Local News Roundup, April 8, 2014

I thought I would just toss out a few headlines for you today:

The City Council is probably going to approve the current plan to spend $29 Million on the baseball stadium tonight. 

In what is probably the most compelling argument to vote for someone other than Lindsey Graham, former cocaine user Thomas Ravenel said he intends to run as an independent if Lindsey Graham wins the GOP Primary.

Bobby Jindal will be the headliner at the GOP Silver Elephant Dinner here in June. No doubt it will be his audition for 2016.

And in unrelated news, some people are upset about the fact that airlines won't have limes for drinks anymore. Get over it, people. You're on an airplane. Flying. Forget about the limes. You're flying.

Columbia City Council Gives Initial Approval to Funding Ballpark

Morning, y'all.

My two-year-old son decided that 5:00AM would be a good time to start the morning today, so that kind of meant that I was also obligated to start the day at 5:00AM. As a result, I've been up and at 'em for about two hours now. Breakfast has been made, eaten, and cleaned up.

Columbia City Council Votes to Approve Ballpark at Bull Street Site. Go read the whole thing, but it  looks like City Council is moving forward to give some financial support to the baseball stadium in the form of a municipal bond backed by the hospitality tax.

Also, Carolyn Callahan at WIS had a very good Twitter feed of the whole council meeting. She's the most recent person I've added to my Twitter timeline for local Columbia news. If you're into that thing, you should check her out.

The Executive Branch Strikes Back

Yeah, the Executive Branch noticed the WWII vets brushing aside the barriers to the WWII monument yesterday.

So now they're bringing in the heavy equipment.

Via Twitter

More Honor Flight veterans are on their way, but they've been told they'll be arrested if they try to go to their memorial.

Just in case you don't know, the WWII memorial is an open air landmark. It's not a building or a museum. It's a concrete circular/oval area that's open 24/7.

It doesn't have an "entrance" that you can close, anymore than Central Park has an "entrance". The Executive Branch is having to bring in artificial barriers to close it down.

Somehow, I don't think some plastic tape and wooden/metal sawhorse-parade barricades are going to be enough to stop men who stormed the beaches of Normandy and survived enemy artillery barrages. Call me crazy.

The Vets Have Control of the Memorial!

As part of the government shutdown, the government apparently is required to perform more work than normal, and erect barricades and have Capitol Police keep Americans from visiting memorials and parks. That may work for some of the more peaceful nature-lovers visiting Yosemite, but it certainly ain't working on the WWII vets who showed up to visit the WWII memorial and found it closed.

They went right past the barricades, like they were trained to do, so long ago.

Via @LeoShane

Everyone knows that "shutting down" memorials and monuments is just theater. No one works there, and it actually takes more work to keep people out. It's like the sequester. Certain people want to make this shutdown as painful as possible to prove a point. I don't get this kind of theater anyway.

I tell you what, this government shutdown is hitting me hard. I forgot to fill up my gas tank yesterday and with the Dept of Energy shut down there may not be another chance. Maybe I can find a mule or something to pull my car around. I also drove to work despite forgetting that the Department of Transportation was closed. I guess I'll be walking back home.

It's all a big joke.

Detroit Is Bankrupt

Detroit filed for bankruptcy. Here's the filing if your interested. Maybe Obama can get the Olympics into Detroit for 2016. He's good at that kind of thing. Incidentally, I have a letter for the people who have been running Detroit for the last 50 years.

The grasshoppers should have been saving for winter.

Sincerely,

The Ants 

Cyprus Banks to Stay Shut Until Thursday

The EU just decided to take money from everyone who had a savings account in Cyprus. Oh, you want to get your money out of the bank? Too bad, the banks will be closed until Thursday.

This is not going to end well. There are going to be some nervous folks in Greece, Spain, Italy, Ireland, and Portugal right now. Would you keep your money in a bank in one of those countries?

Archduke Franz-Ferdinand could not be reached for comment.

Happy Friday - Don't Believe Everything You Hear

I have a particular set of skills.

Not much happening today, other than the ZOMG, end of the world, apocalypse now, 2.3% budget cuts that will force us to stop vaccinating children, inspecting meat, checking for bombs on airplanes, having firefighters, or any matching socks for our military troops.

I have a particular set of skills when it comes to all that: I don't believe all the bullshit I hear from politicians.

I suggest you do likewise.

2-21-13 Morning Thread

Good morning, campers....this is Ghost Rider requesting a flyby. There's not much news today, but here you go:

WHY CALIFORNIA IS GOING BROKE: Last year, 572 San Francisco city workers made more than the Governor of California.

