Sweet Tea

"Yawl want some sweeeeeetea.................?"

Hello from the capital of the "New South" , Atlanta, Georgia (aka "Hot-lanta") where I am attending the annual Heritage Resource Bank (www.heritage.org) conference for the free market think tank community. The other partners of this conference include the Atlas Foundation (www.atlasusa) and the State Policy Network (www.spn.org) which work in conjunction to foster and expand the global network of free market think tanks which work to develop and implement public policy reforms that will not only generate greater economic wealth but will also expand individual liberty.

I love attending this conference which typically has over 700 attendees primarily from the USA but also from numerous foreign countries. For example the attendees at my dinner table tonight were from -- Portugal, Dominican Republic, and Peru -- I had never met this people before but the mutual interest we shared -- limited government -- allowed us to have a great dinner conversation coupled with numerous networking ideas to better connect the freedom "movement."

Yes I complain about the size of government in nearly every post I make on this blog but I have to stop to count my blessings since some of the think tanks that the Atlas Foundation works with actually risk imprisonment for simply speaking out about the reforms their nations need. Clearly, life is pretty good in the USA for agitators like me compared to the challenges some of these think tank leaders face back home -- I won't lose sight of my own reality but will work every day to reduce government intrusion.

Personally my "batteries" are re-charged after talking to friends and new contacts over the last few days so I am ready to go home to continue the good fight.

Enjoy your tea before the FDA regulates it,

Todd

Shakira

While reading today's USA Today newspaper I noticed a photo of musician, Shakira, during her recent visit to Capitol Hill in Washington DC. Shakira was using her star power to promote the "Global Campaign for Education" to call attention to the need for education around the world.

It is great to see Shakira getting involved in public policy issues but since she is a native of Colombia I would have loved to see her meet with Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi -- who has used her office to prevent debate over the proposed US-Colombia free trade agreement -- to argue that free trade with Colombia would help create new wealth that can be used to improve education options for the children in her home country.

I am certain the Colombian drug lords love the idea of keeping the current trade barriers in place so that the local farmers don't not have new economic opportunities created via free trade thus defaulting them back to raising coca for the drug lords.

Free trade is music to my ears,

Todd

Zoo + Zoo = One

Here in Minnesota our state constitution mandates that the legislature must adjourn by May 19 so with less than a month to go before we taxpayers are safe again the final legislative pieces of the puzzle are being determined. One perfect example is the "bonding bill" whereby the State of Minnesota issues bonds to pay for a wide variety of projects around the state. During this year's session our two major zoos -- Como Park Zoo and the Minnesota Zoo -- pursued $41 million but only received $2.5 million after the legislative process.

Now I love zoos and I love writing personal checks for projects I believe in so when I read this news in today's newspaper I was not troubled at all. My family has visited Como Park Zoo several times along with the Minnesota Zoo (www.mnzoo.com) which is only two miles from our home so we are active users of these facilities. However several factors --

• rising property taxes in St. Paul,
• the fact that the Como Zoo and Marjorie McNeely Conservatory ( http://www.comozooconservatory.org/index.shtml) are owned by the City of Saint Paul,
• the state's nearly $1 billion budget deficit,

Lead me to conclude that these two zoos need to think beyond simply lobbying the state legislature for more taxpayer money. Let me offer an idea that I haven't seen any legislator pursue this year -- the City of St. Paul should divest the Como Zoo as a city-owned asset and combine it with the Minnesota Zoo into one entity that is not only stronger but would also benefit from the syngeries/cost savings that would result from combining these entities' management teams, marketing efforts, "friends of the zoo" networks, access to exhibits, etc. On a personal note I know the Minnesota Zoo can do better in terms of managing its volunteers since I have volunteered three different times and also asked three different times regarding the possibility of them bringing back their 5K "Zoo Run" fundraising event but I have NEVER been contacted -- not a great way to build public support I have to say.

This would allow the City of St. Paul to focus on basic, essential government functions -- fixing pot holes (that could be privatized too but I will give them that one), law enforcement, and fire prevention -- versus running a zoo and conservatory. Yes I realize there are numerous political turf issues and "access" issues since Como Park Zoo is "free of charge" (nothing is free of course since taxpayers pick up the tab of course) but we need to expect our public entity leadership to think beyond their current strategy of lobbying the state government for more of our money.

Don't feed the animals,

Todd

"Going goofy"

Yes it has been several days since my last posting but with good reason -- the family and I took advantage of my wife's maternity leave and a speaking opportunity I had in Honolulu, Hawaii to create a "working vacation". This "working vacation" concept has to be the greatest oxymoron of our time!!

