Brother Can you spare me $500 billion dollars?

Brother Can you spare me $500 billion dollars? Give or take a few billion.
You see my family and I lived within our means. We did not buy a house we could not afford with no money down, with a no interest mortgage for five years, with no income verification, and with a high real estate commission. No, we are still in the same house trying to make ends meet.
We try not to overspend since we know we must pay our bills on time, and must save for the future. We know energy costs especially for heating oil have gone up 50% since last season thus we must budget for that also. We know what a budget is and that we must have enough income to offset our expenses each month. We do not live in a fantasy world that has been created in our economy by greedy mortgage/banking lenders, greedy real estate salespeople and uneducated and or greedy home buyers. The financial markets tried refining financial garbage and make a profit on it.
No we as a family live within our means.
I also resent the State of Connecticut spending $50 million of our tax money to bail many of these people out. Let the market correct itself and possibly let government regulators who are supposed to examine these mortgages do their job correctly.
The sub prime mess will cost our economy in my economic opinion $500 billion dollars or more. Taxpayers will be forced in some way (as seen in the Connecticut example) to subsidize this greed. I resent that. Greed over a poor investment decision will cost us all and many banks will walk away from this untouched. This debacle was not necessary.
Therefore, Brother Can you spare me $500 billion dollars? I really want my family's share. Now.

The Wallingford Mayoral Election Heats Up!

Low and behold waiting for me in my mailbox this afternoon was Wallingford's independent (not Democrat any more) Mayoral candidate's flyer which sure looks almost like Mayor Dickinson's flyers. Imitation is the best form of flattery that one can receive. In trying to disect what the Trzcinski flyer slammed the Mayor on is interesting. Wallingford, like all communities in Connecticut is mandated to have reevealuation of property values. This increases the grand list for towns and shows in many cases how property values have gone up in a five and or ten year period. Guess what! The last property reevaluation in Wallingford (done at the peak of the real estate boom) showed property values dramatically up which in turn forces taxpayers to pay more in property taxes even though the mill rate has gone down. The flyer states that "For the average resident taxes have risen 88.6% since 1996!" Oh really? I feel I am an average taxpayer living in the same home for 23 years now. Since 1996 my taxes have gone up about 37% not 88.6%, that amounts to about 3.5% a year not 8.9% as the flyer states. I wonder where that figure came from?

Then there is also a mention of Community Lake ... since 1979. How critical is that for the town's future? Bringing back Community Lake is more of a luxury for tax payers than a necessity.

What about "The building on Rt.5 which has been in foreclosure since 1989?" There are several environmental cleanup issues at that location resulting in a stalled resolution to that problem.

What are the Lucille for Mayor solutions to all of these issues? I do not see any in her copy cat flyer I just received. It's easy enough to say we need long range strategic plans but what are they?

I think in Wallingford everything is going well because our community is governed by people who care and by a Conservative, non-egotistical Mayor who puts the town's needs first over any form of political glory (glory in my opinion just waiting for it to happen by the other two candidates). I have taken a second look at what's going on in Wallingford and I still like what I see. I will again vote for Mayor Bill Dickinson and the Republican candidates for Town Council and Board of Education. Real leadership for Wallingford.

Will Chris Dodd go home?

I am still confused why our illustrious Senator Dodd is running for the Presidency. I know somehow he has gotten elected for many years as both Representative and Senator, (with a great deal of help from weak and ineffective Republican candidates who have run against him) but really what has he done to help our state? I am still trying to figure out when was the last time he sponsored some sort of meaningful tax reform legislation and or spending cuts which could be passed onto working middle class citizens which inhabit our state. You see I am tired of Senator Dodd and his Democratic party’s redistribution of wealth programs. I am tired of a social welfare system has he has championed for years which has done nothing other than keep money out of the hands who truly need it and create generation after generation of welfare recipients. And I am really tired of his constant glorification of Latin and South American leaders who rape their countries and promote their form of dictatorship (in particular Castro).

Maybe it is time for Chris Dodd to come home, to forget about rewriting the history of his disgraced father and retire once and for all from public service. Connecticut would be so much better off without him.

Dickinson for Mayor in Wallingford

I love Wallingford. It is a community that its citizens are proud of. It is a town that many people want to move to because of its strong school system, low taxes, low electric rates, close location to both Hartford and New Haven, many stores and businesses. It is a community where we have seen a steady course continue through the administration of Mayor Bill Dickinson. The Mayor who has been in office for many years now has led Wallingford by example always putting the town's needs first over self glorification and personal gain. That is not say he is without his critics which are many. However, I believe that the majority of Wallingford voters wish for him to return for another two year term. I do not believe either of the other two candidates running for Mayor (Democrat and Independent) have the drive, knowledge or ability to lead Wallingford for the next two years. It is apparent to me that they are running weak campaigns and dwell on the Wooding property issue alone. There is little new thought or ideas being presented by both. This election a vote for Mayor Bill Dickinson and the Republican candidates for Town Council and Board of Education will continue the path of progress for our great town, Wallingford.

The Sub Prime Mess or Who's Mortgage Is It?

