Property taxes take a beating supporting early retiring government employees. Senior employees are good for government providing they can do the job. With much of the government unionized in an archaic form, it is difficult to terminate or sideline an employee. Unlike a construction unions, where, if the worker is undesirable, the contracting firm can fire that employee. If that union member has issues that make him or her undesirable, that person simply does not get hired.
Reforming government unions should be high on the list of taxpayer reforms. A new competitive union needs to rise similar to that of the United Brotherhood of Carpenters for government employees. Benefits would accrue to the workers and hiring and firing decisions would originate with the government employer. Employees would be terminated as workplace changes dictate without penalty to the employer. Those hired would be on an as needed basis. Tenure would be replace by an apprentice program.
It is either that or some entrepreneur needs to step up to the plate and fashion a skilled workers program (similar to Manpower or other outside contracting agencies) to outsource jobs for all the categories of government workers. Naturally a mega agency would be too ambitious a start, but basic services could be outsourced.
Pressure needs to be put on government unions to reform or be replaced. Government is getting too expensive. Cost cutting reforms without cutting service has simple solutions but entail lots of political wrangling.
If employees work longer it give local, state or federal governments the benefit for having to pay fewer years of retirement. Considering many retire after 20-years service at 70% pay, the financial drain on taxpayers is enormous.
Taxpayers could get almost double the bang for the same dollar by insisting local, state or federal employees reach 65 years of age or work 40-years before they are eligible for retirement. That would put them on par with the majority of working Americans. There is no reason to treat government employees as a privileged class.
“The world is a dangerous place to live – not because of the people who are evil but because of the people who don’t do anything about it.” – Albert Einstein, scientist
Apply a property tax guide to any home or property: Get the right values and plug in the figures for your house. Don't get stuck on the learning curve scratching you head what to do next. Eliminate mistakes in property taxes and property tax appeals.
Surprisingly, construction spending is up and Master Card purchases are on an increase. Reports show that the U.S. grew at a 3.9 percent pace in the third quarter. Even though home building activity is plunging, exports grew at the fastest rate in nearly 4 years. All this good economic news while inflation seems tame.
Oh yeah, did we mention the quarter percent rate cut? The Fed cut .25 basis point off the rate to make it 4.5%.
Builder, supplies, real estate connected jobs slump as housing related employment is effected. It’s no longer boom times in the construction industry. Interest rates have settled and offer a good chance to refinance at favorable interest rates.
Property tax appeals offer an excellent means to lower your tax dollars. To keep up with additions and subtractions the municipal building department missed, the mass appraiser is contracted. Mass property tax appraisers often use the most expensive property on the block to gauge properties against. Using error in judgement often results in not making location and other value adjustments. Maybe that’s why you’re over-assessed!
At the end of the day, the person doing the measuring has hundreds of measurements and calculations in his head. He probably will not even remember your home. He doesn’t have the same recall as an appraiser making an individual property appraisal.
Inaccuracies, math errors and observation made in haste and not recorded or misplaced occur frequently. Depreciation is not accounted for. For a good do it yourself property tax manual go to Property Tax Appeal Ax You might save yourself quite a few mortgage payments when you win.
The Student Loan Program works by participating banks in the Federal Family Education Loan Program guaranteeing a return that is 2.34 percentage points over the market rate on commercial paper to banks. It’s a sweet deal for banks.
Student loans are risky loans, but not for banks. When the student defaults, the government reimburses lenders for up to 98% of the principal and accrued interest.
New federal student loan originators totaled $69 billion in the 2005 – 2006 school year. First year projections for the US just to send a rocket to the moon in order to build a base are estimated to run over $104 billion. That expense is projected to increase with construction and re-supply shipments.
Enter alter reality
Privately built and financed, SpaceShipOne Wins $10 Million Ansari X Prize in Historic 2nd Trip to Space (The Ansari X Prize is a $10 million purse for the first privately built vehicle that could safely haul a pilot and the equivalent weight of two passengers to the edge of space — then repeat the feat within two weeks.)
SpaceShipOne technology is currently owned by a Paul Allen company called Mojave Aerospace Ventures (MAV). Allen is a Microsoft co-founder and for $20 million, bankrolled the design and building of SpaceShipOne.
Instead of wasting fuel to send up tons of metal into the stratosphere, they simply sent an airplane to the stratosphere, pulled a lever that tilted back the wings and lit the rocket fuse that propelled it into outer space; simple, energy efficient. That leaves NASA’s government bureaucracy bogged down with expensive antiques and primitive concepts funded by taxpayers paychecks.
Enter Sir Richard Branson and his Virgin Galactic Enterprise – SpaceshipOne. Virgin Galactic is the world’s first off-the-planet private airline. Business plan: 50 passengers a month for space flight, paying $190,000 each. Core product: a two-hour flight beyond Earth’s atmosphere, wrapped in a three- day astronaut experience. Time frame: 2009.
Private enterprise will insure commercial space flights that will let ordinary individuals go into outer space with resorts projected showing up in about 25 years. Lunar resorts? You bet, they'll be no vacancy rate until the next ship.
NASA could be disbanded and scarce money be spent on a free US education for anyone that wants it.
