What came of the novel idea of cutting expenses

The novel idea of cutting expenses rather than raising fees has disappered from the minds of the educated and those that chose to govern. A story from the Ft. Worth Star Telegram was forwarded to me, and the first thing that came to mine was cut expenses first. However, to those chosen to govern raising fees is the answer.

Expect a higher water bill later this year
By BILL HANNA
billhanna@star-telegram.com
Posted on Wed, Mar. 11, 2009

Your water bill is likely to go up later this year as higher fees charged to local water providers are passed along to customers.
Area cities like Fort Worth and Arlington could face sharp increases after the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality decided to raise fees last month.
The three fees — the consolidated water quality fee, the public health service fee and the water use assessment fee — are being increased to overcome a possible $30 million shortfall in agency operations.
Under the worst-case scenario, Fort Worth could see its fees for drinking water jump from $50,000 to $517,000 in 2010; Arlington officials say fees could jump from $24,000 to $220,000.
But the increases may not turn out to be that substantial.
At the Feb. 25 meeting, commission board member Larry Soward noted that an appropriations rider is circulating through the House and Senate that would provide $28.9 million over two years, cutting the projected shortfall nearly in half.
Water rates would still go up but not as much.
"We will need some sort of fee increase," Chris Hayden, financial analyst with the commission’s Chief Financial Officer Division, said at the Feb. 25 meeting.
The commission has scheduled a public hearing April 7 in Austin. A public comment period runs until April 13. Final rules are expected to be adopted July 22.

http://www.star-telegram.com/state_news/story/1250781.html

The waiting is over now back to work

The stimulus package has finally passed. I am not happy because I am not a big supporter of bigger government and more federal spending. However, I am hoping this will now allow us all to get back to work and stop holding our breath waiting for it to happen.

Many have been almost obsessive about reading all the bad economic news in print and on-line, and at times I find myself thinking the world has fallen over the edge and is in free-fall toward oblivion. However, in my many trips of traveling the many areas of this great country I look around and see a world and country that looks the same today as it did yesterday and the day before.

Regardless of the 'free-fall' life goes on. When driving the country side I continue to see active construction sites where they're building new businesses. One's a car dealership and several hotel sites. When I take the wife out to dinner on Friday or Saturday night, the restaurants are always busy. If I go to the store, I still have to stand in line at the checkout.

It is true the high flying credit markets took a nose dive, and we have experienced some great con artists like a Madoff which has resulted in some monetary loss for individuals. Let us not forget the housing market has imploded in some areas of the country. Some state and local governments are struggling with huge deficits. People are losing their jobs. We are continually reminded that the country is in crisis. These same events have caused Congress to 'two step' and decide they needed to play the role of hero with Super Hero Obama leading the charge.

The greatest danger is fear itself. The greatest danger to our country is our own fear and uncertainty. It seems like for the past several months we have been holding our breath: Waiting for election day, waiting for the bank bailout, waiting for the economic stimulus, waiting for salvation.

Fear is constant and promoted 24 hours a day in this day and age via CNN, FOX, Internet news sources, etc. If you have been holding your breath waiting for this fear to subside then if you hold your breath and wait maybe things will get better - or maybe you'll run out of breath while the world moves on without you.

and more from the land of taxpayer absurdity

While Americans are losing jobs and seeing life savings evaporate this Obama/Pelosi/Reid $410 billion Omnibus funds earmarks like:

$2.1 million for a Center for Grape Research in NY
$1.7 million for pig odor research in Iowa
$951,500 for Sustainable Las Vegas (I'm not making this up)
$2 million for "the promotion of astronomy" in Hawaii
$200,000 for a tattoo removal program

Is it possible to remove the odor from a pig?

If we have to eliminate the wealth in the US I guess we might as well make the poor pigs miserable by removing their odor. Let the folks keep their wealth and you want have to worry about $1 million in government money to sustain Las Vegas.

More from the land of taxpayer funded absurdity

As property taxes grow, school superintendent salaries grow faster.................

Even in these hard times, one school board voted to give the superintendent a raise of $ 7,292.00 per year, bringing him to $250,000 a year. That’s right. The superintendent is making a quarter million dollars, and your property taxes continue to increase.