While I stayed on top of work via conference calls and blackberry we toured the island of Oahu and spent time with a fraternity brother's family who is stationed there with the US Marines. Semper fi!! Overall the time spent in Hawaii was more vacation than work so a successful journey. As for my speaking engagement I was a guest speaker for the Grassroot Institute of Hawaii's (http://www.grassrootinstitute.org/) , which is a free market think tank for Hawaii, monthly center right, leave us alone coalition meeting known as the "Calabash". My topic was on "Political Correctness -- the anti-don'ts" which we thought was a very witty play on words. No need to give my readers all the details of my presentation so let me summarize -- government takes our money and tells us how to live so they can keep us alive longer just to keep paying more in taxes so the government can have more resources to control our lives even more....................you get the idea.

Beyond the speech and our personal touring I noted several observations regarding life in Hawaii which I outline below in no particular order:

• The laid back island attitude is alive and well - some of the drivers reminded me of past trips to the Caribbean
• Hawaii's traffic congestion could be improved simply by having drivers take "drivers' education refresher courses" since the left lane of freeways are to be used by drivers that are going faster than other drivers!! Move to the right if you don't care when you arrive at your destination so the rest of us can get on with our lives please :-)
• Hawaii's public schools are broken and yet they are taking money away from the charter school system -- this will only reduce what little competition the "old school" schools have today.
• In an effort to reduce their traffic congestion the Honolulu City Council (and county government it appears) is debating whether or not to build a train system. The major problem that I noticed is that you have city council members voting on which train technology should be used -- rails, rubber wheels, or magnetic levitation -- instead of choosing winners and losers the council members should develop general transportation policy not pick and choose what their toy train should look like.
• Speed limits on their freeways vary substantially. You will be driving in a posted 45 miles per hour are which changes to 60 miles per hour and then to 50 then back to 45 miles per hour all within 10 or 15 minutes of driving thus you never allow for an even flow of traffic given all this acceleration and deceleration.

Well enough public policy discussion. Regarding fun activities I can cite the Dole Plantation tour as a highlight and my tour of the Marine base was eye opening since I learned that the US military is still flying Vietnam era helicopters to fight the current war in Iraq. Yes the helicopter may work well and taxpayers save money but I have to think about the computers I have used over the last 20 years -- the Apple II I used in high school have zero capability compared to my current Sony Vaio lap top which comes complete with multi media functions. We fought in Vietnam nearly 40 years ago so imagine the technological changes that our current soldiers are not benefiting from today. We could probably end the war in Iraq faster if we modernized our Armed Forces.

On a personal note I finally completed an item on my "bucket list". I finally took surfing lessons and discovered that I am not as limber as I was back in high school!! Since I am left handed the instructor taught me to surf left-handed which is known as "going goofy" in surf lingo. I actually tried to surf goofy style and right handed but only succeeded in flying off my board and hitting the water hard. No cracked ribs but a wake up call for me to take more yoga or Pilate's classes.

Surf's up (and so is our tax burden),

Todd

Stick it to the corporations!!

Let me offer an easy wager -- $20 says that you can survey 10 people on the street and not be able to find that even 2 of them agree with me when I say --

Businesses don’t pay income taxes – the “ C.E.O.” pays these taxes –

No, not the Chief Executive Officer but instead the “Consumers” C (via higher prices), “Employees” E (via layoffs and salary freezes/cuts), and “Owners” O (shareholders via lower stock prices and unpaid/reduced dividends).

Here is a Minnesota-specific example to show you just how painful corporate income taxes are to the average working person. Let's say "Mary Svenjohnson" works at Target Corporation's Minneapolis, Minnesota headquarters office. Then let's say our legislature overrides Governor Tim Pawlenty's veto (since I am certain he would veto such bad policy) to raise Minnesota's corporate income tax from its current 9.8% up to a full 11% as a way to "create jobs in Minnesota through government investments............."

Hey, come on Todd that is only a 1.2% increase -- surely a greedy company like Target can afford to pay it right? Wrong -- in order to pay the state coffers the additional 1.2% they have to choose how to raise the cash. One option would be to raise the prices on the clothing Mary Svenjohnson likes to buy at Target or even bump up their grocery prices. Another option - perhaps in combination with the first option would be to simply lay off Mary Svenjohnson to help reduce corporate overhead, and then once Mary is sitting at home unemployed she will have plenty of free time to read her mail from Target's Investor Relations department telling her that Target will cut their dividend payment to shareholders this year so Mary's 401k account takes a hit when this third option is pursued by Target to raise the funds the mandarins in state government demand for their central planning.

Yes indeed -- just keep raising corporate income tax so we get to the workers' paradise even sooner.

