Brexit Cost $2.1 Trillion It’s First Day

The Guardian expressed it thusly:

$2.1 Trillion of the worlds wealth was erased on June 24, 2016.
Well, it was actually $2.09 Trillion.  We are supposed to be saddened; what a horrible decision Brexit was we are to think… In one day it cost the world $2.1 Trillion dollars…..

Sad face  😦

But if you google $2.1 trillion (as I did for this article) you fail to find yesterday… (until I post this and then it will miraculously appear, thanks to Google)….

But you do see that $2.1 Trillion was ERASED from the world’s wealth as of August 26th, 2015.  Do you remember that?  I didn’t. Had to have my memory jogged.  But it did happen. and yet we can’t remember it?

You see that as of March 2015, US corporations were stashing $2.1 Trillion overseas to avoid taxes, something the Panama Papers showed us was endemic.  Have you missed that?  Apparently it is ongoing and is not such a great problem that anything has been done to solve it…

We find that in the last 6 years, our economy has only grown by $2.1`Trillion, while our debt has mushroomed $9 Trillion over the same time.   And life goes on, it really can’t be that much of a deal….

If anyone looks at the losses on the big exchanges and sees that they averaged down by 3.5% yesterday, with a little math, you would know then that the total global equity is then 60 trillion.  2.1 of which disappeared yesterday, and will eventually return.

Did your world change yesterday?  I have yet to find anyone’s whose did…..

Which means that $2.1 trillion as a part of wealth’s pie is inconsequential… They don’t miss it really, it comes and goes quite readily.

So that is the portion we need to shift through our tax laws from the elite back to society… We could probably do a lot more, but that would be a start that no one really could complain is costing too much…

But just for the record, if you took that non essential $2.1 trillion and divided it equally among all 7 billion of the world’s population, you would be printing 7 billion cashiers checks for $300 American dollars apiece.  That would go a long way in some of our most impoverished continents… Large families would do well.  Even in the US, a family of 4 would get a free $1200.

Yet no one cares when the rich people lose it… Even they don’t care…

So why are we not taxing sufficiently to meet our societies’ needs?  It is the one single thing everyone in the entire world needs to do…. Tax those who have the money…..

(At this point, some dork always says…. and give to the poor.)

No… build things. Lots of things and put your poor people to work making a decent living while doing something amazingly great for mankind….

By the way…. Bill Clinton put the cost at $3 billion for completely eliminating hunger in the world…. Brexit just eliminated 700 times that amount…. and no one really felt a thing… Think about that for a second….  Then think of what if feels like when YOU haven’t eaten for about 2 hours… then think about perpetual hunger, and that no one cares that we lost $2.1 trillion of the world’s equity wealth.

There is so much we can do…. We need to get started and to get started we need to change the tax laws so the rich pay more… Period… and there is no issue that cannot be fixed by doing this…. Every issue is money centered and we have the money… It’s just in the wrong account!…. Move it over and let’s get started….

Answer As To Why Our State Government (As Well As National) Ignores We, The People… You Don’t Matter, Folks!

It Is Time To Pull Support For Prevailing Wage

Delaware’s Unions, particularly the Building and Trades, have over-stepped.  In a world where the one percent owns 45% of America’s assets, where billions are being spent to destroy unions in every capacity, where the middle class has succumbed to its worst level since 1880, the rat-demon that the Building and Trades chose to blacken, was Delaware’s biggest friend of labor, John Kowalko.

There is something very sick in Delaware’s unions…  That this was ever allowed shows complicity with the 1%.

The only people hurt by not putting the power plant inside the University of Delaware, were those investors who spent $800,000 and got nothing.  It would be safe to say none of them were of the 99%.   When something else goes in, those jobs will be there as well.  Labor did not lose one job…

Instead, we just got further proof that in Delaware, labor has been coerced, infiltrated, and is being run by the 1%… No normal working man would want to poison 30,000 people into cancer by his efforts.  We all know the 1% have no qualms with killing people as long as they make over 5%…..

Organized labor is no longer working for its members.  Whether it is the DSEA, AFSCME, or the Building Trades, the lack of new jobs here in Delaware is due to only one thing.  Their coziness with those with money… the big 5 developers and their friend, the governor.

