Unusually high website page views in the last few days, especially for a weekend; Links to most hit posts

All the finest people; 2013 Pig Poultry & Politics; I wasn't invited

http://hartzman.blogspot.com/2013/10/all-finest-people-2013-pig-poultry.html

GREENSBORO CITY COUNCIL MEETING, TUESDAY OCTOBER 15, 2013, 5:30 P.M. COUNCIL CHAMBER

http://hartzman.blogspot.com/2013/10/greensboro-city-council-meeting-tuesday.html

On Robbie Perkins' dishonest campaign flier

http://hartzman.blogspot.com/2013/10/on-robbie-perkins-dishonest-campaign.html

Tuesday's Council Agenda with Attachments and a few interesting tidbits

http://hartzman.blogspot.com/2013/10/tuesdays-council-agenda-with.html

Nancy Hoffman's campaign contribution connections to Tuesday's Give Away to Greensboro's 1%

http://hartzman.blogspot.com/2013/10/nancy-hoffmans-campaign-contribution.html

WTF Zack Matheny?

http://hartzman.blogspot.com/2013/10/wtf-zack-matheny.html

Kieth Brown; "Crony Capitalism and Local Developer Roy Carroll Red Flags on This American Express Incentive Deal, More Info. and REPOST"

UPDATE 8-17-2010: The Greensboro City Council meeting set for 8-17-2010 has this as a part of the agenda:

18. Ordinance annexing territory to the corporate limits located at 401-421 Birch Creek Road – 145.502 acres. (Council District: nearest District 1) (roll call vote)

Looks like Roy Carroll is going to sail this one through without any questions from the local media on just how did they pick his land for this project. Was there any other properties in Guilford County involved in this deal to land the project which was code named "Project Doublewide"  .or was he and Richard Beard the only ones involved with this transaction.

Justin Catanoso from the Triad Business Journal had this as a title "AMEX may have offset tax break for land costs CLICKHERE . Here is a few quotes from post

Sources familiar with the negotiations say American Express pressed for reductions in per-acre costs before agreeing in principle (the deal hasn’t closed yet) to acquire about 100 acres in both Rock Creek Center and the new Birch Creek Corporate Park in unincorporated Guilford County

Richard Beard, a principal with Simpson Schulman & Beard, the brokers for Rock Creek, declines to detail the discussions that took place between his group and the agents representing American Express, which were led by Greg Wilson of the local C.B. Richard Ellis office. While Wilson declined to comment, Beard did say: “We had to make concessions toward the end of the negotiations.”

The code name played on the fact that not one, but two suitable sites were essential to seal the deal.

“Each location was very dependent on the other,” Beard says. “It was both sites or nothing. All negotiations were separate, but any time I saw Roy around town in the past few weeks, I’d ask him how things were going.”

Roy Carroll, one of Greensboro’s top developers and president of The Carroll Cos., declines to discuss the negotiations with American Express regarding the land it will buy in Birch Creek Corporate Park. As the location for the redundant data storage capacity, it is likely that construction on the estimated 150,000-square-foot backup facility won’t start for two years or more.

Can't wait to hear the cheerleaders at the Greensboro City Council meeting on 8-17-2010 talk about this project and not one of them will ask the question on why did they pick these properties from the most connected crony capilalist we have ever seen in Roy Carroll along with another member in Richard Beard who is a war memorial coliseum commission member and also the head cheerleader for coliseum director Matt Brown.

Below is the REPOST from April 21, 2010 and with one of the biggest comments periods we have ever had on Triadwatch.

________________________________________________________________________________
One of the biggest tax incentives deals ever proposed in Guilford County and Greensboro is American Express potential data center in the eastern part of the county.
It appears that Mr. Dan Lynch, Greensboro Economic Development Alliance President, who should have been involved in showing sites to AMEX, and Roy Carroll, owner of one of the properties, have shared the title of "Board Member" at the Greensboro Partnership.


Let's give a brief definition of Crony Capitalism:

What Does Crony Capitalism Mean?