Todd

2:32 AM

In our modern consumer world where stores are open 24 hours a day and 7 days a week I was struck by how different the world of government operates. Here are two prime examples from my State of Minnesota that showcase how governments simply do not operate like the rest of us in the private sector:

• Last week our Minnesota House of Representatives debated the state budget legislation for 14 hours which ended at 2:32 am, and
• Today I went to our local city council office to submit some new paperwork they require for landlords only to discover the city offices close each day at 4:30 pm

In the first example above one could argue that the debate schedule in the House was a good thing for citizens since you could leave work, say at 5 pm, to catch hours of remaining debate over the state budget since they debated until 2:32 am.

But let me ask my readers who work in the private sector -- does your company have staff meetings until 2:32 am to determine next year's sales plan? Ok, I admit that alot of corporate decisions have probably been made in a bar around 2 am but overall companies are keeping employees in conference rooms until the wee hours of the morning.

No the real problem here is the "quality" of this budget debate -- how many state legislators were even awake at the closing hours of this debate BUT even more important -- did state legislative leaders think these "business hours" benefited the average Minnesota citizen? Even if we tried I doubt my wife and I could have found a baby sitter for the 6 pm to say 3 am shift if she and I wanted to be watchdogs for taxpayers during this legislative debate.

As the old adage goes -- "sunshine is the best disinfectant" -- and that could not be truer when it comes to government. Ending the debate at 8 pm would not have harmed anyone other than those members of the "takings coalition" who want to extract even greater tax revenues from us tax slaves.

On the opposite end of this 2:32 am government business timeframe is my local city council mentioned earlier which has its office open from 8 am to 4:30 pm. Fortunately I don't commute like many people in our community do so I can stop by during these hours to conduct my business but let's say you start your morning commute at 7 am and leave the office at 6 pm which returns you home at 7 pm -- zero opportunity to complete your business before the city council. Unless of course all government services are online/website-based which is the case in the country of Estonia. Personally I tried to complete my landlord registration form via my city council's website but it failed to work so I had to start over by simply printing out a copy to mail or deliver to the council offices.

Government offices need to scrap their union rules and their pushing through legislation under cover of darkness so that the average citizen can participate in and protest their government.

Reform starts with customer service,

Todd

Alycia of Troy

Yet another US political family has been rocked by a sex scandal - this time in the state of Michigan where US Senator Debbie Stabenow's husband, Thomas Athans, "told police he paid a prostitute $150 for oral sex at a hotel", according to a Troy, Michigan police report cited in my local newspaper today.

The article went on to note that Mr. Athans, age 46, is co-founder of the "liberal TalkUSA Radio network" and that the prostitute involved was Alycia Martin, age 20, of Westland, Michigan. However, the most confusing and interesting part of this report was that while Ms. Martin was arrested with a "charge of prostitution" the police did NOT file any charges against Mr. Athans.

Perhaps a call to the Troy, Michigan police will clear this up tomorrow but for now I have to wonder about the following issues:

• If an act of prostitution is completed between two people (money changes hands) how is it one person is arrested but the other one remains free?
• Did Mr. Athans simply do this as yet another "talk radio" DJ stunt to gain publicity? :)
• Why do such stories consume space in our newspapers?
• Will authorities also charge Ms. Martin with tax evasion or did she plan to claim the $150 as ordinary income?

And justice for (almost) all,

Todd

Living with the Parents

No, no I am not living with my parents again (at age 42) but Jo Ann Bauer, at 50 years old, is living in her childhood bedroom in her parents' home in Eden, Wisconsin. This according to an Associated Press (AP) article by Emily Fredrix (March 22, Pioneer Press) that I recently read.

Now I feel sorry for Ms. Bauer who was laid off from her resort job in Kohler, Wisconsin just one year after her divorce was finalized. This chain of events led to bankruptcy followed by the move back to the parents' home. Today Ms. Bauer is employed and saving money so she can purchase a house while her parents cover her basic living expenses.

So what should we make of this news that financial planners who were quoted in this same AP story saying this is a growing trend of parents offering substantial financial support to clearly mature/adult children? Perhaps Ms. Bauer made some unwise , even lavish, purchases along the way or perhaps she has a gambling addiction -- the story never tells us and I am not doing this blog posting to focus on what she may or may not have done correctly in her life.

