Democrats Cave, Middle Class Loses

I'm literally sick to my stomach over the Senate passing the so-called Compromise Budget Bill.  Those who voted for this bill have no spine, no conscience, and have sold us down the river.  This is just the beginning of the end, as it gives so much momentum to the Republicans.  President Obama is sadly mistaken in thinking it won't be business as usual for the Party of No going forward.  God help our country.  See below for some background.

From an email from Senator Bernie Sanders:  "At a time when we have a $13.7 trillion national debt and the most unfair distribution of income in the industrialized world, why are we giving huge tax breaks to millionaires and billionaires? Is there no end to their greed? And does anyone really believe that this will only be a two-year agreement with no future extensions?


Why should we be significantly lowering rates on the estate tax when it applies only to the very, very richest people in this country, the top 0.3 percent? The richest 1 percent already owns more wealth than the bottom 90 percent. Isn't that enough?

With the American people deeply worried about the future of Social Security, why are we diverting $112 billion from the Social Security trust fund in order to provide a 'payroll tax holiday?' Why is a Democratic president adopting this position, which has long been held by Republicans who want to eventually destroy Social Security by choking off its funds? With the Republicans coming to power in the House in a few weeks, why should anyone not think that this 'one-year' diversion will be made long-term or permanent? According to one major senior citizen organization, this action could be the beginning of the end for Social Security – the most successful anti-poverty program in the history of the United States."

Here is a list of Senators who voted against the giveaway, and for whom we should all be proud:

NAYs ---19


Bingaman (D-NM)     Coburn (R-OK)     DeMint (R-SC)

Dorgan (D-ND)         Ensign (R-NV)       Feingold (D-WI)

Gillibrand (D-NY)    Hagan (D-NC)        Harkin (D-IA)

Lautenberg (D-NJ)     Leahy (D-VT)         Levin (D-MI)

Merkley (D-OR)        Sanders (I-VT)       Sessions (R-AL)

Udall (D-CO)            Udall (D-NM)         Voinovich (R-OH)

Wyden (D-OR)

Here's a commentary on those Senators who really couldn't give a crap about the middle class, and who should be ashamed:
Senators who want to start balancing the budget, but only if the wealthy are protected, would vote for the compromise and for the Coburn amendment, but against the Sanders amendment. 41 senators voted that way, 37 Republicans and 4 Democrats: (Alexander (R-TN) Lugar (R-IN) Barrasso (R-WY) McCain (R-AZ) Bayh (D-IN) Enzi (R-WY) McCaskill (D-MO) Bennett (R-UT) Graham (R-SC) McConnell (R-KY) Bond (R-MO) Grassley (R-IA) Murkowski (R-AK) Brown (R-MA) Gregg (R-NH) Risch (R-ID) Brownback (R-KS) Roberts (R-KS) Bunning (R-KY) Hatch (R-UT) Burr (R-NC) Hutchison (R-TX) Shelby (R-AL) Chambliss (R-GA) Inhofe (R-OK) Snowe (R-ME) Isakson (R-GA) Tester (D-MT) Cochran (R-MS) Johanns (R-NE) Thune (R-SD) Collins (R-ME) Kirk (R-IL) Vitter (R-LA) Corker (R-TN) Kyl (R-AZ) Cornyn (R-TX) LeMieux (R-FL) Wicker (R-MS) Crapo (R-ID) Lincoln (D-AR))


By the way, California Senators Feinstein and Boxer both voted for the compromise.  I suppose their reason is to support their President.  Too bad we don't have people like Senator Bernie Sanders in our state.

No Free Lunch: San Diego City's taxes are far lower than those in other major California cities

Today's U-T has an excellent article on taxes in San Diego, comparing them to other major cities in California.  What's really interesting to me is that California is often called unfriendly to business, and yet San Diego's taxes are very low, including business taxes.  It would follow that we would have more major businesses in San Diego.   And yet, San Diego is far, far behind when it comes to business headquarters.  One example is the very low grant dollars per capita vs. other cities in California. 

Synopsis
Business tax:  we leave $100 million on the table.
Commercial Parking Fee:  we leave $31 million on the table.
Utility Users tax:  we leave $100 million on the table.
Trash Collection:  we should be collecting about $50 million per year, just like every other major city does.

This adds up to $281 million dollars we should be collecting in taxes, every year!  You get what you pay for, and we, looking at our streets, limited access to libraries, deferred sewer and water maintenance, are cutting ourselves short.

Taxes: How San Diego measures up

 

City's taxes are far lower than those in other major California cities

 

By Craig Gustafson, Sunday, December 12, 2010 at 6 a.m.

 

Having an anti-tax attitude is about as San Diego as fish tacos, surfing and 70-degree weather.

