Social Security In Deficit?

  Who would have thought that Social Security would be running in the deficit category after all of the reports out that have been saying that it would be in good shape for years to come? It is now being reported that the Social Security trust funds will be depleted sometime near 2037.

                           Yahoo/ A.P.

The massive retirement program has been suffering from the effects of the struggling economy for several years. It first went into deficit last year but had been projected to post surpluses for a few more years before permanently slipping into the red in 2016

This year alone, Social Security will pay out $45 billion more in retirement, disability and survivors' benefits than it collects in payroll taxes, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office said. That figure nearly triples — to $130 billion — when the new one-year cut in payroll taxes is included.

   Of course, all of those baby boomers will begin hitting the retirement age and applying for benefits also, so we can all look forward to an even bigger lag in those S.S. trust funds. Our lovely Congress says that it will replace the shortfall, but that will only add to our already massive deficit.

    Why do I get the feeling that you and I are being set-up by our politicians so that they can then come in with a big list of cut-backs that we will have to have in order to keep Social Security solvent? This will be the excuse for raising the retirement age and for cutting our benefits also.

   We are about to get screwed royally!

Technorati Tags: Social Security,Deficits,Baby Boomers,Current Events

Republicans:What The Tea Partiers Do Best

   You can count on more of this to come to an area near you.

Original Article

Tea party FAIL leads to state agency takeover of county's finances

by devtob      Wed Jan 26, 2011

Nassau County, NY, just east of NYC on Long Island, is one of the wealthiest counties in the country.

But, after electing a tea party Republican county executive in 2009, it cannot balance its budget, and today a state financial oversight agency (imposed after decades of GOP misrule led to a $100 million bailout in 2000) seized control of the county's finances.

The new tea party county executive, Ed Mangano, had cut taxes, but not much spending, leaving a deficit of at least $50 million in its $2.7 billion budget. So the Nassau Interim Finance Authority (NIFA) now controls the county's books.

Details, below.

The Newsday division of Cablevision presumably has a story about this, behind its stupid paywall, so here's some background and quote from the New York Times story linked above and the Daily News' coverage.

From the Times:

The move, which came after months of steadily more ominous threats and a downgrade of Nassau’s debt by a credit-rating agency in November, turns the oversight board into a control board, with vast power to rewrite the county’s budget and veto labor contracts, borrowings and other important financial commitments.

As a first step, the control board ordered the county government to rewrite its budget by Feb. 15 omitting cost-savings items that the board has called specious or too risky.

snip

"Some places manage their way into fiscal problems, and other places are beset by social forces, many of them outside of their own control," said Steven J. Hancox, a deputy state comptroller who oversees local government. "Nassau has had a history where the populace has enjoyed a variety of services, and those cost money. It doesn’t really matter where you are; when the money dries up you have tough choices to make."

snip

The takeover was a stinging rebuke to Nassau’s county executive, Edward P. Mangano, a Republican who took office a year ago after upsetting a popular incumbent in 2009. Mr. Mangano had repeatedly said the budget was balanced, and then insisted there were ample contingencies to cover any shortfalls. But the authority said that many of his assertions were unfounded or unsupportable.

The "variety of services" includes three 18-hole and one 9-hole golf courses, ocean and bay beach parks, and scores of pools, athletic fields and tennis courts.

Not that there's anything wrong with that -- parks, etc., add a lot to the quality of life anywhere, but such services cost money. 

The takeover vote was unanimous, among a board that includes Conservative Party activist and Nassau County resident George Marlin, who had this to say to the Times:

The county’s 2011 budget is built on a foundation of sand.

The Daily News had more Marlin quote:

Nassau County for many years believed it could continue to spend at a rate that far outpaced the growth of revenues. That resulted in major problems a decade ago. Unfortunately the politicians didn't learn; there are expensive union contracts. Ed Mangano has inherited a huge fiscal mess.

Maybe so, but Mangano made the mess messier by pushing through energy and property tax cuts, which are popular, but problematic since tax cuts ALWAYS lead to less tax revenue.

Property taxes in Nassau County are extraordinarily high, top-five in the nation, but so are the level of services -- education, police/fire/EMS, Medicaid, parks, etc.

After Nassau County's fiscal crisis/bailout 11 years ago, Democrats won control of the county for the first time ever and were able to manage its finances.

Now the same cannot be said for the tea party Republicans of Nassau County.

Technorati Tags: Nassau County,Tea Party,Republicans,Deficits

Tampa Water Department Ripping Off Homeowners?

   When homeowners in a few Tampa neighborhoods received their current water bills in January, more than a few were shocked with the amount of the bill. Some had bills for as much as $2,000 for water usage in December 2010,and, needless to say, they pitched a fit with the water department.

    Of course, the water department told the homeowners that the bills are correct and that maybe the owners had a leaky water sprinkler system, or maybe they had a toilet that was running non-stop. Some homeowners had a bill which was as much as 10 times the normal amount!  Judy Sellers told WTSP10News that her average bill is only  $30.92,but her latest one was $343.32, that is 10 time over the average cost.

The water department says most of the high bills are coming from the New Tampa, Carrollwood, and Dana Shores areas.

"It just defies logic, is all I can say," said council member Mary Mulhern.