Here is the info on Round Rock ISD Superintendent's salary and benefits. This information was taken from board minutes and the superintendent contract and amendments.

Here's background info taken from the board minutes:

1/11/06 Initial Hiring --Salary $204,600.00

2/20/07 + Salary Increase =New salary $221,991.00 (8.5% increase)

2/12/08 + Salary Increase =New salary $243,080.00

2/26/09 Salary Increase =New salary $250,372


Total increases since initial hire:$45,772.00 – an astounding 22.3% increase in 2 years!


Has your salary increased over 20% in two years? No, but your taxes may have.


7/17/07: Performance Bonus paid: $6,558.46 (to retirement plan of the Superintendent’s choice)


7/17/08: Performance Bonus paid: $7,539.00


In addition, the superintendent receives the following benefits (these amounts are from the original 2006 contract):

1) additional benefits for a yearly allowance of $3,500 to cover his immediate family;
2) life insurance premiums not to exceed $6,000 per year to the companies selected by the Superintendent for life insurance;
3) membership fees of the Superintendent for professional organizations;
4) contributions of up to $10,000 per District fiscal year (commencing in fiscal year 2006-2007) to a qualified retirement plan (annuity or other retirement benefits) of the Superintendent’s choice, for the benefit of the Superintendent, for each year of employment under this contract;
5) monthly expense allowance now at $5,800 per year (as of 2008) (not required to submit itemized receipts)
6) vacation days to accrue (at daily rate) at two days per month effective March 1, 2007 with maximum accrual of 48 days In addition, he gets Christmas break, spring break and a one week summer break during July 4th week just like all teachers and administrators.

Plus, under the contract, if he’s fired and there is an appeal:

“The District shall provide legal counsel to represent the Superintendent in any litigation, including administrative processes, arising out of or alleged to arise out of the Superintendent’s duties with the District, without regard to whether the allegations are made against the Superintendent in his official or individual capacity. The District's obligations shall survive the termination of this Contract.”

Most school district Superintendent salaries are similar – see what your Superintendent is making (base pay) and ask your ISD for their contract, to see just what else they are receiving in addition to their base pay.

If you are pleased with the job your school district is doing and you think the salary is justified, lucky you! But you might want to first check to see what the average teacher salary is in your district. Check by clicking here.

It appears the taxpayers of the Round Rock ISD are the goose that laid the golden egg!

By pvenable
Created 03/03/2009
Published on Americans for Prosperity (http://www.americansforprosperity.org)

From the land of taxpayer funded absurdity

HARRIS DISTRICT ATTORNEY'S OFFICE HIRES LOBBYIST

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/6292221.html
Harris district attorney's office hires lobbyist
By BRIAN ROGERSCopyright 2009 Houston Chronicle
March 3, 2009, 8:38PM

Harris County District Attorney Pat Lykos has contracted a lobbyist for $17,000 for the rest of the Texas legislative session to ensure lawmakers have a Houston prosecutor’s perspective on possible changes to the penal code and other criminal justice laws.
DA general counsel John Barnhill said the money to pay Hank Mitchell came from discretionary funds from the office’s hot check division.
“This isn’t tax money, this is money from offenders,” Barnhill said.
Barnhill said Mitchell will aid Assistant District Attorney Kevin Petroff, the prosecutor assigned to review bills pending in Austin.

You can't get representation in government without paying for it!

and for even more absurdity we have.......................................

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/hotstories/6292479.html

County may not be safer, but top officials likely are......................................

Guess our county judge and sheriff will be adding such perks to our county budget in coming years.

Brainless mouthpiece Obama

The shock therapy being administered by the brainless mouthpiece due to his reading a book on the causes of the Great Depression demonstrates how brainless he currently is with regards to financial matters. The financial team he has assembled appears to be just as brainless.

The Great Depression was caused by too much government intervention in the economy, rather than too little regulation. Regulations are in place and the brainless mouthpiece and his brainless trust need to get the career bureaucrats to do their jobs.

As Will Rogers said "I'm not nearly so concerned about the return on my capital, as i am the return OF my capital".

The right to keep and bear arms

"To preserve liberty, it is essential that the whole body of the people always possess arms, and be taught alike, especially when young, how to use them." (Richard Henry Lee, Virginia delegate to the Continental Congress, initiator of the Declaration of Independence, and member of the first Senate, which passed the Bill of Rights.)

