Allow the Bush tax cuts to expire

August 8, 2010 3 Comments

Our government has a cost

 

President Obama made a campaign promise to allow the Bush Tax cuts to expire for those people at the highest tax bracket.  I believe we should allow all the Bush tax cuts from 2003 to expire at the end of this year.   I do not want to pay any more taxes than anyone else, but the truth is that there is a cost associated with running the government and that cost should be shared among everyone.  Many economist told us that those tax cuts were needed to stimulate the economy.   Now some economists are telling us that the climb in our deficit was a major reason leading to our current recession.  I believe they are right.  It does not make sense that reducing our revenue and increasing spending will lead to prosperity.  We can cut our national deficit by 30% if we allow all the Bush tax cuts to expire.   

I believe that Americans are willing to pay taxes, but they want value for their money.   There are too many stories about big money interests using taxpayer funds for their own interests.  I have studied the analysis from several top economists about our current economy.   In every case the concept of tax cuts to upper middle class and upper class brackets did not have a positive effect on the economy because those people use the tax cuts to pay off debt or increase savings.  We know that extending unemployment benefits stimulates the economy because the people receiving the benefits live from pay check to pay check.     

I propose that the federal government sponsors major projects that add value to our community.  In California I believe transportation projects would stimulate the economy and immediately add value to our community.  High paying jobs would be created this year.  There are many projects pending that are shovel ready with plans already approved.  The the federal government should team with local agencies to produce transportation systems that would give value for decades.  The people would see value for their taxes.    A major transportation project would help the environment, cut energy consumption, and make travel much more convenient for everyone.   

It is not difficult to make the case for moving forward with major transportation projects.  What we need is in-depth research that lets us know how the money will spent and who will benefit from the project.  It is critical for the taxpayers to get as much value for their money as possible.  All aspects of projects must be open to the public.  We need people who will take the time to do the research and document that research so we can have access to information recorded from the taxpayer prospective.  Polly Dicta is sponsoring White Papers about major projects.  Please send me your comments about the tax cuts and government projects.  I know America will be a better place if more Americans take part in how our government works.  Let me know what you think.  

Jim Brandt, Facebook    

Filed under Economy, Government Spending/Budget Reform

Talking with legislators

May 18, 2010 2 Comments

California State Senator Allan Lowenthal

 

 I attended the Democratic Women’s Study Club meeting recently.  The guest speaker was California Assembly Member Warren Furutani from the 55th Assembly District in California.   Assembly Member Furutani gave a good summary of current legislation in California.  Then he answered questions.  Most of the questions had to do with the budget, the governor, and changing the requirement for two-thirds vote to approve  tax increases.   An interesting part of the meeting was that California State Senator Allan Lowenthal attended the meeting as a member.   Senator Lowenthal listened to the questions and then spoke for a few minutes about his assessment of the challenges facing the legislatures at all levels.  He talked about the lack of oversite at the federal and state level.  He said, too often we vote for candidates based on their issue positions and not the candidate’s ability to represent the district, including the ability to provide oversight.   The voters depend on their elected officials to help protect them by keeping the organizations that impact their daily lives honest.      

I was moved by the wisdom expressed by Senator Lowenthal.  Providing good oversight requires specific abilities and a willingness to work hard to discover detail leading to judgements that affect all of us.  That is one reason why the character of the candidate is important.  The willingness to work as hard as it takes to understand the details of legislation and the future impact to everyone, not just the special interests with money.      

Retired State Senator Betty Karnette was leading the meeting.  She agreed with Senator Lowenthal about the importance of oversight.  We need leaders who have the attention to detail to learn for themselves, not rely on lobbyists and others to define solutions.      

 I think we must take the candidate’s character and the candidates’ desire to represent the voter’s interest very seriously when making voting decisions.  Please send me your views about oversight or any other subject.
 
Jim Brandt -  Facebook

Filed under Government Reform

Ret. State Senator Karnette on the economy

March 31, 2010 Leave a Comment

I was attending a board meeting at Retired State Senator Betty Karnette’s house earlier this week.  Senator Karnette led the group through the planned agenda.  It did not take long after the agenda was complete for the economy to surface as a hot topic.  Everyone agreed about the urgency to do something to stimulate the economy but there was not agreement on an approach.  The group discussed topics of immigration, American manufacturing, and support of American made products.  There seemed to a division in the room among all the people.  One person took an idealistic approach, a couple of people wanted practical solutions that could produce measurable results, and other people were quiet. 

