Read our lips: No new/additional taxes.
The city leadership of Springfield finally did something right... they
declined to implement yet another tax. But that doesn't mean we're out of the woods yet.
The city is in financial straits, and it won't be long before someone has the bright idea to "fix" it by either raising a tax, or implementing a new one. So, don't let your guard down, Springfieldians. There was a recent spate of "yeah!"s over the idea of an employment tax in the local paper, but thankfully they have lost steam. But as sure as the sun comes up, someone else will advocate for either increasing what is taken from us, or pull a
new way to take from us out of thin air.
I suggest you concerned citizens attend the
Missouri Liberty Coalition meeting this Friday, 6 PM, at 2350 N. Clifton. And make your voices heard elsewhere. Don't let the city make you pay for its mistakes.
Labels: Missouri Liberty Coalition
David Boaz did
this wonderful column for the Wall Street Journal, available also at the Cato link.
My $1.42 worth, adjusted for inflation:
It's okay for a company to indulge in making profits... as long as they're selling coffee and mouth the right politically-correct terminology.
Now... I like coffee. But I'll be damned if I pay a small fistful of dollars for a cup at Starbucks. Especially with the bit of bad news posted in the Boaz article; it just sweetens the deal, so to speak.
Now, go ye forth and have a government-approved day.
Labels: capitalism, Cato, David Boaz, laissez faire, politically-correct, Starbucks
Another hat in the 2008 election ring...
...making this election season a bit more interesting than the current Obama/Hillary/McCain nonsense:
Barr launches presidential exploratory committeeBy Walter Alarkon
Posted: 04/05/08 04:53 PM [ET]
Former Republican Rep. Bob Barr (Ga.) has launched a presidential exploratory committee, the first step in a possible White House run as a Libertarian.
Barr made his announcement while giving the keynote address at the Heartland Libertarian Conference in Kansas City, Mo.
Rest at link above.
Now, for my take:
While I'm glad
Barr is running, I'm not sure he's made the complete transition to fully understanding the size, scope, and cost of government. This is, after all, the same man who prevented the counting of votes in a marijuana-legalization petition back in 1999, even going so far as to stand against the use of private funds to count said votes.
Of course, people do change their views... and perhaps Barr has learned his lesson since those dark days when he viewed government as a bludgeon instead of a surgical scalpel. Barr is a damn sight more "libertarian" than, say,
Mike Gravel.
I will say this... no matter what, I will not be casting a RepubliCrat ballot in 2008 (other than my vote for Ron Paul in the primary). Voting for Barr might be a difficult one, but if he's the nominee for my party, I will do my duty as a good American citizen and
not waste my vote on a Brand X candidate (see my reference to the R/D candidates at the top of this post.)
Let's see what happens, folks. Gonna be an interesting year in the political sausage grinder.
Labels: 2008 election, Bob Barr, Libertarian Party, Ruwart
Hat tip to my compatriot over at Kn@ppster for this
bit of good news:
Good News for Good Friday: Dr. Mary J. Ruwart Announces Her Intention to Seek Libertarian Party Presidential Nomination
By: admin
Research scientist, author, and ethicist, Dr. Mary J. Ruwart, today announced that she would seek the Libertarian Party’s presidential nomination. She is best known in the Libertarian Party circles for her libertarian primer, Healing Our World (2003 edition), which hit Amazon.com’s best-seller list in October 2005, reaching the #1 position in Amazon’s “Economic and Political Development” and “Practical Politics” categories.
Healing’s universal appeal is apparent from its prominent endorsers, including self-help notables Dr. Wayne Dyer and Harry Palmer; Nobel Peace Prize nominees, Frances Kendall and Leon Louw; world-renown nutritionist, Dr. Jonathan Wright; and Dr. Ron Paul, 1988 Libertarian Party presidential nominee and 2008 GOP presidential contender. Visions Magazine suggested that Healing “might be the most important book of the decade.” A free download of the 1993 version is available at
www.ruwart.com. ...
Rest at links above and in the header. Good luck, Mary.
Labels: 2008 election, Libertarian Party, Ruwart
Shout-out for local radio
The podcast link may not be up after this week, but on the 19th of this month, local talk show host
Vince Jericho gave a good analysis of Doug Burlison's Springfield budget proposal. Compared to the damning-with-faint-praise overview from the
News-Leader... well, there is no comparison. [Late edit:
Sarah Overstreet did do a dandy piece in today's News-Leader.]
