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KGB-NP
Joined: 25 Jul 2001
Posts: 2856
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 Posted: Tue Jan 06, 2015 7:14 am Post subject: |
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Ah yes, the enlightened head banger philosophies a la Anthony Iommi, and Ronnie James Dio of Black Sabbath. I would urge you to quote the final two lines of this song. What next, the ever thought provoking Ted Nugent quotes?
Fools resolve to take or make demands through force rather than by their efforts or the nature of their conduct.
"You're all fools!
The Mob Rules!"
-Black Sabbath "The Mob Rules" (1981) |
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mac
Joined: 07 Mar 1999
Posts: 17747
Location: Berkeley, California
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| Posted: Wed Jan 07, 2015 10:37 am Post subject: |
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| Hmm, two years for the former Republican governor of Virginia. Arrogance? Who doesn't understand conflict of interest laws? |
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mac
Joined: 07 Mar 1999
Posts: 17747
Location: Berkeley, California
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| Posted: Sun Jan 18, 2015 12:11 pm Post subject: |
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Uh oh, it turns out that Michigan is facing a serious deficit--$324.6 million. Could it possibly be the $2 billion in business tax credits handed out by Republicans?
Tell me again how important it is to put amateurs--who failed math apparently--in charge of politics.
| Quote: | By Paul Egan, Detroit Free Press 10:40 p.m. EST January 16, 2015
Gov. Rick Snyder blames prior administrations for a budget shortfall in 2015, but Democrats point to corporate tax cuts he signed into law.
LANSING – Michigan residents can expect unspecified cuts in services as the state tries to address a projected deficit of about $325 million in the state's general fund for 2015, Budget Director John Roberts said Friday.
"There are going to be real reductions in services," Roberts told reporters after officials reached a consensus on revenue estimates..
"I can't sit here and say yes or no to layoffs" of state employees, he said, and it hasn't been determined what specific services or departments will be affected.
Friday's revised estimates also pose a problem for the 2015-16 budget Gov. Rick Snyder is to unveil Feb. 11. Net general fund revenues for the 2016 fiscal year are now projected to come in $532 million lower than officials estimated when they last held a revenue conference, in May. Snyder will address budget fixes for both fiscal years on Feb. 11, Roberts said.
The lower net revenue numbers come despite a state economy that continues to improve and economic growth that's projected to hum along at about 3% a year, according to private, state and academic forecasters who testified Friday.
The sudden turn in the state's short-term financial fortunes -- which Snyder and other state officials attribute to a recent surge in corporations cashing in old Michigan Business Tax credits that were issued as economic development incentives -- sparked disagreement about who is to blame.
Snyder and Republican lawmakers said the refundable tax credits -- which were discontinued at the end of Snyder's first year in office in 2011 -- are a lingering problem from former administrations that make revenue forecasting difficult because of uncertainty about when they will be cashed in. Such credits, which can be good for 20 years, were issued not only under Snyder's predecessor, Democratic Gov. Jennifer Granholm, but under her predecessor, Republican Gov. John Engler.
"We have to pay for the sins of the past, and we will, but all indicators still show strong economic growth due to the decisions we have made over the last four years," said Rep. Al Pscholka, R-Stevensville, chairman of the House Appropriations Committee.
Though not disputing the short-term effect of the boost in tax credit redemptions, Democrats said it's wrong to blame the Granholm administration, four years after she left office, for a revenue shortfall when the Snyder administration and GOP-controlled Legislature has approved more than $2 billion in corporate tax cuts.
"It should be obvious to everyone by now that the Republican policy of all but eliminating taxes on corporations not only doesn't work, but is downright dangerous," said House Minority Leader Tim Greimel, D-Auburn Hills.
"Big corporations are living rent-free in Michigan, leaving average working families to foot the bill. That's wrong, and it's time we restore fairness to all Michiganders."
Faced with the projected shortfall, Snyder said he has no misgivings about a series of corporate tax cuts he signed into law.
Snyder on Friday highlighted the continued growth projections from economists who spoke at the revenue conference and said they show "a bright future for our state and the steps we have taken to grow our economy are working."
