The Run Away Train that is our Government in America

Our governments at the Local, State and Fedaral levels have certainly lost their way.

An interesting article in 2009 was the article titled Earning, Saving and Giving: Have We Lost Our Way? by Ken Washer, DBA, CFA Associate Professor of Finance at Creighton University.

Further, the Wall Street Journal on Saturday, January 2, 2010 published an article The States and the Stimulus. The story points out how a supposed boon has become a fiscal burden for states. The State of Iowa is certainly a part of that mess, when in 2007-2009 the majority party in both houses, the Democrats, and Governor Chet Culver rode the supposed boon.

Local articles on the local concerns in the State of Iowa ...

12 questions that will shape Siouxland - Sioux City Journal
Facing a likely reduction in funding from the state, district officials will have to get creative. Last year, federal stimulus funds came to the rescue. ...
More budget woes ahead - TheReporter.com - Judy Lin
The stimulus funding and temporary taxes will begin to end at the end of 2010, leaving less revenue for the second half of the fiscal year that will begin ...

The challenges in Sioux City will not be much different for communities like Cedar Rapids and others throughout the State of Iowa. The second article is about the State of California and while the State of Iowa doesn't face the same woes as California, we face the same problem as Wall Street Journal article pointed out.

Unlike Nebraska and the promises given to Senator Ben Nelson (D-NE), how will the State of Iowa fare in Health Care Reform? As a 100% rural state, whether we want to admit it or not, Cedar Rapids by Federal Standards is rural, and would be urban, if over 500,000 people. The impact in the past on Federal programs, including Flood Recovery, has been challenging for rural states.

An article worth a look was supplied by a friend this weekend. It's on Heath Care Reform ...

“VIP” Treatment Under Nationalized Health Care - Hot Air (blog)

Really, the discussion in Washington D.C. is really a topic of National Heath Care Insurance Reform. Is it really Health Care Reform that will push toward encouraging and implementing programs to make all Americans healthier ... nope!

Health care reform – one physician's view - San Diego Union Tribune - Eileen Natuzzi
When the Senate voted for the third time to pass what it calls “sweeping health care reform,” the media splashed it out. ...

Mines dot health bills: Public option among concerns for business - Crain's Detroit Business - Jay Greene
Health care and business leaders in Southeast Michigan have mixed reactions to a 2700-page health care reform bill approved Christmas Eve by ...

"The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office has said the $871 billion cost of the bill would reduce the future federal budget deficits by $132 billion between 2010 and 2019." Of course, look at government's expectations in the past with Medicare when it was unveiled and the costs that came about. Further, look at our State Budgets today, when everything was a supposed boon, but it turned about to be a bust.

Prudence is needed today more than ever ...

peace

State Governments: IOUs for California, while Iowa needs clean up its own Budget

The decision to issue IOUs, officially called "individual registered
warrants," will cost California heavily. The state will have to repay the
warrants with millions of dollars in interest. Investors will likely charge
California more for the short-term loans the state relies on every year as
it waits for tax revenue. Issuing IOUs also sends a negative message to Wall
Street about the state's financial shape. - The Wall Street Journal

The Thursday, July 2, 2009 edition of The Wall Street Journal newspaper features an article titled, "California Lays Plans to Issue IOU's to Creditors." For more on this issue, read Public Interest Institutes's brief titled "Iowa's State Budget: Spending Our Way to a Crisis Again."

More stories on California's budget woes ...

How California's Fiscal Woes Began: A Crisis 30 Years in the Making -TIME - Kevin O'Leary - ‎ 01, 2009 California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger addresses a joint session of the legislature discussing the state's budget crisis and the necessary steps ...

Video: Fiscal emergency in California - RT
Schwarzenegger can't terminate California money woes - Reuters
Arnie's ious Amid California Budget Woes - Sky News

Turning to the State of Iowa, State Representative Christopher Rants (R- Sioux City) commented in his blog on July 2, 2009 the following ...