Now, some folks don't like Vince. (The station he works for does carry
Neal Boortz, by the way, if ya didn't know. A couple more libertarian-flavored shows [hintity-hint] would be nice additions to their roster...] Now, I try to stay on good terms with all of the local media, as it is imperative that we don't play favorites. Some of them ignore us, some give us lip service - to be honest, I can't remember the last time
KWTO did any coverage of - well, anything we do. A few spots here and there from the local TV stations, short interviews and whatnot, that's about it. We have in the past gotten pretty fair treatment by the
Community Free Press, shout-out to them for that, and we have a few kindred spirits - at least in the vicinity of some of our ideas - from local bloggers like
JackeHammer.
Truth be told, our "
product" is a tough sell. When you tell people they need to be more like the ones who envisioned a country where able-bodied, sound-minded folks need to rely on themselves instead of the government, there tend to be a lot of blank stares and the occasional "that's heartless!" kind of response. (If you run into a situation like that, ask the poor bewildered soul if they want everything for free from the taxpayer. That's a short and not-so-sweet way to make 'em think.)
Anyway, thanks for the kudos and shout-outs, Mr. J. Every bit helps.
Labels: KSGF, Libertarian, Springfield Missouri
Hats off to the hard work of the
Missouri Citizens for Property Rights group. Too bad we actually need such organizations...
March 18, 2008
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
MO-CPR Says High Court Decision Shows Need for Constitutional Changes
Missouri Citizens for Property Rights' chairman Ron Calzone made the following statement regarding the Missouri Supreme Court's decision in the case of Arnold vs. Tourkakis:
"My heart goes out to Homer and his wife, who are now a step closer to having a quarter-century of hard work destroyed by city bulldozers. The high court ignored the clear statement in Article I, Section 28 that 'private property shall not be taken for private use with or without compensation' as Missourians' fundamental protection against private use eminent domain."
"The court instead stretched the application of Article VI, Section 21, despite plain language limiting those powers to chartered cities. This illogical decision puts hundreds of thousands of Missourians' property rights in greater danger."
"That's not the worst of it, though. In the majority opinion, the court wrote, 'Unless limited by the constitution, the legislature has the right to authorize the exercise of the unlimited and practically absolute sovereign power of eminent domain.'" ...
Rest at link above. Here are links to the
Missouri Supreme Court decision and the
Castle Coalition for further consideration.
Why do courts keep dropping the ball on property rights? It's a no-brainer.
uh... wait, it just hit me. People making these bad decisions
are no-brainers.
Labels: justice, Libertarian Party, property rights, www.mo-cpr.org
Alternative Budget Proposal
This was sent to me by my good friend, Springfield Missouri Councilman Doug Burlison:
We find ourselves, as a city, faced with several serious challenges in the governance of our limited resources. We are fortunate, however, to have an unlimited supply of creativity and commitment in this community, and we will deal with the needed belt-tightening that must occur.