DALLAS TEACHER SAYS WRITE ABOUT ANYTHING YOU WANT: Unless you write about something she don't personally like. In that case, you'll fail.

News Roundup: January 16, 2013

Happy Wednesday! The week is half over.

News Roundup:

1. Jake's Bar and Grill settles a dram shop liability case for a little under a million dollars that resulted in a death.
2. South Carolina is seeking to be reimbursed $53,000 from the $3.5 million dollar suit on the voter ID deal. (Kind of a Pyrrhic Victory if you ask me.)
3. Charleston County school bus driver's union threatens to go on strike.  The funny thing here is that the Charleston School District isn't even at the negotiating table. This is a dispute between the bus drivers and the company that the School District hired.
4. The White House says it's proposed federal budget is going to be released a week later than mandated by law. Meh, it's not like the budget is going to be enacted anyway. We've been running the country without a budget for years.

That's all I've got for y'all today. Enjoy the latter half of your week.

Ten Thoughts on the Fiscal Cliff Deal

Ok, so we know that the fiscal cliff was averted....well kind of. Here's the shorthand of what's actually in the fiscal cliff deal. Good news! It's not all bad.

1. Marginal Tax Rates Locked In. The much debated and demagogued "Bush Tax Cuts" hit their ten year sunset and expired on 12/31/12. In the fiscal cliff deal, Congress permanently locked in the same tax rates for everyone, unless you made make than $400k (or $450k as a family). If you make more than that, your rate goes from 35% to 39.6%. Oh, and exemptions and deductions start getting phased out for individuals at $250k and families at $300k.

This is really a mostly good thing. Basically, for 98% of the country, the "Bush Tax Cuts" are now the "2013 Obama Tax Rates". Note, these are the same tax rates that democrats have been blaming for the housing crisis, the recession, etc...and now these rates are permanent - and Obama says this is a "win". Ok, guy. Whatever you say...I just don't want to hear the word "Bush" from a democrat anymore. Ever again.

2. Obama owns all this tax policy - no one forced this upon him. He agreed, and he's going to sign it. For the rest of his term (that he hasn't even started), he can't really push to raise more taxes, so look for him to focus on non-monetary issues (guns, immigration, global warming climate change) in order to avoid doing anything on entitlements. I have a feeling the GOP would like to have "a serious national conversation" about government spending, though.

I know that raising taxes on higher incomes won't solve the deficit or debt problem, but having permanent tax rates is a good thing. One of the best things that legislators can do is to make their laws permanent - especially taxes. Tax rates that have "sunset" provisions and expire after a certain amount of time are lunacy. Have a tax rate. If you don't like the rate, change it. But give folks some kind of permanency so they can plan their lives and businesses.

3. Capital Gains Taxes Go Up for High Earners. Again, I don't like this one on principle, because the higher income earners are the folks who have spare money to invest in equities. There aren't a lot of folks making $65k buying lots of stocks. If you're in the top income bracket, your capital gains taxes are going up to 20% from 15%. Meh.

4. Unemployment Benefits Continue. This was a big priority for the Democrats, and they got it. I can understand why. With all the unemployed people out there, ending their benefits would create a lot of pain. Folks would have to go get jobs. I think some people have been on unemployment for more than 100 weeks now, so I'm not sure where the end of this is. Will unemployment benefits be lifelong now? I guess we'll find out at some point.

5. One Year "Doc Fix". This is a classic example of Congress temporarily fixing a problem. Under current Medicare law, doctors would be paid 27% less than they are now. Each year, Congress passes a law that basically says "Don't worry about that part of Medicare." Why not fix this permanently?

6. Milk Cliff Averted. Again, this is classic. Congress temporarily fixes a stupid-ass problem they created. The farm bill was extended for 9 months. So there you go. See you in September, milk cliff.

7. AMT Permanently Fixed. For years now, Congress has passed one year "patches" to index the AMT to inflation. Apparently, they got into a frenzy of productivity and decided to go ahead and just permanently fix this. Attaboy Congress! Permanent solutions.

8. Estate Tax. It starts at $5Million now, and it takes 40%. Oh well. At least it's not temporary. If you have that much money, you've probably already started planning for the estate tax.

9. Payroll Taxes Going Back Up. The temporary payroll tax holiday is over. It hits every single person who makes any money at all. Did you enjoy your payroll tax "holiday"? Good, back to work.

10. The Sequester Is Finally Averted. Just kidding. It's only been delayed for two months. Guess what? We get to do this all over again in March!

Notably absent was anything remotely resembling restraint on government spending. Oh well, one problem at a time, right? There's probably lots of other smallish stuff in the fiscal cliff deal, but if Congress doesn't have to read the bill, I sure don't have to.