I know the details of why there is a history behind it this coziness.. But there was also a history behind Colonial America and Great Britain… But at some point a split had to occur.

When you have Quisling leaders telling their members that “yeah, they are doing everything they can”, and at the same time telling the Delaware Way that they “got their people handled”, it is their members who are getting royally screwed…..

It is past time to scrap old leaders.  It is past time for new aggressive leadership, someone in their 30’s..  It is time for work stoppages again.  It is time for muscle…  When you have our ex-heroes, “organized labor”, those who built the America we had (at least up through 2000),  attacking their most ardent legislative supporter in the General Assembly because he wouldn’t go along and maliciously kill 30,000 of his constituents with cancer, you have a corrupt and poorly lead organization…. They are not working for their members; they are working for Charlie Copeland!

I hereby pull my support for prevailing wage….  and urge John Kowalko and every legislator elected from the Greater Newark Area up through Hockessin to do so as well. … 

Until unions get new aggressive leadership who will daringly take on the Delaware Way and grind it up and crush it, forget it, I won’t reconsider. 

 

Why Is Labor Suffering? It’s Due To Lack of Proper Taxation

This will be a brief teaser for labor day… Why, is the middle class (labor) suffering so much today…..

US Corporations get around the US’s high tax rate of 35% by stashing money offshore.  The average corporation pays 12.6% according to the GAO in 2010….  This means that half of America’s corporations pay higher, and half of America’s corporations pay lower…  HALF OF AMERICA’S CORPORATIONS PAY LOWER THAN 12.6%?  REALLY?

During America’s boom times, when the middle class was almost guaranteed a job for life with a pension plan and a gold watch, corporate taxes were set as high as 52.8 percent. Later rates were lowered to 48 percent and then 46 percent.  It was only after 1986 when they were lowered to 35% that the middle class problem begin to emerge….

Across history there is a direct relationship between higher taxes and higher wages… When tax rates are high, wage rates are high. When tax rates are low, wage rates are low.  (As an additional benefit, the higher the taxes, the higher the employment level goes as well.) In fact there is such public good in charging the wealthy higher taxes with no downside, that is is literally amazing we aren’t doing it. Everyone benefits out the gazoo!)

The way America’s corporations get around this 35% rate, is by stashing cash abroad.  There is $2 trillion of America’s money kept overseas, and not brought home to keep it from being taxed… You pay taxes. I pay taxes, yet corporations think they shouldn’t… How fair is that?

Keep in mind.  This is by their own volition. They are not forced to keep that money offshore. They could bring it back anytime they wished.  They choose not to do so… And that money is what funds campaigns for cutting taxes.  That money is what buys both Democrat and Republican allegiance to no-tax pledges.  I would bet that some of that foreign money is in Tom Carper’s, Chris Coons’, and John Carney’s campaign slush funds right now..

$2 trillion at 35% is $700 billion that should have already been in our treasury… That is money we borrowed unnecessarily to cover our expenses which if a proper administration had been in the executive branch would have already been there, from corporations…  The balance, $1.3 trillion would have then been available here and could have been invested in our nation in the form of jobs…

There was some discussion, primarily from Michelle Bachmann, as to give a blanket amnesty on these taxes to get this money back,  But that is like saying you won’t prosecute a bank robber if he comes back and spends his money in your home town…  What bank will he rob next?  And what about all those people who had their money stolen from them?  Michelle and her Republican cohorts seem not to care.

So why are corporations really renouncing their “citizenship?” Simple answer, is they are doing this so they can pocket hoards of “deferred” offshore profits without ever paying the taxes they owe on these profits….

A (different) tax loophole called “deferral” allows companies to avoid being taxed on their non-U.S. profits until they “bring the money home.” Because of this loophole, corporations have been taking steps to make it look as if their profits are made outside of the U.S., and have piled up about $2 trillion in cash that they are keeping out of the country.