Instead let me focus on -- Bill and Shirley Smith -- Ms. Bauer's parents. You have to admit their assistance to their daughter is a loving statement but let's focus on their life in retirement. First let's assume Ms. Bauer started working at age 22 so now that she is 50 years old that means she has been paying into the Social Security system for 28 years -- money that has gone into the "trust fund" (I don't trust the government with our funds I say!!) that exists to pay her parents' retirement payment. So for 28 years Ms. Bauer has paid 7.65% into the Social Security/Medicare funds (FICA) while her employers over those same 28 years have contributed another 7.65% (money that could have been paid as salary to Ms. Bauer if the government did not confiscate it via taxation). A whopping 15.3% of her earnings went to the federal government which is ON TOP OF personal income taxes, state income taxes, etc. Full details on this tax policy are at --

http://www.nyc.gov/html/opa/html/taxes/socialsecurity.shtml

To REALLY simplify this math let's also assume Ms. Bauer made $50,000 each and every year of her 28 working years so 15.3% of $50,000 over 28 years =

$214,200

Final note -- this same AP article noted that Ms. Bauer was saving money so she could have enough for the 5% down payment needed on a home for herself but she only had 2%. I have to guess that if she had this $214,200 in her savings account earning a measly 2% interest she would still be better off than letting the government keep her money in the "trust fund" to keep paying her parents' retirement checks so they can afford to house their 50 year old, bankrupt daughter.

No, whether flaws or personal financial mistakes Ms. Bauer made along the path that led her back to her childhood bedroom pale in comparison to the $214,200 robbery the government committed at the "Bauer State Bank" .

FICA off federal government,

Todd

Pizza - Minnesota

The Grand Avenue area of St. Paul, Minnesota is populated with unique stores and quality restaurants so the city council takes their planning and zoning duties VERY seriously. First a little history -- late last year a planned "Noodles and Company" location on Grand Avenue was vetoed by the planning authorities because "fast food" isn't allowed on Grand Avenue.

Just last month a multi-location pizza restaurant -- Punch Neapolitan Pizza (www.punchpizza.com) -- announced plans to renovate a current building on Grand Avenue to create its sixth location in our Twin Cities. Originally Punch was going to demolish the building they purchased to build a new facility but that design plan was deemed to be a "fast food outlet" by the planning authorities so Punch opted for the renovation plan instead. Score a victory for the historic preservation crowd but also a victory for pizza lovers! Punch produces excellent wood fire grilled pizzas and since most customers have to wait nearly 45 minutes to an hour during the dinner hour their produce is CLEARLY not fast food in terms of both dining time required and quality of the food served.

Personally I am troubled that Punch has no immediate plans to build a location "South of the River" in our part of the Twin Cities since we clearly would benefit from an added restaurant choice of Punch's caliber.

Bon appetit,

Todd

Starbucks

Since today's work schedule started with a meeting at a Starbucks location in Minneapolis, Minnesota I was reminded of the court judgement in California they lost last week. This class action lawsuit forces Starbucks to pay $100 million in back tips plus interest to current and former baristas (fancy word for "coffee servers") . Full details can be found at --

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23736754

Apparently Starbucks allowed/perhaps encouraged shift supervisors to take a share of "tip jar" earnings left by satisfied customers. Honestly though I do think we should call these "tips" by their more accurate name -- "loose change" -- since I doubt that many customers perform the mental math at Starbucks that is necessary for tips in restaurants.

For me the most troubling quote in the MSNBC article I read was this one:

Terry Chapko, an attorney for the baristas, said the ruling was a victory, but the case was far from over. “Starbucks should be paying their shift supervisors a supervisory wage, not compensating them through tips that legally belong to baristas,” he said.

Chapko's comment about wages is a red flag for me given the growing trend of city councils to mandate "living wages" that companies must pay their employees. Now since my first "real" job outside of the home was washing dishes and waiting on tables at a local restaurant I have personal experience with the importance of tips in American society. No, Terry Chapko - the problem is not the wages Starbucks pays its supervisors but instead it is the "tip jar" system itself since it is at best a socialist model whereby the baristas split up the "pooled" tips at the end of the day. But in this case it was even worse -- the supervisors took a share of the tips which to me is a throwback to feudalism!

So Starbucks could have avoided this entire lawsuit by avoiding the "common tip jar" and replacing it with a set of tip jars for each employee working during each shift. Perhaps allow the employees to individually (now there is a bad word given the "collective" world we live in!!) decorate their personal tip jar to attract customers' loose change.

Such a system would not only reward the best workers but it would also empower consumers by giving them a choice -- if "Tony" did a great job on my double non-fat frappe-latte then I would tip his jar but if "Fred" at the cash register could not organize a two car funeral as he processed my change from a $20 bill for a $4.35 coffee then Fred would not get a tip.

