Arkady's Thoughts

Below is a video that I have created to spread the word about Question 3.  Specifically, as my previous articles, the idea is to look behind the knee-jerk reaction and the feel-good rhetoric.  From a truly mathematical perspective, we can truly cut our sales tax and experience no cuts in services.  Both sides are engaged in propaganda, but the opposition is especially damaging.  The opposition insists on skewing the numbers and manipulating the data in order to scare and intimidate - this is not a right way to run the campaign.  While the pro-Question 3 crowd's biggest offense is a possible error in how many jobs would be created. More importantly the opposition, something exposed in the video, particularly which organizations comprise the opposition should be enough to anger any tax paying citizen.  It is frustrating beyond belief to see public unions run roughshod all over us with piles and piles of money.  Anyway, enjoy and share with others. ...

In the midst of discussing Question 3 , Beacon Hill demonstrated this week that all claims of revenue shortfalls and fiscal hardship amounts to nothing more than cheap propaganda and political posturing.  With Massachusetts citizens occupied in the midst of a contentious election season, Beacon Hill passed another massive spending bill during an informal session.   A 443 million dollar spending bill to be exact and under the most dubious of circumstances . Last week in so-called "informal sessions" the Massachusetts House of Representatives met with just THREE members and the Senate met with just TWO members and passed a huge controversial $443 million spending bill. This week both house houses met again in informal sessions -- also each with only a tiny group of members -- and passed a final consolidated version of the bill. Five elected officials passed hundreds of millions acting like a dictatorial regime and violating it's own rules that explicitly call for a quo...

In the midst of the Question 3 debate , many reluctant citizens demand to see fraud and waste so they can feel comfortable about cutting the sales tax.    As if this fraud and waste is neatly spelled out on page 666 in the Comprehensive Annual Financial Report or cataloged by the Department of Fraud and Waste.  Perhaps we should just called Deval and ask him how many billions we are wasting and whether he can point us to the right department. What you are asking for IS NOT VISIBLE!! The best we can do, for those willing to take the time and energy is to piece together the available data and make a reasonable conclusion on what is happening.  So far, in our previous look at the spending levels of MA from 2002-2009 we have concluded the following: Chart showing spending and incomes . From 2002 to 2009, spending jumped from 34.3 Billion to 49.4 Billion.  This represents a 44% increase. Using a rudimentary inflation calculator, we can deter...

Time to get down and look at the details of the most important ballot question this November.  Let us see why the Boston Herald endorsed this ballot initiative and why the National Taxpayer Union is featuring Question 3 on their 2010 ballot guide . Background  Deval Patrick and Beacon Hill realized that they were looking at critical budget shortfalls and responded by raising several taxes upon the citizens of Massachusetts.  One of which was to raise the sales tax from 5% to 6.25%.   This move was especially hurtful in light of the failed Question 1 ballot initiative from 2008 which proposed to cut the MA Income Tax from 5.3% to 0.   With power of 7 million dollars from the Teacher Unions the Question 1 initiative lost badly.  Not only was the Obama wave a bad time for such a question, but the Center for Small Government was outspent by a magnitude of 35 to 1.  An opportunity for MA citizens to have their taxes reduced outside of Beacon...

While berating and ridiculing waste in the Federal government is a favorite activity of many fiscal conservatives, one has to be reminded that in modern day America profligacy and waste are rampant through all levels of public service.  Massachusetts state budget is a monster always deserving of attention sporting a hefty 51+ Billion dollar spending spree as recently as last year, but it would be simply unfair to focus on state spending alone.  Especially in a system where every lower form of government becomes subservient to it's master through grants, favors, subsidies and other form of financial witchcraft.  Here in Massachusetts certain town are recipients of state funding, funding that is collected from other towns in a perverse form of distribution that simply encourages mismanaged towns to continue the errors of their ways.  Of course this distribution does not necessarily siphon funds from wealthier towns to poorer towns, although that is more often the cas...

Just after covering yesterday's story about Massachusetts insurance companies being denied the ability to raise rates, we learn today that private business is fighting back.  This is the natural response when government officials place themselves in situations where they do not belong.  Specifically in this case bureaucrats have decided that they know the true cost of coverage and will now be the ultimate arbiter of price. This of course will not and can not work.  With MassCare hemorrhaging money left and right the inability of insurance companies to extract more money from us via premiums will spell disaster to their bottom lines.  Of course many clueless citizens will welcome this event as this simply paves the way for what liberals wanted all along, a single payer system . A half-dozen health insurers yesterday filed a lawsuit against the state seeking to reverse last week’s decision by the insurance commissioner to block double-digit premium increases — a ...