Dave Johnson explains. “Here is how the deferral scam works. An American company sets up a non-U.S. “subsidiary” in a tax haven. That non-U.S. company gets or produces goods, services, patents, whatever, at a low price. (This often involves shifting paper (and copyrights, patents) around to make it look like profits are not made in the U.S., but in too many cases this means the U.S. company actually moves U.S. jobs, factories, production, call centers and other assets out of the country.) The subsidiary sells to the U.S. company at a high price. Most or all of the profit is therefore made by the non-U.S. subsidiary, so the profits are considered to be non-U.S. and taxes on those profits are “deferred.” This still counts as profits for the U.S. owner of that subsidiary, but the U.S. company does not have to pay taxes (they are “deferred”) until they “bring the profit home.””

These corporations see that if they renounce their citizenship before the U.S. fixes this loophole, they can just keep the money….

But does this money REALLY stay offshore???  As you would certainly expect, of course not….  The non-U.S. subsidiary company “loans” money to the U.S. parent. So all of the non-U.S. cash actually is available to the U.S. parent. But wait, there’s more. The U.S. parent pays interest to the subsidiary, which is deducted from taxes and reduces the U.S. tax bill even more. ..

If complicated, it isn’t.  I hire you as my buddy in crime.  I give you all my money… I say, look, I’m broke, I can’t pay any taxes!  You lend me my money back to me… I spend it tax free and the money I do make, I write off as interest I give back to you… So I keep everything I make here … No taxes…

Ways to fight this… very important on this Labor Day…

A.  Hold Democrats accountable.  Don’t let them (Tom Carper, Chris Coons, John Carney) get away with helping corporations rob the American workers, who do pay all their taxes and who are subsidizing these corporations money-making schemes.

B.  Support proposals by President Obama to use executive action to stop “income stripping” and to keep “inverted” companies from getting government contracts

C.  Support the Stop Corporate Inversions Act of 2014 in the Congress… Obviously obstructed by Republicans.

D. Support a proposal to tax companies based on their percentage of sales that occur in the U.S.,..

One must wonder, why is this even in the tax code?  The reason is so U.S. companies can use “offshore” profits to invest in growth. This is a win-win because we want U.S. companies to do well, and because the U.S. is supposed to benefit when profits are brought home and taxes are paid….

A very simple way to fight abuse of deferral is to charge a fee of, say, 7 percent a year on all deferred profits. The full amount of taxes is to still be paid when profits are finally brought home, but we collect an additional 7 percent a year until they are….

So enjoy your Labor Day.  We’ve got some real work to begin tomorrow…..

 

 

 

Allan West Questions Tammy Duckworth’s Patriotism

If this doesn’t make you turn off Fox News permanently, which is paying Allan West to comment, then you are sick, demented and you are truly an embarrassment to the United States of America….

Allan West:  current Fox commentator: former Tea Party Congressman: brutally tortured, prodded, beat and simulated the execution of an Iraqi police officer. Iraqi police officer! They were supposed to be our allies!  We were paying their salaries! He was declared guilty as charged when all evidence was decided. In other words, his behavior was deemed criminal in view of a military court of justice beholden to the rules set up by the Department of Defense of the United States of America. He is the equivalent of Milosevic.  In a democratic administration, he would have been shot, quickly buried in the sand somewhere. But, unfortunately for America, Cheney was running the war.

Tammy Duckworth:  Duckworth served as a U.S. Army helicopter pilot and suffered severe combat wounds, losing both of her legs and damaging her right arm. She was the first female double amputee from the war.  She continues to serve as a Lieutenant Colonel in the Illinois Army National Guard along with her husband, Major Bryan W. Bowlsbey, a signal officer and fellow Iraq War veteran….

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But what happened…. was that the above Allan West questioned the patriotic loyalties of the above Tammy Duckworth….

If you ever watch Fox News after this, you DESERVE  the hell you wrought to this country.  We are better than this.  We need to stop rewarding Fox for bad behavior, and we need to punish those exec’s foisting this bad behavior upon us…..   Time to renew the boycott of every single business advertising upon the shows upon which he comments.  It is truly un-American NOT to do so!  After all, we go all out at no limit of expense to celebrate Memorial Day.  And against that, we have someone, being paid to trash veterans for entertainment? Veterans still serving in the National Guard, despite losing both legs?  (It’s an entertainment network, not real news, you know….)   And YOU… you accept this?  As normal?  As right?  As ok?