"The great object is that every man be armed . . . Everyone who is able may have a gun." (Patrick Henry, in the Virginia Convention on the ratification of the Constitution.)

"The advantage of being armed . . . the Americans possess over the people of all other nations . . . Notwithstanding the military establishments in the several Kingdoms of Europe, which are carried as far as the public resources will bear, the governments are afraid to trust the people with arms." (James Madison, author of the Bill of Rights, in his Federalist Paper No. 46.)

"A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed." (Second Amendment to the Constitution.)

Thomas Jefferson, who kept an armory of pistols, rifles and shotguns at Monticello, and advised his nephew to forsake other sports in favor of hunting, would be astounded to hear supposed civil libertarians claim firearm ownership should be restricted.

My good friends your 2nd Amendment Rights are now under attack once again by your federal government headed by the likes of Reid and Pelosi. Blair Holt Firearm Licensing & Record of Sale Act of 2009 has been introduced in the House of Representatives and given number HR 45. HR 45 basically would make it illegal to own a firearm - any rifle with a clip or ANY pistol unless:

A) It is registered
B) You are fingerprinted
C) You supply a current Driver's License
D) You supply your Social Security #
E) You will submit to a physical & mental evaluation at any time of their choosing
F) Each update - change or ownership through private or public sale must be reported and costs $25 - Failure to do so you automatically lose the right to own a firearm and are subject up to a year in jail.
G) There is a child provision clause on page 16 section 305 stating a child-access provision. Gun must be locked and inaccessible to any child under 18.
H) They would have the right to come and inspect that you are storing your gun safely away from accessibility to children and fine is punishable for up to 5 yrs. in prison.

Is the goal complete confiscation of guns and disarming of our society to the point we have no defense? You will have to decide for yourself after researching HR 45. If you take my gun, only the criminals will have one to use against me. Could the criminals be the federal government? They seem to be wanting to limit my individual rights in more ways than one these days.

So you have to apply to the new Obama anti-gun Attorney General to get permission to keep your gun.

Full Text of HR 45 is here http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c111:H.R.45.

Thomas Jefferson said

"You cannot legislate the poor into freedom by legislating the wealthy out of freedom. What one person receives without working for, another person must work for without receiving. The government cannot give to anybody anything that the government does not first take from somebody else. When half of the people get the idea that they do not have to work because the other half is going to take care of them, and when the other half gets the idea that it does no good to work because somebody else is going to get what they work for, that my dear friend, is about the end of any nation. You cannot multiply wealth by dividing it."

A drive by

Driving home from the grocery store last week, I noticed a car slowly driving around my neighborhood, with a sign on the door that clearly read "real estate appraiser." I knew these people existed, and one had certainly signed off on the price of my house when I bought it, but I'd never actually seen one in person. I felt like I had spotted a unicorn.

After introducing myself to the nattily dressed, Cadillac-driving appraiser, I began by asking what method he used when determining the value of residential real estate. Not at all surprisingly, he replied that it was based on comparable home sales in the area -- "comps," in appraiser and realtor speak. I asked if he was appraising for a current purchase, refi, etc. and he answered "no, he was appraising for the local appraisal district." I then asked if he ever actually left his car to pull a tape measure in order to check the measurements on the house. He replied "there was no need since the appraisal district already had that information on file." I asked if he brought his gun along with him when doing these appraisals and he gave me a perplexed look and said "no". He then replied "why do you ask such a question". I stated that a drive-by appraisal was similar to a drive-by shooting in that one is taking a shot gun approach to completing the task of one's profession. A 'hit and miss' so to speak. He did not seem real happy with my analogy.

I asked if he felt there was a better way to assess the value of a house like applying the income method. He stated that would not work. I asked why and he replied "Because people just don't buy houses that way." Funny how assessed values have continued to go up with everything else going on in the housing market. I asked him if he had every been trained in how people buy a house, and he replied that he did not see the relevance. Then how does he arrive at an assessment via a drive-by when he does not know how people come to conclusions when purchasing a house. Funny.............................................

RV Maker Monaco Coach Files Chapter 11

"The company's products, which include the Monaco, Holiday Rambler, Safari, Beaver, McKenzie, and R-Vision brand names along with several motorhome-only resorts, are tied closely to consumer."

