Arkady's Thoughts

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...

Paying attention to the employment condition of America is critical in understanding the direction of recovery.  Today's report leaves a very bitter taste in one's mouth and confirms the notion that America is actually within a depression and/or heading towards one.  Our path is only slowed down by an over zealous federal government and a central bank that is determined in repeating the follies and errors of the FDR administration. The full report can be found here , but for brevity there is just one piece of data that you should care about.  The main headline will probably read that the unemployment rate remained steady at 9.6%, which is the U-3 number and regrettably the number used by the main stream media. The U-6 is a much more accurate representation of where people find themselves in terms of employment.  A quick glance here and you quickly realize that we are probably at our worst as the greatest number of people have lost their jobs and given up looki...

The fate of the soon-to-expire Bush cuts remain in limbo as Congress was unable to reach a partisan solution to America's fiscal problem before breaking for a much needed recess.  By and large the debate boils down to two simple arguments.  One side argues that letting the cuts expire is tantamount to a tax hike, something that will cripple an already fragile American economy.  The other side argues if we extend the tax cuts then our deficit problems will mount and exacerbate an already critical situation.  Who is right? In short, both "solutions" are incorrect even if they correctly illustrate the consequences.  The Democrats just want to get back to the same tax levels as the Clinton years and the Republicans cling to the one economic concept they have learned - tax hikes stifle economic growth.  Yet both seem to forget that spending was substantially lower ten years ago before the tax cuts were implemented.   How much lower? The projected...

This miserable little toad is absolutely incredible.   Despite his immense intelligence and political prowess what Rove is doing right now is truly mind boggling. (Video below) Initially Rove spoke out against Christine O'Donnell in Delaware while predicting her loss, fine he is entitled. But then continued his animosity towards her on Hannity on the night O'Donnel crushed Mike Castle. Of course by speaking out against the better candidate Rove implicitly endorses the liberal Republican and the establishment instead of someone who pledged to stem the ever expanding federal government.  Rove right now has positioned himself in a manner that places him completely out of touch with the constituency that he supposedly is trying to represent. See, one could certainly forgive him backing Castle because many power hungry Republicans are still hell bent on winning and are willing to trade in values, principles, first-borns and souls to achieve that goal.  What is entir...

Well yesterday shook some things up, eh?  From my vantage point tempers were running wild across the Internet and within the GOP ranks.  Some of the responses were not so much because the veteran Mike Castle was upset and upset badly, but because the quality of the candidate leaves much to be desired. Christine O'Donnell by all measures is not a quality candidate and in some cases has been deemed unelectable.  Perhaps that is so, but one must really examine things from a more objective and simplistic fashion.  Taking everything at face value, considering the fact that O'Donnell is a poor candidate, considering that she may very well lose to Coons in November - she still won! She won, because Delaware Republicans were given a choice.  On one hand they had the establishment choice, status quo Republican Mike Castle, as liberal as a Republican can be yet a Republican poised to win in November and on the other hand they had O'Donnell, a candidate wit...

Today is important insofar as it will serve as a pulse on where the nation is heading.  Some Tea Party favorites are poised to perform much better than polls suggested even as recently as a few weeks ago.  The following races are fascinating: NH Senate:   Despite Palin's endorsement of Kelly Ayotte the more attractive and fiscally responsible choice is clearly Ovide Lamontagne.  Frankly it is getting tiring to see Palin dominate the "tea party" landscape because Palin does not represent any Tea Party of mine.  Keep your social conservatism to yourself. Delaware Senate:  This one I wrote about earlier and despite Mike Castle being a typical RINO moderate Republican does not make it acceptable to vote for him.  Regardless of how insanely blue a state is constantly sending politicians hell bent on spending money we do not have is absurd. Christine O'Donnell defeats Mike Castle!!!  This is fantastic and simply means that even in deep blue De...