Here is your guide on how to navigate through their phone labyrinth.

Minimum Wage Raise Would Reduce Food Stamp Spending By $46 Billion

It makes sense.  Raise minimum wage to $10.10; People make more so they need assistance less. The Government no longer is paying for that assistance, and savings accrue to our Federal Government.

Increased Minimum Wage  =  National Deficit Reduction.

And your ex-friends, the Republicans in Delaware and at National, are the only things standing in the way….

Minimum Wage: Two Options

From the CBO, we have it outlined like this… If we raise minimum wage to 10.10, we lose 500,000 jobs.  If we raise it to $9.00 we lose 100,000 jobs…

Is it better to work and receive more money, or is it better to have more people working for less, but at least they are working….

Great question.  There were 3.3 million people making minimum wage in 2013…. The wage will jump from $7.25 to $10.10 or jump from $7.25 to $9.00.   The first is an increase of  $2.85; the second is an increase of $1.75…  The impact of that increase on 3.3 million people are as follows.

3.3 million X  $2.85  =  $9.405 million/hour increased purchasing power

3.3 million x  $1.75  =   $5.775 million/hour increased purchasing power

3.3 million X $0 (no change)  =  $0.00   No change; same as it every was.

But wait.  Job losses are bound to occur.  If we take the CBO’s estimate, we get the first minus 500,000; the second minus 100,000.

(3.3 million  -500,000) X  $2.85  =  $ 7.98  million/hour economic benefit

(3.3 million  -100,000) X  $1.75  =   $ 5.60  million/hour economic benefit

(3.3 million- 0)  X $ 0 (no change)  =  $0.00 no change from the past

There you go… We get more economic push by going with the $10.10 number despite the possible loss of jobs.  .We got an answer.  Gee. What was so hard about that?

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Appendix:

Someone  else brought up the idea that those people put out of work, have a negative influence upon the equation… To be honest prior to their mentioning it, at first, I really hadn’t thought about it. It never occurred to me, because mathematically they would be zeros. Interesting, huh? How the brain works?  My focus was on how much positivity a minimum wage increase would generate…  And because of my positivity I have trouble accepting that there is a negative influence for letting those people go. But just in case there is, let me put it down here as well since someone brought up the fact that those leaving the work force would be decreasing the total pool of potential earnings by their future estimated earnings with which had they been previously working.   Which in this case,  would be the minimum wage rate… applied at both the levels of 500,000 and 100,000….

((3.3 million  -500,000) X  $2.85)  – (500,000 X  $7.25)  =  $ 4.355  million/hour economic benefit

((3.3 million  -100,000) X  $1.75)  – (100,000 X  $7.25)  =   $ 4.875  million/hour economic benefit

(3.3 million- 0)  X $ 0 (no change)  =  $0.00 no change from the past….

That changes the impact. There are several problems with this last model. One, is that its total, is a theoretical rate representing everyone working per hour.  Those being laid off can’t really be a negative against this because everyone who is still working, IS making that much… This is the net increase amount which will be  reported, earned, and taxed. Secondly, if you are out of work you are making zero dollars, and not an actual negative amount which challenges whether the principle is sound to deduct a cost away from the benefit when making  this particular comparison.  One could do so, if one was expostulating a potential benefit which would have to be benchmarked against full employment, and not against the incremental amounts.  For example if we had access to the number of hours worked at minimum wage in this country over a set time period, we could actually make that comparison by plugging in these two rates..

As it stands we can already compare these totals to the status quo, and there is a definite positive bump in economic activity…  Plus, if those temporarily laid-off people get other jobs, ones that actually pay more than minimum wage, then they are off the chart, and that negative is not there at all.  The underlying assumption for there to be an existing negative, is that these people losing their jobs, immediately and forever stop contributing to the economy…

Therefore probably the best comparison to achieve that would be painted like this…

3.3 million X  $2.85  =  $9.405 million/hour increased purchasing power –  (.5 million X 7.250  =  $9.405 –  $3.625  =  $5.78)

3.3 million x  $1.75  =   $5.775 million/hour increased purchasing power  – (.1 million X 7.250  =    $5.775 –  $0.725  =  $5.05 )

3.3 million X $0 (no change)  =  $0.00   No change; same as it every was.

