60 responses to “Civil Discussion of Issues with Paul Emery (updated 2oct2011)”

1. 

   George Rebane

   29 September 2011

   DougK – “… on to net worth taxes.” How many steps is that from Bolshevism?

   LikeLike

2. 

   Russ Steele

   29 September 2011

   Douglas,
   Your are right, they assumed it would be on some else’s watch after they were no longer in office. Having bought the needed votes for re-election, now the mess will fall on the wallets of our children and grand children. These two digit IQs sold our children’s future for a few lousy votes. By the way, we still see some of them in the grocery store and they do not have clue why I am pissed.

   LikeLike

3. 

   Douglas Keachie

   30 September 2011

   It is still up to the current government to make good on its contracts.
   12 Step Program, George, 10 to go, don’t think the rest will be needed, once the country learns to get all its oars in the water efficiently. Right now, too many outta sync drummers, too many grumblebum rowers, craft of state and its economy engine needs repairs, hull replacement, even….
   Did you catch the head of the NRA complaining about Obama tricking everybody on 2nd amendment rights by approving the NRA agenda? What a hoot!

   LikeLike

4. 

   Douglas Keachie

   30 September 2011

   Obviously all that has happened so far has resulted in zero initiative on the part of those with serious money and power, to do anything about the problem the 99% are having. I see threatening to level the lot of those above $100,000,000 and let the government use said cash for stupid purposes (in their eyes) like paying down the debt and handling the social contracts already on the books, as a good wakeup call. Maybe with enough grumblings of mutiny, life style changing taxes, and revolution, they’ll start to work on solutions, instead of sitting on their assets.
   Besides, it would make for a very interesting horse race, to see who would become the first new billionaire, after our “problems” were dealt with. Could Arnie get back up to his 1/4 billion point again?

   LikeLike

5. 

   Russ Steele

   30 September 2011

   Douglas, here is the real problem:
   CalPERS continues to make unrealistic promises, ignoring the experts, actuaries and economists they are is still pretending they are receiving great returns, unwilling to address reality.
   “The fund earned 20.7 percent in the 12 months ended June 30, its best result in 14 years, led by gains in stocks and private equity. Since then, Calpers’s value has dropped by $20 billion to $218.6 billion as of Sept. 26, as global stocks declined 17 percent.
   Even with gains in fiscal 2011, the pension fund has earned 3.41 percent annually on average in the past five years, 5.36 percent in the last 10 and 6.97 percent in the last 15. It has only beat its assumed rate of return with a 20-year average of 8.38 percent annually.
   Despite those numbers, CalPERS leaders still think CalPERS will meet or exceed the 20-year promise of 7.75 percent:”
   In Novenber of 2012 they will have to report the real results and when they do, we will discover that CalPERS unfunded liabilities have doubled.

   LikeLike

6. 

   Douglas Keachie

   30 September 2011

   I guess what seems to be the missing piece here, are the clauses in the contracts with the various unions, in which it is clearly spelled out that they are the ones in charge of keeping the governments’ books straight, and giving them the power to tax as needed to generate the income to guarantee that the government lives up to its side of the bargain.
   If you can show me ONE SINGLE UNION CONTRACT, in which such oversight and taxing power is included as part of the deal, then indeed, I will agree, the budgetary problems ARE THE FAULT OF THE UNIONS. However, since you can’t, then the responsibility for the budgetary problems is the fault of every single US of A citizen out there, including all those who waited until Obama was elected to start complaining vociferously and blaming the issue on him and the public employee unions.
   Passing on the debt to future generations is just one possible solution. Taxing the assets of the wealthiest is yet another. I can’t conceive of any reason why one person needs to own more than $100,000,000. Yes take care of the obligations incurred 30 years ago, with the money from the richest and therefore the MOST CULPABLE, as they could afford the experts to do the needed analysis way back when, but waited until Obama was elected to make their moves. In the meantime, they harvested the cash, free of any pesky taxes. Time to pay up is now.