No sharing of the fruits of labor unless it is voluntary,

Todd

Wireless Soldiers

While sorting through my office mail today I found a business reply envelope from an organization called -

Cell Phones for Soldiers
http://www.cellphonesforsoldiers.com/

This is a non-profit group based in Massachusetts which is working with a Michigan-based company, "ReCellular", to recycle cellular telephones for use by US military personnel to stay in touch with their loved ones. However, the next few sentences which I copied from their website says it all for you:

“Americans will replace an estimated 130 million cell phones this year,” says Mike Newman, vice president of ReCellular, “with the majority of phones either discarded or stuffed in a drawer. Most people don’t realize that the small sacrifice of donating their unwanted phones can have a tremendous benefit for a worthy cause like Cell Phones for Soldiers.” Cell Phones for Soldiers was founded by teenagers Robbie and Brittany Bergquist from Norwell, Mass., with $21 of their own money. Since then, the registered 501c3 non-profit organization has raised almost $1 million in donations and distributed more than 400,000 prepaid calling cards to soldiers serving overseas.

Two elements are worth highlighting in above paragraph from their website:

1.) Americans will replace an "estimated 130 million cell phones this year..." - That is an amazing statistic that reminds us that recycling in this case can benefit many lives if we work to avoid the landfills.

2.) This organization was founded by two teenagers using $21 dollars of their own money.

What - no government program was involved? These are exactly the kind of people that make the USA the "city on the hill" for the rest of the world. However, I would encourage these founders to look beyond helping soldiers by expanding their distribution network to get as many Iraqis and Afghanis as they can onto the wireless network. Such a distribution of cellular technology would help improve several situations in these two recovering nations including:

• provide an additional network of "eyes and ears" reporting potential terrorism to military and police personnel
• enhance commerce by empowering citizens with access to market information and the ability to do comparative shopping simply by calling vendors in surrounding communities
• end the isolation many citizens must fill as they stay hunkered down in their homes due to the ongoing violence

The founders of this program should be thanked repeatedly for their good works. One additional hopeful thing we should keep in mind is that the founders are YOUNG so they have enough time and energy to expand their capabilities in the directions I noted earlier in this blog posting.

Clean out your closets Americans,

Todd

Economic Waste NOT Stimulus

The US Congress recently approved an "economic stimulus" package whereby they borrow money to give checks to us today in the hope the economy will improve regardless of their mis-guided decision so they can be re-elected in November 2008 elections.

Now I think the economics of this "stimulus" package are completely bunk but in today's posting I will simply focus on the administrative elements involved in implementing this package:

First -- after the media reported that "checks from $300 to $1200 will be in the mail to taxpayers as a result of this economic stimulus package............" our home received a letter in early March from the Internal Revenue System (IRS) telling us to expect a check in May. Question -- why was this letter necessary and more importantly, why wasn't the "check" simply sent in early March instead of/or with this IRS letter to save both time and expense?

Second -- what is the cost of printing and mailing the millions of checks this package requires? I guess that is just an added "economic stimulus" right since someone must be paid to get this work completed?

Third -- while traveling this week I read a VERY tiny (this should have been front page news not buried in the newspaper) article in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch newspaper stating that the IRS "will open 320 offices on Saturday (March 29) to help low income people , includes some retirees and veterans, get the checks they are eligible for............."

Question -- what am I missing here? These 320 offices are designed to help people that by description are already datapoints - via welfare payments/TANF, earned income tax credit (EITC), Social Security, and military records -- in the numerous government databases used to track our lives so shouldn't it be easy for the government to simply mail them a check? Yes perhaps some of them are homeless but how will they be informed as to where these 320 offices are located?

If Congress truly wants to help people like those listed above then let's see them vote to eliminate ALL taxes on Social Security benefits ( http://www.ssa.gov/history/taxationofbenefits.html )clearly that would help senior citizens pay for their heating bills and prescription drugs.

Clearly more details and better journalism are needed regarding these office expenses since my initial gut instincts tell me this is a WASTE OF TAXPAYER MONEY!!

Prove me wrong,

Todd

School Choice

Yesterday's Easter dinner attendees included two family friends from the education world -- a current elementary teacher and a retired teacher -- who do not support any form of school choice. Most readers out there will already know that most etiquette counselors tell us the topics that should be avoided over dinner include:

• politics
• religion
• sex

Given our different worldviews on school choice "politics" was clearly not a topic at this Easter gathering. While Easter is of course a highly important religious holiday that wasn't really a topic that could be discussed since I always highlight the fact that Jesus Christ did not like monopolies (the "temple" -- think about public schools today) and of course said there was a limit to government power ("render unto Caesar what is Caesar's and render unto the Lord what is the Lord's.............") so that would have placed us on the same path to disagreement during the dinner conversation.

That left "sex" which was clearly not going to be discussed.