The Obama team has managed to not pull us out of this free fall. His team has only made matters worse. The wealthy purchased RV products and now they have no wealth. No wealth to buy the RV products no need for the working class who were used to manufacture the RV products. Will the Obama team ever learn that the very folks they are trying to take income from is the very backbone of our system? They buy the products that keep the workers employed. Total destruction of our economic system must be the Obama team goal.

When the 'fat cats' get richer the workers share by getting the opportunity to have a job. When workers have a job and they manage their money smartly they get an opportunity at the dream of owing a home, buying a car, sending their children to higher education, etc. With the government hand out of $300 a week they will always live in poverty and never have an opportunity for more. Of course this was the goal of the communist government to make the individual feel compelled to the government system, and not have visions of opportunities. In this system the only folks who get an opportunity to be a 'fat cat' are the individuals who bribe government officials. At least in our system (for now) no one has to bribe a government official in order to have the opportunity to become a 'fat cat'. Then again if we keep going down this road of economic recovery I don't think we will see many new 'fat cats'.

I'm sorry, but you are always going to have the 'snake charmers' like a Sanford and Madoff leeching off the system. When caught punishment should be swift and impartial. History tells us that there are more swindlers in bad economic times than good. The lazy prey upon the elderly an uneducated for a quick hit. The educated should know better, but Mr. Madoff and Sanford were able to find a way to take advantage of their uneducated financial savvy. We are suppose to be rational thinkers, but what is rational about Mr. Sanford offering a 10% return when almost all financial institutions were offering 5% or less? Of course if the Feds had not kept interest rates so low for so long the educated might not have sought out the likes of Sanford and Madoff. Clinton appointee Greenspan got us started down this road to low interest rates and wealth destruction. Greenspan had a 'brain fart' when called upon to do some rational thinking!

More freedom and less government

I like most in American have become concerned with the educated product we are putting into the market today. Being a long time employer I always required an educated workforce and just before I sold my business to a major corporation I had noticed the lack of education by applicants for our starting positions. I was recently reading a piece in a trade publication that shared some of my concerns about the lack of education our youth seemed to be receiving in our public schools today. Then the talk about government stimulus ......................... and my blood begin to boil.

The Stimulus calls for nearly doubling federal spending on education, which means doubling federal control. We are going to double spending on a product to which we have achieved no real success. Makes a lot of sense does it not? America is an oppressive and unjust society are the words of William Ayers. Anyone remember Mr. Ayers? A friend to President Obama. Being that American is oppressive and unjust is the right reason to double federal spending on education. Government never learns.

I share President Obama's concerns about education. We certainly need to do a better job of utilizing our tax dollars for better results. For Obama, the solution to everything seems to be government and spending. But in improving education, more of neither seems to work. Never has and never will in my opinion.

According to Department of Education data, reported by the Cato Institute, K-12 spending per student, adjusted for inflation, went from $5,393 in 1970 to $11,470 in 2004. Over the same period, there were tiny increases in math scores among 17-year-olds and no improvement in reading scores. One of the greatest think tanks in the world came to the same conclusion I came to long ago - kids can't read. I found the problem to be a lack of desire to learn to read. I brought reading intervention teachers into my facilities to help my workforce. In turn I was looking for better productivity. Over 75% eventually lost their jobs due to a mistake made for a reading problem. Lack of desire to learn to read caused them their job and caused my operation valuable productivity time. If I added the total cost of reading intervention expenses, lost productivity, etc. it would most likely be in the millions of dollars.

Can we really believe that over the 35 years that per pupil spending doubled it did not dawn on any educator that reform was in order? There are endless new ideas about how to spend money to manipulate kids into learning. The problem with professional bureaucrats is that they think we learn about human beings in laboratories and academic studies. It never occurs to them the problem is a bankrupt culture, which they themselves often reflect, and what's needed is a return to traditional values.

Anyone recently watch the made-for-television movie, Gifted Hands? It is about Dr. Ben Carson one of the world's few black pediatric neurosurgeons, world renowned for his professional accomplishments. He is a professor at John Hopkins. In his own words, he was an "at risk" child -- a black male raised in poverty by a young, poorly educated single mother.

