Mitch's Financial Bungling

I am seriously surprised that not much has been made of Critics: Welfare changes cost state $100M so far:

"The 12 counties including the cities of Kokomo, Anderson, Muncie and Marion saw food-stamp participation fall 3.5 percent in the 12 months beginning November 2007 after the state took away individual welfare case managers and introduced call centers and the Internet as tools for determining eligibility, said the leaders of senior advocacy organizations and others.

In counties still operating under the old system with case managers for each household, food-stamp participation grew 14.3 percent over the same period.

A spokesman for the Indiana Family and Social Services Administration said the critics' numbers were wrong and that food-stamp participation has increased in modernized counties."


***

One of the critics, former Vigo County Welfare Director Glenn Cardwell, said the $100 million in lost economic activity figure represented a benchmark because backers of the welfare changes in the Daniels administration have said it would cost the state that much to cancel the IBM-ACS contract.

Cardwell calculated that figure by estimating the economic activity that would have been generated if participation in food stamps and TANF had grown in the modernized counties as they had in counties still under the old system.

***

FSSA spokesman Marcus Barlow said participation in food stamps has increased in the counties where welfare has been modernized.

"We disagree that people that are eligible for food stamps aren't getting them," Barlow said.

Barlow provided numbers that challenged the critics' without directly contradicting them. The critics said food-stamp participation fell from 13,450 to 7,956 from November 2007 to November 2008. Barlow countered that food-stamp use in all of the 59 modernized counties grew from 111,115 in February 2007 to 112,263 in December 2008.

Toll Road Troubles?

Just finished reading Rumors point to MIG defaulting on Indiana Toll Road debt from Blue Indiana. The toll road deal probably stands as Mitch Daniels' chief accomplishment of his first term but has fallen off my radar. The deal never impressed me either in and of itself or as a sign of Daniels' business acumen. This confirms my opinion that the lease was just too long but adds another problem: declining revenues may cause us to get back the Toll Road in a worse condition.

BioTown Making The News

I caught BioTown 'not slowing down,' state says in The Muncie Star Press.

"REYNOLDS -- In October 2007, VeraSun Energy Inc.'s plan for a 110-million gallon ethanol plant near this White County town was put on hold. The company cited unfavorable market conditions.

Then this past fall, the company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy amid the credit crunch and global economic recession.

Still, efforts to make Reynolds live up to its moniker -- BioTown USA -- have not been given up.

'BioTown is not slowing down,' said Deborah Abbott, spokeswoman for the Indiana State Department of Agriculture.

VeraSun 'is not part of the original BioTown concept,' she said, and the company's issues are having no effect on BioTown"

I agree with Thomas over at Blue Indiana that BioTown sounded gimmicky but then I always thought Mitch Daniels only capable of gimmicks. Some other good points from Blue Indiana:

I wish Reynolds and the folks behind this project all the best of luck, but until we see serious incentives for investment in the alternative energy sector, there is only a slim chance we'll see these outfits move away from the gimmick and toward reality. Much of that will depend nationally on the success of President Obama's energy plan, which has promised pretty big results on a compressed time-line.

Governor Daniels, for his part, hates recycling almost as much as he loved the photo-op back in 2005.

Updating Republicans Hold Onto Top State Offices. Why?

Yesterday John Ketzenbarger wrote Voters sought change; Mitch got the nod which I did not see until today but does fit into my post Republicans Hold Onto Top State Offices. Why?.

House Speaker Patrick Bauer, D-South Bend, and Daniels have developed a grudging mutual respect in the last four years. Case in point: privatizing the Hoosier Lottery. After Bauer objected, Daniels offered to bond against lottery proceeds to raise the money for college scholarships instead, an idea with more appeal to Bauer.

That give and take is important. Indiana needs progressive leadership to remake the state's economy and re- educate its work force, said John Mutz, a former lieutenant governor. "I won't say it's desperate, but this is a crucial moment in the economic history of the state," Mutz said.