That probably is the best description since it contrasts against the potential possibility of earnings.

But as policy this shows Delaware’s Tom Carper to be very wrong when he was quoted as saying that the lower amount of increase would be best for this country…

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That Oft Repeated ‘College and Career Ready’ Lie

It is getting a lot of play today, because of the governor’s state of the state address.

He said only 20% or Delaware’s students were graduating  “College and Career Ready”!  The media jumped on that, since his last address announced “He, Jack, was going to be the education governor.”   After 6 years of leadership. with 80% not college or career ready,…. he’s failed.   Sort of on the scale as the Cleveland Browns this year….

The question is not whether he is right.. or wrong.  The question in today’s world, is ….. does it matter?  After all the College and Career Ready slogan is just another way to say… “1550 on the SAT..

Therefore using the Substitution Principle, what Governor Markell really said was this:  Only 20% of our kids score over 1550 on their SAT before they graduate from high school “

Now that we got emotions out of the way, we can concentrate on whether that is good, bad or ugly.  Is getting a score under 1550 something to be ashamed over…..

It appears that with three sections of the test amounting to 2400 points, at a score of 1550, one is 1550/2400ths or at the 65th of a percentage….That is a pretty lofty bar to reach… In fact in the real world, having 20% of graduating students get into the top 35% of all students going to college, is rather good…It is rather bizarre to expect all ones graduates to achieve a mark of entering the stratosphere of the to 35% of college bound students….

This compares to our neighbor to the north, Pennsylvania, which hand statewide, only 10.6% of its schools averaging above 1550.

Nationally the SAT Board says, 43% of students score above 1550…. But a quick check among the SAT’s own data, quickly shows that Delaware is one of the few states testing all its children.  Obviously a state which tests all children will score lower than a state in which only those wishing to go to colleges or universities get tested….. Meaning until all USA students take the SATs, any comparison is statistically meaningless.

So, does testing all our students and coming in at 20%, equal testing all another’s best students and coming in at 43%?  Why yes, it does.

In finality, what was good for us back when we were coming along, is still good for kids today.  Nothing has changed, except someone picked a number to compare… I doubt that the most successful of todays society, could have beaten the 1550 SAT guideline with which we are using to create turmoil in education that is completely unnecessary…..

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Nominations for Delaware’s Person/Place/or Thing Of The Year

The Golden Flush Award /Click Image for Past Winners

Usually this is an after thought…” Oh, wow, year’s over, let’s get a person of the year”…  And then once we elect one,  we go… “holy crap… we totally forgot so and so….”

So to try to stir up some old simmering coals of memory, both mine and others, and perhaps even to (heaven forbid) get some debate going in the blog sphere, I thought I’d make an initial run on Thanksgiving Week, and then add people into the nominating category as others mention various ones I should kick myself for forgetting.

It will also force me to review the year which is something I rarely do… because face it, as a human being, I am slave of the moment….  If I did this last year, come December 14th the entire world would have been turned upside down and all the old priorities of 2012,  would in one day become trivial….

And so starting early gives me the chance to make the argument for each of those I decide to enroll with your kind recommendations included….

Julius Cephus:  Particularly this one man organized and stopped an end run around the Port of Wilmington.  The Kinder Morgan deal did not go through, and the Wilmington Port is bustling like never before…   Kinder Morgan was to strip the union of power, and drop the rates of pay, further dampening the economy of Wilmington proper.  It was also the first defeat of a Lavine-Markell development project, .. Fisker and Bloom had gone forward without a hitch.  Julius and other’s push back resulted in a General Assembly motion that stated they, not the governor, had final approval. It was the first time we were exposed to the current Governor’s manipulations.  They were to play a significant part across this year’s tapestry.