According to Carson, "My mother worked as a domestic, two, sometimes three jobs at a time because she didn't want to be on welfare. She felt very strongly that if she gave up and went on welfare, that she would give up control of her life and of our lives, and I think she was probably correct about that." When Carson was failing in school as a young boy, she laid down the law to him and his brother. Both of them would read two books a week and give her a book report (they had no idea she couldn't read). And, they'd be limited to three television shows per week.

Ben Carson, of course, is an exceptional man. But his story verifies what existing studies show. The main predictor of a child's educational success is the parental guidance and involvement that the child gets at home. Per Star Parker a syndicated columnist, "Central to this also must be values. The problem is that these values -- the traditional values that Ben Carson's mother taught him -- are off limits in our public schools."

I think that by now most will agree that throwing money at a government school monopoly is not going to change education realities. The real need is freedom, not money. The ability to pick and choose a school without government intervention. Public or private the money needs to flow with the student. We need more common sense and freedom in K-12 education -- not more government programs and money. There are far to many inefficient government programs that currently exist in the education arena due to career educators who lack the expertise to spend wisely and efficiently. Ben Carson's mother proved that more money and fancy education theories were not the answer for her child, and this is mostly likely the same answer for all children within the education system today.

Look before you leap

On March 2, 1836 a group of men gathered at Washington-on-Brazos to declare Texas independent from Mexico. March 2nd is now a state holiday celebrated every year in Texas. The unanimous declaration began by noting the cause of independence: that the Mexican government had “ceased to protect the lives, liberty and property of the people.”

They noted the grievances caused by a “corrupt, and tyrannical government” that had given rise to the “hazardous but unavoidable” revolution, noting they had reached the point at which “forbearance ceases to be a virtue.”

"The necessity of self-preservation, therefore, now decrees our eternal political separation."

Let us look at leaping today in our cause for independence once again: that the United States government has "ceased to protect the lives, liberty and property of the people."

Noted grievances today include a corrupt, and tyrannical government that has displaced the rights of states and its people. Thus, a hazardous but unavoidable revolt against our own federal government that has become a tyrant regardless of party in control. This nation and this Republic of Texas were born and created with the basic idea of individual rights. Our federal government continues to trample and belittle the rights of the individual for favor of 'the government knows best'. Thus "forbearance ceases to be a virtue."

Look before you leap has arrived. Our forefathers fought for individual rights and we must do the same today. We must fight on many fronts: city, county, ISDs, special districts, state, and federal. The tyrants are well aware of the many fronts we must fight, and they will do their best to tire us out. There is no option for us as individuals we must prevail in order to protect our basic individual rights!

Survivor Texas

Due to the popularity of the "Survivor" shows, Texas is planning to do one entitled, "Survivor, Texas Style."

The contestants will all start in Dallas , then drive to Waco , Austin , San Antonio , over to Houston and down to Brownsville . They will then proceed up to Del Rio , El Paso , Midland , Odessa , Lubbock and Amarillo .

From there they will go on to Abilene , Fort Worth and finally back to Dallas . Each will be driving a pink Volvo with bumper stickers that read: "I'm Gay," "I Love the Dixie Chicks," "Boycott Beef," "I Voted for Obama," "George Strait Sucks," "Hillary in 2012" and "I'm here to confiscate your guns."

The first one to make it back to Dallas alive wins.

Bruno the bruiser

It is easy to forget that the prosperity of the automobile and radio led us into this great financial mess. It is called consumerism and consumers demanded more and more. Consumerism was thought to be the greatest thing since 'sliced bread'. By the way, consumerism created sliced bread. In some ways consumerism has done some good things!

You ask how did consumerism cause the financial meltdown?

Anyone remember the term - saving! When the US adopted consumerism as it's economic policy it created an imbalance between having and waiting (spending and saving). All these years the politicians should have been developing policies to incent the consumer to save. The politicians tried with instruments like IRAs, 401ks, etc. These were good instruments, but were at an imbalance with another commodity that was born from consumerism's economic policy. Anyone venture to guess?

If you guessed 'credit' you are correct. Credit led to impulse consumerism. Buy today and pay tomorrow plan. Your pay stub became your collateral for your 'gotta have it now' impulse.

