forgotston.com

In February of this year, Bobby Jindal presented to the lege the State Operating Budget for the current fiscal year. The total was $24.2 BILLION. The budget contained NO additional CUTS to healthcare and higher education.

When the leges finished going over the State Budget, by June it had ballooned-up to $26.9 BILLION; plus it contained significant CUTS to healthcare and higher education.

In other words, the leges added $2.7 BILLION to the budget but reduced funding to Healthcare and Higher Education.

In addition to the additional cuts to Higher Education, the leges increased the tax on college students and their parents.

It gets worse.  The current budget contains $2.8 BILLION in non-recurring revenues; meaning the funds will not be there at this time next year.

To put the non-recurring figure into perspective, it will require doubling the state’s 4% Sales Tax (8% plus local taxes) to replace those revenues.   Or the leges could increase the State Sales Tax to 7% plus reimpose the Stelly Tax via the Personal Income Tax.

Finally, for the really bad news; the governor and leges all know the above, but they have no plan to address the fiscal crisis or its impact on our economy and there is nobody even working on a solution.

C.B.

1 CB 8:00 am

Millions of gallons of oil are flowing into the Kalamazoo River in Michigan due to a leaking 30 inch pipeline.  ( See story here.)

In keeping with the cautious decision by the Feds decision to stop all deep water drilling in the Gulf of Mexico, all pipelines of 30 inches or larger criss-crossing the U.S. should be closed temporarily until the appropriate Federal agencies have a chance to inspect every pipeline in America.

It might cause a little inconvenience for for the people in America who depend on natural gas for cooking, heating and electricity.   I’m sure that everyone can temporarily switch over to other forms of energy such as propane or coal.

Anyone put out of work temporarily can just draw Unemployment Compensation.

I doubt that the price of gasoline will get much above $10 per gallon temporarily while we depend on 18-wheel tank trucks to deliver gasoline from the refineries to the retailers around the country.   The price of gasoline could rise higher depending on how many supertankers it will take to bring the foreign oil to the refineries in America.

A pipeline moratorium is the least that our government can do.   Why should Louisiana be the only state protected from oil spills.

C.B.

1 CB 8:00 am

Below is an email that I sent to Rep. Fred Mills today.   The ideas are nothing, but the same type of common sense that we apply to our personal and business finances.    I don’t see why it won’t work for government.   It is only a matter of setting priorities.

C.B.

Dear Rep. Mills,

In today’s (Wednesday) Lafayette paper you said: “You have ideas that can save us money,” Mills said. “Bring it to us, and we’ll run with it.”

Here is a 4-step solution to the state’s current budget woes:

1. The governor must immediately call a special lege session.

2. All business taxes and fees must be reduced to the lowest in the nation.

3. All regulations, not Federally-mandated, must be repealed.

4. Adopt a new State Operating Budget for the current fiscal year based only on the available, recurring funds generated by the new tax code. Down-size state and local governments to fit the budget.

This plan will not only resolve the fiscal “cliff” over which the governor and legislature are driving us, but it will jump-start our morbid economy.

I look forward to you running with my idea.

I’m taking the liberty of copying several interested citizens on this email.

Yours truly,

C.B.

C.B. Forgotston
Hammond, LA

1 CB 10:31 am