As the discussion began to lose any sense of direction, Senator Karnette showed that leadership she demonstrated so many times in the legislature.  She began to speak while the rest of the people in the room sat and listened.  Senator Karnette made the point that California needs high paying  jobs that will address serious challenges that affect the state for decades to come.   Transportation is one of the major challenges facing California for now and in the forseeable future.  She explained that both the chairperson of the California Senate Transportation Committee and the chairperson of the California Assembly Transportation Committee are local and that both legislators are very approachable.  Senator Karnette said that we need to work with both legislators to advance major construction projects that will bring high paying jobs that will last many years and the projects will improve the quality of life for the people of California.  The energy of the people in the room and the people they represent need  to focus on an effort that will help the economy and improve the future of California at the same time.   

I am sharing this story with you for two reasons.  First, I agree with Senator Karnette that we need to face our challenges and work on the economy at the same time.  My second reasons is that we need to share success stories about our elected leaders current or retired.  We do have honest leaders who have the leadership skills to help us move in the direction we wish to go.   Maybe you think there are other projects that have more priority than transportation.  That is a debate worth having.  I would love to consider the merits of several projects that could make America a better place to live while defining spending priorities.  Recently, all we hear is personal attacks instead of the  benefits and negative points of valid proposals.  Please send me your comments about the economy,leadership, or any other subject.

Filed under Economy, Government Spending/Budget Reform

Courts take on campaign finance reform

March 27, 2010 Leave a Comment

Jim Brandt

 

The New York Times printed an article about campaign finance reform today.  We posted the article on the home page of the Polly Dicta website.   I understood the main point of the article was that the government cannot restrict the amount of money corporations and labor unions spend for advertising to support candidates, but the government can restrict the amount of money contributed to political parties or political candidates.  Some campaign finance reform supporters saw this as a victory that countered part of the earlier court ruling that said corporations and labor unions could spend unlimited amounts of money in support of candidates or to voice opposition to political candidates.   

Although I am happy that the special interests can not give unlimited funds directly to the political candidate, I do not see this decision as much of a victory.  I believe campaign finance reform is the most important government reform that Polly Dicta supports.   I belive we need the full “Clean Money Campaign” approach that I discuss in the Polly Dicta Book.  Nothing short of this approach will change the structure of our government enough to allow us to elect honest people. 
 
Back on March 20th we posted an article from the Washington Post called, “Anonymity: A secret fix for campaign finance”.  You can view this article on the home page of the Polly Dicta website.  In the article they proposed the concept of allowing unlimited contributions to political parties or political candidates, but the identity of the contributor would be confidential.  After running for Congress twice, I learned all the assets available to candidates.  I do not think it would difficult for a political candidate to discover the identity of a major contributor in today’s Internet environment. 
 
As I said in the book (Polly Dicta), the courts have tested Clean Money Campaigns in both Arizona and Maine and passed every time.  We must work as hard as we can to advance these reforms.  Being angry at Wall Street for taking our money is not good enough.  Being upset with the banks when they will not help you with your mortgage.  We must go after the money and we must do it now.  I will work as hard as I can to support this fight.  We need as many people as possible to register on the Polly Dicta Website and for them to check “Campaign Finance Reform” as one of the reforms they support.  Please comment on this blog so I know how you feel.  I read every comment and take every suggestion very seriously.  As soon as we have enough subscribers on the website who check “Campaign Finance Reform” we will begin conducting surveys and communicating with Members of Congress.  As soon as we have one hundred or more subscribers in your Congressional district, I will personally take the message from our survey to the Member and post their response for all of you to rate.  I look forward to hearing from you.