   I note in passing that the Tea Party Right is beginning to back off blaming people (unions) and is now concentrating on blaming all the rules and regulations. As I have pointed out before, the government needs to maintain a help desk, staff by US citizens, living in the USA, of course, that answers the phone within 3 minutes with a human who has the final authority to walk the business person through filing out the forms correctly. Given today’s online screen sharing capabilities, this should be a no brainer, and will put at least 100,000 people to work. All phone answerers must have a four year degree, and be well trained.
   The robotic pre-screener will determine the type of business, using the standard codes, and then pass the person on to an appropriate screener, who can then alert the caller via email to all possible regulations, for that code, which will of course be online, and each one will include a common English translation from the governmentez. If after two hours of active communication, the form remains incomplete, the business person is excused from that law for one year, subject to review for sincerity and prep on the callers part.
   BP cannot have a driller attempting to answer environmental regulation questions. BP must hire a regulation specialist for each major subdivision.

   LikeLike

7. 

   George Rebane

   30 September 2011

   Let the record show that SESF was presenting unfunded liabilities data and ramifications to the county before anyone knew there was an Obama. The unfunded liabilities problem has been known and written about for over a decade. The protesting voices became louder as the problem became worse – things seem to work that way.
   DougK 739am is corroborating the employer of last resort and government make-work assertions made in these pages since their inception. It does seem that the left’s brilliant approach to full employment is to make the regulatory mess so bad that government will have to hire legions of unemployed (and unemployable?) just to sort things out for those wealth producers who seek to be in compliance, and, of course, make them pay for the ‘clarifications’ that the numb-nuts will provide without any guarantee of accuracy or recourse. This hearkens back to the well-known Soviet analogue of having thousands of men with wheelbarrows build earthen dams in the Urals during the 1930s as an example of communist genius in creating full employment. Students of history will recall that the American engineer to whom this was explained responded, ‘Then if full employment is the objective, why don’t you just give them spoons?’
   In our case, ‘If there are still too many unemployed out there, then why don’t we just draft more byzantine regulations?’

   LikeLike

8. 

   Douglas Keachie

   30 September 2011

   “CalPERS leaders still think CalPERS will meet or exceed the 20-year promise of 7.75 percent:”
   In Novenber of 2012 they will have to report the real results and when they do, we will discover that CalPERS unfunded liabilities have doubled. ”
   So you are assuming the world economies and stock market are going to stay in the toilet forever? How much are the current unfunded liabilities, which you say will double. What percentage of the funded liabilities is that?
   I note that UPS and FEDEX have had their lobbyists get laws passed that forces the USPO to set aside for workers not even born yet, in an effort to drive it out of business. Are you engaging in similar efforts here in California?

   LikeLike

9. 

   Russ Steele

   02 October 2011

   Paul used Denmark as an example of a caring hearth care system in his side of the discussion: Here is the latest from Denmark:
   Denmark on Saturday became the first country in the world to impose a fat tax after a week in which consumers hoarded butter, pizza, meat and milk to avoid the immediate effects.
   “We have had to stock up with tonnes of butter and margarine in order to be able to supply outlets,” Soeren Joergensen of Arla Distribution said.
   The new tax, designed by Denmark’s outgoing government as a health issue to limit the population’s intake of fatty foods, will add 16 crowns (Dh10.53) per kilogram of saturated fats in a product. This means an increase in the price of a pack of 250 grams of butter, for example, by 2.20 crowns to more than 18 crowns.
   “It has been a chaotic week with a lot of empty shelves. People have been filling their freezers,” Christian Jensen of an independent local Copenhagen supermarket said.
   “But actually I don’t think the tax will make that much difference. If people want to buy a cake, they will buy it. But right now they’re saving money,” he added.
   The new tax will be levied on all products including saturated fats — from butter and milk to pizzas, oils, meats and pre-cooked foods — in a costing system that Denmark’s Confederation of Industries (DI) says is a bureaucratic nightmare.

   LikeLike

10. 

    Douglas Keachie

    10 October 2011

    We could tax stupidity…..?
    http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=270150396340391&set=a.253009658054465.61130.253006804721417&type=1&theater

    LikeLike