Tag Archives: subsidy

Fix the Mortgage Crisis By Subsidizing More Mortgages

April 1, 2008 – 4:28 pm

Sometimes the federal government is unusually annoying. This is one of those times. Efforts to create new tax breaks to encourage home purchases are gaining attention on Capitol Hill, as lawmakers gird for a major debate this spring on how best to shore up the nation’s troubled mortgage markets. Some Democrats, [...]

By Joe Martin | Posted in Politics | Also tagged , , | Comments (0)

SCHIP: Now for the Rich

September 25, 2007 – 2:28 pm

State Children’s Health Insurance Program. It’s a program created by Congress to provide health insurance for children whose parents are too poor for private insurance, but too rich for Medicaid. It’s set to expire at the end of this month and Congress is fighting with President Bush over the terms of its renewal. The House wants [...]

By Joe Martin | Posted in Healthcare, Politics | Also tagged , , | Comments (0)

The Ethanol Scam

August 28, 2007 – 4:24 pm

Rolling Stone on ethanol. They’re not complimentary. The Ethanol Scam: One of America’s Biggest Political Boondoggles The great danger of confronting peak oil and global warming isn’t that we will sit on our collective asses and do nothing while civilization collapses, but that we will plunge after “solutions” that will make our problems even worse. [...]

By Joe Martin | Posted in Energy, Politics | Also tagged , , | Comments (0)

Job Training Failure?

August 10, 2007 – 3:08 pm

Allied Drive jobs program struggling A local Madison jobs training program has been in operation since January. It was intended to help residents of the Allied Drive neighborhood find decent jobs. The START program prepares people to take entrance tests for trade apprenticeships. It began in January and has been touted as one of the [...]

By Joe Martin | Posted in Politics | Also tagged , | Comments (1)

More Mandatory Charity

August 10, 2007 – 2:57 pm

Every politician has a pet charity. Unfortunately, politicians fund their pet charities through my income. In case you’ve wondered, this is why I love politicians so much. State Rep. Gary Bies is just the latest politician to make my “dead to me” list. Dentists urge 2-cent tax on soda. When state Rep. Garey Bies was [...]

By Joe Martin | Posted in Politics | Also tagged , , | Comments (0)

Wisconsin Democrat Wants to End Farm Subsidies

June 22, 2007 – 11:45 pm

Wisconsin Congressman Ron Kind wants to reform the farm subsidy program. Mr. Kind, a six-term congressman, has introduced legislation that would drastically reduce farm subsidies while pouring more money into land conservation programs and rural development. He gathered 200 votes for a similar bill in 2002 and says he believes he has additional momentum [...]

By Joe Martin | Posted in Politics | Also tagged , | Comments (0)

Politicians Write Biofuel Checks They May Not Be Able to Honor

June 11, 2007 – 8:19 am

Recently, Congress has been going nuts over ethanol production. Government money has been thrown at every imaginable ethanol-related project. If the current tax credits, grants and loan guarantees are extended, the package would cost taxpayers an additional $140 billion over the next 15 years. New proposals under consideration in Congress could raise the tab [...]

By Joe Martin | Posted in Politics | Also tagged , , | Comments (2)

Why a Postal Monopoly is a Bad Idea

May 14, 2007 – 5:24 pm

The U.S. Postal Service raised it’s rates for first-class mail today. No longer will you be able to buy a $0.39 stamp. The day of the $0.41 stamp is upon us. The rate hike is annoying, but ultimately not all that relevant to my life. Aside from thank-you notes and renewing license plates, I don’t [...]

By Joe Martin | Posted in Economics | Also tagged , | Comments (0)

WalMart and Corporate Welfare

April 25, 2007 – 9:43 pm

I don’t always agree with Capital Times columnist Mike Ivey, but I do today. He writes about WalMart’s appetite for corporate welfare: Wisconsin’s largest employer draws more in corporate welfare than it pays in state taxes. Wal-Mart pocketed $852 million in net profits in Wisconsin off value-hungry consumers between 2000 and 2003. Over that [...]

By Joe Martin | Posted in Economics, Politics | Also tagged , , | Comments (0)

Welfare for the Successful

February 14, 2007 – 5:09 pm

It looks like the State is getting behind the Wisconsin goat industry: State officials are putting their support behind Wisconsin’s growing goat industry. About 260 farmers, processors, state officials and lenders are expected to attend a conference - “Focus on Goats: Milk and Meat Production in Wisconsin” - on Thursday in [...]

By Joe Martin | Posted in Government | Also tagged , | Comments (0)