A description of capitalist society as being based on the close relationships between businessmen and the state. Instead of success being determined by a free market and the rule of law, the success of a business is dependent on the favoritism that is shown to it by the ruling government in the form of tax breaks, government grants and other incentives.From Investopedia CLICKHERE

This definition fits local developer Roy Carroll to a T.

Here is what is being reported from the Greensboro News & Record CLICKHERE

"The American Express project would involve two buildings on two parcels in eastern Guilford: about 100 acres in Rock Creek Center and part of a 700-acre tract owned by developer Roy Carroll near Knox Road and Birch Creek Road.

The Carroll property would be annexed into Greensboro, allowing the city to share in the incentive offering and benefit from the promised boost to the tax base."

As we have stated in the past that local developer Roy Carroll had his own political action committee giving thousands of dollars to the campaigns of plenty of local politicians in Greensboro and Guilford County. Pay to play at it's best.

Here is a list from a few years ago of Greensboro City Council members and the closed out account of Roy Carroll's Political Action Committee called North Carolinians for Leadership in Government.

RECEIPTS


10/17/2007

ROY E CARROLL II

PRESIDENT/OWNER OLD SOUTH HOME COMPANY

3619 CAMDEN FALLS CIRCLE

GREENSBORO, NC 27410

Individual Contribution

Check

$4000.00


10/17/2007

VANESSA Y CARROLL

HOUSEWIFE HOUSEWIFE

3619 CAMDEN FALLS CIRCLE

GREENSBORO, NC 27410

Individual Contribution

Check

$4000.00

Total ALL Receipts:

$8,000.00


Expenditures
10/16/2007
DIANE BELLAMY-SMALL
GREENSBORO, NC
CONTRIBUTION
Check
$1000.00

10/16/2007
ROBBIE PERKINS
GREENSBORO, NC
CONTRIBUTION
Check
$1000.00

10/16/2007
SANDRA ANDERSON GROAT
GREENSBORO, NC
CONTRIBUTION
Check
$1000.00

10/16/2007
TRUDY WADE
GREENSBORO, NC
CONTRIBUTION
Check
$1000.00

10/16/2007
YVONNE JOHNSON
GREENSBORO, NC
CONTRIBUTIONS
Check
$1000.00

10/16/2007
ZACK MATHENY
GREENSBORO, NC
CONTRIBUTION
Check
$1000.00
Total ALL Expenditures:
$6,000.00


We also have a few Guilford County Commissioners who have received PAC money from local developer Roy Carroll as well in the past in


Paul Gibson (D) 5-2-08 for $1,000

Kirk Perkins (D) 5-6-08 for $1,000

There are many red flags that need to be attached to any deal involving Roy Carroll. The first would be in who will be his real estate broker on this deal because we have had many people in the past talk about the ethical issues of local politicians like Guilford County Chairman Skip Alston with a downtown hotel project and him being the broker on that deal. Now we know that sitting Greensboro City Council member and also local developer Robbie Perkins works hand in hand with Roy Carroll. This relationship is so tight that during a council meeting in 2009 we had Robbie Perkins text messaging Roy Carroll in China on a issue where the city and Roy Carroll's company were going to court with another developer Marty Kotis over properties off of Horse Pen Creek Road and Robbie Perkins told Roy Carroll from council chambers that he needs to fight this, here is that report CLICKHERE.

We can also raise some red flags to see that why did they pick these sights and was there any possibility for any other properties on the table?

If the News and Record is correct then are they going to use both properties or are they looking at both properties and then choosing just one site?

We also know from the past that local developer Roy Carroll has the use of a private plane CLICKHERE . Was any local public officials flown to any meetings with executives from American Express on this incentive package and presentation on this plane?

We will see what happens on this tax incentive hand out to American Express for corporate welfare, but a true conservative would vote NO to this deal.

Let's also see just how much influence local developer Roy Carroll has on this deal being a part of his property so that he can reap the riches of water and sewer and road improvements to all of his properties near knox road and birch creek road.
Let's hope more people will want to know all the facts of every aspect of this whole incentive package and ask the right questions to all involved.