At the end of the day I spent my time pondering school choice issues on my own since the teachers walking around the house provided constant reminders of our past debates on how best to reform our education system.

So here is my question -- if school choice is such a bad idea or simply un-needed for today's students why should we allow "school choice" for teachers?

By this I mean -- teachers are free to move from school to school as opportunities present themselves -- yet students (in the vast majority of cases) are required to attend the local government school provided in their neighborhood. To be consistent why don't we simply require teachers to teach in the schools in their neighborhoods -- regardless of supply and demand or personal interests?

Choice should be universal,

Todd

Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing

No doubt my younger readers out there are wondering what I am talking about when I say - "Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing" (MMM) but if I mention "3M" and "Post-It Notes" then I would connect with you. MMM was the original company name that evolved with societal and economic change to become the industrial giant known as 3M today.

But given today's front page news in my local newspaper -- "3M sends troubling signal to Minnesota: Unit HQ move opens front of uncertainty for the state's economy" -- perhaps they should change their name again to "1M" . The days of 3M being a mining operation in northern Minnesota are essentially gone with them evolving into a supplier of mining supplies (a good economic move by the way to get out of the commodity business of mining into a high-value service industry like mining supplies). Now with today's news that 3M plans to move the leadership team of its optical systems division from Maplewood, Minnesota to Hong Kong sends another clear clue that we have heard here in Minnesota before -- 3M will probably cease being based in Minnesota within a few years given the changes in the global market.

I have no problem with 3M moving with the changing global marketplace knowing full well the state of Minnesota could be harmed in terms of jobs, prestige, etc. with such a loss. However, I do have a BIG problem with our current state corporate income tax which the Minnesota legislature has failed year after year to reduce -- better still, eliminate -- to make Minnesota a more competitive tax jurisdiction.

A perfect example is the article on the same front page today below the "3M Sends Troubling Signal........." which was entitled -- "State Budget Fixer Turns to Business Tax Reform." In this article we find that one of our state representatives has proposed a "business tax reform" that -- BIG SURPRISE HERE -- raises another $171 million for state government. This legislation would accomplish this theft by closing a tax loophole for "foreign operating companies" combined with a reduction in the state corporate tax rate from 9.8% to 8.8%. Wow, a full one percent, how generous the state can be with our tax money!!

Sadly most consumers would probably say the same old refrain of "yea, tax those corporate fat cats" without realizing -- due to the lack of school choice/competition in this country -- that CORPORATE INCOME TAXES ARE SIMPLY PASSED ON TO CONSUMERS AS HIGHER PRICES OR TO SHAREHOLDERS IN REDUCED DIVIDENDS.

The Minnesota Legislature could easily make national news simply by bringing our corporate income tax rate down from 9.8% to 0% with the net effect being increased economic growth in Minnesota. Yes -- 3M may still leave its original home in Minnesota to become a non-USA corporation but at least by eliminating this tax we will actually COMPETE to keep 3M here in the Land of 10,000 Lakes versus our current policy which encourages companies to leave our state borders.

Now this is a tax reform debate that should happen in St. Paul.

Time to dump more tea in the harbor,

Todd

Defend our Wallets First THEN our Borders

My thanks to the recent edition of Parade magazine (www.parade/intel) for their annual installment -- this one always comes before the April 15 income tax filing date it seems! -- entitled, "Government Watch -- Where Your Money Goes."

As reported the U.S. federal government spending levels for 2008 include:

Consumer and Occupational Health/Safety -- $3.1 billion
Federal Prisons -- $6.2 billion
Disaster Relief and Insurance -- $12 billion
International Development/Foreign Aid -- $14.3 billion
National Institutes of Health -- $28.6 billion
Food & Nutrition Assistance -- $60.2 billion
Homeland Security -- $64.9 billion
Medicare -- $396 billion
Military spending -- $583 billion
Social Security -- $615 billion


Hey, a million here and a million here in Washington DC and pretty soon you are talking about real money!! Let's take a moment to re-group these budget line items to match some categories up with each other. For instance --

1.) Homeland Security and Military Spending combined = $647.9 billion

2.) Medicare and Social Security combined = $1,011 trillion

So we spend LESS money keeping our nation safe then we spend in the forced taxation/Ponzi schemes known as Medicare/Social Security which are meant to provide Americans with a "safety net" that improves quality of life.

Yet Medicare/Social Security do not provide "care" or "security" given the waste and inefficiency of these systems. The anti-military crowd protests how much money our nation spends on military budgetshttp://www.warresisters.org/piechart.htm ) but yet these same people never seem to join protest regarding our broken Social Security system . Essentially Social Security pays a very poor 1% return on our "investment" (forced taxation) yet who complains other than crack pots like me who blog constantly?