The very freedom of economy and society depends upon sufficient voluntary saving. The US has had a minus savings rate for several years now. What is the price that must be paid for a negative savings rate? Inflation and loss of freedom. From 2005 - most of 08 we had commodity inflation (price of fuel, food, materials were all higher). Now we reap the benefits of the politicians planning and strategizing our loss of freedoms. Look for many more regulations as to what you can and cannot do with your money, and the government's basic need for more of your money. Their need for more of your money will limit your freedom to chose what you will be able to do with the money you earn.

To put it in more technical jargon, "today's super-state, with its super-budget, super-taxation, and super-welfare programs, has developed into a colossal apparatus for dissaving and, at the same time, an apparatus of inflation and growing compulsion. To close the vicious circle, this same inflation, which is due to insufficient saving, gravely impairs further saving because it shakes the saver's confidence in the stability of his saving's value." This comes from Mr. Ropke in an interview he gave in 1936.

Interpreted for today's meaning goes something like this.............Most of the older folks today grew up in a society that promoted savings. They knew the value of a dollar and how hard it was to come by. These older folks had put aside a tidy sum for old age. However, suddenly one day these older folks (who now have access to consumer credit) decided to blow it all and spend their little fortunes on luxury television sets, automobiles, meals in restaurants five nights a week (plus lunch five days a week), and other things. When asked why they suddenly changed their minds and began spending all their savings; they replied "the welfare state was now taking care of them anyway and there was therefore no reason why they should deny themselves the immediate enjoyment of what they had set aside for old age."

The term 'bet on the come' applies as well. Up until February 2009 most folks bet they would get an increase in their paychecks. Therefore, they made a bet and bought more with those consumer credit instruments that do not promote savings. Consumer credit actually encourage you to make big bets on what you do not have. Now you have a number of folks who made BIG BIG bets and lost, and Bruno the Bruiser is knocking at their doors wanting to collect. They can't pay so they have turned to the government to bail them out.

This problem was not created by the government (except maybe for some lax oversight), and the full amount of the blame can't be placed on the financial community that made the consumer a consumer. The major part of this blame has to rest squarely on the shoulders of the American consumer and the 'gotta have it now' ways. The government put saving instruments in place, i.e. IRAs, 401k, 403b, etc. I don't think the government ever anticipated that the American consumer would leverage these savings instruments against consumer credit and home equity. Rightfully though it should have been expected for none of the consumers today have really ever experienced any financial pain.

Stomach flu

If you’ve ever had the stomach flu you know this feeling already. After puking your guts out for hours on end, you don’t feel like eating anything at all. Every time President Obama and his crew speak on the financial crisis and the current hard times another one 'rips from the gut'.

Instead, you need lots of sleep and rest and then only after some time and feeling better, you’ll start by nibbling on some crackers when you think you can hold the food down.

This same analogy is appropriate for what we have in this market.

The market has puked its guts out for months now and is left queasy and uncertain. It is time for the politicians to quit distrubing the market and let it get its need rest. And much like those who’ve just went through the stomach flu, only time and some rest is going to help.

Rob from the poor as well

Guess now that Obama is elected he has decided it will be fine to rob a little from the poor as well. The creation of a "Cap and Trade" system is an ENERGY TAX on Americans. The Obama budget admits this tax will be at least $645 billion in the first 8 years alone. Prices will go up on gasoline for cars, energy to heat and cool your home. Prices will increase on just about every good you buy -- from food to consumer goods because of the higher energy costs to grow the food and make the goods.

Now that all their wealth has been virtually destroyed most of the big money that supported Obama has now become his biggest critics. They are not happy and they want Geithner tossed out with the bath water. We don't mean to sound impatient, but we've seen enough. Business leaders and executives were willing to take their punishment, but now they don't understand how they are to create jobs when they are also going to be required to pay more in taxes and stupid things like 'cap and trade'.

Obama and Geithner had a plan to pass the 'bad paper loans' to the hedge funds, but the good hedge funds balked when they found out they were going to take on toxic paper and at the same time pay a 40% increase in taxes on any of the gains they took from the government after the government asked them for the help. Who created this plan? We don't mean to sound impatient, but we've seen enough. The country is in the middle of the worst financial crisis in 75 years, and the second-most-important person in charge clearly isn't the right man for the job.