The House Fiscal Agency this week projected a $454.4-million shortfall for the 2014-15 fiscal year, up from the $162.2-million shortfall the Senate Fiscal Agency projected in December. On Friday, the Treasury Department pegged the shortfall at $274.8 million.
After considering all three estimates, Friday's consensus on the shortfall for 2014-15, reached by the state treasurer, budget director, and heads of the two fiscal agencies, was about $325 million, Roberts said.
The corporate tax credits are redeemable by companies that chose to stick with the now-defunct MBT when it was abolished by the Snyder administration and replaced with a 6% corporate income tax that is only paid by "C" corporations, which have shareholders.
Officials said the current crisis is largely attributed to corporations cashing in hundreds of millions dollars more in tax credits in 2014 than had earlier been expected.
By law, new MBT tax credits were no longer issued after the end of 2011, but lawmakers expressed concerns Friday that amendments made to existing credits since then had the effect of creating new credits and called for closer monitoring of such changes.
The Senate Fiscal Agency said the total value of outstanding credits and the amounts that are expected to be redeemed have both increased since Snyder took office in 2011 — by $1.6 billion and $3.2 billion respectively. David Zin, chief economist for the Senate Fiscal Agency, said new credits were issued in 2011 and agencies connected with the Michigan Economic Development Corp. have amended agreements since 2011 to make tax credits issued by the prior administration easier to redeem.
The MEDC annual report for the 2011 fiscal year lists $2.4 billion in MBT tax credits that were awarded between Oct. 1, 2010 and Sept. 30, 2011. The report doesn't specify which of the more than 70 new tax credits were issued in the 2011 calendar year, after Snyder took office.
Mike Shore, a spokesman for the MEDC, said the value of MBT tax credits awarded in the 2011 calendar year was $73.6 million. Amendments made to existing tax credits since Jan. 1, 2011 increased their value by $380.8 million, Shore said.
Zin and other officials said one reason more credits are being redeemed than earlier estimated is that an improved economy makes it easier for corporations to meet job-creation requirements that trigger the credits.
Snyder, while boosting state revenues from personal income taxes by reducing or eliminating tax credits and exemptions that pensioners and others received, has significantly cut corporate taxes by eliminating the MBT in favor of the corporate income tax and by signing into law a phase-out of the personal property tax on industrial equipment, which is also now having an impact on the overall revenue numbers.
Snyder also signed into law a controversial law that limits the ability of the Treasury Department to hold corporate officers personally liable for the unpaid taxes of corporations. That law is expected to reduce state revenues by about $295 million over the next three years, of which about $165 million will impact the general fund, the state's main checking account.
Snyder said Thursday he has no misgivings about any of those cuts. He said the MBT tax credits "would be a problem whether we had a different tax system or not."
Sen. Dave Hildenbrand, R-Lowell, chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, said he's not overly concerned about the projected deficits. All departments can likely make some cuts to help the state balance its 2015 budget, said Hildenbrand, who also wouldn't rule out using surpluses in the School Aid Fund to ease the picture by re-allocating some general fund dollars that currently go toward school-related expenses.
"I don't get into finger-pointing," Hildenbrand said. "I'm more about finding a solution."
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http://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/2015/01/16/state-revenue-shortfall-corporate-tax-credits/21854477/ |
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mac
Joined: 07 Mar 1999
Posts: 17747
Location: Berkeley, California
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| Posted: Mon Jan 26, 2015 1:04 pm Post subject: |
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Who could have guessed?
| Quote: | Paul Piff, an assistant professor in the Department of Psychology and Social Behavior at UC Irvine (he moved from UC Berkeley just a few weeks ago), has spent the past decade conducting about 50 studies on how wealthy people and poorer people behave in the same situations.
Again and again, he’s found a common thread: Rich people are more likely to behave unethically even if they get very little benefit.