Steve Newton:  A blogger who has written infrequently, but effectively. His piece on SB 51  is what alerted us to the end run being performed by Dave Sokola on lowering the current standards being used for educating teachers.  It is brilliant.  It took an evening of reading the legislation line by line and cross referencing  it with Steve’s analysis, to understand the huge negative impact this bill would cause.  By the time this was done, the Bill had already passed the Senate unanimously without comment, and with an friendly amendment added that was voted upon without even being read.  Some public outcry was mustered within the House, both in committee and on the floor, but under the Governor’s direction, the Speaker of the House, pushed the bill to the floor before significant outcry could be mustered.  Only 4 House members were not on record for it’s passing.  Our educational schools now have to water down their teaching standards to meet the new law.  Steve also has brought the Highmark story to Delaware.  His research in the increase of medical costs in Western PA as a result of knocking out competition by unfair practices, leads one with a cold chill of what to expect in Delaware’s future.  We are already there.  As an insurer, Highmark is only paying medical claims in its own affiliated clinics.  As the new Blue Cross/Blue Shield owner, that is a huge percentage of Delaware’s residents.  None can go to any other hospital.  He has properly fingered Karen Weldham Stuart for not catching this prior to implementation.  Without Steve, this would have passed unnoticed.  The News Journal still has not once mentioned the takeover of Delaware’s health field under one owner.

Ernest Lopez.  If Kennedy were still writing Profiles of Courage, he should include this man.  Ernest Lopez is a conservative, and voted with Libertarian values to pass the gun legislation recommended by Markell and Biden.  Reflecting the views of his district, instead of taking the threatening message sent to him down from the NRA, he voted for his district.  A very vocal minority, who is always vocal, and always in the minority, swore they would unseat him.  He disregarded their idle threat, and voted both his and his constituents conscious.  A major billboard was put up to call him out.   His vote caused the passage of us now requiring background checks at public gun sales.  Now a certifiably insane person cannot slap cash and get a gun.  It is a no-brainer, and Ernie was the only Republican with brain enough to even know what a no-brainer is….

Cathy Cloutier:  her vote allowed gays to marry.  Again, she is a Republican who said enough is enough… Tired of voting against her conscious just so Sussex County would not flip over to the Democrats, she finally did not toe the line and voted along the lines of her own constituents, all overwhelmingly in favor of gay marriage.  In doing so, she went against the entire grain of her party, who firmly feel that gays are second class citizens, even though most Republicans in office are closeted gays.

Bethany Hall Long:  on the same vote, made a viable personal decision, and also voted for the legalization of gay marriage. Unlike Cathy’s vote, this was accomplished at great personal sacrifice, for all of those in her personal life, were solidly against this policy from taking effect.  In voting for what was morally right, she had to contend against those whose influence she could not escape.  She went with the correct vote, over the easy one.   As a result, Gay marriage is now legal in Delaware.

Paul Baumbach:  gave great ammunition against the fight for SB51, and later against HB 165. Both bills which will damage Delaware’s education for years to come.  He was one of the four who put up a fight on the House floor.  Paul also arranged for the meetings in Newark to discuss the new Power plant that figured in this past week’s election.

John Kowalko:  also was against SB51, HB 165, as well, being against the power plant.  In fact, John was the first person to sound the alarm over how big the power plant would be.  Without his big voice, it may have slid through unnoticed.  The power plant has defined northern Delaware politics since September.

Kim Williams;  responsible for HB 40 which investigates Charter School’s meddling into our educational systems.  She was as an acting state representative, allegedly refused entrance into a committee hearing on education, for fear she might say something damaging to the bill being rushed through….  She brought to the public’s knowledge, that the Charter School bill was drafted illegally without public input, and the charter group constructing it, was also under FOIA, to which the private group denied.  The Attorney General backed up her assertion, that the bill was formulated illegally but their decision was moot, because the bill was passed both houses anyways.  Kim Williams also in the HB 40 task force, led the group to realize that charter schools unlike public schools, do indeed filter those entering charters to weed out those who might lower their test scores….