Six More Family Court Judges On the Way

Normally, I view additional government spending with a healthy dose of skepticism. However, even as someone who extols the virtues of fiscal restraint, I can absolutely say that we need more judges here in South Carolina.

Finally, the State Legislature has realized that South Carolina needs more judges to help manage the rising caseload here in the Palmetto State. Today, the SC Senate passed a bill approving the creation of six new family court judges and three new circuit court judges; nine in total.

This has been long overdue. South Carolina has the fewest number of judges per population and more than twice the national average of case filings per judge. Each year, Justice Toal tells the legislature these facts in her State of the Judiciary Report.

As a practicing lawyer here in South Carolina, I can tell you that wait times for hearings are longer than they need to be. I do a fair amount of family court work, and I do it throughout the state. Some counties run a tight ship, and others are an absolute nightmare.

In a certain county, in family court, just to get a hearing scheduled, not heard, can take up to six months. That's insane. I know the wheels of justice are slow, but six months to get a hearing scheduled means the wheels of justice have fallen off. If you want to get the dockets moving, you have to have more people available to get the cases disposed of. Alternative dispute resolution (mediation) has taken some pressure off the court, but you cannot force people to agree. Sometimes, especially in family court, you have to have an adjudication.

These new judges need to be assigned to the counties in South Carolina that have seen the population grow the most since the last judges were added. As a conservative, I am normally loathe to grow the size of government, but this is actually a legitimate need. I applaud the move to add new judges. The judiciary we have is comprised of some great people, but they're downing in the current workload.

Now, the next step is to get the South Carolina state courts to go to an e-filing system modeled after the Federal System. Automatic discovery and scheduling orders to push parties along is what keeps the Federal Court system moving. Time to get modern, South Carolina.

SC Senate Is Considering Raising Employees Wages

Fairness. Hey! We're going to raise your taxes to pay ourselves more.

State workers have not had a pay increase since 2007. Meanwhile, average hourly wages for private-sector workers in South Carolina have increased 9.7 percent since 2007, according to the state Department of Commerce.

“That’s not fair,” said state Sen. Darrell Jackson, D-Richland.

Fairness? I don't recall the public sector workers being laid of in droves during the recession. I also don't think that most of the private-sector folks have a sweet pension. Personally, I think we could fire 25% of the state workers who aren't performing well and give their pay to the 75% who do a good job.

That sounds like "fariness" to me.

Read more here: http://www.thestate.com/2012/04/26/2250994/sc-senate-considers-4-raise-for.html#storylink=cpy

Good News, SC Has Money to Burn!

Actually, we don't.

But you can't tell that to State Rep. Harry Ott. Apparently, House Minority Leader Harry Ott has lost touch with reality. He's decided that it would be a good idea to use the State Reserve Fund to pay out a bonus to State workers. No...really.

House Minority Leader Harry Ott says he will try to push through a 1 percent bonus for state workers and teachers in the state budget.Ott said the money would come from the state’s reserve funds

It's amazing. It's the reserve fund. It's for the proverbial "rainy day", not for the legislature to "make it rain" Platinum Plus style, in the form of bonuses. The reserve fund is not for paying bonuses to anyone, let alone everyone. This is madness. We're in the midst of a horrible economy, and Representative Ott has decided to give every single state worker (oh and because that's not enough) and every teacher, a 1% bonus in their salary.

First, not every single state worker (and teacher) does not merit a bonus. I'm sure there a a few folks out there who deserve to be fired, some who don't deserve a bonus, and some who deserve a little more. However, just giving out a bonus without considering each person rewards poor work, discourages hard work, and is just plain wasteful.

Second, did I mention it's the reserve fund? It's to be held in reserve, not paid out to people because we want to encourage them. Even if every single state worker (and teacher) deserved a 1% bonus, you don't use the reserve fund. What you do is make a budgeting decision to not spend the normal budget on something that is an equal amount. You know, analyzing cost/benefit, making priorities, and making decisions - the things that a legislator is supposed to do.

The problem is that our current legislators don't want to tell us "no". There is always more money for everyone, and nothing needs to be cut.

All I want in a legislator is for them to act like the money they spend is their own damn money.

  

#OccupyColumbia

So, we've got about 75 people sleeping on the front lawn of the capital here in Columbia. Awesome. Why are they there? Are they upset about unemployment? Are they upset about our foreign policy? Or maybe it's one of those controversial social issues like abortion or gay marriage.

