't given them permission and they were in effect breaking into the tub. So I will be watching the debate on this one with some interest. I believe that it will get on the ballot without to much trouble.

I also have been watching with some interest the debate on the two tax measures in Oregon. One raises the minimum tax on business and the other raises the income tax on people making over $100,000 and then $250,000 a year. The debate on this issue has been very heated with pro tax people saying that Oregon will be bankrupt if these do not pass and the anti-tax people saying that these taxes will drive business out of Oregon. I think the end result of this either way it shakes out is going to make things interesting.

Thursday

Well first off I want to say thank you to the two readers who took the time to answer my question about going back in time. Both Joel and Travis highlighted some historical events that I did not even think of so that was pretty neat. I just wish more of you would have responded.

Well on my daily quest for radio diversity I heard some interesting things. On the liberal station they talked to one of the candidates for the upcoming Oregon Gubernatorial election a man whose name completely escapes me right now. Which does not bode well for him. In a state like Oregon with an ex-Governor running again as well as the founder of Soloflex and the former Secretary of State name recognition is going to be huge and the name of a former business man for Hewlett Packard with no previous government experience is not one that people know. I just heard his name no less then 10 minutes ago and I am totally drawing a blank. I can remember the other candidates names but I am going to opt to not name them for fairness sake.

On the conservative side of the dial they talked about the recent federal governments plan to not go after medical marijuana users. I thought that was fascinating for several reasons. Lets see, leaving aside the moral issues of the drug as well as the differing positions as to whether or not it should be legalised and taxes. I think it all comes down to states rights or Federalism. In Oregon voters have voted to legalize marijuana for medical use. That is our right as a state. Now my personal choices aside and in this case I am in favor of medical marijuana. The key for me is that the state decided not the federal government.

I realize that my position may not be consistent in that I am in favor of the federal government controlling some things. But, I feel that way primarily because the states control so little that any step toward letting a state decide is a good one. I understand that there are most likely bigger issues at stake then letting a state decide to allow the use of medical marijuana or not and it isn't that the federal government is saying that marijuana is legalized but it means that they are not going to be spending resources on pursuing sick and terminal people who just want a little bit of relief.

That is all I have this morning on a foggy Thursday. I hope everyone has a good day. I will talk to you tomorrow.

Wednesday

Sorry about the lack of an update yesterday. I was feeling a little under the weather and I did not make it to work. I am feeling better today and I hope you all are well.

Lots of interesting goings on this week so far. This morning on the radio they talked about a move to tax soda-pop I believe a penny an ounce per serving. The reasoning they were using were the same as the reasons for the different tobacco taxes. Health reasons. Now I believe that I have had this conversation before when it comes to taxing tobacco. I do not smoke. Well, lets be clear I do not smoke cigarettes but I do have a pipe and I smoke that now and then usually a nice vanilla black Cavendish that smells oh so nice. But that isn't the point. The point is that I understand why there is a desire to tax tobacco and a large reason is the idea of second hand smoke and that a person who does not smoke can still get lung cancer. But soda-pop is different. I can go to a store and not have someone blow soda-pop into my face. I am not going to get cancer from drinking soda-pop and if my friend drinks it next to me I am not going to have to taste it against my desires.

I think we are all well aware that America has a obesity problem. But, where do we stop once we began to tax soda? Do we tax candy? Do we tax potato chips? Where do we separate the line from looking out and preventing known disease causing agents and from just controlling people so that they are unable to eat how they like? I realize that my questions are just opening up a can of worms. But I wonder is there an answer or should what one eats or drinks be a totally personal choice that other people should mind their own business about?

That being said I shall continue to sip my coffee that I am horribly addicted to and the government can have when they pry it from my cold dead fingers!!

Obama and his budget

So in the wake the purposed budget that President Obama has purposed. I was wondering if people had any thoughts on the pros and cons for say a Value Added Tax or a Flat Tax versus the system that is in place now. I tend to flip flop about these because I am just not sure of the overall benefit.

I like the, and I could be wrong, potential for fairness of the Value Added Tax in that the more expensive an item is the greater the tax rate on it. That seem pretty simple to me because if you do not want to pay the higher tax then you do not buy the item. I also see in some way the benefit of the Flat Tax in that if it is 10% it is always going to be 10% and it might take some of the confusion out of paying your taxes each year.

Now I am well aware that perhaps I am just not understanding what these various tax types do and the effect on them. So if that is the case please feel free to enlighten me. I await with interest your responses.