Political

January 24, 2012

Newt Gingrich

"A new national poll shows Mitt Romney is in a free fall with Newt Gingrich now leading for the GOP presidential nomination."

Seriously? Gingrich leads in the polls? Didn't the Republican's learn anything from 2008? 

Does anyone think that Gingrich has a chance to win against Obama? Gingrich couldn't finish in the top 3 in Iowa and New Hampshire.

Let's see how this all plays out, but I don't think that Obama has much to worry about if Gingrich is the nominee.

January 17, 2011

Ronald Regan

On February 5, 1981, Ronald Reagan said in his Address on the Economy:

"What's happened to that American dream of owning a home? Only 10 years ago a family could buy a home, and the monthly payment averaged little more than a quarter -- 27 cents out of each dollar earned. Today, it takes 42 cents out of every dollar of income. So, fewer than 1 out of 11 families can afford to buy their first new home.

Regulations adopted by government with the best of intentions have added $666 to the cost of an automobile. It is estimated that altogether regulations of every kind, on shopkeepers, farmers, and major industries, add $100 billion or more to the cost of the goods and services we buy. And then another 20 billion is spent by government handling the paperwork created by those regulations.

I'm sure you're getting the idea that the audit presented to me found government policies of the last few decades responsible for our economic troubles. We forgot or just overlooked the fact that government -- any government -- has a built-in tendency to grow. Now, we all had a hand in looking to government for benefits as if government had some source of revenue other than our earnings. Many if not most of the things we thought of or that government offered to us seemed attractive."

January 19, 2010

Election Day in Massachusetts

Who would have guess that today's election in Massachusetts would be huge:

Latest polls suggest State Senator Scott Brown could defeat state Attorney General Martha Coakley, which would be a huge upset in this traditionally liberal New England state, take away the Democrats' supermajority in congress and thereby reshape President Barack Obama's agenda after just one year in office.

I don't know who will win, but everyone that I have talked to seem to favor Scott Brown. The polls close at 8pm tonight and it will be interesting to see when they call the race.

This election is the first time that voters can change the outcome of a major piece of election in Congress.

January 11, 2010

Local sales Tax

Starting January 1, 2010, city and towns in Massachusetts can collect local taxes. This was a rule that allowed City and Towns to collect local sales tax which put in place from the Massachusetts State Legislator.

Framingham and Lexington now charge .75% for sales tax. This means that the consumer now pays 7% sales tax in Framingham and Lexington. Many merchants have posted signs to let consumers know of the change.

Currently there is no list of which city and towns have issued sales tax. This would be something that the Boston Globe or the Boston Herald should do.

October 20, 2009

First Time Homebuyer Credit

Looks like that the First Time Homebuyer credit may get extended. Senator Johnny Isakson (R-GA) is pushing this through the Senate at a hearing today.

You can follow the results of the U.S. Senate Banking Committee hearing. After the hearing is over you can download the transcript of all the participants.

Read Senator Johnny Isakson floor statement on exapanding the Homebuyer Tax Credit until May of 2010. Here's a quote:

People will say: Well, it costs too much. Let's look at what we have done in 2 1/2 or 1 1/2 years in terms of cost to try to save an ailing economy. We have put $85 billion in 1 night in AIG. That is a lot more money than $16 billion. The Federal Reserve has at one place or another invested over $5 trillion. That is a lot more than $16 billion. The stimulus, which is a 2-year stimulus, which is just in its infancy of trying to make some difference, was $787 billion. The Troubled Asset Relief Program, or TARP, which was passed in October of last year, was $700 billion. Yet we have a proposal that has generated 350,000 sales, costs $16 billion, that is about to die, where all of those other programs and trillions of dollars have only saved a collapse but not regenerated an economy.