   It’s even worse for many others. Check this out.

This week, one homeowner complained her bill went from $41 to $854. Another said her charges shot up from $60 to $563. In all, 17 Dana Shores residents say their bills have skyrocketed.

  So just how bad is this?

Resident Jen Older said her water bill is $854.47. Previous bills averaged about $40. A breakdown showed the city recorded Older's home using 115,948 gallons of water in November and December — about 58,000 gallons a month.

The average Tampa family uses about 6,000 gallons a month, the department said.

  But wait! There’s more!

   Let’s go over to the New Tampa part of the region. In New Tampa we have housing developments such as Tampa Palms, and Hunters Green. These are not your average income areas. Some of these homeowners have been getting the shaft also.

Barb O'Malley of Tampa Palms got her water bill which is $2,500 for using 183,00 gallons of water. That is enough to fill her swimming pool 8 times. Water company inspectors told her that an irrigation leak and an toilet that ran intermittently was the reason for her high bill.           Source

       Tampa Bay Online

Michael Tucker of Hunter's Green had a bill of $2,700 and found one broken sprinkler head in his lawn a day before inspectors visited to check for leaks. The inspector told Tucker that even he couldn't see how a lone malfunctioning sprinkler could account for his billed usage of 207,000 gallons of water.

Tucker said the inspector told him he was writing a report and would test the irrigation system a second time before any adjustments are made to his bill.

"My concern is, even with the adjustment, the bill still has got me using 207,000 gallons," Tucker said.

    Tampa Water has told the Tampa City Council that they will adjust the water usage rate down to their lowest tier rate, Tier0. 

That rate is $1.82 for every 100 cubic feet, or 748 gallons of water, used. The two highest rates in the city's seven-tier system are $10.92 and $16.38, respectively, for every 100 cubic feet of water used.

City officials say unchecked leaks can push homeowners' water use into the highest tiers. The system was created to encourage water conservation.

  This problem is exclusive to just the homeowners either.

According to the Hillsborough County School District, Middleton High School had a $65,000 water bill this month. That's four times the normal bill, even though they didn't have school for two weeks.       Source

  So, I guess that all of those mean high school children must have went to all of the water fountains on their way out the door, and jammed some object into them in order to keep them squirting out the water?

Technorati Tags: Tampa,Florida,Water Bills,Current Events,Hunters Green,Tampa Palms,Tampa Water Department

 

Obama And Big Business

    In case you hadn’t noticed it yet, President Obama has been very busy doing his best as of late giving big business the front row in his policy making decisions. Business is making more profits than ever, so he has to give them even more help in order for them to amass even more cash.  A South Korean journalist has noticed how much Obama has been bending over for the business community.  Anything to get re-elected, I guess.

Watching America

Hankyung, South Korea
Obama’s Business-Friendly
Transformation

By Hankyung Editorial
Translated By Jiyoung Han
23 January 2011

Edited by Michelle Harris

South Korea - Hankyung - Original Article (Korean)
U.S. President Barack Obama’s latest string of business-friendly acts is garnering a lot of attention. Since taking office, Obama has been known to fiercely criticize Wall Street and emphasize the need to strengthen regulations. However, the president now seems to be pushing for the relaxation of regulations and other measures characteristic of a more business-friendly environment.
In a Wall Street Journal editorial printed on Jan. 18, President Obama announced that the federal government would undertake a "review that will help bring order to regulations that have become a patchwork of overlapping rules." The president has also proceeded to draw prominent members of the private sector into the ranks of his administration, most notably naming Midwest Chairman of JPMorgan Chase William Daley as his White House Chief of Staff and CEO of General Electric Jeffrey Immelt as the Chairman of his outside panel of economic advisers. Obama’s business-friendly actions do not stop here. The president is even set to deliver a speech at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, an institution with which he has previously had fraught relations.
The reason for President Obama’s transformation comes from his very acute realization that, for the sake of economic recovery and job creation, he cannot neglect to lend the private sector a helping hand. This is evident in the following passage of his Wall Street Journal piece: "Sometimes, those rules have gotten out of balance, placing unreasonable burdens on business — burdens that have stifled innovation and have had a chilling effect on growth and jobs."
President Obama’s actions hold many implications. In contrast with the increasingly enterprise-supportive America, Korea is tightening the reins on the building pressures at home. The Korea Fair Trade Commission alone is interfering with extensive business studies in areas like oil refining, sugar manufacturing, and home shopping, subsequently eliminating basic things like production cost studies. Key big businesses are facing the pressures of rising subcontract prices in all directions.
Although price stabilization is an urgent issue, artificially regulating prices and further increasing subcontract prices will distort the market order and weaken the vitality of business. For the sake of economic vitality and job creation, businesses must be provided an environment in which they are free to do as they wish. Governments must bear in mind how important it is not to burden businesses with constant interference. As such, today’s meeting between President Lee and the 30 group leaders must be a forum in which the difficulties of the business community are heard and solutions are sought together. It cannot become an occasion to strengthen government regulations.

CLICK HERE FOR ORIGINAL VERSION

Technorati Tags: Barack Obama,Big Business,Tax Cuts,Current Events,Wall Street,Banking,Regulation