Hence the desire for change.

"Some (change) will be good and some may be difficult," said Frank Hancock, the owner and chief executive of Sport Graphics. "But if it gets the country all headed in the right direction, (with) everyone better working together, it will be good for all, regardless of owning a business or working for one."

The voters knew what they were doing.

Governor Daniels: Indiana loses 3,300 jobs in September

The good thing is that we lost less than Michigan?

Indiana loses 3,300 jobs in September:

"Preliminary numbers from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics show that Indiana lost about 3,300 jobs in September. Indiana was among 41 states and the District of Columbia that lost jobs last month.

But there's some good news for Indiana also. The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate fell from 6.4 percent in August to 6.2 percent in September. Indiana's unemployment rate was the lowest of its neighboring states.

The state can lose jobs while employment rises because the unemployment rate takes into account other factors, such as the number of people looking for a job.

Indiana's loss of about 3,300 jobs was far less than some other states. Michigan lost more than 28,000 jobs while Kentucky lost more than 13,000."

Elkhart makes The New York Times

Surprised in too many ways when I saw the subject of the headline As Industries Dry Up, Frustration and Despair was Elkhart, Indiana:

ELKHART, Ind. — To understand just how grim things have gotten in this northern Indiana town, consider a new law passed last month by the City Council that limits residents to one garage sale a month.

It seems the perpetual garage sales — which for scores of people in this town are a sole source of income, and for others the only source of clothing — were annoying some residents. The restrictions will make the financial pinch that much tighter.

Guess I missed the local paper or the Indianapolis Star reporting on this.

Elkhart, near the Michigan border in an area known as Michiana, is the white-hot center of the meltdown of the American economy. Its main industries, the manufacturing of recreational vehicles and motor homes, have fallen apart over the last year because of high gasoline prices. That has taken down ancillary businesses like R.V. parts suppliers and storage warehouses.

The jobless rate in Elkhart has increased more than in any metropolitan area in the country; it rose over 4.8 percentage points from August 2007 to August 2008. According to labor statistics released this summer, nearly 10,000 people were out of work, a rate of 9.3 percent.

“I’m just dwindling to the bottom,” Melinda Owens, 24, said as she emerged from the unemployment office.

City services are on the decline, and hold-ups are on the rise — there were nine armed robberies or attempted armed robberies on convenience stores in just the last two weeks. On Friday, the front-page news of the paper, The Elkhart Truth, was about a local plastic company that was actually not closing its plant.

Since The Times could care less about Indiana politics, the following is both interesting and not:

Political yard signs in the area seem to be about half and half, and interviews with people on the unemployment line break about even, too. But that in itself may be remarkable. Indiana has voted for a Democrat for president exactly once since 1936: in 1964, when Lyndon B. Johnson took the state.

In some of the political talk, there are undercurrents of something other than concern about Mr. Obama’s relatively short experience in Washington.

“I think Obama’s kind of arrogant,” said Theresa Ghrist, 40, whose work schedule has been reduced at her R.V. plant. “When it comes down to it around here, people are going to vote color, and I don’t think people are ready to vote for a colored president. I don’t care myself, but at work a lot of people talk color there.”

A co-worker, Jim Podemski, agreed with her assessment, but added, “I wouldn’t want to vote Republican again.”

I wonder a bit more how this will impact the governor's race. I guess the governor's claim that he is improving the state economy depends on where you are looking. I suspect it does look rosy where he looks around his office.

More on Race and Indiana (and we're not talking the 500)

This from the IBJ's NewsTalk Blog:

"Long-time IUPUI political scientist Brian Vargus reminds that in the May primary election Obama failed to capture so much as a single county in a gigantic “U”-shaped swath around the Indianapolis area. That “U” begins near Fort Wayne and extends south to cover virtually all of southern Indiana and up the western side of the state to Lafayette.