City residents have long been averse to tax increases — most recently displayed by the resounding rejection of a proposed sales tax hike last month — and have strongly opposed any move by the city to increase fees.

This has put San Diego below some other major cities in California in terms of how much revenue it collects each year so it can provide basic services, such as public safety, parks and libraries. One recent estimate showed the city generates $81 less per resident by comparison, a difference that equates to $100 million fewer dollars going into city coffers annually.

San Diego vs. other cities

 

Average business tax by city

• San Francisco: $5,253
• Los Angeles: $1,281
• Oakland: $774
• San Jose: $225
• San Diego: $79

Impact: Most cities levy business taxes as a percentage of gross receipts or a fix charge per employee. San Diego levies a flat annual tax depending on the size of business: $34 for businesses with 12 or fewer employees; $125 for businesses with 13 or more employees, plus $5 for each employee. If San Diego were to increase its business taxes to the statewide average of $610, the city would generate an additional $94 million annually.

 

Annual revenue from commercial parking taxes

• Los Angeles: $85.4 million
• San Francisco: $64.5 million
• Oakland: $14.2 million
• San Diego: Zero

Impact: If San Diego were to enact a 10 percent tax — the low end for other cities — on parking fees collected at commercial parking lots and structures, the city would generate an additional $31 million annually.

 

Hotel taxes, percentage by city

• Anaheim: 15 percent
• Los Angeles: 14 percent
• San Francisco: 14 percent
• San Diego: 10.5 percent

Impact: For every 1 percent increase in the hotel tax, San Diego could generate an additional $12.6 million annually.

 

Utility users tax

 

Revenue generated annually per capita on fees of 1 percent to 10 percent on utility bills, such as electricity, gas, phone, water, cable and trash.

 

Los Angeles: $150.64

Oakland: $123.77

Sacramento: $119.01

San Francisco: $97.34

San Diego: Zero

 

Impact: If San Diego were to implement fees totaling $74 annually — the average of peer cities in California — the city would generate an additional $100 million per year.

 

*A public vote would be required to change any of the above San Diego taxes.

 

OTHER FEES

 

Storm water: The city spends nearly $38 million annually to treat urban runoff but only collects $6.5 million in storm drain fees from residents and businesses. The city ranks 117th out of 122 California cities in the amount it collects. Single-family residences pay a flat fee of 95 cents per month while multi-family residences and businesses pay based on water usage. The city would need to charge nearly six times as much to recoup its costs but can’t without voter approval.

 

Trash collection: The city spends $34 million annually to pick up trash and another $15 million to handle recyclables. If the city were to charge to recover its costs, the average household would pay $15.16 each month. The city is prohibited by The People’s Ordinance, which voters approved in 1919, from charging for trash pickup for most residents. A public vote would be required to overturn the ordinance before the city could assess a fee.

 

Beach parking: San Diego doesn’t charge for parking at the 63 city-owned lots near its beaches as many other cities do. The nearly 9,000 spaces could provide significant revenue depending on how much the city charges. The City Council has authority over public parking fees.

 

Source: City of San Diego Citizens Revenue Review and Economic Competitiveness Commission

 

GENERAL REVENUE PER CAPITA

 

Oakland: $875

Sacramento: $851

Los Angeles: $809

San Jose: $724

San Diego: $676

Anaheim: $667

Long Beach: $617

 

Source: Center on Policy Initiatives

 

 

 

......There’s renewed focus on San Diego’s tax rates because of a $73 million budget deficit and a looming $2.1 billion pension gap that threatens to overwhelm city finances in coming years. Mayor Jerry Sanders and the City Council are contemplating more cuts by July 1 after voters rejected Proposition D, the sales tax hike.

 

“San Diego is the city of the free lunch,” said Nelson, who is also chairman of the San Diego Convention Center Corp. “You just can’t sustain core municipal services without robust revenue sources. ... I like it when people say government should be run more like a business. I agree. San Diego isn’t doing it and it hasn’t done it for decades.”

 

Councilman Carl DeMaio said any talk of increased taxes or fees is a nonstarter.

“It’s woefully out of step with political realities and what the shareholders of the city of San Diego — you know, the people who actually own our city government — have told us they want us to focus on,” he said. “They don’t want to raise revenues. They’re barely making ends meet right now. And so I would just encourage my colleagues, take all the revenue and tax ideas and put them off to the side.”

 

DeMaio has proposed a comprehensive plan to solve the city’s financial problems by adopting sweeping changes in how the city operates. The plan would cut pay for most non-public safety workers, freeze salaries for all city employees, eliminate taxpayer-funded retiree health care for current workers, and categorize certain pay as bonuses that should not be counted toward pensions.

 

His plan includes no fee or tax increases.

 

San Diego's anti-tax reputation is well-deserved.

