The Price of Tax Cuts

For those of you who support massive tax cuts and support the idea that George Bush’s tax breaks, which mainly benefit the top 10% of the US population, should be made permanent, then you would be wisely advised to pay attention to the new situation that has suddenly crept up in Tampa Florida. After months of holding special sessions urged on by Governor Charlie Crist, the state has adopted a bill which will slash property taxes by more than 25% and will reduce next years spending to the level of what it is today. As a result several counties now face real challenges in keeping their fire department and police forces at current levels. These counties include, Hillsborough county, Hernando County and Pinellas county. There are plans in motion to put a fee on all emergencies from EMS services to the arrival of the Fire department saving your home.

The proposal would hand the bill to the insurance companies which on the surface of things would seem like a good idea but once peel back the layers of details surrounding the outcome of such a proposal it is not hard to see that the real loser in this whole affair will be the American tax pair. After all, insurance companies look loop holes that allow them to avoid paying for any of the current crises situations that we have grown accustomed to being covered for. It would be easy to assume that at some point that those who are struck with an unfortunate circumstance will have to be the ones responsible for covering charges for the needed emergency services that arrive at a crisis situation. So the question must be asked, both facetiously and partly serious, how long will it take for people to be unable to afford calling the fire department. This may sound like a stupid question seeing that no fire station would allow a home to go up in flames without attempting to save the home but, if the individual has to, in the end flip the bill, then suddenly a horrid picture develops. Remember there was a time that hospitals couldn’t withhold services but now it happened all the time. It is could very well lead to privatization of some of our most vital services.

Already, 121 employees have been cut from several of Tampa’s governmental non-emergency positions with 115 slashed altogether. In all that’s 236 jobs that no longer exist. To make matters worse, Mayor Pam Iorio have given those workers 90 days to find jobs with no severance packages. The move has reportedly cut $ 15 million dollars from the city’s budget. However, Iorio has gone on to say that more spending has to be cut from the city’s budget and more jobs will be slashed from the payroll. It seems curious that her office would allow so many workers slip through the cracks without a severance package assuming that the search for work takes many of those who were given a pink slip longer than the three months given.

We’ll see. Until Next time.

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When The Pinch Comes Down On Everyone

 

            If you listen to Fox news or to most of the major networks, you’d get the impression that the economy is at the start of a new bubble and that the Clinton record employment was around the corner. Unfortunately, what is being reported and the everyday reality for most Americans is vastly different. The unemployment rate for teens looking for summer jobs is looking to hit a 57 year high because post college graduates and older workers are forced into jobs that would normally be considered entry level positions. 

 

While it has been a decades long accepted fact that the thirty to forty year old generations will be the first two in history that will be forced into lower living standards than our parents or our grandparents. This fact is but one reason the housing market continues to be in a steep slump that will last for the foreseeable future. Many real estate agents are now jumping the now sinking US housing ship which is a clear sign that the employ pool looks to only get deeper which will feed the situation of the failing market. When one considers the ever increasing prices in the major metropolitan which includes steep property taxes you can see why there is an exodus from cities like Tampa Bay. As a side note, Florida Crist did promise to lower property tax in the state, even held a special session, but now seems to be backing out of the promise of his campaign. There were a few Democrats did warn about potential problems from the bill that came out of the special session. Some suggested that the bill surly did not do enough to lower the property tax on home owners. The long term outcome of the bill has been a domino effect on jobs concerning the housing market. This goes behind just agents but reaches into the construction business.

 

            The most interesting aspect of a failing economy that is starting to unveil itself, is not the fact that it is hitting the poor and middle class, that’s the accepted norm. But it is now affecting the white collar worker. One has to only look at the past three days and the fact that even Wall Street is showing the signs of crumbling under the weight of its own cannibalistic nature. This is not to say that we will see a total collapse of anything tomorrow nor the next day or next year but the limitation of the past 7 years when it comes to our economy is starting to show itself. One would have to ignore history or be ignorant of it to not notice a spiraling trend.  For starters the federal coffers are now bare. The increase in our international trade deficit continues to reach historical highs every year. As of now, China continues to finically support the Bush White house’s drunken spending spree which ranges to the illegal war in Iraq to the missile defense system that is moving us ever closer to another arms race with Russia. More frightening, the White house continues to try and put pressure on their savings and loans Country of the East to accept trade agreements that favor our country. Such arrogance is odd considering we continue to slip ever more into debt. But this seems to make little difference to those who drive the great machine forward towards a likely economic cliff. There is also a sense that our funding for cheap goods relationship with China will continue as it had under the Clinton administration. Sooner or later China will find greener pastures dealing with the EU which for both parties would make economic and political sense. What growing economy wants to be tied to a sinking ship? The truth is, not many. 

      

   

And then there is the United States unwillingness to move away from oil as their economic base and b. as our main fuel source. When one looks at those countries that provide the world’s oil, many of them have either pulled away from the US hegemony like Venezuela and Iran or they are in total chaos like Iraq and Darfur, a country that has turned to China as one of their man customers, to few other African countries. The volatility those Governments of oil producing countries can be seen at the gas bumps here at home. While it has helped the sales of the hybrid automobile, it has done little to convince those in Washington to push for a real green energy infrastructure. The best they could come up with is ethanol which will prove to only increase the green house effect. The exhaust from any burning vegetation is methane gas which is far denser than CO2 but even the Democrats are far too tied to farming lobby groups to speak out against this quasi green energy alternative which is nothing more than a pay off. Further more, the shear cost both in production and distribution of fuel will be astronomical according to several sources. Fewer people will be able to afford to drive. The fact is that ethanol is an environmental in the same way that the group “Ducks Unlimited” is a conservation group. It’s really front for those who continue to push our economy down the rabbit hole.  

 

Until nest time.

   

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