Are people in that “U” racist? It would be naïve to think that some aren’t, Vargus says. Most of the apparent discomfort with Obama probably comes from the largely rural areas having little contact with minorities, he suspects.

Hardly anyone admits to pollsters that race influences their vote. Yet, Vargus notes that polls in other states have shown 5 to 15 percent of respondents say their neighbor wouldn’t vote for a person of color."

And this from TPM's, Indiana Republicans Making Voting Harder for Blacks:

To win Indiana, Obama would likely need a big turnout from three low-income, heavily African-American cities, in the northern part of Lake County, near Chicago. Those three cities -- Gary, Hammond, and East Chicago -- together comprise more than 40 percent of the county's population. But under Indiana law, early voting can take place only in the county clerk's main office, which for Lake County is in Crown Point, more than an hour's drive from those cities.

As a result, on September 23, the county board of elections, on a 3-2 party-line vote, approved the opening of satellite early-voting centers in the the three cities. (State law specifically gives elections boards the authority to approve satellite voting centers, and early voting occurred at the centers in advance of the Democratic primary in May.)

But Republicans argue that the decision is unfair to voters in other parts of the state, many of whom would still need to travel to their county seat to vote early. Last week, the county GOP challenged the move, arguing that the centers can only be approved through a unanimous vote of the election board, and asking for a restraining order on early voting. Superior Court Judge Calvin Hawkins -- a recent appointee of the state's GOP governor, Mitch Daniels -- issued the order Friday.

Within hours, a federal judge had vacated that decision, and announced a hearing this Thursday to resolve the issue.

Democrats had hoped to open the satellite voting stations today, but have agreed to hold off until the issue is resolved. They have said that if the restraining order is not upheld on Thursday, they plan to open the centers the following day. But whatever happens, almost a week of easier access to the polls for many of the county's low-income residents has been lost.

Also see Voter Suppression Battle Brewing In Northwest Indiana.

A minor observation, a question really, about annoying Lake County: it seems all this could backfire on the Governor who seems to want to make nice with the toll road country.

Miscellany: McCain, the Global Financial Mess

Some items I was sent recently or which I ran across this morning. Not enough time to comment on other than to say they are worth a look.

McCain, Obama, and Palin (Thirty days out and I doubt any of this will change anyone's mind - does anyone really believe that McCain is the best choice now?):

1. The Double-Talk Express
2. Mad Dog Palin
3. Palin’s Alternate Universe
   
4. Illuminating Our Choices
5. The Uplifting Debate
6. Obama and ’60s Bomber: A Look Into Crossed Paths (Does anyone really care -except Sarah Palin? - about a guy who has no role in Obama's campaign? Has no one on the Republican side noticed that Obama is not even very much of a Seventies guy, let alone a Sixties radical kind of guy?)
7. Lessons Taught By FDR
8. Sarah’s Pompom Palaver. Wherein Maureen Dowd asks a very good question:

   We could, following her strenuously folksy debate performance, wonder when elite became a bad thing in America. Navy Seals are elite, and they get lots of training so they can swim underwater and invade a foreign country, but if you’re governing the country that dispatches the Seals, it’s not O.K. to be elite? Can likable still trump knowledgeable at such a vulnerable crossroads for the country?

9. Pitbull Palin Mauls McCain which offers a nightmare that I seem to share with Frank Rich:

   You have to wonder how long it will be before they plead with him to think of his health, get out of the way and pull the ultimate stunt of flipping the ticket. Palin, we can be certain, wouldn’t even blink.

I promise nothing more on Palin unless she is field dressing a moose live on television.

Indiana:

• Inner-city housing rehab group sinking
• From MattTully of The Indianapolis Star: Factors that will sway the election (I cna hope that the Obama voters go to Long Thompson instead of Daniels).
  
• Be sure to check out the headlines/links on the right for more on Indiana politics and news. Things are happening here. This election has put us in the position of having an actual say in who will be President.