Pornography, Porno, Porn, XXX in Greensboro, North Carolina

If pictures of women in tennis attire is pornographic,
should all Greensboro women’s tennis programs be cancelled?

Should all children in public school

be taught that evil is compatible with an omnipotent and benevolent God?

If some believe pictures of women and men in bathing suits is pornographic,

should public swimming pools will be closed?

Are members of a church more likely to give campaign contributions
to a "pious" Council Member who attends the same church,
after said church’s preacher gives a sermon on the dangers of pornography?

If pictures of women and men wearing dancing tights is pornographic,

should all publicly funded dance groups be disbanded?

If all men not wearing shirts in any pictures on the internet is pornographic…?

Should public schools should be segregated by sex?

Should dancing be prohibited?

Should Roman statues be covered?

If a Catholic Priest says it’s OK for him to touch you wherever he wants,
should you believe him?

Should public employees using phones with internet access

be denied access to pornographic web sites?

Should clergy who support political grandstanding

receive privileged access to Greensboro’s political and municipal executives?

Does the government always act in the majority’s best interests?

Should a married pregnant unemployed high school drop out

who knows the child will have AIDS and autism

have to receive permission from her husband to get an abortion

after being raped by her schizophrenic brother-in-law?

Should “abstinence-until-marriage” education
replace explicit sex-education programs,

school-based clinics, and the distribution of contraceptives in schools?

Should contraceptive measures for raped woman be outlawed?

What is the likelihood that the God of rectangle shaped people has four sides?

Should school curriculums teach Creationism,

and have a disclaimer before any evolutionary topics,

like biology, or chemistry, or geology, or platectonics,

or world history, or dinosaurs, or physics?

Should morning prayers be instituted in public schools
and end with “in Jesus’ name we pray”?

Should Jewish children be prohibited from dating Christian children?

Can an atheist be superstitious?

Should no mosque on American soil
be within a mile of an elementary school?

Should religious and/or alternative sexual orientation

be a required disclosure on all public identification?

Are all Muslims terrorists?

Can a robot be one of God’s children,
and if so, is it OK to enslave intelligent machines?

Should all children be taught at the earliest ages

that their parents are obligated to give 10% of their families income
to their religious leaders?

Should Biblical dietary and punishment laws be strictly enforced?

Do you get to wear clothes in heaven
but not in hell?

Are all men who look for porn at the library child molesters?

Should special police in charge of monitoring moral behavior

be given the right to use corporal punishment on anyone under the age of 21?

Should elected lawmakers seek to avoid imposing their religious views
upon the communities in which they reside?

Should the United States of America officially declare war on Islam?

If the government arrests a citizen for pornography,

should the accused be publicly humiliated before trial,

unless they are related to or are good friends with a public official?

What do you believe that you can’t prove?

Are all women who look at porn at the library lesbians?

Are communities who lean towards religion infused government

more or less likely to pass religious based legislation

like alcohol prohibition, dancing, female submission, book burning,

what could be unnecessary pornography restrictions,

public school curriculums, abortion or homosexuality?

Why are weak governments and/or fringe political movements
more likely to embrace religion or nationalism
in times of economic and social instability
and/or when distractions appear helpful to bury other more important issues?

Should any man caught "sexually" looking at women in public libraries be removed?

Should all sexually active homeless persons within the city limits be removed?

Should all those of a religion other than those sanctioned by government,
wear an insignia stating their religion on their garments at all times in public?

Should anyone who disagrees with the will of a majority of a minority,

be prohibited in engaging in public discourse?

If sentient beings on another planet played chess with Earthlings
would God would be on our side, as long as the player is a white, not gay, Christian American?

Are you a robot?

Were we all predestined to have free will?

If I knew you were a robot,

would you want me to tell you?

Dear News and Record's Doug Clark, is the following true, or not true?

"Instead of using 149 events to calculate the income to pay off the bonds that the hired consultant predicted, city staff and council raised the number of events to 180 per year, with all 250 premium parking spaces sold out at each and every show, even though there will be plenty of free and much lower cost parking options in close proximity to the venue."

City Council voted to finance $10 million for GPAC based on a projection that every performance will sell out all 250 premium parking spaces to pay for the debt service.

Please provide the "binding commitments for a minimum of $20,000,000.00 in private contributions for the GPAC.

GPAC Bait and Switch; The unpurchased GPAC properties that may cost more, now that City Council voted to buy the others

These are the additional properties yet to purchase, which also wasn't reported until last Tuesday's Council meeting.

I hear there were contracts from December that expired, and now the properties will cost even more.

Walker Sanders, by not having all the agreements in place, may well have cost the city quite a bit more money.

Clearly deceptive tactics on the part of the task force, city council and City of Greensboro staff.
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Bait and Switch

First, taxpayers were "baited" by being told the City of Greensboro was buying $7.6 million of real estate for a $60 million GPAC, with announcements of two new hotels during Wyndham week when negative news is relatively prohibited by local main stream media.

Second, on the eve of the council vote, the discovery of more properties to purchase becomes known, on top of what was on the agenda.

The goal of the bait-and-switch in this case was to persuade the public to favor the switch as a means of avoiding disappointment over not getting the performing arts center and hotels, and for the city to spend more money without the public really knowing what was actually happening.

This suggests that city staff, city council and the News & Record Editorial Board didn't want to transparently inform, but instead bait the public with the wonderfulness of the project without disclosing important details like the bogus financing math presented.

No binding commitments and no letter of Credit

Kathy Manning, Randall Kaplan's wife, lobbying for a GPAC and their new hotel

City Council voted to finance $10 million for GPAC based on a projection that every performance will sell out all 250 premium parking spaces to pay for the debt service.

Please provide the "binding commitments for a minimum of $20,000,000.00 in private contributions for the GPAC.

Instead of using 149 events to calculate the income to pay off the bonds that the hired consultant predicted, city staff and council raised the number of events to 180 per year, with all 250 premium parking spaces sold out at each and every show, even though there will be plenty of free and much lower cost parking options in close proximity to the venue.

This is flat out bogus math, which means the City Council members who voted for it broke their fiduciary duties to Greensboro's taxpayers.
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Bait-and-switch; like when I sold above ground aluminum swimming pools in 1992.

When I arrived in Greensboro, I was trained to present a bait and switch one call close sales presentation to sell swimming pools.

I got two leads a day, and would drive anywhere from Blacksburg, Virginia to Rock Hill, South Carolina to make sales calls.

Told the marks I was a "manager", on my way to set up a demonstration pool in the next town.

The bait was a $999 pool advertised in TV guides, and I would downplay the quality of the advertised pool, and switch to a $13,900 pool in the presentation, took a little off the top if they wanted the "demonstration" deal, under which they agreed to write a letter of recommendation etc..., reduced the big number to an affordable monthly payment of $249, (reduction to absurdity) and pop a second mortgage on the home at least a 17% annual interest rate.

I made half of any deal over $7,200.

I have been telling this story among others in Financial Ethics classes for years, as an example of how to not get ripped off by some of who I used to be.

The GPAC promotion and propaganda has been the same thing only different.
.
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Adam Smith, the father of modern economics wrote “The proposal of any new law or regulation which comes from [businessmen], ought always to be listened to with great precaution, and ought never to be adopted till after having been long and carefully examined, not only with the most scrupulous, but with the most suspicious attention.”
Greensboro's taxpayers are being played for fools.

A BB&T, wealthy investor and Carolina Bank bailout for Skip Alston's Civil Rights Museum and the Simpkins PAC

"The International Civil Rights Center & Museum still wants $1.5 million from the city, but it has a new plan for using it.

Museum leaders say city money — $750,000 this year and lesser amounts in the following two years — will help stabilize the struggling 3-year-old facility."

Does more money up front mean the museum is running low on cash and is in dire financial straits, partly caused by Skip Alston's participation?

"City Council members got the details of the museum’s revised request at a series of meetings Thursday."

Back room deals?

John Newsome of the News & Record attended the meeting, along with Skip Alston, Earl Jones etc...

"Council members might vote on the money at their next meeting, which is Aug. 5.

With the city’s help, the museum “will be able to generate enough funding to carry us through this year and the next two,” said Melvin “Skip” Alston, the chairman of the museum’s board of directors and a former Guilford County commissioner. “We just need a little bit of breathing room this year.”

Did Skip pull the Simpkins PAC endorsement extortion in the "series of meetings?

"The museum ...got about 57,000 paying visitors last year, far fewer than the 200,000 its leaders projected. Annual revenues have sagged by more than half..."

Were Skip Alston's attendance projections relatively bogus?

The museum didn't live up to it's goals.

The museum is failing under its current leadership.

"The museum is running a monthly deficit of about $150,000 despite cutting staff to five full-time positions. Alston said loan interest payments and facility depreciation accounts for all but roughly $30,000 per month of that."

BB&T syndicated the museum tax credits for investors.

The tax credits were most likely purchased by wealthy investors and packaged tax credit funds.

"In May, the museum asked the city for $500,000 a year over the next three years to help students come to Greensboro and see the new program. Council members wanted more details about the proposed grant and the museum’s finances, and the request never came to a vote.

Museum leaders laid out their revised request Thursday. Among the details:

The museum wants $750,000 this year, $500,000 in 2014 and $250,000 in 2015.

$100,000 would go toward paying off a loan that comes due next month." [Carolina Bank]

If the investors and BB&T are bailed out by Greensboro's taxpayers, the failed leadership will remain in place.

"...Since 1995, the city has given the museum $975,000 for planning and building repairs."

John Newsome
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If BB&T and wealthy investors are not bailed out and free market capitalism reigns via Greensboro's City Council not continuing to hand out taxpayer money to those who control votes in East Greensboro via Simkins PAC endorsements controlled by Skip and friends, the museum goes under, declares bankruptcy, eliminates the debt and comes out clean without Skip and Simkins involvement/control, which means the museum could most likely survive as viable enterprise.

The Museum has not submitted audited financial statements.

I propose letting the museum go under, let BB&T and the investors take the hit, remove Skip from the equation, and leave behind an ethically clean Civil Rights Museum in Greensboro, preferably connected to the City of Greensboro Historical Museum, which should also in part include the Carolina Theater, as the blacks only section still exists above the balcony.

Nancy Vaughan suggested a similar package deal including the Greensboro Science Center.

George Hartzman
https://www.facebook.com/Hartzman
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The International Civil Rights Museum's 2011 IRS tax form 990 and what looks like a bailout for BB&T and wealthy investors, with what looks like some pretty important unanswered questions

Mayoral Proposal; I would like Greensboro's City Council to approve the following language to prohibit unethical behavior

"Current Greensboro City Council Members and Candidates for local elected office are prohibited from accepting campaign contributions from board members of organizations, developers, contractors or their lawyers or agents who have or may receive taxpayer funded contracts or monies, for 12 months before and after doing business with Greensboro’s government."

Allen Johnson: "Alston, a member of the powerful Simkins PAC, is not-so-subtly suggesting political payback if they don’t go along with his group’s proposal. "

"...Melvin “Skip” Alston’s involvement as a broker for investors seeking to renovate a near-derelict shopping center on Phillips Avenue made citizens in that northeast Greensboro community visibly wary.

Some say they simply don’t trust Alston, the former longtime county commissioner who was known for his hardball politics.

...The city tentatively has chosen clients represented by Alston to resuscitate the center and eventually own it.

Complicating matters are allegations from some City Council members that Alston, a member of the powerful Simkins PAC, is not-so-subtly suggesting political payback if they don’t go along with his group’s proposal.

The PAC endorses local and state candidates, and Alston is one of its leaders. [Treasurer]

“I believe there was the implication that if we didn’t support them there’d be negative consequences in November,” said Councilwoman Nancy Vaughan, who plans to run for mayor. “Those words were not directly used, but they were implied.”

Another council member, Marikay Abuzuaiter, gave a similar account.

“He said I seriously needed to think about voting for the project with his developers because I needed to think about the election in the fall, and the Simkins PAC would be very upset if I didn’t vote for his developer. It was pretty devastating.”

...in 2010 Alston was accused by Vaughan, then-Mayor Bill Knight and then-Councilman Danny Thompson of using similar tactics as a broker for investors who wanted to build a new downtown hotel...

...Alston flatly denies any threats, implied or otherwise.

"You name me one person that’ll come to me and say that” he said last week.

How about two? Vaughan and Abuzuaiter held fast, even following phone calls from Alston challenging what each had said. “I’m still not going to lie about it,” Abuzuaiter said. “It happened, and I was shaken up by it. Why would I cook something up? I was so upset I called the city attorney.”

Added Vaughan: “I stand by what I said.”

The city tentatively has agreed to sell the center for $490,000, plus to provide a [forgivable] $2 million loan (a sweet deal) to Alston’s clients, Renaissance Center of Greensboro, which would in turn renovate the center, lease part of it to the co-op and donate additional space to the community.

Either way, here’s hoping the impasse, and Alston’s overly aggressive tactics, don’t jeopardize prospects for the co-op’s success.

[Alston] should stop threatening people.

Alston reminded a caller last week that he’s not an elected official anymore.

But, make no mistake, he’s still a politician.

Allen Johnson

TREBIC 2009 City Council Candidate Questions: How is this not illegal lobbying/political activity?

How could Pillsbury Law and Greensboro's local press respond to accusations of news censorship about the Craig Saperstein, Robbie Perkins lobbying scandal?

Information Request and the ETHICAL RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE GOVERNING BODY OF THE CITY OF GREENSBORO

The Mayor or any member of the City Council
who has a financial interest, direct or indirect,

in any official act or action before the Council shall,

…disclose such interest and all material facts with respect there

to the City Manager and City Attorney.

Please provide City Council Member Robbie Perkins' disclosure
of "all material facts" relative to the Noise Ordinance Issue, (item 27, which Robbie Perkins voted on)
the Economic Development Bond Issue, (item 12, which Robbie Perkins voted on)
the Eastern Guilford "Outside the Corporate Limits" Water and Sewer Issue
(item 22, which Robbie Perkins voted on)
and the economic development grant to Roy Carroll's Park View Development, LLC.
(item 26, which Robbie Perkins voted on)received by the "City Manager and City Attorney."

In addition, he/she shall publicly disclose on the record of the Council

the nature and extent of such interest,

including the full disclosure of all such material facts,

and shall withdraw from any consideration of the matter

pursuant to sec. 4.131 of the City Charter.

RESOLUTION TO DELINEATE AND CLARIFY ETHICAL RESPONSIBILITIES

OF THE GOVERNING BODY OF THE CITY OF GREENSBORO

Please provide "the record of the Council"
of "all material facts" relative to the Noise Ordinance Issue, (item 27, which Robbie Perkins voted on)
the Economic Development Bond Issue, (item 12, which Robbie Perkins voted on)
the Eastern Guilford "Outside the Corporate Limits" Water and Sewer Issue
(item 22, which Robbie Perkins voted on)
and the economic development grant to Roy Carroll's Park View Development, LLC.
(item 26, which Robbie Perkins voted on)"publicly disclosed" by Robbie Perkins.

George Hartzman

Dear Billy Yow: "Roch Smith is just another one of these bloggers that’s going to change the world with whatever they do."

Updated: "The ACC Hall of Champions has hosted 6,456 visitors since its opening in March 2011."

99 blocks on Greensboro's Performing Arts Center project

Should Denise Turner Roth and Robbie Perkins recuse themselves from the Performing Arts Center project?

99 Blocks: The Performing Arts Center: Hurried Plans And Not Much Time

"Interim City Manager Denise Turner Roth late Friday released a memo saying she is asking the Community Foundation of Greater Greensboro to form a "diverse, citywide taskforce" on the matter.

Packed with supporters?

The taskforce will hold public meetings to gauge just how much citywide interest there is in a performing arts center for downtown. And the taskforce will hire consultants to conduct an economic impact study and explore possible private funding, perhaps from investors or philanthropic foundations.

Who is going to pay for the consultants?

Who is paying for the economic impact study?

What assumptions will be used for the study?

Why hasn't the Greensboro News & Record reported on the Craig Saperstein, Pillsbury Law lobbyist campaign contribution story?

Are the less informed easier to persuade than the more?

If white northern college students enlisted for voter registration drives,

only after murders of black civil rights volunteers

went relatively unreported by law enforcement and news organizations

is the Greensboro News & Record doing the same thing

only different?

Without an informed and free press,

there cannot be an enlightened people.

Justice Potter Stewart

Is an independent press
essential to capitalistic democracy?

Freedom of the press

is guaranteed only to those who own one.

A J Liebling

Why is journalism the only profession
explicitly protected by the US Constitution?

Not to transmit an experience

is to betray it.

Elie Wiesel

What is a Kleptocracy?

…while stimulus may have helped avert crisis, the process made clear that crony capitalism is alive and well.

…more stratified, more complex societies are in essence Kleptocracies, where those in power re-distribute societal wealth to themselves. Those at the bottom of the society’s pyramid accept this unequal, non-egalitarian state of affairs because they too benefit from their society’s relative advancement.

…The key is to…gain popular support in order to re-distribute as much wealth to the ruling class as the populace will support.

…as the stability of the economic status quo disintegrates into instability via economic depression, you should expect the ruling elite to step up uses of these methods of retaining power…
…[Jared] Diamond says the Kleptocrats maintain power using 4 different methods:

“1. Disarm the populace, and arm the elite.” [GH: Financially]

“2. Make the masses happy by redistributing much of the tribute received, in popular ways.” [GH: Medicare Part D, Social Security, Health Care “Reform”, Cash for Clunkers, Tax Cuts, Stimulus Legislation etc…]

“3. Use the monopoly of force to promote happiness, by maintaining public order and curbing violence.” [GH: Bailouts, unemployment benefit extensions and foreclosure assistance has limited crime]

“4. The remaining way for kleptocrats to gain public support is to construct an ideology or religion justifying kleptocracy.” [GH: Propaganda saturated mass media information dissemination]
…over time the natural tendency of any ruling elite is to deploy the state’s coercive power for greater and greater self-benefit…

If the ruling class takes too much, it will be overthrown and replaced by a new ruling class (which in turn will re-distribute wealth to itself using the same four methods)…

…The question is whether this should be tolerated, mitigated or eliminated.

…My understanding is that scientific studies have convincingly demonstrated that human beings will actually consciously disadvantage themselves to seek revenge as a means of restoring justice and fairness.

…in the real world, fairness and justice are important…And when an economic system is deemed unfair, people will go so far as to hurt themselves economically in order to level the playing field.

…Overreach has been the order of the day and will ultimately invite an opposing response.

Edward Harrison
Credit Writedowns

Dylan Ratigan on Crony Capitalism

…As Americans, I believe we reject Communism because it historically has allowed a tiny group of people to consolidate complete control over national resources (including people), in the process stifling competition, freedom and choice.

 …a culture of exploitation and a small powerbase formed by cronyism and nepotism are the hallmarks of a communist system that steals from its citizenry and a major reason why America spent half a century fighting a Cold War with the U.S.S.R.

 And yet today we find ourselves as a country in two distinctly different categories: those who are forced to compete tooth and nail each day to provide value to society in return for income for ourselves and our families and those who would instead use our lawmaking apparatus to help themselves to our tax money and/or to protect themselves from true competition.

If you allow weak, outdated players to take control of the government and change the rules so they are protected from the natural competition and reward systems that have created so many innovations in our country, you not only steal from the citizens on behalf of the least worthy but you also doom them by trapping the capital that would be used to generate new innovation and, most tangibly in our current situation, jobs.

 …those powerful individuals who have failed, been passed over by technological advancements, innovation and flat-out smarts, have commandeered our government to unfairly sustain their wealth and power.

 Unfortunately, they use our wealth and laws…, but also spend a small pittance of their ill-gotten gains lobbying and favor-trading with politicians so the government will continue to protect them from competition and their well-deserved failure.

 The massive spike in unemployment, the utter destruction of retirement wealth, the collapse in the value of our homes, the worst recession since the Great Depression have all resulted directly from the abdication of proper government.

Even with all that -- the only changes that have been made, have been made to prop up and hide the massive flaws on behalf of those who perpetuated them. Still utterly nothing has been done to disclose the flaws in this system, improve it or rebuild it. Only true rules-based capitalism ensures constant adaptation and implementation of the latest and best practices for a given business, as those businesses that don't adapt fail and those who deploy the latest innovations to their customers benefit, prosper.

The concept of Communism is rightly reviled in this country for the simple reason that it is blind to human nature, allowing a small group of individuals near-total control, while sticking everyone else with the same crappy systems -- and the bill. America spent countless lives and half a century fighting against this system of government...so why are we standing for it now?

 Dylan Ratigan, Host of "Morning Meeting" on MSNBC, and "Freedom Talk" on WABC Radio

Arthur Laffter: "Tax Hikes and the 2011 Economic Collapse"

Tax Hikes and the 2011 Economic Collapse

People can change the volume, the location and the composition of their income, and they can do so in response to changes in government policies.

...if the government taxes people who work and pays people not to work, fewer people will work.

Incentives matter.

People can also change the timing of when they earn and receive their income in response to government policies. According to a 2004 U.S. Treasury report, "high income taxpayers accelerated the receipt of wages and year-end bonuses from 1993 to 1992—over $15 billion—in order to avoid the effects of the anticipated increase in the top rate from 31% to 39.6%. At the end of 1993, taxpayers shifted wages and bonuses yet again to avoid the increase in Medicare taxes that went into effect beginning 1994."

Just remember what happened to auto sales when the cash for clunkers program ended. Or how about new housing sales when the $8,000 tax credit ended?

...On or about Jan. 1, 2011, federal, state and local tax rates are scheduled to rise quite sharply.

...the highest federal personal income tax rate will go 39.6% from 35%, the highest federal dividend tax rate pops up to 39.6% from 15%, the capital gains tax rate to 20% from 15%, and the estate tax rate to 55% from zero.

...Tax rates have been and will be raised on income earned from off-shore investments. Payroll taxes are already scheduled to rise in 2013 and the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT) will be digging deeper and deeper into middle-income taxpayers.

...State and local tax rates are also going up in 2011 as they did in 2010.

Tax rate increases next year are everywhere.

Now, if people know tax rates will be higher next year than they are this year, what will those people do this year?  They will shift production and income out of next year into this year to the extent possible. As a result, income this year has already been inflated above where it otherwise should be and next year, 2011, income will be lower than it otherwise should be.

Also, the prospect of rising prices, higher interest rates and more regulations next year will further entice demand and supply to be shifted from 2011 into 2010.

...this shift of income and demand is a major reason that the economy in 2010 has appeared as strong as it has. When we pass the tax boundary of Jan. 1, 2011, my best guess is that the train goes off the tracks and we get our worst nightmare of a severe "double dip" recession.

...Consider corporate profits as a share of GDP. Today, corporate profits as a share of GDP are way too high given the state of the U.S. economy. These high profits reflect the shift in income into 2010 from 2011. These profits will tumble in 2011...

In 2010, without any prepayment penalties, people can cash in their Individual Retirement Accounts (IRAs), Keough deferred income accounts and 401(k) deferred income accounts. After paying their taxes, these deferred income accounts can be rolled into Roth IRAs that provide after-tax income to their owners into the future. Given what's going to happen to tax rates, this conversion seems like a no-brainer.

The result will be a crash in tax receipts once the surge is past. If you thought deficits and unemployment have been bad lately, you ain't seen nothing yet.

Arthur Laffer
Wall Street Journal

The Laffer Curve, anyone know what this says?

It says that at this point on the revenue curve
you will get exactly the same amount of revenue as at this point…

Does anyone know what Vice President Bush called this in 1980, anyone?

Something-d-o-o economics, voodoo economics

Ferris Bueller’s Day Off