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You got it, New Yorkers: a bloated, paraciticistic bureaucracy that taxes us rapaciously one day, then gives a bit back (aka pork projects, STAR rebates) the next with a nice wet “see all we do for you?” kissy kiss.

Apparently it works for most of us most of the time. But what about now, when the economy is stumbling?

We’ll soon find out: as the WS Journal reported a few days ago, New York is one of many states facing a huge tax shortfall.

A spokesperson for Paterson is out there softening us up with the words “fiscal crisis.”

The Albany Times-Union piece lists some possible solutions. Guess what they cite at #1? Raise taxes, of course.

Once you’ve fed it and fed it and fed it, you can’t cut it off — it won’t let you.

Good thing the government’s in charge of keeping us happy and healthy and entertained! Such a deal, such a deal!

US Representative Ted Poe reads us a bedtime story.

Part 1 is the text of the law Congress has passed that mandates we replace incandescent lightbulbs for compact fluorescents by 2014.

For Part 2, he reads from the EPA requirements for disposing of CFLs — including how to handle broken bulbs.

Oh, and Poe mentions that the U.S. doesn’t manufacture these bulbs. China does. “We import every one of these things.”

So Congress has mandated that, four years from now, we will all be completely dependent on an overseas source for our home lighting.

Don’t count on it.

The story, if you’ve missed it, began in 2003 when a construction worker was admitted to the ER at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital with a gash on his head.

He got stitches.

Then he was told he needed a rectal exam to determine if he had a spinal injury.

He didn’t want a rectal exam. A scuffle ensued. The “patient” ended up sedated & restrained.

Leave aside who’s lying and who isn’t (the hospital claimed he never got the exam; Brian Persaud says he did; the hospital says Persaud got violent, he says he slapped a doc by accident).

It seems to me it never should have gotten that far.

It seems to me that even if I, the patient, will die if I refuse a particular procedure, I should still be allowed to refuse it.

It’s my body.

Isn’t it?

That’s according to this Examiner piece that sorts out pending tax legislation now wending its way through Congress.

Isn’t it nice to know our Congressional representatives are thinking of us? Oink oink.

Technorati Tags: income taxes

Blogs have been atitter since The Independent held its telescope up, peered across the Atlantic and declared the US of A has been plunged into a new Great Depression.

Sensational!

Quite.

Only it turns out that the photo they ran with the story was taken in 2005. And it’s got nothing to do with increased use of food stamps, like the article implies. It’s people lined up (er, “queuing”) to get free coats in a handout NYC Mayor Bloomberg had organized. In other words, the actual story is: in 2005, New Yorkers came up with 80,000 coats they didn’t need any more in a citywide closet cleanout. (What? You mean they didn’t need to burn them for fuel?!?!?!)

The article also mentions that the increase in food stamp applications has also been influenced by better marketing of the program. Cough.

Look, it’s no fun when the money is tight. I know that feeling well. But a Great Depression?

For most Americans, it’s more like a Great Annoying Few Months In My Life.

Like the people in this Wall Street Journal story from yesterday’s front page. The story reports that increasing numbers of Americans are delaying retirement — actually, delaying taking early retirement, if you accept that 65 is the target for that milestone:

In February, the proportion of people ages 55 to 64 in the work force rose to 64.8%, up 1.5 percentage points from last April. That translates to more than an additional million people in the job pool, according to the U.S. Labor Department.

The trend is supposed to continue into March.

The Independent says the Labor Department is expected to show that we’ve lost 50,000 jobs in March.

The WSJ says over 200,000 people who would have retired in February decided to stay on deck.

Not clear if the 50,000 is net figures after the 200K. I’d assume so–the Labor Department is the source for both articles. Still, an economy that can absorb an extra 200,000 workers every month doesn’t exactly sound like a crisis.

The lead anecdote in the WSJ story, btw, is a fellow who had hoped to retire at 59. He’s changed his mind, now, because his retirement account is down to 240,000 (it’s lost 20 percent of its value in recent months) and he’s having trouble selling his house. He’s dropped its asking price to 250K.

The article doesn’t say whether there’s a mortgage on the house or not. Likely there is. But even if he gets 250K cash out of it when he sells, he’s cutting things mightly close. Back of the envelope calculations say that you need $600,000 in the bank if you want to maintain a living standard of $30,000/annually for 20 years. Is someone who now lives in a house worth something in the neighborhood of 1/4 million going to be happy on 30 grand a year until he’s 79?

So we have a fellow, no offense, sir, who was cutting things pretty close as it was–even if you set aside the fact that his “net worth” was based on an economic projection, not cold hard cash in hand.

The point of the WSJ article is that people whose net worth was based on real estate or the stock market are having to rejigger their retirement plans.

I’m sorry for them–it’s no fun when something you’ve banked on turns out to be a set of misplaced assumptions.

But this isn’t a Great Depression. Sorry. Not even close.

Technorati Tags: economy

The Gingham dog and the calico cat
Side by side on the table sat;
‘Twas half-past twelve, and (what do you think!)
Nor one nor t’other had slept a wink!
The old Dutch clock and the Chinese plate
Appeared to know as sure as fate
There was going to be a terrible spat.
(I wasn’t there; I simply state
What was told to me by the Chinese plate!)