The Sunday Herald continues its examination of the global financial crisis:

1. The trouble with Europe
2. Smoke, mirrors ... and how a handful of missed mortgage payments started the global financial crisis

Now for something sensible, Punditry. A Professor Bainbridge blog. Conservative but fairly sensible.

Summit explores carbon capture, storage ideas

Summit explores carbon capture, storage ideas:

"With federal greenhouse gas limits possible in the near future, Indiana's utilities could soon face the challenge of reducing carbon dioxide emissions from coal-fired power plants that generate most of the state's electricity.

A state-sponsored two-day summit exploring that issue and fledgling technologies that could eliminate carbon dioxide emissions by burying the liquefied gas far below ground drew about 150 people this week to the IUPUI campus.

Gov. Mitch Daniels told the gathering of business, academic and environmental leaders that the nation seems poised to set limits on carbon dioxide emissions to combat climate change.

With those caps likely coming, he said Indiana needs to be a leader in so-called carbon capture and sequestration - removing carbon dioxide from industrial emissions before it enters the air and burying it deep underground beneath dense layers of rock."

Geez, why whenever Mitch Daniels talks about leadership I see him as the Gopher of the Titantic? He seems to always know when leadership is needed by no idea of how to lead or where to lead.

Muncie Mayor Wants to Privatize Police & Fire

Oh, yes, the Republicans want to privatize everything. Mostly I think of this as a si9gn of poor leadership and lack of imagination (a la Mitch Daniels), but Mayor McShurley has a better excuse: current property tax funds are declining in Muncie. Why are they declining because jobs have left the area and with them employees and their incomes. Many reasons exist for all these problems but two years without a sensible economic leadership from Indianapolis (and seven years of the same insensibility from Washington) have made matters worse.

It also does not help that Republicans believe that there is no civil society which government represents but only individuals.

For more read Mayor considers privatization, possible layoffs:

"The state Legislative Services Agency told the city earlier this year that it would lose $3.2 million in property tax revenue in 2009 and $4 million in 2010.

The LSA has since told cities that its early figures were flawed.

Still, McShurley said, 'That's the only numbers we have to go by.'

Muncie City Council adopted a $40.5 million spending plan for 2008. McShurley said she is looking for areas in that budget where she could trim about 10 percent in coming years."

***

Aside from scrutinizing public safety, the mayor is also reviewing contracts between the city and service providers, including information technology and housekeeping. She is looking to eliminate positions through attrition where possible, and hopes to privatize certain city operations.

One area prime for privatization is the city animal shelter, McShurley said. Under a privatized model, the city would own the animal shelter but contract with an outside agency to operate it, possibly the Humane Society.

About Indiana's Economic Numbers

A bit of old news worth remembering - Muncie's Star Press published Numbers don’t support state’s claim all is well:

"The state's experiment with the privatization of the welfare system is seriously flawed. The 500 people who showed up for a town hall meeting in Muncie last week is ample evidence, as are the dozens of letters and calls from desperate families to local newspapers after losing their Medicaid and food stamp benefits. That's not to mention the local social service agencies and food banks that say they are strained by a massive increase in need."

***

During the February to February period, the number of households in the 12-county pilot program area receiving food stamps -- which average slightly more than two people each -- dropped by 1,259 or 2.37 percent. Eight of the 12 counties showed losses. Just four had gains, including Tipton County, where the gain was five households, and Carroll County, which gained one household over the year.

In Delaware County, 510 fewer households received food stamps, a decrease of 7.47 percent. In Madison, Blackford and Cass counties, the number of food stamp households dropped 5 percent or more.

Fifteen counties outside of the Marion call center region and not part of the privatization program during the same period, were checked. All showed an increase in food stamp numbers -- every single one. That includes wealthy Hamilton County, which had a 6-percent gain.

We need to remember this as we hear Mitch Daniels' touting his record as Governor.