They’re more likely to take candy from a jar labeled as just for kids, cheat at games and cut off pedestrians in crosswalks. They’re also more likely to say they’d do the same thing when told about somebody who accepts bribes, lies to customers, cheats on an exam or pockets the money when a clerk gives too much change.
...One of Piff’s most interesting studies found that just half the drivers of luxury cars stopped for a pedestrian about to enter a crosswalk, whereas just about all drivers of old beaters stopped.
...“There is a certain amount of arrogance that comes with wealth and does translate to people feeling entitled at times and act not as nicely,” |
Of course, in service to their pursuit of money from the very rich, Republicans in Congress cut short their debates to cozy up to the Koch's in Palm Springs.
As the Who said, which applies easily to the new Tea Baggers in Congress--Meet the new boss, same as the old boss." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NIHJ9RMAVGI |
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techno900
Joined: 28 Mar 2001
Posts: 4161
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| Posted: Mon Jan 26, 2015 2:23 pm Post subject: |
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| Good, let's create an all poor society so politeness is overwhelmingly prevalent. |
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isobars
Joined: 12 Dec 1999
Posts: 20935
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| Posted: Mon Jan 26, 2015 2:45 pm Post subject: |
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| techno900 wrote: | | Good, let's create an all poor society .... |
After all, the stated goal of Obama, Hillary, and Warren (and, of course Marx, is to make the poor slightly richer by making the rich poorer through any form of wealth redistribution they can get through Congress or simply dictate. Here are a few of their role models:
Robert Owen (1870-1924) – Early socialist pioneer ... advocated a form of utopian Socialism and co-operative communities.
Karl Marx
Fidel Castro
Frederich Engles ... helped write and publish the Communist Manifesto.
Lenin ... began the policy of suppressing any opposition to Communist party rule.
Stalin ... eliminated any internal opposition and establishing his dictatorship.
Gorbachev ... stated he believed in the ideals of socialism.
Chairman Mao ... established his own form of Communism, which included the devastating cultural revolution.
Che Guevara ... criticised many aspects of the Soviet Union for betraying Marxist principles.
Trotsky ... advocated worldwide Marxist revolution.
Tony Benn ... leading figure in the socialist wing of the British Labour party.
Aneurin Bevan ... a committed socialist and helped to implement the new National Health Service.
Clement Attlee ... pushed through nationalisation and the creation of the welfare state.
Once again: how can anyone smart enough to operate one of these infernal Turing machines be so F-ing stupid AND historically ignorant as to support people like those? |
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nw30
Joined: 21 Dec 2008
Posts: 6485
Location: The eye of the universe, Cen. Cal. coast
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| Posted: Mon Jan 26, 2015 4:30 pm Post subject: |
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| Thatcher: "The problem with socialism is eventually you'll run out of other people's money". |
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mac
Joined: 07 Mar 1999
Posts: 17747
Location: Berkeley, California
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| Posted: Mon Jan 26, 2015 7:13 pm Post subject: |
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return to talking points. Do not admit any weaknesses in the rich and conservative. Ignore all evidence that it is hard for a rich man to get to heaven. Keep repeating that the poor are poor because they are flawed.
Brainwashing is complete. |
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nw30
Joined: 21 Dec 2008
Posts: 6485
Location: The eye of the universe, Cen. Cal. coast
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| Posted: Tue Jan 27, 2015 2:33 am Post subject: |
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| mac wrote: | Keep repeating that the poor are poor because they are flawed.
Brainwashing is complete. |
Where do you come up with this crap?
What deep, dark, dank "intellectual" dungeon do you hang out in?
Yikes!!!!!!! I'm glad I'm not you. |
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techno900
Joined: 28 Mar 2001
Posts: 4161
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| Posted: Tue Jan 27, 2015 10:08 am Post subject: |
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mac, In that study, did it break out the percentages of liberals and conservatives in the "wealthy" group? I guess not. Is it your assumption that there are more wealthy conservatives than liberals? | Quote: | | Do not admit any weaknesses in the rich and conservative |
Or are wealthy liberals polite and wealthy conservatives impolite?
A truly strange post and follow up.
Maybe just a California study which may make some sense. |
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