Yep. As the chart clearly illustrates, total welfare spending in the U.S. (if converted into cash payments) equals approximately “$168 per day for every household in poverty,” higher than the $137 median income per-day.
From the senator’s office:
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Talking? Shouldn’t you ask your Boss about “talking” to people first?
It seemed semi-coincidental that after I put up the posts on the NH GOP E-Board angst (I and II, with a side dish here) that I had a tweet sent my way by Kerry Marsh:
My take is that both Jim Foley and Steve Duprey DID their talking (in either a series of emails to a few, and then to more than a few) as well as talking to all of us via John DiStaso.
But I was rather bemused at the next notification – a retweet of Kerry Marsh’s tweet:
Data Point – And we need a carbon tax to lower our “carbon usage” – why?
3. The chart above shows the Department of Energy’s estimates of CO2 emissions per capita from 1973 to 2040. Total energy-related carbon emissions are expected to fall to a 20-year low this year, and on a per-capita basis will be the lowest since at least 1973 when the Department of Energy’s data begins. From the … Read more
Data Point – Federal Subsidies for electric power
Yes, the enviros can complain that coal gets more of a subsidy than solar; true enough. Add the subsidies for the top 4 items vs the renewables? No contest – fossil fuels get $4.557 billion while renewables get $5.954 Billion. In the end, however, is what is the bang for the buck. It … Read more
Only in the minds of DC tax-grabbers is my house a “tax loophole”
I had seen this before but when I read it again, the only thoughts I have is “Is this my house or the Government’s?” and “At what point does Government’s stash no longer needs more of my [much diminished] stash?” when looking at “tax loophole” that I take advantage of when I, well, live in my home :
…to the technocrats in the federal government, the tax you don’t have to pay on the value of rent you don’t have to pay because you own your home is a loophole. Read that last sentence again. Its called “The Imputed Net Rental Income on Owner-Occupied Housing” and the feds include it in their annual list of “tax expenditures.” That term is how Washington officially refers to credits, deductions and exemptions. Here’s how the federal government describes it:
Under the baseline tax system, the taxable income of a taxpayer who is an owner-occupant would include the implicit value of gross rental income on housing services earned on the investment in owner-occupied housing and would allow a deduction for expenses, such as interest, depreciation, property taxes, and other costs, associated with earning such rental income. In contrast, the Tax Code allows an exclusion from taxable income for the implicit gross rental income on housing ser- vices, while in certain circumstances allows a deduction for some costs associated with such income, such as for mortgage interest and property taxes.
Let’s say you own a home and your mortgage is $1,000 a month. If, however, you instead rented the home from a landlord your rent, let’s say, would be $2,000 a month. To the mandarins at the IRS, you are “earning” an implied $1,000 a month because you own and not rent, and that “value” should be added to your taxable income. If you own your home out-right and don’t have a mortgage at all, you would be “earning” $2,000 a month which the IRS thinks should be added to your taxable income.
NH GOP – a riff on the E-board angst reported by DiStaso
I had bookmarked the Dec 4 version of the UL’s DiStazo’s column which discussed the $25 fee that the NH GOP was looking to impose upon the new State Committee members (which I labeled a “poll tax” because it was set to be collected in order to vote for the new officers of the NH GOP and whatever business needed to be attended to. Sure, I’m a bit late, but because I seemingly fit into NH GOP Finance Chair Jim Foley’s “so-called journalist” category, I had a few thoughts (reformatted to save space):
NHGOP finance chairman Jim Foley opposed rescinding the fee. “This drives me crazy,” he wrote in an email reply to MacDonald. “Why, when there is some push-back, do we cave in?” wrote Foley, who also chairs the Derry Republican Committee. “This decision was made by unanimous vote of the executive committee after much discussion and with the idea of getting a more committed state committee member. We deliberately imposed no sanction for failure to pay this fee.
And we out in the hinterlands (as Kevin Landrigan says) are supposed to simply nod our heads
“Who are these complaints coming from? Very few new state committee members have been elected. The Derry committee has been chosen and we have heard no issues about this fee.”
Foley wrote that the two candidates for state chairman are “pandering to what they perceive will be their supporters, and so-called journalists who always try to stir things, creating a controversy where none exists.”
He suggested the state party send an email “that makes it clear our reasoning behind the request for the fee and that there are no consequences for failure to pay the fee.”
He said he does not believe a special meeting is necessary.
Of course not; after all, he’s on the E-Board! As he wrote here:
NH GOP – a riff on the E-board angst reported by DiStaso – Part II
Same column, but where Jim Foley expressed a hubris, it is easy to hear the frustration of former NH GOP Chair and current RNC Committeeman Steve Duprey. While Foley gets what he deserves, I have a bit more sympathy (yes folks, I did use that word voluntarily) for Duprey (reformatted):
Duprey said that especially after a poor GOP showing on election day, “Anyone who thinks you don’t need adequate resources in what has become a purple state is dreaming.”…He also said the party should have a “job description for the members of the state committee. “When I was chairman,” he said, “we used to have a guide of how many hours we expected of you. You had to help us recruit candidates, you had to train candidates, you had write letters and update our data base. And you must help us fund-raise.”