As an instructor of Economics for 25 years now, many students of mine have asked me to comment on the current problems faced in the Sub Prime Mortgage market. To try to understand what a sub prime mortgage is, we may view it in a variety of ways. First it is a mortgage given to a consumer who may have a poor credit record, not much if any money for a downpayment on a home. Many who may have unreported income (under the table income) may be qualified for this type of mortgage along with those who wish to make a major refinancing by combining all loans into the mortgage (for example $50,000 credit card bills, $200,000 remaining on a mortgage a jumbo mortgage of $250,000-but the house has only been valued for $225,000.). After the mortgage company makes the loan they are then rebundled and resold in the aftermarket usually to a fund or investment firm in many cases in an overseas market.
So what happens now is after paying on a mortgage with 0% interest for one, two or however many years all of the sudden the consumer sees a greater interest rate along with a much higher mortgage payment each month. Property taxes also shoot up. Energy prices shoot up. People lose their jobs. Income in some cases is not even verified. Real estate values have started to decline (in my economic opinion they were overvalued to begin with) and guess what-that home worth $225,000 is now only worth $175,000 and the consumer still owes $250,000 on it.
I think that you may be able to start seeing the problems that are happening. Each segment of the market is starting to blame the other. Economic education was not even thought about in educating consumers whether or not they could realistically afford that mortgage.
Now the problem is how to resolve it. It can only be resolved through the basic laws of supply and demand in both the real estate market and the credit markets. People will lose their homes and mortgage companies will be going out of business, it is the reality of the situation. Political answers such as throwing more money into this market will do nothing to resolve it. If it is too good to be true than it is should be the result of this fiasco. Realtors, mortgage companies and consumers who have signed for these loans all should share the blame. You can also interject the word greed in this equation also. Sub primes will be gone soon enough and logic will return to this market.

Our crumbling highways, oh well!

For many years now I have discussed in my economics classes-where is the tax money going in our state to fund and repair our road and highway system on both a state and federal level? The disaster in Minnesota (which naturally is now a political field day for the Democrats since higher taxes are their answer for everything) sheds light as to the problems we have here in Connecticut with our aging and crumbling highway/road system. The state levies a great deal of taxes of gasoline and diesel in our state, with the money apparently just going into a general fund and then some of those taxes being redistributed through the DOT. Obviously if anyone drives to work one can see first hand how bad our highways are whether it is I-91, 95 or 84 (or how about the storm drain waste of money in Waterbury?). The costs of upkeep are somehow considered in a budget (although how I can't figure it out) and it seems to me a handful of projects on occasion are completed usually after a long period of time and overbudgetted. If one travels I-95 you see the daily mess of the Q-Bridge through East Haven. I can only imagine what a mess it will be when they try to rebuild the Bridge itself.
Is there any solution? Obviously the cry will be greater taxes to rebuild our crumbling infrastructure because there just seems never to be enough money appropriated for the politics of our highway/road system. However, higher taxes will not solve the problem. Maybe here in our state politics could be put aside for a little while and we could force accountability so that we do not see a bridge fall here. Maybe taxpayers and users of our highway/road system deserve better. Maybe state officials could actually do the job they a re paid to do. What a concept.

The Failed Connecticut State Legislature

Ethics violations, corruption, greed, graft, waste, over taxation. I feel these words describe the Connecticut State Legislature. As evidence by these ruling elite, taxpayers have seen the waste of our hard earned tax dollars throughout this session. Why was nothing accomplished in this session? Why are taxpayers no longer represented in our State Legislature?
Nothing was accomplished for any of us who work for a living here in Connecticut. We are still the highest taxed states in the country. We have one of the highest gasoline and diesel taxes in the country and the beauty of it is that the money does not even go to maintain our crumbling and failed highway system in the state.
If a person breaks a law whether they are Democrat or Republican shouldn't they be punished? In this assembly they have placed themselves above the law. Ethics violations in both parties is now the norm with no repercussions for the violators. And the list goes on and on.
Taxpayers need to analyze what happened in this legislative process and view how poorly we are represented in Hartford. In my opinion we have no representation in Hartford. I again call upon a recall election immediately in order to clean out these inept politicians and also a referendum on the state budget allowing those who are paying for this mockery to be able to vote whether we accept it or not. Our state legislature is broken beyond repair and needs to be fixed immediately. Why do taxpayers need to continue to pay for this ineptness called state government?

Are Both Parties For Real?

With the two proposals for a new state budget, I as a taxpayer am wondering are both parties for real? If you have a constitutional amendment to cap state spending, then why do both parties ignore it? Why are taxes being raised so much (even though the Democrats claim a small drop in the income tax rate-most will be paying more in the long run)? Is the concept of fiscal restraint unknown by both parties?
The two state budget tax and spending proposals are shocking, outrageous and ill timed-do any of our elected officials realize we are already the highest taxed state in the country? Our tax freedom day is now May 20th, the longest in the country!
I would really like to know when Connecticut will have Taxation with Representation again. What a pathetic government.

Pork-Please let me spend more and more and more

Pork, pork and more pork. I see things have not changed in Congress. Under the “New” Democratic leadership, a mockery has made of the current Iraq bill which will allows an incredible amount of non related Iraq spending to take place. So much for the elimination of pork barrel spending. This bill adds a mere $30 billion plus to non war related activities to help buy the votes to pass it. Thus you as taxpayers are seeing the great lie of the Democratic party. Even though they campaigned to eliminate pork barrel spending it is just more of the same. Any kind of spin can be placed on this, Democrats will try to manipulate this bill to their advantage and again nothing changes. How can taxpayers have any faith in a Congress which is so out of control and clueless to the real problems of our country? Again we need term limitations, both the House and Senate need to be four year terms, each limited to two terms. You may serve for eight years and move on. This would bring in fresh and new ideas to both bodies of Congress and hopefully eliminate the fraud that takes place each day they are in session. I conclude by asking what has Ted Kennedy really done in over 40 years as a Senator? He is the greatest argument for term limitations that I know of. And the waste and pork continues ad infinitum.