Mark Murphy, Rodel, Sweeney, Hefferman, and the Fake Educational Reform Establishment:  I almost purposefully did not post this.  Although the first person’s name is usually followed by explicatives whenever mentioned, it is unlike Voldermort’s, still getting mentioned.  Mark Murphy was not put in his position based on his ability. He was placed there for his loyalty to the cause of  corporatizing public education.  Markell pulls the strings, Murphy figures how to get it done…  It is hard to make a puppet the most influential person of the year… So I was going to skip him… But at the last minute, remembered that every time  he or anyone of these make an op-ed, it resonates as gigantic news. The entire community rises up to counteract each op-ed, usually with the word “lies” thrown liberally about…. So, they do exert an influence.  I looped all of them together, as the group of liars in a Greek play, who stand on the stair steps and taunt the protagonists.  Well,… they are part of the play…….

Dan Short:  Sometimes villains get noticed too.  Primarily a single issue candidate, who personally supports the NRA, he actively campaigned and organized to create enough backlash so Markell’s gun laws could not get enough votes…  Without him, there is a possibility that all four of Markell’s gun control pieces of legislation would have passed both houses of Delaware’s legislature. Dan Short should be given the credit for stopping them.

John Sigler: Single handedly by his very brief tenure as the re-elected head of the Republican Party, he pointed out through his pigeon shooting, just how inept the Republican Party was at everything else.  With his leaving, all fissures cracking the Republican bedrock, were impossible to ignore.  Blogs split. The IPOD’s split. Former candidates of the same party just months earlier, now not talking to each other. The Delaware Republican Party is dead; no it is past dead.  More dead than a pigeon shot inside a box by John Sigler, former head of the Delaware Republican Party.

Nancy Willing: Her blog, the Delaware Way, is the go-to site for local information. Whether about Dover, about New Castle County, about any of New Castle County’s associations, Nancy combs all sources and puts them down in aggregate form. Heavily involved in the Power Plant controversy, The Delaware City Rail Yard controversy, Barley Mill controversy, the Woodlawan controversy, the Kinder Morgan controversy, the Charter School Controversy, the Common Core Controversy, Nancy has who is saying “what”, and links to “why”. One can expend less energy by using her blog to follow all the stuff the News Journal neglects, in a few quick empty steps.

Amy Roe:  a head of the Sierra Club, who emerged from nowhere to lead the fight against the power plant, and give quite a run against the establishment candidate.  Becoming the face the anti- power movement could coalase behind, she gave the anti power plant movement both dignity and grace.  Coming up short only 115 votes, she has awakened Newark now politically as never before…  The power plant if it goes forward, now has a strong group of Newarkeans against it.  Hopefully they will be monitoring it regularly and helping authorities keep in in compliance with all local law.

Tom Gorden; although much quieter than his first term in office, Tom Gorden is rapidly rolling back the privileges the previous Clark administration handed over to our state’s top developers. The Barley Mill plaza which had a green light, is now parked at a red. In a big sea change, though handled quietly, community groups are now no longer persona non grata in county government. It is no longer accepted as a matter of course that the Woodlawn Trust will be gobbled up by developers. If enough fight can be mustered, it can be stopped. Furthermore, with Tom there is closer coordination with the City of Wilmington, than we have experienced anytime in our lifetimes. In the county, local policing has been stepped up, particularly in neighborhoods prone to crime…

Dennis Williams: Came in with grand expectations, which looked deliverable for a while. The tide is turning and his relevance on this list, is because every day, the headline reality in Wilmington’s streets, brings his electioneering boasts back to haunt him, like a sizzling hot branding iron.  Time, Dennis, to say “Damn the torpedoes… Their punk asses are going in jail no matter which blowhard on City Council spouts off,before mine gets tossed in jail for impersonating a mayor..”

Alan Levin:  Jack Markell’s second in command, he was instrumental in defending Markell’s position on Kinder Morgan and the port, as well as the new power plant for the data center. He also had a hand in keeping Dole in Delaware, and worked to slip the power plant past a slew of unsuspecting Newark City officials.

