Alternative News

Government Interference in the Bowling Shoe Sector

"New York State Senator Patrick Gallivan (R-59th District) New York State Assemblyman Robin Schimminger (D-140th District) are sponsoring a bill that would cover bowling shoes. The bill in the assembly is co-sponsored by Assembly members Brian Kolb, Crystal Peoples-Stokes and Jane Corwin. It would require alley owners to post signs, warning keglers not to wear bowling shoes outside, lest they become wet and increase the likelihood that a bowler could slip and fall when they come inside. I think we have pretty much everything covered. Can we now disband all state and federal law making bodies?" Continue reading →

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Strangled By Red Tape

"We’re talking about a huge cost to the economy, and it’s been getting worse for the past 12 years. If those numbers don’t make you sit up and take notice, how about these ones? Americans spend 8.8 billion hours every year filling out government forms. The economy-wide cost of regulation is now $1.75 trillion. For every bureaucrat at a regulatory agency, 100 jobs are destroyed in the economy’s productive sector. The Obama Administration added $236 billion of red tape just in 2012. Today’s Byzantine system is good for tax lawyers, accountants, and bureaucrats, but it’s bad news for America." Continue reading →

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Free Lunches for All Students in Boston

"The federal government has taken a chunk of taxpayers’ money and handed it over to Boston’s tax-funded schools. The money will be used to supply free lunches for all students. There will be no means-testing. Rich kids will get free meals. Why? So as to avoid the sense of shame in the hearts of poor kids, who might see their families as charity cases, which of course they are. Reality is painful. Self-awareness is painful. Politicians spend their careers trying to find ways to shield voters from reality." Continue reading →

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Germany’s Green-Energy Disaster

"Even though green-energy programs are a disgusting boondoggle, American taxpayers and consumers should be thankful they’re not in Germany. Our programs may be wasteful and corrupt, but we’re amateurs compared to what’s happening on the other side of the Atlantic. As is so often the case with government intervention, the promises from politicians about low costs were a mirage. Perhaps the most shocking part of the story is that Germans are being forced to pay $26 billion in subsidies to get less than $4 billion of green energy." Continue reading →

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Orange County, CA Still Has No Tax Software

"The tax code of Orange County is so complex that the documentation for an useless computer program to run the tax system is 6,000 pages long. The program did not work. The county then hired another firm to produce the needed program. Original bid: $8 million. But there were cost overruns: another $8 million. The county says the second program does not work. The company is part of the Tata conglomerate, the giant Indian firm. Orange County has fired Tata. So, the county is still flying blind." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingOrange County, CA Still Has No Tax Software

With Three Weeks to Go, Nobody Knows What ObamaCare Will Cost.

"So far, 17 states have issued estimates. The exchanges are supposed to be ready for business on October 1. Coverage begins on January 1. Where are the missing 33 exchanges? The federal government must run them. The federal government is staying mute. With three weeks to go, there is no real understanding of what the costs will be for most premium payers. This is going to be an administrative disaster. It is a programming disaster. It is going to prove to millions of voters that the federal government does not know what it is doing. This will become evident on October 1, the day the new fiscal year begins." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingWith Three Weeks to Go, Nobody Knows What ObamaCare Will Cost.

More Bad Consequences from Obamacare

"I am an insurance agent for the nation's largest multiple line insurance company. There are over 17,000 of us, all independent contractors with our own employees, who, like us, are not employed by the insurance company. On September 3rd, the company announced that it would terminate all Group Medical health insurance that our employees (who work for us, not the company) participate in, effective January 1st, 2014, citing the Affordable Care Act and its restrictive underwriting requirements." Continue reading →

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McDonald’s Dollar Menu Is About To Become “The Dollar Menu & More”

"McDonald's Corp. says it has been testing higher priced versions of its famous value menu. The Dollar Menu & More that was tested has three price points -$1, $2 and $5 or 'shareable' items such as 20-piece McNuggets. Another version that was tested has prices of $1, $1.79 and $4.99. Earlier this year, Wendy’s revamped its 99-cent menu to a 'Right Price Right Size' menu, with prices ranging up to around $2. Sure looks like signs of price inflation, not deflation, to me." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingMcDonald’s Dollar Menu Is About To Become “The Dollar Menu & More”

Stolen Public School Textbooks Went Unnoticed for Five Years.

"A Long Beach book buyer has been accussed of stealing thousands of new and used textbooks from four school districts in a massive scheme that involved 12 other people, including two librarians, a campus supervisor and a former warehouse manager. During a two-year period beginning in May 2008, Frederick allegedly paid more than $200,000 in bribes — from $600 to $47,000 per person — for school employees to steal textbooks in literature and language arts, economics, physics, anatomy and physiology." Continue reading →

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Entire School District Shuts Down — Out of Money

"Michigan’s Buena Vista — 'Good View' — school district in Michigan shut down this week. It is out of money. Some teachers say they will teach for free. But will all of them do this? In any case, it’s illegal. Michigan doesn’t allow it. The state cut funding by $3 million, due to declining enrollment. The nearby Pontiac School District is close to bankrupt. It can’t meet payroll. Two districts in Arkansas are bust. The Philadelphia district in Pennsylvania is begging for money from the state. We are in an economic recovery. What happens in the next recession?" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingEntire School District Shuts Down — Out of Money