I see this years budget process as an opportunity to make a decisive course adjustment in the direction of our ship of state, so that our children inherit a city full of promise, not problems. To progress towards this goal, I believe it is prudent to transfer monies from non-critical budgets to the essential needs in our more fragile fiscal areas. In this scenario, we reduce the level of peripheral services only, keeping the impact to the community at a minimum. This recommendation would raise approximately $5,002,000 that could be added to our annual fund contributions. The specific budgeted dollars I would recommend targeting for transfer are as follows:
City Council lunches - $9,600
City Council travel, reduce 50% - $17,400
Mayors Commission on Human Rights - $150,000
Mayors Commission on Children - $113,000
Landmark Board - $4,200
Sister Cities - $9,000
United Way - $2,500
Ozarks Fighting Back-City Match - $25,000
The Scene Newsletter - $12,000
Discovery Center Co-op agreement - $64,000
Citizen/Employee Surveys, reduce 50% - $17,500
CQI - $28,900
Partners in Education - $6,000
Unallocated Food Supplies - $5,000
Unallocated Misc. Operating Supplies - $29,000
Unallocated Drug Testing - $18,000
Unallocated Advertising - $52,000
Former E-911 Shortfall - $1,304,000
Reserve Appropriation, reduce 50% - $500,000
Former Car Park Operating Shortfall - $40,000
Former Car Park Debt - $177,500
Ozarks Greenways - $82,400
City to Parks Subsidy - $1,800,000
ERP System - $553,000
I believe that to reduce our debt and create additional one-time repair funds for the fire/police pension and the workers compensation insurance programs, the liquidation of appropriate city-owned properties or facilities should also be considered. There is a market for the outright purchase of municipal assets, as well as a market for the purchase with lease-back options of certain other city assets. Again, the focus should be on non-critical areas that could transition to private ownership with the least negative impact on the community. The infusion of any extra funds raised in the liquidation process could be used to payoff liabilities and decrease the time-frame of our under-funded status. This recommendation has the potential of making a significant impact, and could reduce the need of acquiring additional money from taxpayers. Also, the more debt we eliminate, the greater the capacity we have in the long run to contribute to our deficient fund programs. Millions of dollars could be raised, although it is difficult to approximate a particular number due to variable factors such as markets and negotiations. Specific assets that could be recommended for liquidation include the following:
Jordan Valley Ice Rink - outright sale
College Station Car Park - outright sale
Heers Development Car Park - outright sale
Springfield Landfill - sale with lease-back
Regardless of the possibility of a tax-increase on the horizon, I believe that these steps are absolutely necessary to improve the financial health of Springfields future. The focus of recent years has developed a considerable amount of public improvements, coupled with a heavy load of public debt. By shifting our focus to that of eliminating debt and enabling the private sector to advance the revitalization that has already been started, we can not only avoid an economic quagmire; we can set the stage for a prosperous local economy.
With other extra revenues that come in, such as any legal settlements or court awards, top-priority should also be given to using these funds to bolster our pension/workers compensation funds. An example of this type of revenue would be the $250,000 from a telecom settlement that was reserved for possible firefighter overtime compensation. A favorable court opinion has since made this reserve unnecessary.
Extra city-owned properties and equipment, from abandoned houses to rarely-used vehicles, could be auctioned off. Again, these proceeds could assist in dealing with these issues. Examples of items in this category would include:
The 25 Vehicles with less than 1,000 miles
Some of the numerous Vehicles with less than 5,000 miles
Some of the numerous unused houses/properties i.e.
1212 N. Cedarbrook
324 E. Evergreen
1210 S. Farm Rd.123
1427 N. Fremont
1036 W. Division
755 N Franklin
(this is a small partial list-
documented for example only)
There are other possible mechanisms that may be tapped to provide some relief, however, I am not certain of the legal appropriateness of these measures as of yet. Springfields investment portfolio includes a category titled unrestricted net assets under which in 2007 there were $138,000,000 being held, which on the face of it, seems to be available for any municipal purpose.
We have also budgeted approximately $65,000,000 for our Enterprise Funds, which if a small percentage could be transferred to the troubled funds in the interim, this could be helpful as well. This budget includes activities such as the airport, golf courses, sewers, landfill, and others which operate in the environment of public safety that our police and fire departments are tasked with maintaining. With this in mind, I feel like it is appropriate to consider a tax on these budget items, but again I am not an expert in the legalities involved.
These strategies, if enacted, will not diminish the funding essential to our public safety operations. I believe that this proposal, while it is admittedly dramatic, would be the most responsible approach that will deal with our current situation in a decisive way. Especially in light of the more draconian measures that have been discussed, this plan would reinforce the basic necessary functions of our city government, and provide for a growing local economy.Labels: Springfield Missouri
Missouri Libertarian Candidates
As campaign season continues to steamroll its way across time and space, I'll be doing the occasional post on my fellow Libertarians as they make their bids for public office.
First up, my compatriot patriot
Teddy Fleck, our candidate for Lieutenant Governor of Missouri.
Teddy is the secretary of the
Greene County Libertarian Party, and will be spending his spare time, when he's not being a semi-truck driver, on his campaign for the post of Lieutenant Governor. Teddy does a
show on BlogTalkRadio, and it has been my pleasure to co-host with him on occasion.
Teddy is a good man, and I'm proud to be campaigning for him.
Labels: 2008 election, Libertarian Party, Missouri