Did IDEM Violate Indiana's Open Door Law?

Shocking to think that any such thing would happen under Mitch Daniels but Counselor to rule in BP phone records dispute was in last week's Indiana Lawyer.

"Indiana's public access counselor is investigating whether environmental officials violated public records laws by failing to release complete records of phone calls made about the time of a public hearing on the BP Whiting oil refinery's air permit.

Public Access Counselor Heather Neal is expected to issue an official opinion by June 26 on a complaint by the Post-Tribune of Merrillville about public records.

The northwest Indiana newspaper filed the complaint last month after the Indiana Department of Environmental Management said it did not have all the itemized cell phone records requested.

The newspaper had asked for records of cell phone calls made Feb. 1 through March 20 by Dan Murray, assistant commissioner of the agency's Office of Air Quality. That included March 14, the date of a public hearing on BP's air permit.

IDEM said it didn't have records for Murray's calls for the month around the hearing and that it only receives itemized bills when Murray goes over his allotted minutes. After the Post-Tribune filed the complaint, IDEM found more records with assistance from the state Office of Technology, which it said keeps the records."

Gas is $4.14 and What are We Doing About Mass Transit?A

The Indianapolis Star gives us some news on the light rail system in Choosing the right track:

"As gasoline prices climb above $4 a gallon, pressure is building on area planners to develop a public transit system quickly, efficiently and without breaking the bank.

The leading option would rely on the next generation of commuter trains: diesel light rail locomotives that are less costly than electric-powered trains and quieter and less polluting than traditional engines.
Advertisement

The Metropolitan Planning Organization is recommending these 'light diesel' vehicles for a $160 million, 19-mile line that could be built over the next three to five years from 146th Street in Fishers to Downtown Indianapolis."

***

Also, regardless of which approach is chosen, the old Nickel Plate tracks proposed for the line will need to be ripped up and replaced, at a cost of $40 million to $50 million.

Art Hall, chairman of the Indiana Transportation Museum in Noblesville, thinks his proposal to use old museum trains would be the most economical.

He wants planners to consider using his fleet of four traditional locomotives and eight passenger cars.

With a little bit of upgrading and modernization -- think televisions, refreshments and wireless Internet in a comfortable setting -- Hall, 61, predicts a decent starter commuter rail line could be up and running for less than $20 million.

***

Though their engines are smaller, DMUs are able to reach speeds of 60 mph to 70 mph -- about twice the speed of some traditional locomotives -- and can seat about 90 people in a single-level car. By comparison, a traditional coach would hold about 60.

The planning organization is proposing using double-decker cars that can accommodate up to 145 seated commuters and as many as 360 standing commuters.

Also, DMUs are hybrids that can be easily converted to run on electricity, said Sisler, a Cleveland-based veteran transit developer who is a member of an Ohio committee on rail.

***

The proposed commuter route here -- it would run from 6 to 9 a.m. and from 4 to 6 p.m. at 30-minute intervals -- would mean noise and pollution for those who live along the tracks.

The Star has a map of the proposed route within Marion County here.

We needed mass transit more than what we needed all the wasted energy over the Interstate Commerce Connector. Nothing should show the problem with Mitch Daniels' and a vision for Indiana as does our lack of mass transit. He talks about having a vision but no evidence exists that he is not looking backward down the path.

My wife commutes to Noblesville. Every rise in gas prices creates a violent reaction in her. She tells me she would take a train to Noblesville so she could work. Right now she cannot understand how those co-workers getting only minimum wage are able to drive to work.

Anderson and Indiana's FSSA Modernization

Stale news with a lot of importance here via Anderson's The Herald Bulletin, Residents angry at welfare meeting:

FSSA began a modernization pilot program in 12 counties, including Madison County, late last year. Since then, local social service agencies have been flooded with complaints. In March, FSSA expanded the program, outraging its critics.

