Middle class pays more Even in Minnesota, says a Department of Revenue study, rich people pay less in taxes than the middle class. See Who pays Minnesota’s taxes>
Coleman cyber-follies While Norm Coleman is calling it “chilling” and “scary,” a closer look shows that the disclosure of names and credit card information of Coleman campaign donors on the internet is the fault of no one but … the Coleman campaign, which violated basic on-line security procedures. Continue reading
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Maybe it’s the influence of my daughter, immersed in her college econ class, muttering about progressive and regressive and constant taxes, and outraged to discover that the tax system actually benefits the upper one percent much more than the middle class. At any rate, when the 2009 Minnesota Tax Incidence study was released this week by the MN Department of Revenue, I expected headlines and deep analysis all over the place. Continue reading
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Not now, but soon If I can find some time later today, I hope to get to a slightly longer look at the MN tax incidence survey, which shows the increasingly regressive nature of MN taxes, and also write a couple of paragraphs on the difference between the push for a smart power grid and the decidedly dumb proposals for marching massive power lines across seven states. Stay tuned!
End in sight for recount? After seven weeks of trial, mostly devoted to the Coleman side’s case, Al Franken’s lawyers say they will wrap up today, after calling 70+ witnesses. Could the end be in sight? Well, Coleman now gets a chance to grab the stand again and put on rebuttal witnesses, and his lawyers won’t say whether or how long they will go on.
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After being taken to task for refusing to recognize on-line media as journalists, the House of Representatives stumbled toward the 21st century last week, but didn’t quite make it. For those who haven’t been following the controversy, the House threw out video reporters for on-line media, barring them from committee hearings and saying that on-line media were not entitled to press credentials.
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Is Coleman toast yet? The Daily Kos jumps the gun, declaring “Coleman is toast,” but it’s true that the latest court ruling holds no good news for the Norm. After the inner ballot envelopes were opened in a search for registration cards, only 89 of the roughly 1500 rejected absentee ballots in pile 3a proved possibly countable. In MinnPost, Jay Weiner reports that “Coleman’s universe of legally cast ballots that his side wants opened may now be as low as 1,000, if not lower.”
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Following the money for T-Paw staff The Governor’s staff is paid by money from other state agencies, reports Mark Brunswick in the Strib. The office takes money to pay for $30,000 of senior policy adviser Josh Gackle’s $72,000 annual salary from the Ag Department, PCA, DNR and at least four other agencies. The accounting practice shifts money from other state agencies to pay for parts of at least five other T-Paw aides, reducing his office budget.
[Governor Pawlenty] has said he will reduce his office budget by $360,000 a year, or 5.1 percent, and he points out that his office is planning for 38 full-time equivalent positions for the next two budget years while previous administrations had 55 positions at their peak.
The arrangements that pay for Gackle and the other staffers will continue to help make this apparent frugality possible. So-called interagency agreements reduced the governor’s office budget by more than $700,000 last year, about 19 percent.
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“Immigrant students have been at the center of a political firestorm,” says the Citizens League report, Educating Minnesota’s Immigrant Students. At a panel presentation of the report on February 27, study committee member Matt Musel said that they found “little data, but lots of politics and passion” surrounding the issue of immigrant students. The Citizens League is a non-partisan, citizen-based and multi-issue organization working to shape public policy in Minnesota since the 1950s.
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Unemployment up even more than expected national unemployment figures jumped to 8.1%, even more than expected, rising half a percent in the last month, with the economy shedding 651,000 jobs. Rates for blacks (13.4 percent) and Hispanics (10.9 percent) continue higher than the average, while the jobless rate for teen-agers continues at a whopping 21.6 percent.
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Rep. Tom Hackbarth (R-Cedar) proposed a new twist on the old link between professional sports and gambling this week. He wants to build a metro-area casino and use the income from the casino to build a new stadium for the Vikings. What a charming idea! We could encourage gambling in a time of general recession and job loss, siphon off the revenues of Indian-owned casinos, and stuff the pockets of Zygi Wilf and company, all at the same time.
Vikes spokesman Lester Bagley said they are not advocating gaming, but “if that’s what the state leaders want to use, then let’s sit down. At least someone is thinking creatively.”
My husband suggested an even more creative idea, and one perhaps more in keeping with the manly sport of football. Why not establish the first legal brothel in Minnesota, and use the proceeds to support the Vikings?
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Housing rescue The Obama administration housing plan has two main thrusts, reports AP: refinancing mortgages for up to five million and modifying loan payments for up to four million. Both plans are limited to people who live in their mortgaged homes. The refinancing plan is available to borrowers who owe no more than five percent more than their home’s current value, and whose loans are held by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac. The loan modification program would pay lenders to put borrowers into loans with interest rates as low as 2 percent for two years, then rising to 5 percent.
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Bombing schools and hospitals is a war crime. Deliberately targeting civilians and civilian infrastructure is a war crime. Yesterday’s fulminations from the Führer in the White House go beyond war crimes to announce that he intends genocide: the wiping out of an entire people and civilization.
ICE is only one of the federal agencies surveilling people. Federal surveillance reaches far beyond immigrants. Federal agents use massive databases, facial recognition, cell phone photos, and license plate records. Beyond surveillance, they target and threaten people involved in protests, bringing the full weight of federal power to bear on individuals. Their actions often remain […]
Five years after the violent attack on the Capitol by Trump supporters, the attacks on democracy and on elected officials continue. Yesterday, two politicians currently under attack by the Trump administration spoke out with anger and eloquence.
The New York Times today has plenty of coverage of who, how, when, and where the United States illegally attacked Venezuela and abducted its president and first lady. But that’s far from the whole story. A few easily overlooked but essential facts: For informed insights on the consequences of Trump’s attack on Venezuela, see:
50 USC Ch. 33: WAR POWERS RESOLUTION §1541. Purpose and policy (a) Congressional declaration It is the purpose of this chapter to fulfill the intent of the framers of the Constitution of the United States and insure that the collective judgment of both the Congress and the President will apply to the introduction of United […]
Mary Turck