 

The city rejected three tax increases from 1995 to 2008 while the state’s other top 10 cities approved tax hikes at a rate of nearly 60 percent during the same period, according to Steve Erie, a political-science professor at the University of California San Diego who is cowriting a book on the city’s financial woes.

 

Erie said the city’s anti-tax culture took hold in the late 1970s and grew into a nearly unstoppable force by the 1990s with intensity not found in other parts of the state.

 

“We behave very differently,” he said. “San Diego really wants the services but doesn’t want to pay for them.”

 

Critics say the public doesn’t trust the city because of its financial mismanagement and Erie said residents “believe that there’s fraud, waste and corruption.”

 

San Diego doesn’t charge a tax on parking structure owners like Ace Parking for what they collect. Most other large cities charge between 10 percent and 25 percent. Los Angeles generates $85 million annually from commercial parking taxes while San Diego raises nothing.

 

One of the arguments against raising business taxes is that it could push companies to leave San Diego. The commission said there are several other factors — state corporate taxes, the existence of a capable work force and the cost of housing and land — that are far more important to businesses when deciding where to locate.

 

Lani Lutar, head of the San Diego County Taxpayers Association, said the city shouldn’t increase its taxes just because everyone else has higher taxes.

 

“That’s what other cities did when they compared pension benefits,” she said. “They would say ‘Well a neighboring city is offering this so we need to.’ So pretty soon you’ve got this chain reaction that leads to a lot of cities doing things that aren’t necessarily in the best interest of taxpayers.”

 

The low taxes in San Diego have a dramatic impact on how the city is run. The operating budget of $1.1 billion funds a broad range of services, from police and fire protection to parks and libraries. That pool of money is reduced when $34 million is needed for trash collection and $32 million is required to subsidize stormwater expenses because fees are either nonexistent or cover only a fraction of costs.

 

craig.gustafson@uniontrib.com (619) 293-1399 Twitter @gustafsoncraig

 

Great News from Uncle Sam: Yogurt in, Soda Out for Army Recruits

This is one of those stories you have to read twice, makes you say 'Wow,'  the US Government actually doing something right.  This is the type of action that doubles in results, because the US Government is such a big purchaser of everything.  When they make a radical, positive change like this, it has ripple affects throughout the entire country: 

FORT LEONARD WOOD, Mo., December 1 ---- At Army training sites across the nation, the mess hall is beginning to look different: Milk and juice dispensers are replacing soda fountains. Whole grains are being substituted for white bread and pasta.

The military increasingly believes that producing quality recruits starts at the dinner table during basic training, so it has started a new, more emphatic effort to change their eating habits. Now, color-coded labels point the way to healthy items, and drill sergeants stand watch over the chow line, calling out soldiers who don't put enough fruit on their plates.

Many new soldiers have never given much thought to their diets, reflecting the poor food choices of a nation with more and more obese people....

Healthy eating is deemed so essential that drill sergeants now include one-hour sessions on performance nutrition in addition to more traditional workouts.

Many recruits "have never been told how to properly eat," Staff Sgt. Travis Bammer said. "They think they can eat a candy bar for energy."

Army leaders report fewer injuries and higher scores on physical fitness tests at bases where the new program has been tested. Top Army leaders are watching the developments closely, Hertling said.

I'm not making this up, and it's not from the Onion, it's real!  Check it out: 
Yogurt In, Soda Out

Excellent Article on Gerrymandering

Gerrymandering is a good example of both the gall and disrepect our elected representatives show us, citizens and their constituents.  See the link for an excellent article on gerrymandering.  Make sure to visit the bottom half for a section on districts that didn't even bother with gerrymandering, just went ahead and created incongruous districts!  How is THIS even possible, let alone defensible?!

Surprisingly, California fares very well in this discussion, but does have it's exceptions.  The U-T apparently doesn't have their excellent print article from today's Sunday paper online yet, but I'll add a link when it becomes available.

Gerrymandering Hall of Shame, November 2010

Entire Senate Republican Caucus Commits To Filibustering Anything Prior To Budget, Tax Cuts

Sen. Mitch McConnell took the Senate floor after the letter was issued and made this statement:  "With just a few weeks to go before the end of the session, Democrats continue to place their own priorities over the priorities of the American people. These are the things Democrats have chosen to do instead of preventing a massive tax hike that economists tell us would stifle the economy.


Republicans have pleaded with Democrats to put aside their wish-list -- to focus on the things Americans want us to focus on. They've ignored us. The voters repudiated their agenda at the polls. They've ignored them. Time is running out. They're ignoring that."

This short statement is so disrespectful, not only to Democrats but to the American people.  How disrespectful can he be?  Does he expect Democrats to respect his points and opinions when he slings crap like this?  This is the exact opposite of what we expect from our elected leaders, of any party. 



Full Story