The gingham dog went “bow-wow-wow!”
And the calico cat replied “mee-ow!”
The air was littered, an hour or so,
With bits of gingham and calico,
While the old Dutch clock in the chimney-place
Up with its hands before its face,
For it always dreaded a family row!
(Never mind: I’m only telling you
What the old Dutch clock declares is true!)

The Chinese plate looked very blue,
And wailed, “Oh, dear! what shall we do!”
But the gingham dog and the calico cat
Wallowed this way and tumbled that,
Employing every tooth and claw
In the awfullest way you ever saw—
And, oh! how the gingham and calico flew!
(Don’t fancy I exaggerate—
I got my news from the Chinese plate!)

Next morning where the two had sat
They found no trace of dog or cat;
And some folks think unto this day
That burglars stole that pair away!
But the truth about the cat and pup
Is this: they ate each other up!
Now what do you really think of that!
(The old Dutch clock it told me so,
And that is how I came to know.)

Heh heh. That was easy!

*With apologies to Eugene Field

Technorati Tags: Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama

One of Elliot Spitzer’s last acts as Governor of our state was to propose we tax illegal drugs — as a way to address our budget issues.

Hey, I wonder why he didn’t propose we tax prostitution as well?!?!?

Think of the extra bucks we could bring in!

And while we’re at it, Spitzer thought it would be a fine idea to force NY State residents to pay sales tax on business we do with out-of-state merchants.

The sales tax rate in Albany is 8 percent.

According to some accounts today, he’s spent $80,000 on prostitutes over the last decade.

Back of the envelope calculations: he owes $6400 in sales taxes!!!!

Plus penalties and interest, thank you very much!

Technorati Tags: Elliot Spitzer, New York State Taxes

Glenn Reynolds has been advocating the adoption of flex-fuel technology for our cars. The basic idea is that if our cars could run on ethanol and methanol as well as gasoline, we’d reduce our dependence on foreign oil.

The cost to convert our cars would be about $100 per.

Leave aside the ominous suggestion–on odd one coming from the good professor–that the technology be government-mandated, and it may well be a fine idea. But there’s another option that would be simpler to implement and would cost a whole lot less.

I first read about it in this article about hypermiler Wayne Gerdes.

Hypermilers try to improve their gas mileage by changing the way they drive.

Gerdes has taken the idea to an extreme–including doing things that are arguably unsafe.

But there’s still something here for the rest of us those of us–stuff like not accelerating so quickly at green lights, using cruise control for highway driving, and coasting to stops when possible.

The upside: according to this article on CNN.com, adopting some of the hypermilers’ techniques could reduce our national gas consumption by 35 percent.

It would help, of course, if we could get immediate feedback on how much gas we’re using, as we use it. And we can: according to Gerdes, it would cost only $10-20 to install fuel consumption gauges in our cars.

Personally, I don’t want our politicians mandating any auto upgrades–too much potential for mischief. But I’d gladly spend an extra $20 myself to be able to monitor my gas consumption in real time.

And hey, if that 35 percent figure is anything like correct, the gauges would about pay for themselves by the time we get home from the new car lot.

Technorati Tags: hypermilers, flex-fuel, gasoline consumption, foreign oil

Spitzer’s changed his mind about his new Internet commerce tax policy.

In a second major policy reversal in less than a day, Governor Spitzer is backing down from a plan to require Amazon.com and other online retailers to charge state and local sales taxes on all purchases from New York.

Yesterday, just hours after The New York Sun reported on the new revenue collection scheme, the Spitzer administration announced that it was burying it for the time being — at least until after the Christmas shopping season. The move saved New York City shoppers from having to pay an additional 8.375% on many Amazon.com goods.

He realized that state Republicans were going to score another easy body blow with this one — they were going to name it “the Grinch tax” and call Spitzer to task for reneging on his campaign promise not to raise our taxes.

Not that Spitzer wasn’t ready with a response to that charge.

Here it is, from the lips of Paul Francis, the governor’s budget director:

“I don’t regard it as a tax increase. It’s only a tax increase to the person who is paying it.”

But of course!

(Have I mentioned lately that New York State residents pay the highest taxes of any state in the U.S.?)

Technorati Tags: Eliot Spitzer, New York taxes

Just to clarify my last post.

The real “loophole” Spitzer has closed with this new tax policy is that, in the past, we taxpayers were supposed to voluntarily report our Internet shopping and voluntarily pay sales tax on our Internet purchases.

He figures not everyone does this. So he’s going to make retailers collect the tax on our behalf.

What bugs the bejeepers out of me is that the state keeps asking for more, more, more. If our government wanted to demonstrate leadership and fiscal responsibility, they’d figure out a way to make do with what they have.

Instead they sit around dreaming up new ways to make us pony up more & more & more of our cash.

The Internet should have been left alone in the first place. New York State should have respected the Internet as a place where commerce could be left alone, for once, to flourish without a sales tax burden.

At the least, the state should have satisfied itself with revenues from NY State-based Internet companies.

It’s been a shameful affair from the start and Spitzer’s latest move only adds to the shame.

Technorati Tags: Eliot Spitzer, New York State, sales tax