You know, I think this is a good idea – but it has to be done well ahead of time if it is going to be a formal responsibility. Given the poor results, things do need to change and…
Sidenote: hey, I wonder if what the consensus is on the E-Board really is given Foley’s remark (“Don’t think that the State Party did that badly in this election.“) and Duprey saying” a poor GOP showing”?
…given what the other side did, change in a major way. While what Duprey is preaching can be construed to be major, one thing is sure: you don’t spring it on people just before the picking of Members. and before the State Meeting. I will say, concerning what tasks and expectations may be required (once and future), they have not been communicated downward from the NH GOP well lately. This decree sure was a really bad example of poor thinking, poor planning, poor communication, and poor messaging. And the E-Board is/was surprised at the reaction?
GrokTV – Panel Discussion: Making your vote count – Q&A Part 3
And the last installment of the Rye Republican Panel Discussions on the voting results of November 6th:
- A need: Contagious Volunteerism vs Learned Helplessness
- Role of the NH GOP / a need for a different Organization?
- Closing Remarks
Contagious Volunteerism A family of Organizations?
A perfect example of why there is frustration with the GOP
The grassroots within the Right of the Political aisle formed the TEA Party – Taxed Enough Already. As being pointed out this morning on the talking head shows, if we go over the Fiscal Cliff, there are more than a few states, combined with Fed taxes that will take effect, will have residents that will … Read more
Data Point – State Government control since 1938
From the NY Times: (H/T: Instapundit)
Notable Quote – Henry Hazlitt
Liberty is the essential basis, the sine qua non, of morality. Morality can exist only in a free society; it can exist to the extent that freedom exists. Only to the extent that men have the power of choice can they be said to choose the good. – Henry Hazlitt (H/T: Cafe Hayek)
GrokTV – Panel Discussion: Making your vote count – Q&A Part 2
Continuing on with the Q & A session from yesterday’s Panel Discussion:
- Request to GraniteGrok: can you do some video lessons on how to do”voting stuff”?
- Frustration with the NH GOP
- Losing the vote due to the culture in the Government schools
- A shoutout to GovernmentOversite.com which is doing yeoman’s work on covering the Federal Government’s push to federalize local zoning ordinances (being pushed here in NH by NH GOP Secretary, Greg Carson (head honcho in HUD – see above “Frustration with the NH GOP)
“Grok, help us! Frustration with NH GOP
Government or Private: Really, which is “investment” and which is just spending?
Remember, there is a reason why the Left is redefining the language that Government no longer “spends” but “invests”. They hate the idea that investments in the private sector can do far better than Government spending, so they (as in many other areas) try to equate the two so as to totally blur any difference … Read more
Blogline of the Day – just because you are elected
“being democratically elected doesn’t mean everything you do thereafter is by definition democratic“ My mind immediately filled in the next line that could have been there: “Being elected as a Republican doesn’t mean everything you do thereafter is by definition, Republican in philosophy” (H/T: Twitter via Instapundit)
GrokTV – Panel Discussion: The Election Process in N.H. – making your vote count
The Rye Republicans held their second set of discussions concerning the Nov 6th vote and invited to be on that panel addressing a packed room of Rye area Republicans were the following and the topics they were asked to cover: Jack Thorsen (Portmouth City Coucilor andNH GOP area vice-chair) – The 11/6/12 General Election – … Read more
GrokTV – Panel Discussion: Making your vote count – The Panelists
As stated in the last post, four panelists spoke as Diane Bitter, Rye Republican Chair moderated. Again, the panelists: Jack Thorsen (Portmouth City Coucilor andNH GOP area vice-chair) – The 11/6/12 General Election – results of the voting process and how the counting is handled NH State Rep. Regina Birdsell – Voting Laws, who is … Read more
GrokTV – Panel Discussion: Making your vote count – Q&A Part 1
I have chopped up the videos of the Question and Answer period into different posts (as there were a number of topics on which there were questions). Please note that sometimes the video title “might” not be quite accurate in that often, as these things go, the discussion of the original question quickly morphs to other tangents. But hey, it’s better that way when you are the panelist / audience member than the video editor!):
- Quick Riff: Will other Democrats be allowed to use the Obama DB (example: former DNC Chair Terry McAuliffe running for VA Guv)
- Low information voters and Same Day registrations
- Don’t wait for NH Govt to catch Voter Fraud – go “James O’Keefe” and use Right To Know requests to embarrass them to do so.
- Same Day registrations in Rye
Use of Obama DB Low Info Voters / Same Day Registrations
The other videos and previous videos from the day after the jump:
Data Point – NH Dem VS NH GOP Committee Contributions
(H/T: loyal reader)
Data Point – Should we expect to see another NH State spending spike?
Now that the the NH Democrat Party controls the Governor’s office and a big majority in the NH House? Supporting data after the jump
For all of the sturm und drang of the last session about cutting into the bone and “shafting the vulnerable”, all we see is reducing spending to that before the Democrats (when they controlled the NH House and NH Senate) injected spending that was unsustainble. What is not sustainable. Fortunately, former Bill O’Brien saw the political snare of having to raise a broadbased tax to keep that artificially heightened spending high and took the responsible road of “living within one’s means”.