Net tax revenues came in $161 million below the estimate of
the revenue estimating conference for fiscal year 2009 which ended Wednesday.
For those who love to know the details it breaks down this way:$57.7 million
reduction in gross revenue$72.3 million in increased refunds$31.0 million in
increased school infrastructure refunds to districts - Christopher Rants

Act Now to Balance the Budget - Christopher Rants, State Representative Iowa House District 54

A state parks budget squeeze -Omaha World-Herald - Paul Hammel ‎
In Iowa, all state agencies took a 15 percent budget cut. The unmown grass is already evident in many Iowa parks, an Iowa official said, including popular ...

State's budget woes deepen - Waterloo Cedar Falls Courier - Rod Boshart
"The Iowa Constitution requires our state to operate with a balanced budget yet the fiscal year that ended yesterday leaves Iowa with an unbalanced budget," ...

Other States budget woes ...

State Budget Woes Worsen As Deadline Arrives -NPR - Deborah Tedford
Brian Sigritz, of the National Association of State Budget Officers, said California, Mississippi and Rhode Island has special challenges in passing their ...

State budget woes to hit consumers - Credit.com News
Tax hikes and budget woes: States crunched - CNNMoney.com
News roundup: Budget battles coast-to-coast - USA Today

Budget Vetoes Leave Ariz.'s Fiscal Woes Unresolved -Northern Arizona Today - Paul Davenport, Jonathan J. Cooper
Jan Brewer avoided a shutdown of state government Wednesday by signing a budget bill from the Legislature, but her vetoes of other spending proposals leave ...

Discussion: How would you solve AZ budget woes? - KVOA.com
Many states facing budget woes - Huntington Herald Dispatch

peace

Is the Governor right on the definition of Marriage for the State of Iowa?

First, why do new personal relationships, such as a relationship between single sex couples need to be defined using the following term, "Marriage?" Marriage has a long history as being between one man and one woman in our State, our Country and in the World. Marriage is the following... that "marriage is between a man and a woman" but that marriage is a "covenant of monogamous, heterosexual marriage," as taken from a recent article, in response to the Supreme Court of Iowa Ruling on April 3, 2009.

For example, the State of Iowa has a variety of business types. For example, a corporation is different than a partnership. So, why should relationships that are significantly different than the historical prospective of marriage be handled any different? As Mr. Newman mentioned, Marriage is a religious word.

Like with the State of California, why shouldn't Iowa follow suit and support the Iowa Marriage Amendment and be given the right to vote? Sadly, our Governor, Chet Culver, and members of the majority party have decided to have their cake and eat it too, which is a slap in the face... for the People of the State of Iowa.

"Culver has said he thinks marriage should be between a man and
woman, a position he affirmed after the Supreme Court ruling."

But, he chooses to ignore protecting the institution of
marriage in Iowa.

“Iowa is a sovereign state and I will
accept
the will of the people but we will not know the will of the people
until a vote
of the people is taken and it is wrong for Sen. Gronstal to
obstruct that
vote,” - Senate Minority Leader Paul McKinley, R-Chariton

Marriage is a religious word in tradition that the State chose to regulate and incorporate into law. Working to redefine the institution for today's secular purposes is wrong and misguided. We would appreciate our Legislature and Governor to wake up and protect the "natural and tradition definition" of Marriage between a man and a woman.

What's wrong with other terms for same sex couples? Red is a good color, but something orange shouldn't object from the individual differences. If we can't reach that conclusion, different terms for Marriage and relationships between single gender couples, maybe it is time "we eliminate gender as a system" in our State and in our Society.

peace

Do the people deserve a say or is it all in the hands of the Legislature and/or Courts?

The State of Iowa doesn't have the proposition system, but even if they had, it appears in California, some want to trump the "say" of the people...

The Tuesday, November 11, 2008 edition of The Washington Post features an article titled "Legality of Same-Sex Marriage Ban Challenged." Another report titled "Marriage is Worth Constitutional Protection" may interest you as well.

Are some in California more interested in the ends justifying the means?

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R), who opposed Proposition 8 and called it "a total waste of time," encouraged the fight to continue. "They should never give up," he said in an interview on CNN. "They should be on it and on it until they get it done."

What direction will public policy head with issues ballooning like this? What is the future role for the Court System? Do we want a pure democracy California?

peace