FSSA’s Mitch Roob maintains that the state has statistics to suggest that the program is helping more Hoosiers.

Judi Turpen of Anderson stood before the crowd and said her mother was recently at risk for being evicted from her assisted living facility because Medicaid would no longer pay the bill. Turpen says FSSA workers wanted to force her to take her mother into her own home, which is not wheelchair accessible. “I called Gov. Daniels’ office and said my house isn’t accessible, but I know yours is because I paid for it.”

After threatening to move her elderly mother into the governor’s mansion, Turpen said, FSSA workers finally resolved her problem.

The story got picked up on Taking Down Words with FSSA, Higher Ed: When will the privatization stop?. I suggest reading the comments at TDW.

Watching Indiana Week in Review I heard someone comment that the presidential race sucked the life out of the governor's race. I think that Indiana's Democrats will all agree that we do not care who is our candidate as much as we want Governor Daniels gone. This FSSA privatization project demonstrates everything that is wrong with the Daniels administration from theory to execution.

One citizen’s experience: the failure of HUD/FHEO enforcement of civil rights under the Fair Housing Act « A Citizen, Pro Se

I became aware of A Citizen, Pro Se through a comment left on my Indiana Civil and Business Law Blog. Reading her blog, I thought further discussion was more appropriate over here on Trifles.

Reading the following paragraph in One citizen’s experience: the failure of HUD/FHEO enforcement of civil rights under the Fair Housing Act « , I am wondering if this is not how Governor Daniels plans on balancing the budget:

"The larger issue here is the Indiana agency’s indifference to the case-handling requirements spelled out in 24 CFR — requirements which are the basis for their certification as a FHAP (enforcement) agency, as well as for their authority and their funding. The Indiana agency is treating the Federal law and regulations as optional — and the Regional and Federal levels of HUD/FHEO appear to be supporting them in this."

This is looking like a trend. See my IDEM Under Fire.

We have seen the Bush model of governance is to not govern unless the act profits their friends. I cannot disagree that the federal government has limits on its range of action. Unlike the federal constitution, Indiana's constitution imposes duties on the state government to act. The most important duty of either government is protection of its citizens. When the state governments refused to protect all of its citizens, the federal government moved into the vacuum. We are really screwed when both state nor federal governments neglect their duties to their citizens.

The Indiana Civil Rights Commission has duties to perform. That it is not doing so needs to be laid at the feet of Mitch Daniels.

Kernan/Shepard Commission Report Still Alive?

Er, didn't the Governor punt on the Kernan/Shepard report by offering his own plan. Well, the Indianapolis Business Journal and Ball State do not seem have gotten the memo:

Study: Government reform could save $400M: "A new Ball State University study shows Hoosier taxpayers could save $200 million to $400 million a year by implementing recommendations from the commission headed by former Gov. Joe Kernan and Chief Justice Randall Shepard."

Why Doesn't Mitch Daniels Want an Increase in Federal Gas Taxes?

I saw Governor urges Ind. delegation to vote against gas tax increase after I wrote my post Mitch Daniels and Roads - Following a Bush Ideology?.

Daniels sent a letter to all members of Indiana’s congressional delegation, saying an increase in federal gas taxes would be harmful and unnecessary for Hoosiers. The lease of the Indiana Toll Road has funded transportation needs in Indiana for at least a decade, he said, without using taxes or borrowing.

“Simply put, we do not need the money and our citizens clearly do not need the additional taxes,” Daniels said.

Daniels also noted that for every dollar paid by an Indiana driver, the state gets just 92 cents back in federal highway funding, with the rest going to projects in other states.

“Please don’t make a bad deal worse,” Daniels wrote. “Indiana would be far better off if the federal government abolished its gas tax and let us collect and reinvest what we need here at home.”

Putting this with what I wrote earlier and with our Governor's love for selling off state assets just makes me suspicious.

Besides, the Governor shows his limited understanding of finance. Mitch keeps touting how much his 75 year lease of the toll road will pay for every highway and its upkeep - perhaps till the end of time. Mitch has trouble getting the highway project already done for state highways (see the comments to the Star-Press article). Now he thinks Hoosiers would be better off without any federal funding? Where is going to get that money? Hike the state gas tax? Rely on property taxes?

I strongly suspect that we will find Mitch Daniels' solution for maintaining Indiana's highways is to turn all of them into toll roads.

Mitch Daniels and Roads - Following a Bush Ideology?

I asked myself that question this morning reading She Brakes for Ideology in today's Washington Post. After all does this not sound like Mitch Daniels's justification behind the Toll Road lease and Interstate Commerce Connector proposal and the I-69 toll road proposal:

You can see the effect of the Bush ideology in recent reports, as recounted by The Post's Amy Gardner last week, that the administration is yet again looking for excuses to kill rapid transit rail to Dulles Airport. Having jumped through every hoop demanded -- giving up on a tunnel through Tysons Corner, cutting $300 million in costs -- the region finds itself facing another, unexplained roadblock. But if you understand the Bush philosophy, the roadblock isn't so hard to explain: If profit alone -- and not clean air, or joining the rest of the civilized world in connecting airports to cities, or any other consideration -- matters, then Dulles rail no doubt slides down the priority list.

What I Did and Did Not Do Last Night: Mitch and A Property Tax Roundup

A confession: after a very long day, I took the family to eat at Sahm's in Pendleton. First time. I have always heard good things about Sahm's on Allisonville Road and the Pendleton place is good. I will go back and then give a review. The point being I missed the Governor's State of the State speech.

Besides, why do I need TV when I have T. Rex, er, I mean Taking Down Words? (Not sure if I ought not apologize to David Bowie and TDW for that bit of ham-handed humor.) Sounds every bit as bad as I thought it would be.

From what I read in Daniels demands tax reform in speech from the Muncie Star-Press, I need to give it a look. I know everyone's interest lies in the property tax issue but his reforming of the child support system seems truly ominous. An administrative system?

About that property tax round up, here are some items I ran across the past week or so and have not had time to write about:

Doug Masson over at Masson's Blog writes about Governor Daniels and the income tax, Daniels opposes income taxes to reduce property taxes. Guess I share Masson's cynicism:

I’d like more information on why “sales tax = good” while “income tax = bad.” My cynical side suggests that maybe the income tax is more easily made progressive than the sales tax.

Fixing property taxes soon may give us other benefits

Local assessors question cost-savings of eliminating their jobs

Lawmakers, residents discuss property taxes

Legislation aims to scrutinize tax breaks

I remain unconvinced that sales taxes solve the problem. See, I start with these premises whenever I read anything about taxes:

1. We, the people, want government services. (Which is something the Libertarians never have figured out.)
2. Businesses really want government services.
3. Government responds by providing government services.
4. We do not get the government services that we probably need or the quality needed.
5. We are too cheap to pay for the quality or number of services we really need.
6. Politicians try to keep their jobs by never talking about taxes which results in government being run on the cheap.

And that is all I have time for this morning.

Good Morning, Anderson!

Sitting here waiting for the landlord to show up and take a look at the water heater. No hot water since last night. If he makes it, it will be the first time for me to meet him in the 14 months since we moved in here.

Yesterday, we found out that Cici's Pizza was not only closed but disappeared from old Kohl's Plaza. We dealt with a heartbroken six year old, and I do mean heartbroken. So we went to the Mounds Mall Pizza Hut. The wife remembers they have a buffet. The wife thinks buffets work better with the kids and I do not. I kept my mouth shut. Hard enough to get the youngest to eat anything. After that, I had to deal with a wife who thoroughly pissed about Pizza Hut's pizza slight acquaintance with edibility.