The protesters are part of demonstrations taking place across the country that criticize the influence of corporate money in politics, tax policies that favor the wealthy and policies that don’t show good stewardship of natural resources. -The State

 Well, isn't that special. Let's take these three issues in turn:

1. The influence of corporate money in politics. Corporations are groups of people working together to make money. They donate money to candidates who support their agenda. This has happened since the dawn of democracy. It's not a new phenomenon. Read your history books, kids. If you don't like it, you're not going to get very far by protesting the corporations. They should be protesting at Capitol Hill and at the White House.

It's like this. If you have a friend who drinks too much, you don't go protest the liquor store for selling him booze. You try to convince your friend not to drink too much. There's always going to be someone who will sell him alcohol. It's the same thing with money in politics. If you don't like it, hold the politicians accountable. They are the ones you vote for, not the donors. Finally, if you're really upset about the contributions of big Wall Street banks, guess who the #1 recipient of money from Goldman Sachs is? Also, if you don't like the bank bailouts, maybe you should join the TEA Party, bro.

2. Tax policies that favor the wealthy. Currently, our main federal tax system is based on your income. The more you earn, the higher your marginal rate. However, the tax code is full of deductions, loopholes, and exemptions that are the result of the government trying to encourage or discourage certain types of behavior. Example: The government wants people to own homes (for some reason) so they encourage it by making your mortgage interest deductible. Same with having kids, same with donating to charities, and so on and so on....If you don't like this system of taxation, what do you propose? Simply raising the marginal rates? That's not really going to change much since you'll still have the swiss cheese of the deductions and exemptions. If you really want to change the system, you need to make the tax code simple.

3. Policies that don't show good stewardship of natural resources. All three of these points are broad, but this point is really vague. I'm not sure what they're upset about. Are they upset that the internal combustion engine is the most efficient way to power a car? Are they upset that America is too large and spread out for efficient mass-transportation? Are they upset that the wind doesn't blow all the time, or that it's not sunny all the time, making wind and solar pie-in-the-sky ideas at this point? We have an EPA that seems more worried about CO2 levels than anything else. Also, what does Wall Street have to do with this? Doesn't the guy over at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue have a small role on what America does as far as natural resources are concerned? I think you're protesting the wrong people, bro.

Jesse Jackson Jr. Isn't Worried About the Constitution

Jesse Jackson, Jr. has been doing some serious thinking. He's decided that since the GOP is not in agreement with the President's economic plan (the Jobs Act) that our President should do something dramatic.

Jesse Jackson, Jr. told The Daily Caller on Wednesday that congressional opposition to the American Jobs Act is akin to the Confederate “states in rebellion.” Jackson called for full government employment of the 15 million unemployed and said that Obama should “declare a national emergency” and take “extra-constitutional” action “administratively” — without the approval of Congress — to tackle unemployment. “I hope the president continues to exercise extraordinary constitutional means, based on the history of Congresses that have been in rebellion in the past,” Jackson said. “He’s looking administratively for ways to advance the causes of the American people, because this Congress is completely dysfunctional.”

As a threshold issue, simply disagreeing on economic policy and refusing to vote one way on a bill is not "akin" to rebellion. It's just a disagreement. We have them all the time. Rebellions are done with weapons and seek to overthrow authority. The two things are not even in the same ballpark - they're not even the same sport.

“President Obama tends to idealize — and rightfully so  — Abraham Lincoln, who looked at states in rebellion and he made a judgment that the government of the United States, while the states are in rebellion, still had an obligation to function,” Jackson told TheDC at his Capitol Hill office on Wednesday.

Ok, to make sure I understand this correctly, Jesse Jackson, Jr. is saying that Congress disagreeing with the President is the same as states attempting to secede from the Union? That's just stupid. Our government is functioning. Part of the system of the government is that people can't just force their ideas through...you know....checks and balances...that basic stuff we learned in Civics class. And now for the crowning stupidity:

“On several occasions now, we’ve seen … the Congress is in rebellion, determined, as Abraham Lincoln said, to wreck or ruin at all costs. I believe … in the direct hiring of 15 million unemployed Americans at $40,000 a head, some more than $40,000, some less than $40,000 — that’s a $600 billion stimulus. It could be a five-year program. For another $104 billion, we bailout all of the states … for another $100 billion, we bailout all of the cities,” he said.

Several occasions?  The Civil War was one time we had a rebellion. When exactly were the others? If you know of any, don't be shy...just shout it out. In any event, on with the stupid. So! We're going to "directly hire" (whatever that means) 15 million people and pay them about $40k each. Awesome. What exactly are we going to hire them to do? Do you just fill out an application? How many people who make less than $40k in some job are going to quit that job to become "unemployed" and eligible for this awesome new program? Maybe you even get some people who make the same amount, but are working harder for it than our government is going to make them work. What then?