Now this is true injustice -- not excessive military spending whereby the federal government turns our nation into deaf and dumb robots paying taxes via auto-pilot (payroll deductions) to fund black holes like Social Security.

No nation even needs to invade the USA since our "social benefits"/forced taxation system has already destroyed most of our citizens by stripping away their desire to live free or die.

Surely our Founding Fathers would be disappointed in our management of our own affairs,

Todd

Keeping People in Poverty

Since a few of my European friends read my blog I wanted to share this information with them so we can compare personal income tax rates:

Single Person - 2007 USA Federal Income Tax Brackets

US$ 0 to $7,825 = 10% federal income tax rate
$7,826 to $31,850 = 15%
$31,851 to $77,100 = 25%
$77,101 to $160,850 = 28%
$160,851 to $349,700 = 33%
$349,701 and over = 35%

These income levels and tax brackets are of course called a "progressive" tax system because as you make more money the government takes even more of your earnings. However, let me highlight two of these income brackets which are taxed at the 10% and 15% levels.

Now since the US federal government declared that our "poverty level" in terms of income (in 2006) to be $10,400:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poverty_in_the_United_States#The_official_measure_of_poverty

Let's take notice of the obvious -- we have American taxpayers currently in the 10% and 15% federal income tax brackets who are earning the federal poverty salary level YET our government still demands they pay a portion of their income to the Internal Revenue System.

Personally I want to completely eliminate our personal income tax since it is not only a form of theft it is an invasion of personal privacy! I thought the US Supreme Court declared in Roe vs. Wade that the Constitution protects personal privacy thus making abortions legal in the USA but for some reason this personal privacy protection does NOT extend to how and how much I earn my income?

Yet I know we don't have the votes in Congress to eliminate personal income taxes so my default position is the "flat income tax." Just to make up some numbers -- how about a 15% income tax for all taxpayers/households for earnings above and beyond $150,000? Now that would not only simplify our tax compliance system but it would also raise known/consistent revenues for the government (which I oppose but it is a compromise to get us away from our current plantation system known as the IRS) but most importantly it would bring TRANSPARENCY to our tax system and eliminate the class warfare that exists with today's progressive tax rate system.

Yours in tax slavery,

Todd

Pizza - Part 2

Clear evidence that people read my blog this week as I received two posted comments on my "Pizza" posting regarding the largest pizza companies in the USA. Sadly though -- the topic of "pizza" garnered more comments than my past postings regarding income tax reform ideas but there in lies the challenge. Although I could completely re-vamp my blogging to create a blog solely dedicated to pizza -- recipes, restaurants, chefs, appropriate beers, etc -- which could lead to a book deal like my friend's blog which is dedicated to a pork product (I won't disclose the book deal until she tells me it is public then of course I will buy a book for my brother who loves the stuff!!).

Coincidentally pork is a key ingredient for several pizza recipes so let's get back to pizza. In this "Part 2" posting I want to respond to the two posted comments. A college buddy noted that I completely overlooked a campus favorite -- Pizza Pit -- which tastes great if you are sober or drunk!! Just for fun today I called the location we always used to go to at +1 515.292.6914 . It is amazing how memory works since it has been 19 years since I graduated from university but can still remember their phone number. FYI -- they are open until 12 midnight today if needed.

So thanks for reminding me about Pizza Pit. Here are a few other chain pizza operations that I have enjoyed over the years:

1.) Godfather's
2.) Rocky Rococo's

To recap for my readers from my initial pizza posting -- Pizza Hut is ranked at the largest (in terms of 206 revenue) pizza firm in the USA but clearly "bigger is not better" when it comes to pizza since I would much prefer a trip to "the Pit" than to "the Hut".

Save me a slice,

Todd

FOIA

"Knowledge will forever govern ignorance. And a people who mean to be their own governors must arm themselves with the power which knowledge gives."

James Madison

Fourth President of the USA and Father of the Bill of Rights

During lunch today I attended the "2008 Freedom of Information Day" at the Minneapolis Central Library here in Minnesota. This event was organized by the Minnesota Coalition on Government Information which is chaired by the ever-personable Helen Burke, a librarian at this same library.

The event's keynote speaker was Jane Kirtley, Director of the Silha Center for the Study of Media Ethics and Law, whose presentation was entitled: "The Light at the End of the Tunnel - The Outlook for Freedom of Information." To paraphrase Ms. Kirtley we should be encouraged by the improvements we are seeing in terms of access to government records. Sadly, I had to spend my time driving to the top of a parking garage so I was a few minutes late to hear some of her speech so I missed some of the points she made.

The event concluded with short "reflections" offered by two of the 2008 John R. Finnegan Freedom of Information Award winners -- which totaled eight (8) journalists from the Associated Press and Star Tribune (www.startribune.com) . The primary message I heard from these informal speakers was that our state Department of Transportation essentially buried its head in the sand when the Interstate 35 bridge collapsed. As a communications consultant let me state the obvious -- "if a tree (bridge) falls in the woods while everyone is there for a picnic, YES the falling of the tree was heard!!! " -- in a crisis those in charge have to get out in front of the story NOT become the media story.

Overall, I enjoyed the event and talking with a few people I knew at the reception. Today's awards event was a nice kickoff for "Sunshine Week" which begins on March 16 to highlight the constant need for vigilance when it comes to knowing what the government has done or plans to do to us (not FOR us -- don't ever believe that old line).

The "First Amendment" was designated as "first" for a good reason,

Todd

Tax Filing Time

American tax slaves (aka employed and even retired/non-working people since their income streams are taxed in the USA) have about one month before the infamous April 15 federal income tax deadline is here so we stay in compliance with the Internal Revenue System. The only option of course is not filing income taxes which might lead to serving time in jail living off the resources of those people who did pay their income taxes. Ah, the options we have in life!!

So as my readers scramble to file their income taxes I wanted to share some state income tax data with all of you (ok, both of you!!) to put your own situation into perspective:

STATES WITH NON PERSONAL INCOME TAX:

Alaska
Florida
Nevada
New Hampshire
South Dakota
Tennessee
Texas
Washington State
Wyoming

Yes my state of Minnesota borders South Dakota so a move is very tempting but I enjoy being married so I stay here :-)

STATES WITH FLAT INCOMES TAXES:

Colorado - 4.63%
Illinois - 3%
Indiana - 3.4%
Massachusetts -- 5.3%
Michigan - 3.9%
Pennsylvania - 3.07%
Rhode Island - 5.5% (starting in 2010)

If we can't eliminate personal income taxes right away here in Minnesota then I say -- give us a flat tax. A flat tax is not only efficient and transparent but it actually "fairer" than pitting economic classes against each other via the class warfare the current system lives on and promotes today.

From the Land of 10,000 Taxes,

Todd

Pizza

Yes the residential housing market is the worst in nearly 10 years and our job growth rate is essentially 0% here in Minnesota but some encouraging business news was reported by the Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal recently.

Indeed -- Little Caesar's Pizza has returned to the Twin Cities market after closing all its locations about a decade ago. Now this caught my attention for two reasons -- 1.) I am always watching the business news looking for economic growth, and 2.) I love pizza!!

The article I read regarding Little Caesar's return to our market included a bar graph which ranked the "Largest Pizza Chains" in the USA (according to revenue in billions of dollars) so here it is reproduced for readers:

#1 - Pizza Hut with just over $5 billion in revenues
#2 - Domino's Pizza
#3 - Papa John's Pizza
#4 - Little Caesar's Pizza with $810 million in revenues
#5 - Cici's Pizza
#6 - Sbarro
#7 - Papa Murphy's Pizza

SOURCE: QSR Magazine , based on 2006 system wide sales

If you have traveled the small towns in Minnesota and Iowa like I have then you know that numerous Pizza Huts have been closed and/or converted into other businesses -- primarily Mexican restaurants if you ask me!! -- yet they have nearly double the total revenues of the #2 on this list, Domino's Pizza.

As I noted earlier -- I love pizza especially Chicago style deep dish stuffed with spinich. My other bias is for the local mom and pop pizza shops like, "Fat Tony's Pizza Cave" , which doesn't exist but I would eat there just because of its name -- wouldn't you? So while I am not a huge fan of the multi-location, chain pizza operations I will admit that I think the "Pizza Ranch" chain operation has a great product but clearly is not an industry leader yet but your pizza lovers out there should be watching for opportunities to eat at the ranch.

Regarding the seven pizza operations noted on the list above I have eaten at all of them except for #5 -- Cici's Pizza, www.cicispizza.com -- so I was intrigued to know more about this company. Cici's was formed in 1985 in Plano, Texas (Ross Perot country!!) and today has stores in 29 states primarily across the southeastern/south central USA. Their expansion plans include heading north to create locations in Minnesota so I will likely see them soon in my area.

Speaking of local pizza -- Roasted Pear restaurant in Burnsville, Minnesota serves some very tasty wood fire grilled pizza. Their corned beef pizza served around St. Patrick's Day (March 17) is a nice break from the same old pepperoni pizza from Pizza Hut that millions of Americans eat.

Seek variety,

Todd