Budgets Archives - Page 17 of 24

About Merrimack’s Town Tax Rate

September 26, 2018February 17, 2013 Steve MacDonald

Town of Merrimack NH More than a few folks in Merrimack probably had heart attacks when they saw the front page article “Council OKs 23.5 million budget” in the Merrimack ~~Telegraph~~ Journal. In the second paragraph, right below the front page fold, it claimed this new budget would mean a $5.25 increase per $1000.00 of assessed value.

That would be an increase of approximately $1,312.00 per year for a home valued at $250,000.00 and a new town rate of $10.50/1000 –the sorts of numbers typically reserved as the low end of a school budget that still can’t manage to teach math adequately.

Those are torch and pitchfork numbers.

DHS Tries to Explain Why It Needs 1.6 Billion More Rounds of Ammo

September 26, 2018February 15, 2013 Steve MacDonald

The speculation about why the US Department of Homeland Security would want to buy another 1.6 billion (with a b) rounds of ammunition over the next few years as been ‘enthusiastic’-if not just creepy at times, but worry not, they have put the issue to rest.

The Homeland Security Department wants to buy more than 1.6 billion rounds of ammunition in the next four or five years. It says it needs them — roughly the equivalent of five bullets for every person in the United States — for law enforcement agents in training and on duty.

The article goes on to tell us that they spend about 15 million rounds annually on training. Just for perspective during the Iraq war the US military used about 70 million if the rumors are true. It looks like the pre-Obama military (in response to the needs of the global war on terror) were placing its orders in the 100 million rounds a year range, though I suspect that figure is a bit soft. And if you want more perspective, even if DHS and its associated agencies used up 20 million rounds a year on practice fun and friends it would take them 80 years to use up the 1.6 billion rounds they’ve requested.

Democrats can’t even write a budget for the next 12 months, why is Obama’s DHS contracting ammo purchases to cover the rest of the century?

More on the dreaded Sequester Numbers – Department of Defense (aka-Big Obama screw-up)

September 26, 2018February 10, 2013 Skip

Is this the equivalent of threatening local police, firemen, and teachers?

I showed the overall impact of what the Sequester will have on our current Federal budget here. As you see, the answer is almost negligible. Today on Fox was a snippet of Secretary of Defense Leon Pannetta testifying to Congress on what the Sequester will have on the Military:

Instead of being a first rate power in the world, we’d turn into a second rate power. That would be the result of sequester.

And we have seen the first “results” of that with the news of delayed refueling of the USS Abraham Lincoln with trickle down effects from there (including Pannetta threatening to cut Military pay). So, how drastic is THAT drastic? Really, can you see it?

The actual numbers?

Notable Quote: NH House Rep John Burt

September 26, 2018January 23, 2013 Steve MacDonald

“Why are we not working on the budget and new jobs for NH. No the first thing they (NH Democrats) do is gun control for NH, raise the beer tax, vehicle registration fee increase of $30.00 to $50.00 per vehicle in your driveway, gas tax increase of 20%…”

Let Us Dine On the Rotten Fruit of Compromise With the Left

September 26, 2018December 11, 2012 Steve MacDonald

Democrats Wanted the Fiscal Cliff. They voted for it. They signed it into Law. So Let them have their way.

If you ignore all the marketing and PR that surrounds the fiscal cliff and just boil it all down to the bones, what happens on January first is what Democrats wanted. Ace Gets it right Here.

Remember, the deal that got us to this point was agreed to by House Republicans, Senate Democrats and signed by Obama. That’s as bi-partisan as it gets. I’ve heard from squishy low information voters, Obama and the media that “bi-partisan problem solving” is the Holy Grail of politics. Well, here it is.

The Cliff is a Democrat plan. It was passed by a Democrat Senate, signed by a Democrat President, and as Ace points out, is precisely the kind of compromise the left insists Republicans engage in over and over again.

Blood and Water – The Return of Democrat Rule in New Hampshire

September 26, 2018November 29, 2012 Steve MacDonald

Skip broke the news (on the Grok) about New Hampshire State Government’s department heads making budget requests that would increase state spending by 26% in 2013. If you had any delusions about who or what state agencies represent, you just got your answer.

It ain’t you. It’s them.

In the current economy, with no regard for whose money they are spending, incoming governor Maggie Hassan would have to raise taxes and fees by at least 19% to fill all the requests. AFP-NH estimates that this would extract around 700 million dollars from the people of New Hampshire to pay for new spending that would never go away. So that’s 700 million from every budget henceforth and anon, plus new new spending each budget there after….these are Democrats if you recall, there is no enough when it comes to spending your money.

And that $700, 000,000.00 (million) is ironically close to another sum we readily associate with New Hampshire Democrats.

The NH State Dept heads have just placed the crack candy of Progressive politicians in front of Guv-elect Maggie Hassan – what’s she gonna do?

September 26, 2018November 28, 2012 Skip

Is this a sucker’s bet? That Maggie is already set to ratchet up the spending (and the taxes to support them) – and this is the excuse she’ll use (emphasis mine)?