Filed under Campaign Finance Reform, Government Reform

Candidate Forum – Campaign Finance Reform

March 20, 2010 Leave a Comment

I recently attend a candidate forum that included four candidates running for the 53rd Assembly District in California.  The 53rd Assembly District is an open seat because of term limits.  The event was well-organized with significant participation from the audience.  The candidates did a good job of presenting their background, experiences, and their plan for the future of California.  A member of the audience asked the question, “Do you accept contributions from corporations”.  Three of the four candidates said no.  It is not uncommon for candidates who are not incumbents to take this stand.  Sometimes they take this stand because they  and some times it is because the special interests only give to incumbents or candidates who already have significant money.  Regardless of the candidate’s reason, the campaigns for major offices who are not funded by special interests are not competitive.  The cost to hire enough staff and support a media effort to communicate a message across a major district is staggering.  Part of the challenge is that we rely on traditional media to decide if a candidate is viable.  When people are working very hard just to pay their bills, they do not have the time or energy to do research about their elected leaders.  One of the candidates suggested that it is only a matter of time until a corporation runs for office.  He suggested that we treat corporations as people based on a mid 1800s law and since the supreme court ruled this year that a corporation has freedom of speech rights and can spend as much as they like on political elections the next step is to cut out the middle man by running a corporation for office.  The comments resulted in laughter, but there was a sense of truth in the room.

In my book, “Polly Dicta – Giving real democracy a voice”, I documented many cases where members of Congress accepted major campaign contributions from a specific organization and then the same member created or supported legislation that helped the same organization.  It is clear Congress will not act to clean their own house because the members benefit the way things work now.  We must act to carry out real change.  Cosmetic changes like ethics rules or laws will not change the process because dishonest people will always find ways around ethics laws when they are the ones who write the laws.  We must have a fundamental change to the way we finance campaigns to bring true transparency to our government.  We must elect honest people but we do not know who is honest when the process to elect our leaders encourages candidates to put the interests of organizations ahead of the interests of the people who elect them. 

The states of Arizona and Maine have proven that the people can carry out change and clean up the way we elect our leaders.  We must start “Clean Money Campaigns” through a grassroots effort.  The Internet gives us the vehicle, we must use portals like Polly Dicta to give real democracy a voice.  We must let our leaders know that we are establishing the agenda for America and support change or we will find someone who will.  We must make this effort in every Congressional District.  Until the leaders understand they can lose their job, we will not experience real change and we  will not advance the economy, healthcare, the environment, or dependence on foreign oil if our interests threaten the interests of big money.  Encourage as many people as possible to go to the Polly Dicta website and register as a subscriber.  We must work together to let our leaders know we will no longer allow them to sacrifice us for the interests of powerful organizations.

Filed under Campaign Finance Reform, Government Reform, Government Spending/Budget Reform, Uncategorized

Welcome to Polly Dicta

March 9, 2010 Leave a Comment

More and more people feel their elected leaders do not listen to them.  Polly Dicta was created to help people work together to make sure their leaders understand the people’s concerns and the government’s priorities are based on the needs of the people not the desires of the special interests who finance elections.  We do still have the power of the vote and we need to exercise that power.  The Polly Dicta website is an information portal that will give grass root people a voice.   As a group we can have a voice by commenting to this blog, responding to a Polly Dicta survey, writing a White Paper that Polly Dicta will publish, and attending scheduled events.

Polly Dicta is committed to advance three government reforms that are needed to bring real democracy back to America.  The three government reforms include:  1)  transparent budget and spending process, 2) representative districts, and 3) campaign finance reform.  We must all work as hard as we can to implement these reforms.  Until we advance these reforms, our leaders will not make us a priority. 

Polly Dicta is also committed to supporting four causes:  1) economy, 2) healthcare, 3) environment, and 4) energy.  We are not waiting for the government to advance these causes.  We need to improve all four causes collectively through our own individual behavior. 

The book “Polly Dicta – giving real democracy a voice” is available in paperback or e-book format.  Click on the following link for information or to purchase the book – Polly Dicta Book. 

I will do my best to post recent relevent news articles on the Polly Dicta website to help keep you informed.  I would appreciate any comments or suggestions.  We all need people who have the time to conduct research on specific reforms or causes and submit that research as a White Paper to Polly Dicta to publish. 

As we have more subscribers to the Polly Dicta website, we will begin conducting surveys and send the results directly to the appropriate members of congress.  We will track all information by congressional district.

Filed under Cause, Government Reform

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