Politics | Coral Gables Watch

Rubio is Not a Keynesian, After All

November 14, 2010 Leave a comment

This sounds to me like the Marco Rubio of Tallahassee ( and his famous 100 ideas!)–his fight for distant issues and achieved little actual progress in deficit and tax reduction.

From Marco Rubio,

“The past two years provided a frightening glimpse at what could become of our great nation if we continue down the current path: wasteful spending, a growing debt and a government reaching ever further into our lives, even into our health care decisions,” he said. “It is nothing short of a path to ruin …”

…“This means preventing a massive tax increase scheduled to hit every American taxpayer at the end of the year. It means repealing and replacing the disastrous health care bill. It means simplifying our tax code, and tackling a debt that is pushing us to the brink of our own Greece-like day of reckoning.”

Rubio’s warning – and threat to the White House – sounds almost apocalyptic, as if the election campaign continues. Which, in a way, it does.

via President Obama, Marco Rubio face off on tax cuts – CSMonitor.com.

Dear Mr. Rubio,

Most of the debt came from the Bush Administration, the TARP, the Obama stimulus package and the fall in the economy that cut tax revenue; it is almost impossible to make a difference by eliminating “wasteful spending” (all newly elected politicians want to end wasteful spending not affecting their state or district); government overreaching (do forget war spending, the TARP passed by President Bush and a stimulus package a lot of which was tax cuts) that saved the banks, GM, and about 2 to 3 million jobs; the government is already deeply embedded in our health care in medicare and medicaid; the tax decrease in January for the rich will cause a huge increase on our debt and deficit of at least $700 billion without creating jobs.

Yes, we need to deal with the debt caused by mismanagement of the financial system by prior governments, the current government and the need to grow jobs. Let’s see if you and the others in Washington are willing to cut social security, medicare, medicaid, but, above all raise taxes to pay the bill.

This will be interesting.

Filed under Economy, National, Politics

No One Really Wants to Cut Spending, Just Taxes

November 7, 2010 Leave a comment

This explains pretty much a pattern for both political parties–calling for spending cuts, but never the political sensitive programs. This means that it will be very hard for the parties to get together to overcome unemployment and make a long-term plan to draw down the deficit.

…despite their professed commitment to cut government spending, most Republicans in Congress refuse to propose specifics that would actually cut spending in any significant way. Recognizing the extreme unpopularity of cutting Social Security and Medicare, and the aversion of their base to military cuts, these self-styled fiscal conservatives often take entitlement and defense spending off the table, removing nearly 60 percent of the federal budget from scrutiny. Of the remaining spending, another sizable portion goes to debt payments — which are untouchable — and most Republicans also take homeland security and other security spending off the table, leaving only a small fraction of the total federal budget from which to find cuts.

Despite this stark reality, Republicans still try to claim the mantle of fiscal responsibility, and are forced to fumble, hem and haw when pressed on how they would actually cut spending.

via ThinkProgress » Pawlenty Inadvertently Explains How House Republicans Are ‘Lying To You’ About Spending Cuts.

Filed under Economy, Finance, National, Politics

Thank You, Mr. Slesnick, Posted–Boy Scouts Not Welcome

November 7, 2010 1 Comment

The city of Coral Gables has taken a typical lawyer’s response to a little problem–threaten the nuclear option by bullying the Boy Scouts.

The city authorities, instead of handing big city issues like the Biltmore lease mismanagement by the city manager, used a contract lawyer to send a letter to the Boy Scouts at the last minute before a proposed meeting at the Boy Scout House.

Also, it is my understanding that the Boy Scout House was donated to the them by George Merrick’s Company and that there is a probable dispute between the Boy Scouts and the city over the actual ownership of the House.

Should we celebrate the 100 years of Mr. Merrick’s house be foreclosing on the Boy Scouts? It think not, but who knows in these times of elections, bad budgets, high taxes and institutional failures of the city.

Filed under Coral Gables, Politics

Coral Gables: What Should We Ask the Candidates for Commissioner and Mayor? (1)

November 5, 2010 1 Comment

It is election time again.

There are a number of well financed candidates for the jobs of commissioner and mayor. It is hoped that the candidates volunteer their views on property taxes, pensions, salaries, city management and organization, the Biltmore problem, the country club, spending on low priority items, among others.

We look forward in hearing about some of their specific proposals and suggestions for solving the cities problems.

Here are some critical questions that should be asked of the candidates.

These are just examples of questions that might be raised. Send me your suggestions and I will add them to the list.

TAXES–

What are your proposals for future tax increases?
Should taxes be frozen for several years in light of the economic crisis the taxpayers are going through in Coral Gables, or should they continue to increase? Do you favor a real tax freeze (not numbers games with the millage rate)?
Do you think that taxpayers are able to continue to pay more and more taxes, as they have in the past.
Do you favor increasing fees to make up for tax shortfalls?

BUDGET–

Do you favor having an open discussion of the budget by citizens, rather than the two-minute-moments they are getting now.
Will the city manager and staff be willing to accept multiple questions on the budget?

OPEN AND TRANSPARENT GOVERNMENT–

What will you do about making our government more open and more participatory?
Do you favor any of the following: town hall meetings, open website with a page for comments and question, regular reports from the city manager, quarterly progress reports on the budget, among others.

SALARIES, PENSIONS, UNIONS–

What should be the goals of the city negotiations with the police and firefighters?
Should the negotiations continues to be secret for the citizens?
Should police and firefighter salaries and benefits be cut.
Should the number of police and firefighters be cut to help cut expenses and taxes?
Are you willing to take a strong stance against salaries and benefits in future Impasse Hearing?

PRIORITY SERVICES–

What services do you propose to cut in order to keep our taxes down?
Will you restrict unnecessary spending related to the Museum or other community centers in Coral Gables?

CAPITAL SPENDING–