CONCORD – Gov.-elect Maggie Hassan issued an upbeat but sobering call for agency heads to lower their expectations as hearings on a new, two-year state budget commenced Monday.

In their initial budget requests, state administrators asked for a 26 percent increase in total spending to a record $11.97 billion for the cycle that begins June 30.

Spending from state tax and fee sources alone would go up 19 percent, to $3.3 billion, if those who run state departments get their way.

Earlier this month, Hassan won election to replace retiring Gov. John Lynch vowing to undo deep cuts in state aid for higher education and acute care hospitals.

That rise in spending will pretty much erase the downsizing of the State’s budget during Speaker O’Brien’s tenure.

Barack Obama, Ben Ghazi, And Warren Women Walk Into a Bar….2.0

September 26, 2018November 7, 2012 Steve MacDonald

It occurs to me that the Obama Administration has a huge problem ahead of it. With Republicans retaining the US House, the various investigations will proceed unhindered. New ones will begin. And the idea of asking uncomfortable questions about the scope of Executive power should be brought to the fore. The US House has significant … Read more

What does the TEA Party want?

September 26, 2018September 30, 2012 Don

They say, “If you’re taking flak, you’re over the target.” Thus the TEA Party, whose common sense demands for fiscal responsibility and constitutionally limited government are shared by most Americans, is attacked by people who most likely never attended a TEA Party meeting or understood TEA Party documentation.

Thousands of TEA Party groups and millions of members agree that passing debt to our children and grandchildren is immoral and un-acceptable, and that government spending must be limited to government revenue.

Didn’t He Pledge To Cut the Deficit In Half By Now? What Went Wrong?

September 26, 2018August 23, 2012

Four years ago, President Obama said, “… I’m pledging to cut the deficit, we inherited, by half by the end of my first term in office”. (See for yourself, at about 1:30 in.) Reported today: “The Congressional Budget Office made it official today, projecting a $1 trillion-plus budget deficit for the fourth straight year”. What … Read more

Medicare Fraud – [Updated and Bumped – Again…]

September 26, 2018August 13, 2012 Steve MacDonald

When I say “Medicare Fraud,” I’m not referring to the corrupt practices of people and professionals who are milking taxpayers by running fast circles around the bureaucratic behemoth that is Medicare. I am referring to the left-wing Democrat lie-factory that has nothing in its barren campaign quiver but fear tactics. That is the fraud I am referring to. That and the fraud they will perpetrate on every aspect of the Ryan Budget.

I just hope Harry Reid has nothing to say about the Ryan budget…you know…that might get awkward.

Here’s a short clip from CBS news c/o Hot Air on Romney/Ryan and Medicare…

[Update(s) on the jump]

Mysterious Folder Conundrum

September 26, 2018August 13, 2012 Steve MacDonald

Love Birds

Suppose you fall in love with someone who is good looking, well groomed, and has lots of potential. Let’s say you two lovebirds decide to get married. Giddiness and joy all around…congratulations.

One day, you are at the supermarket, casually buying grapes (so you can feed them to your love, like they do in the old-timey movies), when a shadowy person comes up behind you and hands you a sealed folder. The mystery person whispers in your ear and says…

GrokTV – Jane Cormier for NH House – Questions 11 & 12

September 26, 2018August 10, 2012 Skip

Two issues that have been at the forefront of the present Legislative session were pension reform (where NH has among the highest per capita public pension costs in the nation going forward) and perhaps unsustainable, and whether or not having the State of New Hampshire would participate in Obamacare via setting up a health insurance exchange and that huge cost upon NH citizens vs the resurgence of States’ sovereign Rights.

Question 11: Pension reform for NH Public Sector Unions?

Question 12: Obamacare – insurance exchanges. Outlook on the use of the 10th Amendment / States Rights?

Ask a New Hampshire Democrat…About Taxing ‘The Rich.’

September 26, 2018August 8, 2012 Steve MacDonald

I am willing to bet that almost every New Hampshire Democrat supports the national agenda on taxing corporations and “the rich.” To paraphrase Kyle Reese from the original Terminator movie, in regard to Democrats raising taxes… “That’s what they do. That’s all they do.”

The real problem is, of course, spending, which Democrats deny. “It’s not about spending,” they say, “we need the rich to pay ‘Their fair share®.'” But all you have to do to prove they are wrong (again) is to look at what would happen if Democrats actually got those taxes they say we have to have on corporations and the wealthy.

GrokTV – Jane Cormier for NH House – Questions 9 & 10

September 26, 2018August 8, 2012 Skip

Well, it has been a wee bit of time since the last post of our interview series with Jane Cormier (running for the NH House in Belknap 8 – Alton, Barnstead, and Gilmanton) as we spent half of last week / weekend in Washington DC at the Americans for Prosperity’s Defending the American Dream event. Thus, time to ramp it up again and finish up.

Question 9: can the NH Budget be further trimmed? How much if yes?

Question 10: Right To Know – For or Against?

