As typical of Father Barrack, who is known for lecturing people (even during a holiday weekend!), the President took the opportunity to attack businesses.  He said “for decades, middle class families felt the sting of stagnant incomes and declining economic security.  Companies were rewarded with tax breaks for creating jobs overseas.”  Later in his speech he again talks about this by saying he “ended a tax loophole that encouraged companies create jobs overseas.”

This is all very disingenuous.  This President has handed out, through his bailouts, billions to overseas businesses.

Here are some examples:

Bailout Call Center shipped out to El Salvador

Almost $2B in Stimulus for renewable energy sent overseas

GM’s bailout requires more cars to be produced offshore

AIG bailout rescued banks around the world

Mr. President, be honest with the American people.

The cost to mail a standard letter is proposed, starting in January, to raise from $.44 to $.46, a 4.5% increase.  This increase will cost Americans an additional $2.3 billion a year.

This is yet another added cost to American consumers.  We need to significantly alter the Post Office.  Here are some thoughts to consider:

• Why do we need the Post Office spending millions of dollars on ads to compete against UPS and FedEx?  If UPS and FedEx can do the job, why do we need the USPS aggressively competing against private industry?
• Do we need six days of Postal service?  Personally, most days a week I don’t receive any mail, or if I do, it’s just junk mail.  Most time-sensitive items that I receive, I receive electronically.  Does the government have a long-term plan, over the next 20-50 years, to phase out the Post Office or at least minimize its use?
• The Post Office offers incredibly generous retirement benefits for their employees.  For example, Postal workers receive paid retirement.  In addition, they receive up to 5% matching of their salary on their equivalent of a 401K.
• Employees also receive up to 26 days of paid vacation per year on top of 13 days paid sick days and ten paid holidays per year.
• According to PayScale.com, the average USPS Mail Carrier earn $21.88 an hour.
• There are 596,000 employees of the USPS.  That makes it the second largest employer in the nation, only behind Walmart.
• We’ve had hikes in postage in 1999, 2001, 2002, 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2009.

These are some basic thoughts.  We need a more thorough review of the USPS and its direction before citizens are saddled with yet another pay hike.

The Governor really has lost the forest from the trees.  He has spent a great deal of time on this.  Commissioners, Directors, HR staff, managers and others, from dozens of state agencies have spent weeks discussing and planning this feeble attempt to save a drop in the bucket.

Why?

Realizing this is the end of his political career, Governor David Paterson is going on the offensive, striking down everyone who has ever wronged him, in the waning days of his career.   He feels the unions have it out for him, as they defend their people by standing behind existing contracts.

He is also aiding those who stuck by him.

Several of his staff received double-digit raises, as they were given more responsibilities after many of his staff bailed on him.  The next day, after realizing this looked bad, the raises were canceled.

NYS politicians need to make the tough decisions.  Yes, the deficit needs to be cut, but cut the significant expenditures.

The NYS budget is over $100 billion.  The furlough savings would be less than 1% of the total budget.

New Yorkers need to ride out the last few months of the Paterson Regime.  We must stay united, and hold out hope that our next governor will make common-sense reductions to the state budget and in a consistent manner.

Why did we have to purchase new street signs, and pay people to rip out the old signs and concrete in the new ones?  There were dozens of signs that were replaced.  Sure seems like a waste of taxpayer money.  Were none of them functional any more?

In addition, and what really caught my eye, is that the new signs are harder to read!  They are in “mixed case,” as opposed to the old ones which were all in capital letters.

You be the judge…  If you are in your car, driving 30 miles per hour, is it easier to read “Delaware” or “DELAWARE”?

President Obama asked for an accounting of jobs saved or created.  Why not ask for an accounting of expenses avoided?

Gruber was contracted by HHS for $297,600 to provide “technical assistance” evaluating the various health reform proposals.  His function is to advise internal staff to make a more informed recommendation.

He has publicly defended his support of the tax on “Cadillac insurance plans.”  These public positions – talking to the press, writing articles, etc – were supposedly done on his own time.

So President Obama’s administration hires a non-objective economist to evaluate proposals?  Why?  Can’t we find an objective one that doesn’t need the spot light?

Also, nearly $297,600 was spent obtaining this one person for a short-term contract to evaluate these plans.  Is this cost being included in President Obama’s estimates of how much health care is costing us?  How many more contractors like him exist?  The people deserve to know.

Give us the full cost, President Obama.  Make it transparent, as promised.

In December, the State is supposed to distribute billions of dollars to schools, counties, state payroll, etc., yet it will only have about 3/4 of the money it promised on hand.

NYS must begin making cuts.  It is easy, every person does this every day with their family’s budget.  The State can start with the simple things.  The non-essentials must be dramatically cut.  If this means libraries are no longer able to purchase the newest videos to loan out for free, or that State property does not have quite as many flowers planted on them, so be it.  Move on from there to tackle the larger cuts.

Since Governor Paterson is very interested in finding innovative revenue streams, I am sure we will see the $21,000 rug on eBay very soon.

Cuts must also trickle down to the municipalities as well.  City’s must begin making tough decisions.  Schools must consolidate to take advantage of economies of scale.  People need to demand less of their government.

New York State must show the Counties, Cities, Towns and Villages how it is done.  The State must model its desired behavior.  Until the State cuts its fat, the municipalities will continue to keep their fat, and will keep demanding more aid from the State and Federal government.