Obama pushes for tax increases to bailout his fubar fiscal policies

When it comes to budgets and spending, Peter Principle in Chief Obama hasn't earned the right to say anything. He hasn't shown the intelligence, ability, experience, trustworthiness, or record to say anything regarding spending. He broke Bush's records on spending, and now demands a tax increase to bail himself out.

From Yahoo

Claiming a mandate from his election romp over Mitt Romney, President Barack Obama announced on Friday that he had invited congressional leaders to the White House next week for talks on how to steer the battered economy away from a "fiscal cliff." Obama said he was open to compromise with Republicans—but that any final deal needed to raise taxes on the richest Americans.

"This was a central question during the election," the president said in brief remarks in the East Room of the White House. "It was debated over and over again, and on Tuesday night we found out that a majority of Americans agree with my approach.

"Our job now is to get a majority in Congress to reflect the will of the American people," Obama said. "I'm not wedded to every detail of my plan. I'm open to compromise. I'm open to new ideas. I'm committed to solving our fiscal challenges. But I refuse to accept any approach that isn't balanced."

Boehner needs to tell Obama to go perform an unatural act on himself. Obama hasn't signed any budgets in forever. Push your budget, and make Obama veto it.

I don't like this comment. 

Republican House Speaker John Boehner, speaking shortly before the president's appearance, said he was looking to Obama "to lead" and that he had a short, "cordial" conversation with the president earlier this week about ways to avoid the so-called fiscal cliff.

"We both understand that trying to find a way to avert the fiscal cliff is important for this country," Boehner said. "And I'm hopeful that productive conversations can begin soon so we can forge an agreement that can pass the Congress."

He's not my leader. He's not my boss. The problem is that people treat a glorified executive director as a king. That's how we get stuck with this American Idol 'rockstar' crap instead of actual competence for once.

Both political parties are unacceptable on spending. Boehner needs to push through a balanced budget, and dictate to the Peter Principle in Chief. It's Boehner's job to lead the house, not defer to the Peter Principle in Chief.

No tax increases.Spending cuts. Those two things need to be non negotiable. Don't raise the debt ceiling anymore either.

Not happy with the federal budget

That's not a surprise, because I'm never happy with the budget. I understand not to make the perfect the enemy of the good. However, the Ryan budget isn't conservative enough. Balanced budgets should be expected and the bare minimum when there's 15 trillion dollar national debts to seat with.

From The Hill

The House on Thursday afternoon voted down a budget alternative offered by the Republican Study Committee (RSC), paving the way for House passage of a plan offered by House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wis.).

Members rejected the RSC proposal in a 136-285 vote in which 136 Republicans supported it and 104 Republicans opposed it. That's more support than the RSC budget received last year, when 119 Republicans favored it and 120 opposed it.

There's more.

The RSC plan proposes $7.5 trillion in spending cuts over the next decade, about 50 percent more than Ryan's budget. It also calls for cuts and a freeze to discretionary spending until the budget balances.

The problem is that baseline budgets start at last year's spending. That's a big reason why spending keeps going up and it's perpetual in length. It's unacceptable. What's needed is a zero based budgeting plan, along with the look at every single expenditure and department to decide the following.

1. Is it constitutional?
2. Is it needed?
3. Can states and local governments do the same work?
4. Does it work?

We don't need a federal department of education. The feds are not competent enough, or trustworthy enough to be involved in education. We elect school boards for a reason. We have a state board of education.

We do not need the BATF. We do not need a lot of federal crimes that are taken care of on the state level. It's none of Washington's business if states legalize medical marijuana.

Most transportation can be passed off to the states, and eliminate the hostage taking of state policy for highway funds while you are at it.

Go with zero based budgeting. Eliminate what isn't needed. Balance the budget. Don't raise taxes. That's not asking for much.

Rick Snyder wants a gas tax and registration increase

Just when I was about to ease up on Snyder after he signed the partial birth abortion ban, he goes leftist again. Apparently the new money from the income taxes and pension taxes are not enough for technocrat Rick Michigan.

From the Detroit news

Lansing— Michigan would fundamentally alter the way it raises money to pay for repairs to the state's roads and bridges under a sweeping proposal expected to be unveiled today by Gov. Rick Snyder.

He's expected to suggest getting rid of the 19-cent gas tax motorists pay at the pump in favor of a tax on the wholesale price of fuel — a move expected to bring in more funds to fix roads and bridges as inflation pushes up the price of gasoline and diesel fuel.

First off, we don't have a 19 cent gas tax. If you want to see me get red in the face, keep repeating that lie, damn lie, and statistic. I've covered it before, but here's how it works. Right now, the Michigan Gas Tax in Hamburg Township, Michigan is 37 cents. The final price when I was last at the gas station is $3.45. Of that $3.45 cents, 56 cents in gas taxes goes to the government. 37 cents goes to the State of Michigan. Multiply that by 20 gallons, and the state gets $7.40 cents every time I fill up. When gas prices are at $4.10, the Michigan gas tax is 41 cents.


There's three things wrong with the wholesale taxes.

1. Taxes go up even more when gas prices increase. That encourages higher gas prices to be even higher. We're almost $3.50 a gallon. That's damaging to any supposed recovery.

2. This does not address the 6% sales tax on gasoline - that does not go to roads. This will affect things more with a wholesale tax.

3. It continues the false assumption that the gas tax, and only the gas tax, goes to fix the roads.

4. While the non-sales tax portion of the gas tax goes to transportation, that does not necessarily equal roads.

I've covered this issue more times than Matt Millen has lost games as a GM. This is the worst tax in the country, outside of possibly the self-employment tax.

There's more.

Also as part of his plan, the governor will ask the Legislature to allow counties and regional authorities to levy a vehicle registration fee to raise money for local road projects, sources close to the governor confirmed. The local levy would have to be approved by voters.

More millages. Regional authorities for those that don't know are when a group of municipal governments create a new quasi-governmental body around a governmental function. These can range from parking, fire, library, parks, and other things associated with municipalities.

The two proposals are expected to be part of Snyder's Special Message to the Legislature on Infrastructure at 3 p.m. at Lawrence Technological University in Southfield. The plan will lay out Snyder's vision for improving roads and bridges, regional transit, water and sewer lines and Internet access.

Regional transit. New taxes to pay for this..INSTEAD of the roads?

It gets worse. Today's Detroit News has this. This clown thinks I'm made of money

Southfield— Michigan needs another $1.4 billion for roads annually and Gov. Rick Snyder on Wednesday suggested hiking vehicle registration fees to help come up with the money.

In an address on infrastructure at Lawrence Technological University, the Republican governor said an extra $120 a year — $10 a month — on each registration would raise $1 billion a year. More money could be raised if voters approve allowing counties and regions to assess their own vehicle registration levies of up to $40 annually.

$10 a month. You make it sound like it's not a lot of money, and that pisses me off even more than the push for this. You big government folks are nickle and diming us. Between the pension taxes, this, and Obamacare and debt on the feds, we're getting our asses kicked. I can't afford a $240 annual tags bill - IN ADDITION to all this, and I drive a 10 year old vehicle. Hey, Rick. I don't have the millions you do. That's a lot of money to me.

Among his ideas:

Rapid transit that would connect Detroit with its suburbs, Ann Arbor and Detroit Metropolitan Airport.

I thought the ROADS were a problem. You want to RAISE TAXES for that?

A new fiber optic cable across the Mackinac Bridge to increase Internet access in the Upper Peninsula.

I thought the ROADS were a problem. You want to RAISE TAXES for that?

Competitively bidding out maintenance services, engineering or construction of roads.

I can agree with that.

Accessing federal money for dredging ports around the state.

More federal spending of our tax money we don't have.

Helping communities maintain or improve water quality.

That isn't done already?

Giving counties the option to take over their road commissions, or consolidating local commissions. Snyder noted Michigan has 617 independent road agencies and 79 independent transit agencies.

I agree with this.

Here's another danger, and Jace Bolger and Randy Richardville need to get the pressure on them for this in a BIG way. Snyder knows the taxes are unpopular. Just as the pension tax was unpopular. He also knows there are favorite projects of many reps who will pick that poison over the others. All the reps hated the MBT. Many who otherwise would not vote for the pension tax increase, voted for it because it was the price to get rid of the MBT. Few, like Joe Hune said the price wasn't worth it and thought the MBT should be gone period without a replacement. I agreed with Joe.

Snyder is going to want this to be an all or nothing package. However, Snyder can't do that on his own. Jace Bolger and Randy Richardville deserve just as much blame and scorn as Snyder for that pension tax monstrosity. We can not let them do the same thing again. Snyder is governor. He's not prime minister. Hell, I don't think he's even a republican. Why the Hell are you following this guy? His title? We need to make sure that transportation provisions are sent PIECEMEAL to the governor and not as an all or nothing type of scam as the pension tax was.

Worst of all, government hasn't earned the money. Government has shown it can not spend what it has properly. It wants us to bail them out. Again. It's like Granholm never left office.

No new gas taxes. Get rid of the sales tax on gasoline. No new registration fees. No transportation spending on anything but roads.

Don't blame me. I voted for Mike Cox.

Debt Ceiling Agreement - Not Good Enough

There's a debt ceiling agreement. It's yet another half-assed measure. It's not good enough. I don't give a damn about how it was supposedly routine in the past. It should not have been routine, then either.

The only thing acceptable to me is a balanced budget that doesn't raise taxes.

I understand that when you control one house, that you sometimes take what you can get. That was the view of normally strong conservatives Mike Pence and Tim Walberg, who voted for this. It was the view of Paul Ryan and Mike Rogers as well. The reality is this. Nothing significant on the debt will be done as long as the senate and presidency is held by the democrats. In addition, even if republicans control all branches of government, nothing will be done fiscally if Bush types control the purse-strings. ALL of them failed. Bush, Frist, and Hastert set records in 06. Bush, Pelosi, McCain, Obama, and Reid shattered the records in 07-08. Obama, Reid, and Pelosi shattered those records. Now this may possibly be a 1/4 step back to either the 08 levels. The folks that passed that are CELEBRATING this? I can respect a vote for this if it had the truth as a comment. "I voted for this because it sucks less than other options like a default and it is the only thing we could get past Reid and Obama." That's basically what Mike Pence said, calling this a "modest first step".


Walberg's office said this.

Washington, DC - Today, Congressman Tim Walberg released the following statement:

"The President with the support of the previous Congress has spent a trillion dollars on a failed stimulus and trillions on a government takeover of healthcare. In less than a year, this Republican-led House has made significant progress to reverse course. We have passed a budget that cuts more than $38 billion for 2011, the first six spending bills for 2012 that return to pre-bailout, pre-stimulus levels, and the Ryan Budget that will save $5.8 trillion over ten years."

"Unfortunately, the president and majority in the Senate fail to understand the true meaning of fiscal responsibility, but with the pressure of the American people, we have at least brought them to agree to $2.1 trillion in spending cuts, including two-thirds of the discretionary cuts in the Ryan budget, and a vote on the Balanced Budget Amendment. The plan that passed tonight is one more step that Congress has taken to end the culture of government overspending and rapidly mounting debt. But this is not the end, and it's clear a true solution will not occur until America has a fiscally responsible president. I will continue to work to solve our government's debt addiction and encourage job creation so that America can maintain its greatness."

Background Facts:

· At least $2.1 trillion in spending cuts over 10 years. $917 billion immediately and at least an additional $1.2 trillion either through the work of a joint congressional committee or as across the board reductions.
· This legislation achieves two-thirds of the discretionary spending cuts contained in the Paul Ryan Budget.
· No tax increases. The legislation contains zero tax increases and due to budgetary procedures, it will be practically impossible for the joint committee to propose tax increases. The bill is silent on expiring tax cuts.
· Guaranteed vote in the House and Senate on a Balanced Budget Amendment to the Constitution.

I like Tim Walberg, but this isn't good enough.

• 1 Trillion immediately? That's the deficit of less than a year of spending.
• 10 Years is a joke. It's nothing, frankly.
• A promise of a vote on the balanced budget amendment is nothing.
• Tax cuts that expire are a tax increase.

From the Argus

About $900 billion would be cut over 10 years through spending caps. Another $1.5 trillion would be sought this fall by a special committee with unique power to force congressional action. If it fails to reach that goal, spending could be cut by $1.2 trillion automatically, divided equally between defense and domestic programs.

Ten years of chump change (relatively speaking)? What a joke. That'll get trumped by the interest alone.

Justin Amash's office has this to say.

As I have said consistently since before I was a Representative in Congress, I will not consider voting to raise the federal government’s debt ceiling unless the vote is tied to fundamental reform such as a repeal of the President’s onerous healthcare legislation or passage of a well-structured balanced budget amendment to the Constitution.

“I am open to a compromise that includes some of the elements of the House and Senate plans, but it must also include structural reforms that actually would pull us back from the government’s looming fiscal crisis.

“The House’s Budget Control Act raises the government’s debt ceiling by $900 billion but requires no structural reforms and only $25 billion in cuts next year. It includes a mere pledge to pass a balanced budget amendment in exchange for authorizing another $1.6 trillion of debt next year. The pledge is not binding. It can be ignored at any time.

“It is wrong to continue to burden our children and grandchildren with trillions upon trillions of dollars of debt. Time is up. Congress cannot wait any longer to act responsibly and begin to address its addiction to reckless spending.”

That I agree with. There shouldn't even be discussion of "2008 levels" like it's a benchmark. The 2008 levels suck. Government needs to live within its means, and that means a balanced budget is required without raising taxes. Anything else is unacceptable.

You are probably a criminal and don't know it.

Are you a criminal?

As the old saying goes, when there are not enough criminals, one must create them.

If there's one area where we need severe reform, it is in the criminal justice system. We have too many people in the system, affecting our lives, budgets, and society. The root cause of that is too many laws. People complain about no respect for the law or authority these days. The truth is that the criminal justice authorities are not worthy of our respect. There's a good reason why people do not trust law enforcement.

We need to look at our corrections budgets on the state and federal level as we look to save tax money, but more importantly, we need to look at the regulations. As a less government conservative, we have so many regulations out there. It's so bad that I bet $10000 that 75% of the population in Michigan have committed a felony during their lifetime. 99% have committed a misdemeanor. I haven't even gotten to the federal regulations.

Redstate brings this to our attention. Who are the real criminals? It's us, and we don't know it. Luckily, Obamacare and the five years in prison threat has woken many people up. It's not enough.

We all hear that ignorance of the law is no excuse (which goes with the rise of strict liability crimes, even as felonies...what happened to mens reas?). If that's really true, than we are in deep shit. We are im deep shit. One professor, John Baker estimates that there are almost 4500 federal criminal statutes at of 2004. That number is probably higher today. I'd have to do a lot of digging to find all of those criminal statutes and administrative regulations. That's strictly federal criminal law. Michigan has a large number of criminal statutes. Counties, cities, and townships have their own regulations as well. I don't think even Rainman could remember all of the federal regulations out there that result in prison time. Even the tax law books alone are thousands of pages.

Heritage Foundation has a good checklist which was posted in the redstate article. It's some guidelines that should be thought about in criminal statutes in regulations.

Originally, felony was reserved for the worst of the worst. In historic times that meant what was then death penalty crimes. Murder. Rape. Robbery. Kidnapping. That's what the citizens need protection from. Now we have not paying the Obamacare fine for not having proper insurance. Possession of some types of drugs result in sentences up to life in prison.

Here's what Heritage asks.

Criminal Law Checklist:

• Should it be a crime?
• Is a new federal criminal law needed
• What should criminal intent requirement be
• What is appropriate punishment.

If that isn't thought through, then don't pass that new law. Personally, I classify things into two areas. Stupidity and evil. In general, people shouldn't be branded felons or given long prison sentences for stupidity. Stupidity usually isn't a grave threat to society. Evil is. Evil constitutes of murder (including abortion), rape, robbery, most thievery (larceny, fraud, embezzlement), kidnapping, child molestation, abuse of power, assault with intent to do great bodily harm (Michigan's term), etc. The other legalities are stupidity. Drugs. Drug offenders need treatment, not prison. DUI. DUI offenders are only a threat on the road. Stupidity, not evil. Get them off the road and have them contribute to society instead of being in prison. I'm not threatened by a guy with a class III firearm without a permit. I'm not threatened by the guy smoking a joint if he's not driving. I'm not threatened by an illegal neighborhood poker game. Hell, I can legally play Keno at the bar after several glasses of whiskey. Things have gotten ridiculous.

There's more.

• New Criminal Laws Must Be Necessary and Precise
• Congress's careless should not endanger you
• Honest mistakes should not result in prison time
• Bureaucrats should not be making new crimes
• Repeal Unjust Laws

That should be obvious. Everybody should be able to understand criminal offenses. However, if I read a bunch of them to a crowd, I'll be getting a bunch of dumbfounded looks and people asking me, "What the hell is that?" The careless part references throwing people in prison on technicalities. Vagueness should favor the defense, not prosecution. The common law rule of lenity and void for vagueness rules do not get argued enough in criminal cases. That's often due to pleadings as most cases do not go to trial. Honest mistakes refer to criminal intent. Unfortunately, there's a growing trend in strict liability crimes where mental state does not matter. Most drug laws are strict liability. Bureaucrats refer to administrative regulations such as EPA. Repealing unjust laws is clear. We can start with the TSA and prison terms for Obamacare.

This needs to get pushed heavily at all levels of government.

• Inventors shouldn't get SWAT teams banging down their doors and two years in prison for not putting the right label on a shipping package. 
• The FBI and Homeland Security shouldn't push conspiracy and terrorism charges against small home laboratories.
• Honest mistakes by investors shouldn't result in 20 year prison charges.
• Americans shouldn't get eight years for breaking foreign laws. 
• 11 year old honor students shouldn't get arrested and charged with disorderly conduct for standing up to a bully.

This is unacceptable. This needs to change ASAP, or we are going to have to become outlaws in more ways than one.

Rick Snyder's tax increase passes. Poor politics. Worse policy.

First off, kudos to the following for still remembering what republicans are supposed to support and oppose. Lower taxes. Less spending.

Jack Brandenburg, Dave Hildenbrand, Joe Hune, Rick Jones, David Robertson, Tory Rocca, Anthony Forlini, Ken Goike, Pat Somerville, Rick Outman, Pete Lund, Andrea LaFontaine. These reps and senators voted the right way.

Those folks deserve our support, votes, and donations. They did the right thing. I'm glad to see my senator, Joe Hune, on that list. I won't have to run in a primary against him in 2014. He said he opposed the pension tax. When push got to shove, he voted against this because of the pension taxes. The MBT needed to go, but it did not have to be replaced by this crap. Joe Hune kept his word.

The rest of those not listed, including Pat Colbeck who deserves special mention for voting for it in committee before voting against it John Kerry style, should all be ashamed of themselves for supporting this gimmicky monstrosity. My rep, Bill Rogers I expected better from. He talks about being against gimmick budgets. This is a gimmick budget.

Former Congressman Dick Armey says it best. When we act like them (Democrats), we lose. When we act like us, we win. I'm quite embarrassed for my party right now. Too many of them followed a guy in Rick Snyder who frankly I don't think is even a Republican (I've never seen him at Republican events before he decided to run for governor). He's to the left of Andy Dillon, an elected democrat. At least Dillon's pro-life. I'm not surprised at Snyder. He's tight with Center for Michigan, which supports tax increases. He didn't promise anything about not raising taxes. As much as I beat up on Snyder on this blog, he is what I thought he is. I expect better from our reps. I expect them to be leaders, not follow those who lead into the ground.

I'm no Bill Milliken fan, but he said one thing that I agree with. Good policy is good politics. The inverse it also true. Bad policy is bad politics. It doesn't matter who proposes it. As the late Detroit Area talk radio legend, Mark Scott said. "A is A." Bad is bad. This is bad.

Why is it bad? Why is it gimmicky?

1. More money goes to government. Government hasn't earned it. We've had the fee increases. We've had "two penny Jenny" that was shot down eventually. We've had income tax increases, tax shifts, etc. Nothing changes. I'm not convinced this will either.

2. This budget only touched about 20%. About 9 Billion, give or take. 80% isn't touched. About 34 Billion. Over 80% of the spending. Until the 80% is addressed, any budget plan is unreasonable. We need to do things the hard way, amend the constitution to open up the entire budget, and go line by line through the whole thing to determine what is and is not needed.

3. The most derisive part of this is the pension tax. The big fight was over 300 Million dollars. That's a lot of money to most, but a drop in the bucket to government. Are you to tell me that we can't cut another 300 million? Even when limited to the so called discretionary fund budget of 9 Billion? Let alone the whole 43 Billion? Unbelievable. Bad politics, worse policy.

4. Snowbirds. Florida and Tennessee have no income tax. Guess where many retirees from Michigan move.

5. Income tax increases as well.

This isn't a tax cut. More money from individuals is being paid to government. That's a tax increase. While business taxes are being cut - which I support - the revenue did not have to be replaced by individuals, especially because it's going to a gimmick budget that covers 20%.

That's the policy, as to the politics of this, Rick Snyder and the house in about two months:

1. Make things easier for Obama to win. How many retirees are going to stay home or vote democrat due to the tax increase? Most seniors voted republican recently. They also voted for Bill Clinton and many democrats down ticket. They also are mostly independent. Look at the voting patterns in North Michigan and the thumb. They are highly erratic. In addition to the seniors, how many of their kids will be pissed off due to government going after those who busted their ass for 30+ years of hard work. Don't mess with my parents. I don't like that very much.

2. Gives the democrats a good chance at retaking the majority. In 2010, Republicans campaigned on less government and less taxes. The federal level has little progress. Little, but not none. My complaint there is "not good enough." Here, it's like Granholm never left. How are those swing districts in many of the rural areas going to go? The UP? The thumb? Northern lower Michigan? Between conservatives staying home ("Dimes worth of difference"), swing voter backlash, and the normal leftist vote, it's going to be tough going.

The first thing that needs to be done is a new bill stand alone killing the pension tax. Admit the screw up, and fix it. If that doesn't happen, it's time for some primaries in 2012. The Republican party needs to stand for less taxes, less government, and more freedom, and if the reps fail to live up to those principles, primary races need to occur so we have actual differences between them and the democrats.

Another trllion dollar deficit under Obama and Reid

So Bin Laden has been taken out. Great. The politicians didn't screw that up. I'll raise Obama's great of a 0% F- to a 20% F-, which is still a failure. That's amazing it wasn't screwed up because they are FUBAR-ing the deficit here. It's "fouled" up beyond all recognition.

From the AP

WASHINGTON – The government is taking in more tax revenue as the economy improves, but not nearly enough to keep the federal budget deficit from exceeding $1 trillion for a third straight year.

The deficit for April dropped to $40.5 billion, half the imbalance from the same month last year, the Treasury Department said Wednesday. Tax receipts were up 45 percent last month compared to the same month one year ago.

Still, the deficit is on pace to grow to $1.4 trillion in this budget year, according to the Congressional Budget Office. That would be greater than last year's $1.29 trillion deficit and nearly match the record $1.41 trillion deficit hit in 2009.

Obama's legacy is record deficits. This trillion dollar boondoggle would be a record under Bush, who also sucked on this issue. Bush's last year in office had a 450 Billion dollar deficit. Obama talks a game on this with his nose up in the air, but is a absolute failure when it comes to fiscal responsibility, just as he was as a senator. Harry Reid is as bad or worse.

As for John Boehner, the house proposals aren't good enough. The Paul Ryan budget isn't good enough. Right now, from both a policy and PR standpoint, anything that isn't a balanced budget without raising taxes isn't good enough. Take a page out of Mike Pence or Jeb Hensarling's book and push a balanced budget and put pressure on the senate to get a vote. Stop being Bush Republicans on this.

Every time Obama runs his mouth on the debt, he needs to be called out. No more commissions. No more task forces. Just don't spend what you don't have. Balance the budget, or shut the Hell up.

Time to call the State Senate to stop the Snyder tax increases

I'm really disappointed in my party right now, including with many of those I know quite well and respect. I expect crap from Rick Snyder. I'm not disappointed with him. I had no expectations of him, and didn't even vote for him in neither the primary, nor the general election. It was the first race ever where I didn't vote for a Republican at the top of the ticket, going back to my days before I was a Republican and often split my ticket 60-40. I went 3rd party last November as a protest against Snyder's vagueness, refusal to declare stances, associations (which is how I suspected him to be liberal), and his support for anti-life proposition 2. The fact that I'm actually fed up to the point where I'm posting this publicly says a lot about my concerns. These Granholmesque policies are going to kill us as a state, not to mention the credibility of my party. If Granholm is the Matt Millen of Governors, Snyder's on his way of being the John L "The coaches are screwing it up" Smith.

While I expect liberal policies from Snyder, I don't expect blind following or at best a compromise-lite plan of his plan. Bad policy is bad politics. Doing something solely for the sake of doing something is bad policy. Government that put itself in a bad position and getting bailed out by taxpayers is bad policy. The legislature's job isn't to follow leaders. The legislature's job is to represent the districts and BE leaders for the district. That means telling Snyder "I'm in charge, not you" when his policy is bad, or "This is good policy, I'll support it." when it's good. Unfortunately, this policy absolutely sucks as bad as Granholm's tenure. Here's my question to the legislators. If Virg Bernero won and came up with this plan, would you vote for it? If Granholm pushed this, would you vote for it? I know that answer, and it would be the right one. Hell, no! That's the answer that should have been given to the supposed "republican," Rick Snyder. "Hell, No" followed by a push for an amendment to actually "reinvent Michigan" as Snyder says, and go after the 80% of the budget that isn't going to be touched with this plan.

From the Free Press

Gov. Rick Snyder, relying entirely on the votes of fellow Republicans, won narrow approval for his sweeping overhaul of Michigan's business and income taxes Thursday, setting the stage for a final, and possibly more difficult, battle in the Senate.

The Snyder proposal -- swapping out the current Michigan Business Tax for a much smaller corporate income tax and eliminating a host of tax exemptions and credits, including Michigan film incentives -- squeaked through the House, 56-53, the bare minimum needed. Six Republicans and every Democrat voted against it.

Backers of the package, which cuts net business taxes more than 80%, or $1.7 billion, said it would make Michigan a better place to do business and create jobs. Opponents decried the loss of income tax exemptions for most pension income and the elimination of most of a tax credit that provides extra income to people who are working but poor. They said it shifted the tax burden from business owners to poor and elderly people.

House Speaker Jase Bolger, R-Marshall, said the House's GOP majority -- the first since 2006 -- was "elected to make change. This is a turnaround moment for the state."
.....

The Snyder tax plan would result in a $350-million tax on currently exempt pension income in 2013 and delay for a year a scheduled income tax rate cut that would cost taxpayers $213 million. In total, income tax revenue would rise nearly $1.5 billion in 2013, nearly as much as business tax collections would decline.

You gotta be kidding me. I expect better from the state house. This is a gimmick tax and spend measure like what Granholm pushed. Approximately 80% of the budget isn't even touched. All these tax increases and shifts are over a 20% portion of the budget since the rest is not considered "discretionary" due to state constitutional or federal concerns. The state should tell the feds to screw off, and amend the state constitution so we can have real line-by-line expenditure reform to adjust to the recessions. Nobody is doing that. It's the same fight we've had every single year with tax increases, tax shifts, creative accounting, declining revenues and until the last two years or so, increased spending.

I'll be calling Joe Hune's office Monday. I suggest all those opposed to this do the same and call their state senator and have them shoot this down. This can give our friends in the house a chance to give themselves a mulligan. If you want reform, go after more than just the so called discretionary budget. No more tax increases. No more gimmicks.

-------------
I'd like to add my thanks to Reps. Anthony Forlini, Ken Goike, Pat Somerville, Rick Outman, Pete Lund, and Andrea LaFontaine for doing the right thing and voting no.

Another bullshit commission/task force from Obama

One of my favorite sayings is "Talk is cheap." That goes double in politics. I don't care what most politicians say what they are going to do. I care about what they have done.

Obama's record on fiscal matters is horrific. He's now pulling the same stuff with gas prices. As the famous line from the Talking Heads song Once in a Lifetime goes - Same as it ever was.

Here's his classic method of operation.

1. Politician does a piss poor job on an issue for years.
2. Same politician talks a good game about needing to fix the piss poor job that he has done.
3. Same politician forms a commission or task force or other do nothing measure.
4. The press will buy into politician's task force/commission because that's a good story.
5. Nothing gets done to fix the piss poor job, but the politician can pat himself on the back and say he's doing something.
6. Repeat on other issues.

That's Obama's MO. Like the budget.
1. Obama talks a game in 2009 after signing record deficits.
2. Obama claims a new awakening in early 2010. It was bullshit then.
3. More cheap talk in June 2010
4. Obama talks about deficit again in October

What's happened since? He won't even accept the Paul Ryan budget, which frankly isn't good enough. Now he's spreading his bullshit from budgets to gas prices.

From the AP.

LOS ANGELES – President Barack Obama said Thursday that the Justice Department will try to "root out" cases of fraud or manipulation in oil markets, even as Attorney General Eric Holder suggested a variety of legal reasons may be behind gasoline's surge to $4 a gallon.

"We are going to make sure that no one is taking advantage of the American people for their own short-term gain," Obama said at a town-hall style meeting at a renewable energy plant in Reno, Nev.

And we have this gem from the story.

There's not much Obama can do to affect the price of gasoline in short term, something he acknowledged in his remarks. Gas prices have risen steadily as a result of tensions in the Middle East and northern Africa and rising demand from China and other emerging economies.

Given that no evidence has yet surfaced of actual fraud or price manipulation in oil markets, Obama's remarks appeared, at least in part, as more of an attempt to assuage public anger over rising gas prices.

So this whole thing is a crock. There's admittedly no evidence except a politician running his mouth. This isn't new. Speculators. Unrest. Increased demand. Supply artificially stopped thanks to big government in some areas. That's how it was in the past, is now, and will always be unless things change.

This is a long term problem years in the making. Obama has a long piss poor record on this. Unlike some, I'm not giving him a free pass for his record as a senator. For the last six years, he could have helped on this. Not only didn't he help, he LIKES high gas prices. It's easier for the Chicago Machine to support social engineering to move people to the city and increase their revenue and their power. Screw global warming. Screw a perceived and unreal threat to polar bears and/or caribou. It's time to put America first and start thinking of energy as a national security and economic issue. That means we need to take advantage of what we have. We need an all of the above America first energy policy and that includes both fossil fuels and non fossil fuels.

Talk is cheap, and when it comes from Obama, it's worth about as much as Bill Clinton's promises.

Rick Snyder needs a reality check

I got most of a robocall from Snyder's people today asking me to call Joe Hune and tell him to support the budget and the pension tax, saying that it doesn't touch social security (you gotta be shitting me with that being the justification, and that's the edited version of what I said). It was a rather pathetic talking point. I was frankly embarrassed that this guy is supposedly from my party. I called Joe's office, thanked him for his opposition, and told him that I opposed this and why I did. I skipped the profanities in the call, but I'm irked enough to use them here.

The Bill Milliken saying is that Good policy is good politics. I rarely agree with anything Milliken did, to the point where I'd vote for most democrats over him. That saying is true, and the inverse is even more true. Bad policy is bad politics. Snyder is pushing bad policy right now. It's horrible politics.

Democrats are gleeing right now as a democrat polling firms numbers on Snyder.
Public Policy Polling. Now some are wondering, why I'm posting a dem poll on a conservative GOP leaning blog. Because I think if the numbers aren't true, they are close, despite high democrat sampling of voters. Their numbers.

Virg Bernero 47, Snyder 45. Approval 33%, disapproval 50%.

Among Republicans - 68% Approval, 13% Disapproval, 19% not sure. (and I think many of those 19% are being polite to the pollster)

Among Indys - 32% Approval, 44% Disapproval, 25% not sure.

That ain't good, and I see that here on the street. A lot of social conservative independent populists (IE - Seniors) remember the bad things about their perceptions of republicans. They are normally false perceptions. "Republicans are corporate stooges for the rich." In Snyder's case, it's tougher to defend.

The problem is that Snyder's budget, like everything else that comes out of Lansing the past 20+ years is based on a false premise. The false premise is that only the so called "discretionary fund" is allowed to be touched. That puts about 82% of the budget as off limits. That's an unacceptable starting point. "Why isn't discretionary" was my question to a legislative aide. "Because of either the feds or constitution" "State Constitution?" "Yes" "That can be amended."

If Snyder wants to reinvent government instead of more of the same, he needs to start with opening up the entire thing. By announcing this tax increase, he lost much of his political capital to do that and needs to earn it back. This budget - at least the tax portion, is already likely DOA due to conservatives opposed to this teaming up with democrats who want to see him fail, and look good opposing the tax increase. Seniors, many who whom live off their PENSION, are going to vote democrat or stay home after they see their checks decrease, which were earned mostly for 30+ years of hard work. Why won't they. They'll mistake Snyder for being a republican in general.

As to our legislators, the question to them is this. Do you want to do the right thing and lead with your own plan, or be followers to someone who really isn't your boss. Being followers is what cost our party in 2006. We can not make the same mistake again.

What Snyder needs to do with this budget, is 1. Admit that he blew it and 2. Push for a constitutional amendment opening up the entire budget so we can fix the structural problems, and not raise taxes. People don't usually care about the process. They care about the pain. They see pain coming their way, and also see a government with a history of being FUBARed giving it to them, once again asking them for a bailout.

We don't need Granholm II. We don't need the Snyder plan. We need an actual Republican plan without more of the same, and tax increases. Start by opening up the entire budget. If that can't be done, fix it so it can. Anything else will kill us in 2012.

Snyder, Republicans, and the budget

Right now there's a lot of hype and speculation about the state budget. Papers have been talking about "the republican plan." Currently, there is none. That's not meant as an attack. It's simply a statement of fact. All there is right now is speculation and a proposal by one proclaimed individual Republican in Rick Snyder.

Rick Snyder introduced his proposal which includes some tax increases (which I strongly oppose), some budget cuts, and some tax cuts. It's a Snyder plan, and not yet a Republican plan. It hasn't gone through any committees yet, let alone the full house. It's one person and his people's plan. Period.

Don't expect the Snyder plan to sail through the house and the senate as is. It'll be modified through committees. What we need to do, is keep a close eye on the committees, especially appropriations, watch what happens in committee, and make sure something more acceptable comes out of there.

The pension tax needs to be stopped, unless you want to see a mass exodus of snowbirds (and their money). That'll result in less money to the state coffers as well. That's not to mention that seniors are the most independent voters out there. They voted for Clinton, Gore, Bush, and McCain. They aren't too happy with Snyder right now. We need to make sure that Snyder doesn't represent Republicans when it comes to this budgetary issue. We need to publicly stop this in its tracks and repudiate it as not being representative of Republican politics. Bad policy is bad politics.

The MBT repeal is a good idea. So are some of the cuts. I draw the line with the tax increases. If the total tax code - including property taxes - was scrapped and started over, I'd be more open. This is less of a gimmick budget than the past, but what's going to happen down the road when the seniors leave town?

Snyder talks about shared sacrifice. I agree to a point. Government needs to live within its means period. Those cuts can hurt, but that's the sacrifice we need. We're all hurting in this economy. Mom and dad shouldn't bail out government for government getting themselves into this mess with eight years of Granholm combined with big government state legislatures from Sikkema, Johnson, and Dillon.

Right now, there's significant opposition to this pension tax in the senate, including my own senator Joe Hune.

Jack Brandenburg, Patrick Colbeck, Mike Green, Geoff Hansen, Joe Hune, Rick Jones, John Moolenaar, Mike Nofs, David Robertson, and Tory Rocca all came out opposed to the pension tax. Not surprisingly, most of them are from blue collar districts.

We need to keep an eye on the appropriations committees and make sure something acceptable comes out of there for a full vote. The Republican Plan should not include the tax increases. Period.

Federal Budget Proposals by House GOP or Obama - Neither is good enough

I'm going to start with this. The debt is at 14 Trillion. The deficit is over 1.3 trillion a year. It was a big issue in the 2008 elections and the democrats got their ass kicked.

Now all of a sudden, politicians are running their mouths about it. Wow. Obama, who broke Bush's records is talking about it and is supposed to mention it in his state of the union speech which I plan on skipping (Why would I want to see a politician run his mouth?).
From ABC

Pursuing a path of deficit reduction and government reform, President Obama will tonight in his State of the Union address call for a ban on earmarks and he will propose a five year budget freeze on non-security related discretionary spending, ABC News has learned.

The proposals come as the president prepares to tackle the deficit and debt and as he faces a House of Representatives in Republican hands, many of whose members include those affiliated with the Tea Party who may be willing to embrace both moves.

The president will propose some new spending in certain areas that address the speech’s theme of “How We Win the Future”: innovation, education and infrastructure. But those increases will be proposed within the context of a proposed partial budget freeze.

The FY 2011 budget was $3.8 trillion; $1.415 trillion of which was discretionary spending. The president's proposal would save, according to estmates, roughly $400 billion.

Talk is cheap, and Obama's record on spending speaks for itself. He talks a game and then breaks Bush's records. He's the worst resident of the White House ever in the history of this country when it comes to big spending. He signed the bills and didn't veto them. He supported them. Period. Even worse, a freeze on a 1.4 trillion dollar per year deficit still breaks Bush's records. His plan sucks.

But Obama isn't the only one who sucks on spending. Congress also sucks, and the latest from the Republicans isn't good enough either. It sucks less.

From UPI

WASHINGTON, Jan. 25 (UPI) -- The U.S. House of Representatives Tuesday passed a measure returning the budget to 2008 levels.

The House voted 256-165 along party lines to instruct House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan, R-Wis., to set this year's budget at or below 2008 spending levels, The Hill reported.

That's not good enough. We don't need 2008 budget numbers. Those were also big deficits and on par with Bush's records. That sucks less. That's like picking the 2010 Detroit Lions over the Matt Millen era. It's an improvement but it is still below .500 and it still misses the playoffs.

We need a balanced budget, period, end of story. We need to reduce and eventually eliminate the $204 Billion a year in interest that is thrown away. We need to pay down the principal on this debt. We need to do so without raising taxes. Anything else is unacceptable. No gimmicks. No band-aids. Balanced budget.

Deficit Reduction Commission is bullshit as I expected

I called this one. Federal and State government created Commissions to look at issues are jokes. They have been in the past, are presently, and will be in the future. They are a joke because they appoint retired politicians and bureaucrats to the commission to give recommendations on issues they don't know anything about or don't have the right perspective to give a correct statement. Politicians appoint commissions because they don't do anything while making it look like they are doing something. The old saying is this. If you can't dazzle them with brilliance, baffle them with bullshit. Commissions are bullshit. What baffles me is how Washington thinks that a commission is needed to balance the budget. It's been sort of done. Newt Gingrich's congress did it.

Here's how to balance the budget. It's a brilliant plan. It's the best one there is, thanks to my genius intelligence. Do not let expenditures exceed revenues. There. That's it. It doesn't take 27 years like the commission suggests either.

It's not hard. Government needs to live within its means. Don't raise taxes. Don't overspend. We can start with eliminating federal programs and organizations that aren't needed, like the BATFE or the Department of Education. Education is a state issue and local, not federal. No Child Left Behind didn't work.

Obama's new awakening on fiscal matters is absolute bullshit

We have had record defects from Mr. Obama. These trillion dollar deficits dwarf anything that Bush delivered. The TARP bailout from the previous administration was also Obama's fault, as well as McCain's for that matter. Obama voted for it. He administers it today. We then had the stimulus bill that was only stimulating for government and did nothing to create jobs. Bush was bad on spending. Obama was worse. Now all of a sudden, he is now running his mouth about fiscal policy? What the hell was he doing the past 18 months? Or his 4 years in the senate? This is bullshit.

From the Hill

President Barack Obama’s proposal to freeze government spending is turning out to be a tough sell on Capitol Hill.

His liberal base warned Tuesday the three-year cap on most non-defense discretionary spending could hamper an economic recovery. Conservatives dismissed it as insufficient and just for show.

Even the bipartisan group of lawmakers who praised Obama’s plan, most of them centrists, questioned whether he has the fortitude to veto plump spending bills that fail to adhere to the limits he has set. They also wonder if he will take further steps to rein in the $12.3 trillion federal debt.

Top Republicans, including Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) and Sen. John McCain (Ariz.), offered tepid support for Obama’s plan, saying it wasn’t enough.
“Of course I’m glad, but now there’s got to be spending cuts,” said McCain, who called for a discretionary spending freeze during the 2008 presidential debates. “They’ve added nearly 20 percent in spending in the past year. So a freeze is the right thing to do, but we’ll have to see how it gets implemented.”
.....

GOP senators who have blasted Obama for backing big-ticket items, such as the $787 billion stimulus and the bailouts of banks and the auto industry, said his spending freeze will do little to fix the economy.
“To me it’s totally meaningless,” said Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.). “But it’s obvious why he’s doing it. The idea is smart: He’s going to try to make people think he’s concerned about spending, which he isn’t.”

Inhofe got it right on the nose. This talk about freezes is bull. We don't need freezes. We need spending CUTS. We are spending billions upon billions just in INTEREST on the national debt. That's one of our biggest expenses. It needs to be paid. It should be reduced, heavily.

Next up, we have the horse to go with the bull. I never liked commissions. The 9/11 commission was a joke. All commissions on the federal level are jokes. They are made up of DC elitists and power brokers, and has-beens who want to get back in the spotlight and hear themselves run their mouths. There's not much here that even needs to be talked about. Voinovich though goes crazy. I'm not McConnell's biggest fan, and even less of a fan of Voinovich. Also from The Hill

Sen. George Voinovich (R-Ohio) excoriated Republican colleagues, including Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.), Tuesday for having voted against a law to set up a commission to address the nation's long-term fiscal health.

Voinovich, a longtime deficit hawk, teed off against 23 fellow Senate Republicans who jointed with some Democrats to defeat a proposed bipartisan commission to address deficits and the national debt.

"The issue that I'm raising with Republicans is if you are not for this commission, then what are you for?" Voinovich said during a conference call with reporters. "And if the president is forced into creating an executive order and you criticize that executive order, then how are you going to explain what you want to do to deal with this problem?"

What the hell is a commission going to do? It's going to run its mouth and make recommendations. It doesn't take a rocket scientist or a commission to figure out the fiscal problems in big government. In fact, it is quite obvious. Government can not spend more funds than it takes in. That's it. All that is needed is enough no votes or something Obama could have used on the stimulus package. It's called a veto. It's quite simple, even a caveman can figure it out. However with the insanity going on in DC, it won't be figured out. We have the batshit thinking on Capitol Hill to with its cousins the horse and bull, and they won't do Jack to solve the problem because they are chicken, driving normal people ape. There. I covered all the animal variations of the term, except the dog.

Until Obama starts using the veto pen and actually reduces the deficit, I don't want to hear anything he says, because we all know it is absolute....................I'll let you fill in the rest.

Obama lecturing about debt is like the Detroit Lions talking about winning

Who the hell is Mr. Obama to say anything about debt? He makes Bush look like a moderate spender. From Reuters

BEIJING, Nov 18 (Reuters) - President Barack Obama gave his sternest warning yet about the need to contain rising U.S. deficits, saying on Wednesday that if government debt were to pile up too much, it could lead to a double-dip recession.

With the U.S. unemployment rate at 10.2 percent, Obama told Fox News his administration faces a delicate balance of trying to boost the economy and spur job creation while putting the economy on a path toward long-term deficit reduction.

This is from the guy who voted for the bank bailouts and Bush's bad spending as a senator. He was even worse as the punk-in-chief, as he bankrupted GM and Chrysler after bailing them out, pushed through nearly a trillion in the stimulus failure, and he just got his trillion dollar plus healthcare takeover through the house. That's all in addition to the regular record deficit budget.

Son, when you correct those problems, then you can say something about the debt. Until then, you can sit down and shut your mouth.

Granholm signs budgets

The budget has been signed.
From Peter Luke

"The budget is signed. State government will not shut down," Granholm said in a conference call with reporters. "This is the state budget we have, but it is not the budget we need."
Granholm blasted the Republican-controlled Senate's "extremist" ideology that she said fails to consider revenue options to restore funding for the eliminated Michigan Promise college scholarship, the 11 percent cut state aid to local governments, and 8 percent cut to Medicaid providers and the $127-per-pupil reduction she ordered last week in K-12 education.
"It is a budget I don't agree with and don't support," Granholm said.
"It makes cuts that are too deep and are too painful for kids going to college, families keeping their families health and keeping their streets safe."

The budget is largely the product of a September agreement by House Speaker Andy Dillon, D-Redford Twp., and Senate Majority Leader Michael Bishop, R-Rochester Hills, to close a $2.8 billion spending gap for general state services and schools -- half through cuts and half through using federal stimulus dollars. Granholm's efforts to insert nearly $700 million in new revenue into the agreement was rejected.
Dillon said Friday in a statement that Bishop broke his word to seek a middle ground approach that would include revenue to restore 2010 cuts after they took effect. Bishop has said repeatedly that there were no votes in his caucus for higher revenue beyond that already passed. Those include capping tax credits for low-wage families and film production in Michigan. The Senate tied the revenue to cuts in the Michigan Business Tax.

This is a lesser of two evils budget. It's a continuation, gimmick budget with no reforms. This is a George Bush budget. It's better than John Kerry or the tax increases, but that's not saying much. Why? Because we have no reforms, no structural changes, and the same problems going to happen next year and the year after. Already a 300+ billion shortfall is projected for next year.

I do get a laugh out of Granholm, the Matt Millen of Governors, once again blaming the GOP, when the democrats control two full branches of the Michigan government, and nearly control the 3rd.

The best news is that she's gone after next year. We can't do worse.

Roll Call on Tax votes. Who voted what.

Tim Bledsoe and Dan Scripps voted for some, not all of the taxes. They are still tax raisers and need to be treated as such election time. Don't let them have things both ways.

HB5352 - Income Tax increase

Voting Yes:
Kathy Angerer (D) - Monroe County
Fred Durhal (D) - Detroit
Richard LeBlanc (D) - Westland
Roy Schmidt (D) - Grand Rapids
Vicki Barnett (D) - Farmington Hills
Kate Ebli (D) - Monroe
Gabe Leland (D) - Detroit
Bette Scott (D) - Detroit
Joan Bauer (D) - Lansing
John Espinoza (D) - Croswell
Lamar Lemmons (D) - Detroit
Joel Sheltrown (D) - Ogemaw County?
Doug Bennett (D) - Muskegon
Doug Geiss (D) - Taylor
Steve Lindberg (D) - UP
Mike Simpson (D) - Jackson County
Terry Brown (D) - Thumb
Lee Gonzales (D) - Flint/Suburbs
Ellen Cogan Lipton (D) - Oakland County
Jim Slezak (D) - Genesee County
Pam Byrnes (D) - Chelsea
Vincent Gregory (D) - Southfield
Lesia Liss (D) - Macomb County
Alma Smith (D) - Ypsi
Barb Byrum (D) - Ingham County
Marty Griffin (D) - Candidate for State Senate, Jackson
Jeff Mayes (D) - Bay City
Dudley Spade (D) - Adrian
Ed Clemente (D) - Downriver
Richard Hammel (D) - Genessee County
Gary McDowell (D) - Rudyard
Woodrow Stanley (D) - Flint
Bob Constan (D) - Downriver
Harold Haugh (D) - Macomb County
Mark Meadows (D) - East Lansing
Jon Switalski (D) - Macomb County
Marc Corriveau (D) - Plymouth
Shanelle Jackson (D) - Detroit
Tim Melton (D) - Auburn Hills
Rashida Tlaib (D) - Detroit
Andy Coulouris (D) - Saginaw
Bert Johnson (D) - Detroit
Fred Miller (D) - Macomb County
Mary Valentine (D) - Muskegon County
George Cushingberry (D) - Detroit
Robert Jones (D) - Kalamazoo
David Nathan (D) - Detroit
Rebekah Warren (D) - Ann Arbor
Robert Dean (D) - Grand Rapids
Andrew Kandrevas (D) - Southgate
Andy Neumann (D) - Alpena
Jimmy Womack (D) - Detroit
Andy Dillon (D) - Redford
Deb Kennedy (D) - Downriver
Gino Polidori (D) - Dearborn
Coleman Young Jr (D) - Detroit
Marie Donigan (D) - Royal Oak
Mike Lahti (D) - UP

Voting NO
Dave Agema (R) - Kent County
Kevin Elsenheimer - Bellaire?
Ken Kurtz (R) - Coldwater
Sarah Roberts (D) - St Clair Shores
Justim Amash (R) - Kent County
Bob Genetski (R) - Allegan County
Matt Lori (R) - Constantine
Tory Rocca (R) - Sterling Heights
Richard Ball (R) - Shiawassee County
Kevin Green (R) - Kent County
Pete Lund (R) - Macomb County
Bill Rogers (R) - Brighton
Tim Bledsoe (D) - Grosse Pointe
Jennifer Haase (D) - Macomb County
Jim Marleau (R) - Oakland County
Wayne Schmidt (R) - Traverse City
Jace Bolger (R) - Marshall
Gail Haines (R) - Waterford
Tom McMillan (R) - Oakland County
Tonya Schuitmaker (R) - Paw Paw
Darwin Booher (R) - Evart
Goeff Hansen (R) - Hart
Arken Meekhof (R) - West Olive
Paul Scott (R) - Grand Blanc
Lisa Brown (D) - West Bloomfield
Joseph Haveman (R) - Holland
Kim Meltzer (R) - Macomb County
Dan Scripps (D) - Leelanau
Brian Calley (R) - Barry County
Dave Hildenbrand (R) - Kent County
Tim Moore (R) - Farwell
Kate Segal (D) - Battle Creek
Bill Caul (R) - Mt Pleasant
Ken Horn (R) - Saginaw County
Chuck Moss (R) - Oakland County
Dian Slavens (D) - Canton
Hugh Crawford (R) - Novi
Mike Huckleberry (D) - Greenville
Paul Opsommer (R) - Clinton County
Jim Stamas (R) - Midland
Kevin Daley (R) - Lum
Rick Jones (R) - Eaton County
Phil Pavlov (R) - St Clair County
Sharon Tyler (R) - Niles
Cindy Denby (R) - Fowlerville
Marty Knollenberg (R) - Troy
Tom Pearce (R) - Rockford
John Walsh (R) - Livonia
Larry DeShazor (R) - Kalamazoo County
Eileen Kowall (R) - Oakland County
John Proos (R) - St. Joseph

------------------
HB5384 - Raises Business Taxes (Same roll call as before, outside of Bledsoe who voted yes)

Kathy Angerer (D) - Monroe County
Fred Durhal (D) - Detroit
Richard LeBlanc (D) - Westland
Roy Schmidt (D) - Grand Rapids
Vicki Barnett (D) - Farmington Hills
Kate Ebli (D) - Monroe
Gabe Leland (D) - Detroit
Bette Scott (D) - Detroit
Joan Bauer (D) - Lansing
John Espinoza (D) - Croswell
Lamar Lemmons (D) - Detroit
Joel Sheltrown (D) - Ogemaw County?
Doug Bennett (D) - Muskegon
Doug Geiss (D) - Taylor
Steve Lindberg (D) - UP
Mike Simpson (D) - Jackson County
Terry Brown (D) - Thumb
Lee Gonzales (D) - Flint/Suburbs
Ellen Cogan Lipton (D) - Oakland County
Jim Slezak (D) - Genesee County
Pam Byrnes (D) - Chelsea
Vincent Gregory (D) - Southfield
Lesia Liss (D) - Macomb County
Alma Smith (D) - Ypsi
Barb Byrum (D) - Ingham County
Marty Griffin (D) - Candidate for State Senate, Jackson
Jeff Mayes (D) - Bay City
Dudley Spade (D) - Adrian
Ed Clemente (D) - Downriver
Richard Hammel (D) - Genessee County
Gary McDowell (D) - Rudyard
Woodrow Stanley (D) - Flint
Bob Constan (D) - Downriver
Harold Haugh (D) - Macomb County
Mark Meadows (D) - East Lansing
Jon Switalski (D) - Macomb County
Marc Corriveau (D) - Plymouth
Shanelle Jackson (D) - Detroit
Tim Melton (D) - Auburn Hills
Rashida Tlaib (D) - Detroit
Andy Coulouris (D) - Saginaw
Bert Johnson (D) - Detroit
Fred Miller (D) - Macomb County
Mary Valentine (D) - Muskegon County
George Cushingberry (D) - Detroit
Robert Jones (D) - Kalamazoo
David Nathan (D) - Detroit
Rebekah Warren (D) - Ann Arbor
Robert Dean (D) - Grand Rapids
Andrew Kandrevas (D) - Southgate
Andy Neumann (D) - Alpena
Jimmy Womack (D) - Detroit
Andy Dillon (D) - Redford
Deb Kennedy (D) - Downriver
Gino Polidori (D) - Dearborn
Coleman Young Jr (D) - Detroit
Marie Donigan (D) - Royal Oak
Mike Lahti (D) - UP
Tim Bledsoe (D) - Grosse Pointe

Voting NO
Dave Agema (R) - Kent County
Kevin Elsenheimer - Bellaire?
Ken Kurtz (R) - Coldwater
Sarah Roberts (D) - St Clair Shores
Justim Amash (R) - Kent County
Bob Genetski (R) - Allegan County
Matt Lori (R) - Constantine
Tory Rocca (R) - Sterling Heights
Richard Ball (R) - Shiawassee County
Kevin Green (R) - Kent County
Pete Lund (R) - Macomb County
Bill Rogers (R) - Brighton

Jennifer Haase (D) - Macomb County
Jim Marleau (R) - Oakland County
Wayne Schmidt (R) - Traverse City
Jace Bolger (R) - Marshall
Gail Haines (R) - Waterford
Tom McMillan (R) - Oakland County
Tonya Schuitmaker (R) - Paw Paw
Darwin Booher (R) - Evart
Goeff Hansen (R) - Hart
Arken Meekhof (R) - West Olive
Paul Scott (R) - Grand Blanc
Lisa Brown (D) - West Bloomfield
Joseph Haveman (R) - Holland
Kim Meltzer (R) - Macomb County
Dan Scripps (D) - Leelanau
Brian Calley (R) - Barry County
Dave Hildenbrand (R) - Kent County
Tim Moore (R) - Farwell
Kate Segal (D) - Battle Creek
Bill Caul (R) - Mt Pleasant
Ken Horn (R) - Saginaw County
Chuck Moss (R) - Oakland County
Dian Slavens (D) - Canton
Hugh Crawford (R) - Novi
Mike Huckleberry (D) - Greenville
Paul Opsommer (R) - Clinton County
Jim Stamas (R) - Midland
Kevin Daley (R) - Lum
Rick Jones (R) - Eaton County
Phil Pavlov (R) - St Clair County
Sharon Tyler (R) - Niles
Cindy Denby (R) - Fowlerville
Marty Knollenberg (R) - Troy
Tom Pearce (R) - Rockford
John Walsh (R) - Livonia
Larry DeShazor (R) - Kalamazoo County
Eileen Kowall (R) - Oakland County
John Proos (R) - St. Joseph

------------------------
The Doctor's Tax - 5386

The following legislators supported 2009 House Bill 5386 (Impose new tax on doctors ):
Angerer (D) Barnett (D) Bauer (D) Bennett (D) Brown, T. (D) Byrnes (D)
Byrum (D) Clemente (D) Constan (D) Corriveau (D) Coulouris (D) Cushingberry (D)
Dean (D) Dillon (D) Donigan (D) Durhal (D) Ebli (D) Espinoza (D)
Geiss (D) Gonzales (D) Gregory (D) Hammel (D) Haugh (D) Jackson (D)
Johnson (D) Jones, Robert (D) Kandrevas (D) Kennedy (D) Lahti (D) Leland (D)
Lemmons (D) Lindberg (D) Lipton (D) Mayes (D) McDowell (D) Meadows (D)
Melton (D) Miller (D) Nathan (D) Neumann (D) Polidori (D) Schmidt, R. (D)
Scott, B. (D) Scripps (D) Sheltrown (D) Simpson (D) Slezak (D) Smith (D)
Spade (D) Stanley (D) Switalski (D) Tlaib (D) Valentine (D) Warren (D)
Womack (D) Young (D)

The following legislators opposed 2009 House Bill 5386 (Impose new tax on doctors ):
Agema (R) Amash (R) Ball (R) Bledsoe (D) Bolger (R) Booher (R)
Brown, L. (D) Calley (R) Caul (R) Crawford (R) Daley (R) Denby (R)
DeShazor (R) Elsenheimer (R) Genetski (R) Green (R) Griffin (D) Haase (D)
Hansen (R) Haveman (R) Hildenbrand (R) Horn (R) Huckleberry (D) Jones, Rick (R)
Knollenberg (R) Kowall (R) Kurtz (R) LeBlanc (D) Liss (D) Lori (R)
Lund (R) Marleau (R) McMillin (R) Meekhof (R) Meltzer (R) Moore (R)
Moss (R) Opsommer (R) Pavlov (R) Pearce (R) Proos (R) Roberts (D)
Rocca (R) Rogers (R) Schmidt, W. (R) Schuitmaker (R) Scott, P. (R) Segal (D)
Slavens (D) Stamas (R) Tyler (R) Walsh (R)

The following legislators did not vote on 2009 House Bill 5386 (Impose new tax on doctors ):
Haines (R) Nerat (D)

More on the tax votes

While the source is left of center, Ed Brayton and Michigan Messenger has more information than has been reported from the AP wires so far.

On the tax bills:

Among the bills passed were:

HB 5352, which freezes the the yearly inflation adjustment on the personal income tax exemption. This bill passed by a 58-51 margin early in the evening.

HB 5384, a “shell” bill that will likely reduce some exemptions under the Michigan Business Tax. This bill passed 57-52.

HB 5386, which places a 3 percent tax on doctors in order to fund a Quality Assurance Assessment Program for doctors in the state. By establishing those assessments, this bill would also qualify the state for an additional $822 million in federal matching funds for Medicaid reimbursement.

The Doctor's tax was the most controversial.

The voting on this bill began just before 7:15 pm and within a few minutes it became obvious that the bill was going to fail. There were 56 votes against the bill on the board by 7:25. But the voting remained open for nearly another hour, during which time presumably some members were pressed to change their votes.

At 8:21, the chair suddenly ordered the clerk to tally the vote, which was 56-52 in favor of the bill. Four legislators had been convinced to change their votes: Rep. Jimmy Womack (D-Detroit), Lee Gonzales (D-Flint), Dan Scripps (D-Leelanau), and Marc Corriveau (D-Plymouth).

I'd like to see which democrats or republicans defected from the party line. Scripps and Corriveau should be targeted in a big way for their votes.

Bill Rogers on the tax votes

I just got an email from Bill Rogers right after my post on the doctor tax. Here's what Bill sent out to us.

House Democrats Vote To Raise Your Taxes
Tonight, Lawmakers Penalize Taxpayers, Business Owners and Doctors

I am outraged that tonight, the House Democrats pushed through a series of tax increases on Michigan residents and job providers in order to balance the state's budget, while stalling for the last nine months!

In bills ultimately approved by the Democrat-led state House, the proposals raise taxes by almost $400 million, including the elimination of $116 million in Michigan Business Tax credits that Livingston County businesses have been utilizing, a new health care tax, and the elimination of a scheduled $100 increase in per person deduction for state income taxes.

It is unbelievable to me that we even considered tax increases when Michigan families and businesses already took a massive hit in 2007 with an income tax increase and a massive 23% surcharge tax added onto the new Michigan Business Tax (MBT). To bring up tax increases at the 11th hour under the cover of darkness is a stunning breach of the public trust. We had a bi-partisan, signed agreement to balance the state's budget without raising taxes, and now the Democrats have broken that deal!

To end a government shutdown in 2007, Democrats proposed and pushed through a $1.4 billion tax increase, one of the largest ever in Michigan's history. Since that time, Michigan's unemployment rate has more than doubled. The state is facing a $3 billion shortfall for the current fiscal year it is working on and is already facing a projected $1.4 billion shortfall for the following fiscal year!!!

We must balance the state's budget without relying on Michigan residents and business owners to send more of their hard-earned money to Lansing. I am embarrassed that the House Leadership continues to pass the buck on Michigan's future instead of making the tough decisions that need to be made.

We MUST look at making the structural reforms now if we ever want to get our state back on track financially and economically.

All taxes bills passed by the Michigan House must now be approved by the Michigan Senate and signed by the Governor. To see how your Legislator voted on these tax increases, please visit www.michiganvotes.org.

Michigan House Democrats raise taxes on doctors

Way to increase health care costs with taxes, dumbasses. It's time for us to call our state senators tomorrow morning. Valde will be getting a call on this.

Bad news from USA Today

The Democratic-led Michigan House has voted to put a 3 percent tax on doctors' gross receipts to raise more federal matching money for state-run health care programs.

The House voted 56-52 mostly along party lines Tuesday to send the proposal to the Republican-led Senate.

Doctors who see Medicaid patients would benefit from higher reimbursement rates generated by the tax. Doctors who treat few or no Medicaid patients would lose out.

I'm looking for the roll call for this vote. As soon as I find it, it'll be posted here. Same for all the other tax increases.