Also after the jump, it turns out that Jane was also in DC for the AFP event (I did not know that she was going), so when she strolled by in Radio Row, I invited her to sit.

NH TEA Party Republicans Better At Revenue & Spending Estimates Than Democrats…Again

September 26, 2018August 2, 2012 Steve MacDonald

I know… New Hampshire Democrats were losing sleep in hopes of some politically-beneficial revenue numbers, and guess what? They were politically beneficial….To TEA Party Republicans.

The Union Leader is reporting that New Hampshire state revenues were slightly above estimates in July, with solid performances that suggest we are budgeting wisely so that the working families and small business owners in New Hampshire can continuing to drag us out of the economic quick sand in which Democrat tax and spend polices have had us trapped.

So How well did the TEA Party Republicans manage your money for July 2012?

So, is NH GOP Platform Chair Jennifer Horn going to take the Platform towards being Democrat-lite?

September 26, 2018July 26, 2012 Skip

The present NH GOP Platform is a rather conservative document. When it comes to spending (something that Government does rather too well unless brakes are applied to it), it works fairly well as a philosophical foundation. Well, the NH GOP Platorm Committee is now meeting to review the Platform and to make changes to it. A little birdie let me (and a couple others) know that the following is under discussion:

Simple question about the NHGOP platform: Should it say:
1) We will limit the growth of spending; or
2) We will reduce spending

It now says “Work to limit the growth of state spending”. Well, for me, THIS is easy: REDUCE! After all the Repubs in the House and Senate HAD to REDUCE the spending as the Democrats had deliberately left an $800 million deficit to be used as a club for cutting the services that they had put in using the “excessive” Fed stimulus money flowed in via Obama’s “slush funding”. To go further, I suggest to the Birdie:

“not only will we seek to reduce the State budget, but we will seek to reduce all of the unfunded mandates that the State requires of towns and cities which will result in reduced local property taxes as well.“

A two-fer! Given that the Republican Party is supposed to be for limited government and not just “well, we’ll settle for a slightly smaller (and slightly less expensive and taxing) government than the Democrats”, my answer back to the Birdie actually addresses two components of the Platform, so I thought “there, done!”.

And then the Birdie relayed more info, and I went – Here comes the cowards that can’t stand up to the heat!

Regional Protectors or Watermelons?

September 26, 2018July 20, 2012 Skip

NRPC Logo

NRPC Executive Committee Meeting 07-18-12

I, along with about 6 other people, attended the July, 2012 Executive Committee meeting of the Nashua Regional Planning Commission (NRPC), in an attempt to gain a better understanding of how this “advisory” Regional Planning entity operates.

The 9 RPCs in New Hampshire were created as “political subdivisions” in approximately 1969, and operate under RSA 36 (45-53).

The public portion of the meeting lasted about 33 minutes (see video), and was followed by a non-public session, where the visitors from the public had to leave, as the committee discussed sensitive issues relating to personnel, hiring, firing, promotion, salaries, etc. of public employees.

You can imagine my surprise when the non-public portion of the meeting lasted nearly 90 minutes (with me waiting in the lobby). I have been on a school board before, and I never experienced a non-public session that lasted any more than 20 minutes, except when dealing with a very complicated lawsuit against the school district.

(continue reading…)

GrokTV Special Interview – Rick Parent (candidate, Congress NHCD1) – Question 4: Vote yes on bills that would raise the national debt?

September 26, 2018July 19, 2012 Skip

The fiscal maw of the US Federal debt crisis is staring us in the face – $16 Trillion dollars and not one peep of a credible plan to pay it back; All we get is platitudes about winding down the annual deficit of $1 trillion-plus that is plaguing our nation’s future year after year with … Read more

GrokTV Event-Granite State Institute of Politics Republican Gov. Debate – Next Four Questions for the Candidates

September 26, 2018July 13, 2012 Skip

Continuing on with the questions from the Granite State Institute of Politics Republican Debate featuring Ovide Lamontagne and Kevin Smith, here are the next four questions:

Question 5:

“Got my hair cut. Stylist complained about high gas costs. General thoughts on energy costs?”

Live Stream – GrokTV Event: The Granite State Institute of Politics Republican Gubernatorial Debate
Recording of the Live Stream – GrokTV Event: The Granite State Institute of Politics Republican Gubernatorial Debate
GrokTV Event-Granite State Institute of Politics Republican Gov. Debate – Intro Ceremonies and Candidate Opening Remarks
Question 1: What names are Democrat politicians or others calling you that distort or oversimply what you are about and why are they wrong?
Question 2: The Commissioner of Employment Security stepped down over fiscal corruption charges. What would you doto insure that ethics return to the Executive Branch?
Question 3: Salesman-in-Chief; why can’t Jackie Cilley or Maggie Hassan get on the horn and call up CEOs and credibly convince them to create jobs in NH as effectively the way you can?
Question 4: The Legislature left open the issue of education by the State this past term. Can you discuss what your understanding of the issue is, what its likely and possible impact will be on the State budget and how you would go about addressing it?

Question 6: