Constructive Ways To Hold Down Local Government Spending

The following is a businessman's approach to solving local and state budget deficits without resorting to rampant taxation. All suggestions are doable and should be done post haste. Unfortunately they won't be put into effect as that would require decisive action and the dismantling of the governmental status quo.

Regardless, here are my thoughts:

1. STOP all new building projects. We don't need them and even if partially funded with Federal money, they always require ongoing operating funds and local and state governments don't have the resources without more taxation. Just say no, even if building costs are rising and the project will be needed in the future. Make do in a crisis.

2. Consolidate city and county governments where there is significant overlap. Don't talk about it, do it! How could anyone be against it? Insist on taking out duplicative costs just as a corporation would in an acquisition. The savings should be enormous if we use logic and withstand the turf battles.

3. Prisoners have cost society lots of money. And they're bad guys and gals. Why wouldn't we use them for the public purposes when in custody? Park maintenance, chuckhole filing, police car washing, trash pickup, etc. Any additional supervisory staff would easily be paid for, and lots more, from the savings in city staff or contracting. Making them work may also be a deterrent!

4. Many government employees use allowed sick days as vacation or personal days. Their belief is that they are there to be used and employees are entitled to them. Insane! They are there to treat employees humanely when they are ill. Private business would not stand for such abuse. Worse still, government is over staffed to compensate for the abuse of sick days. The simplest test of abuse is to track Monday and Friday use of sick days. Require a Doctors note or reduce the allowed days.

5. Start pension reform by realizing that sloppiness in contractual agreements can cripple a governmental budget. Allowing defined benefit pension plans to be based upon final years' incomes and then condoning the scheduling of excess overtime dramatically increases pension payouts and government obligations. At a minimum that needs to stop. But, why do government employees have defined benefit pension plans anyway? They have gone the way of the dinosaur in private business, being replaced by 401Ks. Since government pay scales are now equal to, or better than private companies, why should the benefits be excessive? Eliminate defined benefit pension plans.

6. Local and state governments should not be in the business of funding other non-profit organizations. If they are worthy of support, individuals and businesses will fund them. The amount of city money going to Downtown, Inc. and Free Clinic, Inc., etc, can be staggering and it shouldn't happen.

7. Eliminate the use of consultants and external planners. The bills are atrocious and the results of dubious value. If we need a glossy plan, have the Planning Department plan it.

8. Just say no to almost everything during a crisis. Say yes only when it is really necessary. Most of all, start spending local government money as if it was your own.

I could run a similar list for public schools, but that's another day and post.

How Do You Say Service Sucks En Espanol?

My cable provider, Cox, offers FREE virus and security protection through McAfee. My PC computers have a Norton security package that costs me about $40 a year if my memory is correct. Better still is the Macs don't need any 3rd party protection, therefore free. Anyhow, back to my rant that begins with trying to take advantage of the free McAfee.

I easily uninstalled the Norton, but ran into a problem about half way into installing the McAfee. That required a call to Cox "Customer Service". The message asked me to push 1 for English or 2 for Espanol. Next it told me the call may be recorded for quality assurance purposes- sure. Next the voice recognition program couldn't understand my pronunciation of ONE and TECHNICAL SUPPORT!! I'm from Nebraska and we don't have accents, that's why they teach all the television announcers to speak blandly like midwesterners, so why doesn't the computer recognize simple words pronounced correctly? Who programs voice recognition anyway? Rajeesh from Pakistan? Oh I forgot his name is Bob.

After several outbursts into the phone and numerous punches of the 0 button, the machine transfers me to a customer service queue that is also monitored for training purposes! Music plays on and on and I'm periodically told of how much they appreciate my business, but all of their representatives are busy helping other customers and I will be helped just as soon as they are done with the other customers.

Does anyone believe that staffing is determined to actually service customers? I wait and wait and finally hang up. Customer service success for Cox Communications since they moved another person through their queue so there is no need to add to staff.

Two things are obvious today. Business could care less about service after the sale and they are equally or more interested in Espanol than English. To retaliate I'm buying less product or service. Second, I'm calling customer service a couple of times a day for grins. Since Spanish is the preferred language, that's the button I'm going to push. I can mutter a few Spanish words and the voice recognition won't understand me anyhow and the representtive doesn't come on the phone for ages either. So, if I haven't hung up yet, I'll speak English to the Spanish agent and suggest that they hire more representatives and listen to their recordings to hear what their customers are shouting into the phone. It's a good thing that I'm retired and have the time to achieve a minimal amount of revenge for poor service.

Clunkers, Student Loans, Politically Correct Ads, Universal Healthcare & Local Budgets

Our family is not well known in automobile showrooms. We tend to buy sturdy cars and drive them for decades. My wife's Omaha car is typical. A 1999 Lexus RX300 with 95,000 miles.

It runs like a champ and hasn't had any mechanical problems.

Still, its ten years old and she was contemplating a change even though car ownership in Nebraska is punitive as autos are taxed annually as property. So, if you buy a Mercedes you have the equivalent of an out of the way lake house. The "Cash for Clunkers" proposal and its $4500 tax credit was a possible way to take the sting out of Nebraska property taxes.

The Clunker bill showed up as part of a war funding package Friday and it is like most legislation: worthless. The Clunker has to get less than a 18MPG city/highway rating to qualify and then you must purchase a vehicle that gets 2MPG better mileage. The Lexus doesn't qualify as it is rated as more gas friendly than a Clunker. So ten year old SUVs cannot be taken off the road with this wonderful sounding piece of legislation.

What will qualify? Evidently older cars and trucks. Since most people don't start with a Lexus quality car, the drivers of 10+ year old vehicles are probably the second, third, or fourth owners of these cars. My assumption is that with our new, tighter credit standards they will not come close to qualifying for a car loan on a new car. Unless the government strongarms GMAC, Citi, and Bank of America into making those loans to the uncreditworthy. I wouldn't put it past them.

The success of this legislation will be marginal at best. Not many new cars will be sold as a result. Our leaders in Washington will pound their chests and tout the benefits to the economy, the auto industry, and our environment, but it is just another instance of looking like progress rather than progressing.

Government student loans were good policy. No longer. The widespread usage of student loans over the past several decades has allowed universities to expand facilities and budgets much faster than economic growth and starting salaries. Most college graduates, and even trade school graduates, are heavily indebted upon completion of their studies. Student loans are the main culprit, but the credit card lenders have also gotten into students as well. Career decisions and future lifstyles are highly affected by debtload.

Political vote gathering and university empire building have mortgaged a generation's future. These kids are going to not only have to pay large student loans, but also pay high taxes to fund boomer social security benefits, national healthcare, and massive federal debt.

The answer to this part of our national debt trajedy is to severely curtail student lending. That will reign in university spending. Motivated students can still achieve their education goals at community colleges or over the internet. Eliminate the easy funding provided by student loans and you will see schools find ways to reduce tuition to COMPETE for students. How can they do that? Start with having professors actually teach more than a few classes.

Politically Correct ads paid for by corporations infuriate me. A couple of examples. Citigroup tells me that their credit cards are wonderful because they are helping their cardholders through wonderful enhancements like alerts, etc. Alerts or no alerts, you can't help anyone at the interest rates Citi charges. their slogan "Citi Never Sleeps" means the interest always accrues! Worse still is British Petroleum [BP] ads that show consumers telling BP how the company should be run and the company agreeing!! Why have executives and a board of directors? They are just playing the PC game. Refuse to buy any of their securities.

Obama is hard at work on universal healthcare. To help design the product he sent Kathleen Sebelius, head of Health & Human services, to Omaha to hold a town meeting. She met, at breakfast, with 10 people. Yes we have a town of 10. The 10 included two medical students, a nurse, a homemaker, several people that didn't have insurance, and a couple of others. No one from insurance, business, or the medical profession. Kathleen, I'm sure you got some powerful, informed feedback from the group you assembled. Scared yet?

Omaha is facing a fiscal budget crisis and struggling for a solution. The city is also starting to recognize that they have a monster of a budget crisis brewing in their pension plans. I venture to guess that almost all governmental bodies have the same problem. Years of careless spending and committing have locked us into a serious straightjacket of taxation that will extend the downturn and weaken any recovery.

Omaha's budget answer will be token budget cuts and significant tax increases. The process will be repeated and repeated until taxpayers can pay no more. Governmental budgets will be trimmed, but not enough. When the breaking point on taxation comes, the answer will be default on bonds. At some point it will be easier to stiff far away bondholders than local voters. Our cities and states will be reorganized, like GM and Chrysler, over the next five years.

I plan to keep my perfectly good old cars and avoid municipal bonds.

Tax Everything & Still Not Enough For Government

New taxes coming our way start with the repeal of the Bush tax cuts. Besides increases in capital gains, taxes on dividend income, and general tax rates, every level of government is eying our money so they do not have to shrink their inefficient empires.

Cap and Trade will increase utility bills by 25%!!! Obama can regulate utility emissions and improve air quality without the cost of carbon taxation, but that isn't the direction he's headed. Who gets hurt here? The middle class as the poor already get help with utility bills.

A comprehensive health care plan with universal coverage will be funded by eliminating the deductibility of health insurance by business and the taxation of any health benefits provided as income to the individual. The result will be less employer sponsored health plans and more people in competing government plans. Taxes will go up on the employed to fund the health of the underemployed.

A federal value added tax is being discussed by Democrats as are specific taxes on sodas and other "unhealthy" food products. Federal and state gas taxes are under serious consideration for substantial increases as many view higher gas prices as not only a way to reduce driving and help the environment, but as a huge potential source of funds.

My fingers are getting tired, but I could go on for quite awhile longer on likely tax increases. The worst gambit is Pay/Go which will require new taxes to pay for all of Obama's spending, but only AFTER he has spent it!! It legitimizes taxation on economic grounds.

America we need to start shouting to local, state, and national elected officials that we've had enough. They have enough money and we can not afford to send more without bankrupting the future of our children.