This was predicted a long time ago and it has finally arrived.  Looks like the costs of universal coverage is starting to take it's toll as health care costs spiral out of control.   In this piece , we learn of the havoc caused by RomneyCare as insurance premium hikes are being rejected by a bureaucrat!  Insurance Commissioner Joseph Murphy decided that he is much smarter than everyone else and rejected 235 of the 274 proposed increases.  See, what is happening in our little liberal heaven of Massachusetts is a perfect example of what NOT TO DO.  Unfortunately for the rest of the country, Obama/Pelosi/Reid-Care largely modeled after RomneyCare is now law of the land.  Thomas Jefferson once expressed an idea that each state act as a social laboratory for experimentation and from these experiments we could conclude on the best form of governing.  But in 2010, where white is black and up is down, Massachusetts is an example of success - not the bla...

The race for the MA 2010 Senate is now heating up with prospective candidates blasting the airways and spamming the television channels.   I have already examined the Democrat candidates in an analysis of the first televised debate .  In summary, the four liberal democrats are all competing between themselves in who can expand government faster.  Virtually every one is a disgrace, could care less about our Constitution and has virtually no understanding about economics.  So now we turn to three other candidates. Republican Scott Brown Republican Jack E. Robinson Independent Joe Kennedy (no relation). Jack E. Robinson:   Appears to be an eccentric fellow, but unfortunately has been missing in action when it comes to any debate.  Ironically he claims that Scott Brown is the one dodging the debate, but in an opportunity to debate the issue on a local radio station 96.9 only Scott Brown showed up. Therefore Robinson's approach to this race leave...

In the face of climbing unemployment the original hope and change, governor Deval Patrick appointed his friend to a position that has been vacant for YEARS. In the Boston Herald story, Marian Walsh was selected to be director of the state’s Health and Educational Facilities Authority and guess how many years that post has been unfilled? Three? Six? Try, twelve bloody years. Salary? $175,000! Meanwhile we are facing down the barrel of the tax cannon, a potential increase on gas that would propel Massachusetts to the top of the heap in gas taxes making us number one. At least we are at the best at something - the reaming of taxpayers. This is on top of the already existing proposed taxes on alcohol, sodas, candy, car taxes ( RMV fees) and probably a litany of other small revenue boosters that I am not aware of. As the article points out correctly, Patrick has the audacity to get up in front of us and ask for sacrifices? I don't understand what planet these people live on. Hypocr...

A throwback to the 1970s, our own original hope-n-change governor has proposed his most daring tax hike yet. A 19 cent gas tax increase to pay for the struggling Mass. Transit/ MBTA department which will be on top of the proposed candy, soda, alcohol tax increases. SUVs will also be subjected to higher fees and a crackdown to ensure that MA residents avoid breaking the law and buying goods in tax free New Hampshire. How is that liberals still have not learned, that taxing people when they are hurting from a recession, depleted 401Ks, plummeting house values and rising unemployment is the surest way to exacerbate the situation? They did it under FDR, they did it in the 1970s, they did it in Japan and now they are doing it again? Even Bill Clinton had the bloody sense to implement the highest middle class tax increase during a recovery! (granted the democrats got the boot shortly after, but the difference is worth mentioning). So not only has Deval and his cronies scared MA residents ...

One would never guess that America is experiencing one of the worst recessions in history. Considering the legislation being passed on the federal level and proposals being made on the state level, one would think that Americans are enjoying tremendous excesses and the government simply wants to partake. Yesterday, Obama signed into law the SCHIP modifications that would expand coverage to more children. The pitfalls of this legislation are too numerous to list, but the burden on the taxpayer is growing. Under the new modifications applicants will no longer have to provide social security numbers when filing for aid, thereby allowing illegals to freely and openly claim taxpayer funded health insurance. To finance this brilliant piece of work federal taxes on tobacco are going up by .62 cents. Massachusetts residents already make the trip to New Hampshire to buy tobacco, but for those not wanting to make the drive SCHIP will provide the necessary incentives. In short, a group of Ame...

This is probably one of the most important questions in Massachusetts (MA) and something I have been thinking about for a long time. If we do not make the right decision here, it can only return in six years. We are now bombarded by anti-question1 ads and I noticed that everywhere I drove, I saw banners supporting NO on question1...but I also noticed that they were always standing next to a pro-Obama sign. Curious, is it not? So I started doing some research and I have concluded that every ad is a lie. Blatant lie. They even made a website with more lies. It has become rather apparent that everyone should vote YES on question 1 in order to send a message that enough is enough. My video is below, but here are important links that will enable you to do your own research. List of organizations voting NO MA financial report, check out page 320 for the TRUE budget Towns at a glance! Shows the REAL state aid for each town.