Also, where is this $600 billion going to come from? I don't think we have a ton of money just laying around. And we're going to do this for five years? This is the dumbest idea I've ever heard. Really. Ever. Oh, and to top it all off, he's acknowledging that this is unconstitutional, but we should just do it anyway...because it's real important.

Jesse Jackson, Jr. should resign.

Why a $16 Muffin is Significant

At first, I thought the $16 muffins that our Department of Justice was buying was just a funny anecdote. The problem is, it would be funny if it wasn't my money. My taxes pay for this nonsense, and no one even thinks to say: 

"Hey man, our bad. We'll try to spend your money a little more wisely going forward". No apology. Nothing. They're not really even sorry.

And now you want tax increases? Quit wasting my money on crap, and then we can talk about raising your allowance.

Most of my readers are pretty savvy when it comes to money – i.e. you don’t go blow your money on worthless crap. That’s because it’s your money and you worked your ass off for long hours to earn it. That’s pretty much how everyone feels…I hope.

But anyway, one of the big problems with a big government in general (among many others) is that the government bureaucrat sees his account as just numbers on a page. He didn’t work for the money, it’s not his. It was just magically given to him from Congress, and he’s not going to spend it as carefully as you or I would – and that’s just human nature. It doesn’t make him a bad person, it’s just how it is. When I hear about folks at the DOJ spending $16 on muffins I think “WTF, would they spend $16 of their own money on a muffin”? Obviously, the answer is no.

So now the President is saying that we need to raise taxes. This is insanity. It’s like having a friend who spends all his money on cocaine and then doesn’t pay his mortgage comes to you for some extra cash. You know he’s a cocaine addict. Do you just give him more money in hopes that he does the “right thing” and pay his mortgage? You certainly don’t want him to be homeless. But you also know that if you give him a thousand dollars in cash, he’s just going to go buy an eight-ball on Friday night and still skip his mortgage payment. What does a good friend do?

You check him into a rehab clinic. Our entire Federal government needs to go to rehab. The spending is so over the top it’s really starting to piss me off.    

Margaret Thatcher Is Still Relevant

It's nice to remember that the issues we face today are not different from the issues that people and governments (oops, I mean federal families) have faced in the past. By the by, it would be nice if the female GOP players were more like the Iron Lady rather than reality TV stars.

[H/T Ed Driscoll]

SC DOT is Broke?

When you have $28M on hand and immediately owe $120M, something is wrong.

Well, I guess the SC DOT is illiquid, not insolvent. In any event, this sounds bad. What's going on here?

US Post Offices Closing in Small Towns

The Wall Street Journal has an article about the USPS closing post offices in small towns. Ok, so people aren't using the mail as much anymore. Seems reasonable to close up some offices that aren't getting the use. I wouldn't even really call this a tough decision - it's more like common sense. If people are using the service 28% less in the last four years, isn't it stupid not to cut back on the service? Ok, wait. I must be missing something. Ruth Goldway, chairman of the Postal Regulatory Commission will enlighten me as to the big downside to closing post offices. Ok, Ruth, I'm ready. Drop some knowledge on me:

Some closures might not be worth the savings, Ruth Goldway, chairman of the Postal Regulatory Commission, said in an interview Monday. While there are probably many post offices that are unnecessary and duplicative, "I feel that the postal service, even if it closes all of these post offices, is not going to save all that much money and there are risks to reducing your network," like alienating customers, she said.

So you're admitting that closing down some post offices, or even just sharing space in a gas station will save money. Great. Saving money is what the USPS needs to do. What's the downside again? Oh, customers might be "alienated"? What the heck does that even mean? It sounds like 28% of the customers have alienated themselves already, Ruth. Are you saying that people will be so upset that the post office closed that they'll boycott the mail? They won't mail stuff because they're upset?

Even if Miss Postal-bureaucrat is right, and the USPS doesn't save a ton of money (it's projected to save only $200 million), saving $200 million is still a good thing when the USPS is in $8 Billion in debt. But Miss Sensitive-Pants doesn't care - it's not her money. She's more worried about people getting teary-eyed if the local post office closes in a town of about 400 people. That's a town the size of Nichols, SC.

I detest the argument "Oh, that's not a big expense; cutting that won't do much." When you're $8 Billion in the hole, you can't afford to be so magnanimous with your budget. No wonder the Federal Government has finance issues. When did "Is this a good thing to spend money on?" get replaced with "Yeah, that's not really a good expense, but cutting it won't make up our entire budget gap, so leave it in." You know what they say: $200 million here, $200 million there, pretty soon you're talking real money.

P.S. Nichols, SC doesn't have a post office - and life goes on.