Jack Markell: had his hand in everything.  He was behind Kinder Morgan’s takeover.  He was behind SB 51 and HB 165.  He was behind the illegal charter group, requiring HB 40. He also was the driving force for the four rational steps to gun legislation, 2 of which were passed. He was also the driving force behind the passage of gay marriage, signing the bill in the chambers just moments after its passage. He also supported the transgender bill in its travels through the labyrinth of Legislative Hall. He as behind keeping Dole in Delaware. He was behind changing an icon in Millsboro away from pickles, over to poultry. He pushed the bill to curtail Flowers. Despite your opinion over whether these were good or bad, they still showed a ubiquitous and wide reach across the state of Delaware. Seems like nothing got done that didn’t have his fingerprints all over it.

John Young: As head of Christina board, John Young led the board in standing up to Mark Murphy and Jack Markell, by refusing the RTTT funds slated for his district. Although some hired fools, (Jea Street) tried to paint Young into a corner, it served the opposite purpose and gave Young a platform. For the fist time, Common Core was getting publicly bashed. For the first time, many were finding that aligning themselves blindly to this sham of improving standards, was probably going to hurt them politically in the next couple of years. It was the fist salvo back, so the damage estimates were not high, but it did open eyes of many who had been on the sidelines of all educational issues, making them also become vocal in fighting Common Core. His blog Transparent Christina has channelled a lot of detailed information into the Delaware market, and had made Common Core an apprehension, instead of the savior it was supposed to be….

Kilroy: Kilroy has always been haranguing over education. In fact he was doing such a good job I left that issue alone for years, because other issues for me, like the economy and elimination of guns from the hands of the mentally ill, were more important. But as the issue has shifted back into the limelight, Kilroy’s hard hitting is making its mark… Kilroy is blunt, and right now, that is the language that needs to happen. Blunt descriptions of what takes place in the stratosphere of he academic field…. Kilroy often breaks stories before the News Journal, especially ones embarrassing to the Murphy/Markell cartel of education. If you have read Kilroy over the past couple of years, you would already know that Common Core is not the panacea we have been promised. It is a power grab for taxpayer dollars, financed by Wall Street itself…. If you think otherwise, you haven’t been reading a balanced reading list….
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That is what I have so far. In retrospect I am surprised that education has played so much, as even I have only come to that topic lately… But if one looks over the News Journal op eds, education really did dominate the discussion in the 2nd smallest state this year….

I may have forgotten some big ones. To reiterate, that is why I am posting this early, to catch those big mistakes as they get brought to my attention….

Funding Necessary Services

It’s September and with september comes the time to set up the next legislative session in Legislative Hall.

The first issue of business is revenue.  Delaware needs to generate more revenue.   The more revenue generated here, the more people go to work and the more people go to work, the higher the wages must rise to attract labor…

The way to put Delaware on the fast track to economic growth is as always, to raise taxes…

Here is the first proposition on the table.

Creates four high-income tax brackets for taxpayers with taxable incomes exceeding $250,000, $300,000, $500,000 and $1,000,000. This increased tax will be in effect for 7 years..

• Imposes a 10.3% tax rate on taxable income over $250,000 but less than $300,000-
• Imposes an 11.3% tax rate on taxable income over $300,000 but less than $500,000–
• Imposes a 12.3% tax rate on taxable income over $500,000 up to $1,000,000–
• Imposes a 13.3% tax rate on taxable income over $1,000,000-
• All capital gains will be assessed by the level with which they fall into the categories above.

Currently the highest tax rate is 6.95 for all income over $60,000.  A travesty really.  Someone making $400,000,000,000,000,000 is paying the same rate as someone earning one penny over $59,999.99….

As a special request, I would ask that all this income be earmarked to improving our schools.  No one making $400,000,000,000,000,000 could possibly argue against paying more for that!  Public school education is necessary for the continuation of America.

I would further ask that each existing school district offer an accurate budget proposal based on what they actually would need to make themselves run smoothly, deducting the money they should receive from their referendums, and send in the remaining budget shortfall into the state.

If it takes $120 million to run a district, and you only have $90 million to spend, it is no wonder we have problems in education.  The state should fund the $30 million and should take that $30 million from the higher assessments that Delaware so desperately needs.

Time to start discussing it.