Jay Dardenne - On the Issues

Massive Taxes are in Our Future

By C.B. Forgotston

In February of this year, Bobby Jindal presented to the lege the State Operating Budget for the current fiscal year. The total was $24.2 BILLION. The budget contained NO additional CUTS to healthcare and higher education.

When the leges finished going over the State Budget, by June it had ballooned-up to $26.9 BILLION; plus it contained significant CUTS to healthcare and higher education.

In other words, the leges added $2.7 BILLION to the budget but reduced funding to Healthcare and Higher Education.

In addition to the additional cuts to Higher Education, the leges increased the tax on college students and their parents.

It gets worse.  The current budget contains $2.8 BILLION in non-recurring revenues; meaning the funds will not be there at this time next year.

To put the non-recurring figure into perspective, it will require doubling the state’s 4% Sales Tax (8% plus local taxes) to replace those revenues.   Or the leges could increase the State Sales Tax to 7% plus reimpose the Stelly Tax via the Personal Income Tax.

Finally, for the really bad news; the governor and leges all know the above, but they have no plan to address the fiscal crisis or its impact on our economy and there is nobody even working on a solution. (Full article here)

C.B.

Nationalize vs. Free Market

By Teaparty of Louisiana

May 17, 2010 - Chris Matthews from MSNBC's Harball  feels that BP oil should be nationalized in order to get the job done.   Additionally he claims that people in China are more "brutal" and would execute people for making this type of mistake.

July 21, 2010 -  An oil pipeline explosion occurred in China's Yellow Bay.  The pipeline is owned by China National Petroleum Corp, Asia's largest oil and gas producer by volume. The cause of the explosion is still unknown. "We don't have proper oil cleanup materials, so our workers are wearing rubber gloves and using chopsticks," an official with the Jinshitan Golden Beach Administration Committee told the Beijing Youth Daily newspaper, in apparent exasperation. So far there haven't been any reports of persons being executed as a result of the explosion.   Read More...

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Nationalize or Not - What do the people say?  In a Rasmussen poll released on July 23, 2009, 75% of American voters prefer free markets over government managed economy. 14% favor a nationalized economy, while 11% are uncertain.

If 75% of America believes in the free market system then what does that have to say about Matthews credibility? It doesn't matter how much something is regulated there will always room for negligence.  Many of the smaller independent companies are being priced out of competition through endless government regulations, leaving only the big names remaining. The trickle down effect  will have a negative impact on all other related industries impeding not only Louisiana's economy but the US economy.  The moratorium  will  create the loss of 10's of thousands of jobs and billions of dollars in lost wages and revenue. In order to continue doing business some companies have left Louisiana for other countries.  What kind of message does this send to The People?

Louisiana provides 35% of the nation's energy, either produced or imported and comprises of approximately 45% of the nation's wetlands which doubles as a hurricane buffer. Louisiana has a multi-billion dollar seafood industry to go along with it's outstanding recreational fishing. Louisiana is the largest producer of oysters in the world. The port of south Louisiana is one of the largest in bulk cargo ports in the world.

Twice the supreme courts have overruled the President's moratorium. How can one person have so much power with a stroke of the pen? This  limitless power is dangerous.  BP has nearly stopped the leaking. Will Washington stop the bleeding? Louisiana has recovered from three major hurricanes in the last 5 years.  Will Louisiana recover from Washington?

Down With the Rich, Again?

by Llewellyn H. Rockwell, Jr.

Maybe you saw the headlines blasting the rich (again!) for failing to spend money in order to enable us to get out of this everlasting recession. It turns out that in boom times, the rich spent $145 per day. Now they are only spending $119. So, there we go: a new scapegoat! Those greedy rich people are failing to do their duty.

The press reports that the rich are not booking at the Four Seasons, not putting on the Ritz, and not filling their closets with furs and jewels from Saks. It gets worse. The women who shop for goodies by Dries van Noten and John Galliano told the New York Times that their husbands are telling them to cool it on designer bags, shoes, and dresses. Yet another reason for the recession: patriarchy!

But still, I’m not entirely sure I can follow this. In normal times, we are told that the rich are rich only at the expense of everyone else. One man’s wealth is another man’s poverty. It’s a fixed pie, and one reason for human suffering is precisely the tendency of the rich to spend their filthy lucre on fripperies. They engage in conspicuous consumption that does nothing but feed their egos even as the world’s poor suffer.

Suddenly, the line has changed. Now it is the moral obligation of the rich to cough up in order to help the rest of us. Especially now that government stimulus has proven to be ineffective, the rich should make it their patriotic obligation to spend, spend, spend! To be sure, the left-leaning commentariat is not willing to go so far as to favor tax cuts for the rich. For that would put us "in an Alice in Wonderland world," says Sam Pizzigati of the Institute for Policy Studies, in which we help the people we are supposed to hate.

Tea Party Activists Just 'Tip of the Iceberg'? - John Boehner