Eating in a lot - worst time of the year to be practicing law and Christmas presents sucked up the rest of the money. I notice the old Penguin Point has a sign announcing an American Indian restaurant. Seems to me that sign has been up for a month. So maybe Tandoori chicken comes to Anderson? Not seeing much progress at the store, though. If it does open and stays open, then maybe we will see that Anderson is not such a hamburger town.

The kids keep agitating to go back to The Pitt on 19th Street and MLK. Anybody else been there? If not, get yourself there now.

We have a new pizza place at Madison Avenue and 5th Street. Good pizza - not that watery sauce on top of soggy dough that is Art's Pizza. Had their pepperoni and I got to say it is damned good pizza. Sorry about that, I have been having Twin Peaks flashbacks the past two weeks.

Any resolutions for the New Year? I must lose about forty pounds but I have been resolving that since July. Not having much luck. Stop bleeding so much red ink from the practice. Working on that, too. Just wish what I see going on in the wider economy did not keep me on the brink of depression. Reading stuff like Top economist says America could plunge into recession in the London Times helps not one bit.

Robert Shiller, Professor of Economics at Yale University, predicted that there was a very real possibility that the US would be plunged into a Japan-style slump, with house prices declining for years.

Professor Shiller, co-founder of the respected S&P Case/Shiller house-price index, said: “American real estate values have already lost around $1 trillion [£503 billion]. That could easily increase threefold over the next few years. This is a much bigger issue than sub-prime. We are talking trillions of dollars’ worth of losses.”

If the article correctly calls this a bubble, then that is two bubbles in ten years? What is going on? Where are the calm heads of finance - snorting coke like rock stars? I know there is a lot of money out there that needs to go somewhere but the need to make mega-bucks out of handling that money seems to attracting greedily stupid pinheads.

Would like to have seen Ockomon sworn in. Still waiting for the landlord.

I guess I shot my off to the wrong person when I told Tim Lanane that I did not see much difference in how Ocokomon would lead on economic development. I got to remember that not many people read what I write and so I took myself out of context. Which seems a bit surreal when I write it like that. My point remains and I will be willing to be called on this - if I am still around in a year. Ockomon will follow the trend started by Smith taking us away from the automotive industry. There will be a difference in style and emphasis but the worries of some that electing a Democrat meant a return to the days of Lawler and reliance on Detroit will turn out unfounded.

On the other hand, the armed robbers keep running about and I seem to have come in sort of with two of them. Last Thursday, the kids and I were leaving Wing On Inn after lunch when this police car started cruising around the parking lot of the old Mark Motor Inn. Later, I found out someone hit the Low Bob's Tobacco Store. (By the way, Wing On Inn has a buffet but it also still has its regular menu. That leaves it, China House in the T Way Plaza - or the Big Lots Plaza or the Hills' Plaza, Golden House on Meridian Street, and the Chinese place on the west side as the only sit down Chinese places in town that is not solely a buffet. Wing On Inn has the best buffet in town - food is not as cold but then it is not a mile long buffet either. Check these other places out - each one has good prices and most of them have been in Anderson longer a lot of other businesses).

When an armed robber hit Harvest Market on Columbus Avenue, they had a police car with its lights on in the parking lot of Los Compadres. That is the Mexican grocery at 38th and Columbus. (If you want to find the stuff to make real Mexican food at home - go to Los Compadres. They also have Pepsi in glass bottles. They fascinate my step-kids who were born after glass soda bottles went the way of the white buffalo.)

Muncie has a similar problem. Bandit robs VP overnight. Maybe the same people have got the same idea: pretend we got a gun, get some money and pay the rent. I do think this is the better economy touted by Mitch Daniels.

The landlord showed up. So I am going to call an end to this post. Ia m sure it will have to be a better year. If the value of Indiana keeps declining, what will Mitch Daniels have to offer for sale? The auctioneer in chief needs some thing to sell (see TDW's Still For Sale: Guv Says He'll Try, Try Again To Pawn Off The Lottery), so he better pump our value this year.