Bring on Bill Clinton. At least he understood what business was about and who paid the bills in this country. He may have smoked a dirty cigar every now and then, but he understood the necessity of creating wealth.

We're seeing Red...

but want to keep Texas – and Texas taxpayers – in the BLACK

Texans are seeing RED – with the federal bailouts, unprecedented spending “stimulus”, and a $3.5 trillion federal budget full of big-government policies – the federal government is also in the RED.

Texans have the opportunity to embrace sound fiscal policies and keep the Lone Star State a beacon of fiscal sanity.

With 44 states having significant budget deficits, Texas can continue to show the rest of the states – and the federal government – the appropriate role of government. We believe government doesn’t have first dibbs over taxpayers’ hard earned dollars.
Texas is poised to consider more stringent spending limits are enacted. Texas currently has a constitutional spending limit which but lacks definition. Texans deserve greater transparency, accountability and some degree of certainty for Texas taxpayers.

Spending limits have been a centerpiece for AFP’s public policy since the organization was created five years ago. Taxpayer protections are AFP’s number-one state initiative.
The legislation below will apply a statutory spending limit to the appropriations that are acquired from state tax revenue.

HB 994 – Rep. Ken Paxton (R-McKinney)
SB 928 – Sen. Dan Patrick (R-Houston)

Both bills have multiple bill sponsors – check the links to see if your legislators are already signed on.

Putting taxpayers in control over local government growth – the ultimate in local control:
Local government has grown four times faster than peoples’ paychecks and local government debt has grown five times faster. Currently, property taxes can increase as much as 8% before citizens may petition the taxing entity to “roll back” the tax rate, requiring as many as 10% of the registered voters to sign the petition. These bills lower the rate to 5% and eliminate the onerous petition-gathering process. They also provide some much-needed appraisal reform.

SB 700 by Sen. Dan Patrick (R-Houston)
HB 1575 by Rep. Carl Isett (R-Lubbock) & Rep. Ken Paxton (R-McKinney)

Take action now: Encourage your state senator to co-sponsor the senate bills (SB) and ask your state legislator to co-sponsor the house bills (HB).

To find your legislator, click here: http://www.fyi.legis.state.tx.us/

By pvenable
Created 02/27/2009
Published on Americans for Prosperity (http://www.americansforprosperity.org)

Tell me it ain't so Joe

Houston proposed spending almost $500,000 to give individuals unable to qualify for a home loan up to $3,000 to pay off their credit cards and debts.

Houston city leaders responded to more than 1,200 citizens who posted comments on the Chronicle Web site and pulled the item from the Feb. 25 City Council meeting agenda.

Prospective homeowners need to learn first to pay their bills on time, and then earn the opportunity for home ownership. Wonder if the $500K was part of the Obama and crew stimulus?

Property appraisal bills

SB 700 and HB 1575 will require a vote in order for local taxing entities to raise property tax rates more than five percent in any given year. HB 1575 also allows property market values to be appraised based upon the property’s current use, instead of its best potential use – which is how property is appraised now.

These bills have been sponsored by State Sen. Dan Patrick (R-Houston) and State Rep. Carl Isett (R-Lubbock). Send these guys a note of thanks.

State government spending beyond its means

Texas lawmakers, particularly those anxious to spend and tax our way to greater prosperity, ought to pay close attention to what is happening in Kansas right now.

From the Wichita Eagle:
[Kansas] doesn't have enough money in its main bank account to pay its bills, prompting Democratic Gov. Kathleen Sebelius to suggest transferring $225 million from other accounts throughout state government. But the move required approval from legislative leaders, and the GOP refused Monday.

The state has transferred funds before when it has been short of cash in its main bank account. Most recently, the state issued the special certificates required in July and December for transfers totaling $550 million.

Some Republicans question whether such borrowing would be legal. When the state issues a certificate, it must promise that the money can be paid back by the end of the fiscal year. But the state already is projected to have a deficit in the current budget.

What is most disturbing about this is the partisan nature of the dispute. Gov. Sebelius needs to be fully prepared to govern her state from a fiscally responsible standpoint. Fiscal responsibility is not a Republican vs Democrat issue - it is simply a matter of good budgeting and responsible spending. Clearly, the way Kansas has been operating has led to this point, and a budget fix is necessary to ensure the state's liquidity.