Agenda or Responsibility

The Associated Press reported on May 27^th, 2012, that New York State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli was using the state’s pension fund as a cudgel to influence employers to create company policy to ban discrimination against homosexual or transgendered employees.

Shareholders have the right to present resolutions to companies in an effort to have their voice heard. Often this is done by a group of individuals upset with the company’s performance, perhaps stock prices are not where they were expected to be, or dividends are down.

What DiNapoli is doing is trying to force Exxon Mobil, a U.S. Corporation, to follow the Comptroller’s liberal agenda. Exxon says the measure is unnecessary. The AP quotes Exxon as saying the company already prohibits discrimination of all kinds, referring to itself as a “Meritocracy.”

But DiNapoli wants to add what for him is a feel good policy to the corporation that explicitly focuses on homosexuals and transgendered individuals. He says he has a “double bottom line” for the funds he is entrusted with on the part of all state employees. The income’s important, but so is his social agenda.

In a time of economic uncertainty, shouldn’t his focus be solely on his responsibility to do the best for state pensioners, and not on his own far left agenda?

http://www.syracuse.com/news/index.ssf/2012/05/ny_comptroller_thomas_dinapoli.html

From Kingston, with Love

There’s a heart shaped, painted wooden sign, stuck in the ground somewhere in the town of Centralia PA. Somewhere in town is the best way to put that, I think, since most of the town’s landmarks have been gone for a long time. The sign reads, to Centralia, with love from Kingston New York.

Fifty years ago, the Centralia fire department set fire to a town dump to help clean up the town for a Memorial Day Celebration, and the fire burns to this day. The town sits above a great many abandoned coal mines, and not long after igniting the blaze the mines caught fire as well. Sulphuric steam rises from breaks in the asphalt that was once Route 61.

A fight ensued between residents who wanted to evacuate, and those who didn’t. The evacuees won out, and by the 1980s over a thousand people had moved away, their homes reduced to rubble by bulldozers.

But some residents refused to leave. It seems not all of the homes and lives were in danger. But for whatever reason, the state decided a few years ago to revisit the issue and ordered those remaining to leave. For those souls who have lived in Centralia without incident for the past 50 years, this is nothing more than a land grab for the coal beneath their feet.

At best this is a well intentioned effort to help landowners. Then again, how often has eminent domain been used for the benefit of property owners?

Oh So Special Interests

Time and time again, we read of "special interest groups" lobbying Congress. President Obama derided special interest groups during his election campaign, declaring they would have no place in his administration. The political left, and I would include the President in this category, are particularly vociferous in their condemnation of special interest groups. Over and over again, the print media and the major television broadcast networks fret over the meddling influence of "big business" over Capitol Hill.

What goes unspoken through the vast majority of these outlets is the influence of left leaning organizations.

The latest salvo in the influence peddling and meddling wars comes from the Service Employees International Union, a 2.1 million member strong organization that spent $85 million in support of the current president's election, and plans to spend an equal amount on his re-election.

The union hopes to field 100,000 workers in eight key battleground states to push our sitting president into another term.

For his part, President Obama has reached out to plenty of special interests during his administration. After deriding Mitt Romney for dealing with private equity firms, the president sidled up to the head of the Blackstone Group, garnering a fundraising dinner.

ABC News' Political Punch commented,

The Obama campaign has framed its about-face decision to support a pro-Democratic super PAC as an effort to counteract “unlimited money from special interests,” particularly corporations, allowed in the wake of the Citizens United Supreme Court decision.

So in framing the argument, the president sees all interests other than those supporting his agenda as special interests. His comments are disingenuous at best. In February of 2011, he banned contributions from

"corporations, political action committees and federally-registered lobbyists offering to help pay for the event. (referring to the 2012 Democratic National Convention)."

It was good PR. But the ban on PAC money only referred to the convention, and in that regard, the president has been true to his word.

http://votesmart.org/interest-groups

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2012/06/19/labor-union-limits-focus-to-8-battleground-states/

http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2012/05/obama-courts-private-equity-cash-at-new-york-fundraiser/

http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2012/02/obama-to-benefit-from-special-interests-via-super-pac/

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/02/04/obama-ban-2012-convention_n_818992.html

Slots for Tots

Gambling has become a national obsession. The promise of millions of dollars annually has cleared the way for casinos in many states. The state of Maryland now has five casinos, the largest and most lucrative, recently opened adjacent to the Arundel Mills Shopping Center.
Slot machines were legalized in a number of Maryland counties back in the 1940s, generally with the promise that proceeds would pay for children's education and lower property taxes. Stories of bankruptcy, theft, and malfeasance soon followed. Several public officials admitted being approached by interested parties to sell their votes for pro-gambling initiatives. By July of 1968 gambling was once again illegal in the state.
But the lure of a cash flow without raising taxes on the public soon brought a state-wide lottery, with the promise (can you see it coming?) of better educations for the children of the state. Then in 2008, voters (again warned that their children's education would suffer without it) voted for casino gambling.
Before the first slots were set in place, State Senate President Mike Miller began saying that five casinos were not enough. If children were to continue to receive a quality education, a sixth casino (in his home county) would be needed.
Before the largest casino was opened, a state official remarked that revenues were not what they'd expected, and therefore table games should be added to the casinos. Who could argue with such logic? After all, you wouldn't want the children to suffer, would you?
The sad truth is that Maryland is no different than any of the other states with lotteries and/or casinos. Raising taxes on the citizenry costs votes, offering fun and excitement doesn't. But what of the real cost? How about the families devastated by bankruptcy, divorce, or jail time for a loved one because of addiction to gambling?
Gambling is a stealth tax that disproportionately reaches into the pockets of those least able to afford the loss of income. That's not to say those who are well off do not gamble, or suffer from the effects of their gambling. They have the luxury of disposable income.
Casinos are the worst form of taxation. With smiles, bright lights, and good food they promise riches and glory one token at a time.
And the children's education? Somebody please show me a state where the education budget went up in direct proportion to the amount of taxes generated by gambling. The truth is this is a shell game. The money exists for the education budget. Monies that would have been allocated for education are redistributed into other departments, leaving the gambling receipts to cover the load.
Some refer to gambling as the "stupid tax." It's more of a luxury tax. One that a lot of people don't have the luxury to afford.

For a nice study of gambling in MD:
http://maryland-politics.blogspot.com/2008/11/marylands-sordid-slots-history-about-to.html

Some info on the effects of gambling:
http://www.troubledwith.com/AbuseandAddiction/A000000707.cfm?topic=abuse%20and%20addiction%3A%20gambling