INDEX
- Vote 'NO!' to Government Regulation of Privacy at The Economist
- FCC Stalls on Internet Regulation; Asks for More Comments
- Why was the Volcker Commission Constrained by Obama’s Tax Pledge, but not the Simpson-Bowles?
- Daily Media Spotlight September 2, 2010
- Harry Reid Looks to Resurrect RES During Lame-Duck
- Calculating the Cost of Government (CFA Site »)
Thursday, September 2, 2010
- Daily Media Spotlight September 1, 2010
-
Obama Tax Commission Report:
Baby Step Toward IRS Tax Preparation - Dina Titus Launches False Attack Ad on Joe Heck and the Taxpayer Protection Pledge
- Indiana LaunchesTransparency Website (CFA Site »)
- Rally for Jobs Kicks Off Today in Texas
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
- Daily Media Spotlight August 31, 2010
- Let us All Join in on the NOT so “Green Cause”
- California Bag Ban Bill Up for Vote Today
- Norquist to Gov. Pat Quinn: Pick a Flawed Income Tax Hike and Stick With It
- Phil Moffett Signs Taxpayer Protection Pledge in Kentucky Gubernatorial Race
- New Mexico Sets Trends in Transparency Websites (CFA Site »)
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
- Robert Gibbs’s Fuzzy Tax Hike Math
- Daily Media Spotlight August 30, 2010
Monday, August 30, 2010
- 2011 Could Be Ugly for Nevada Taxpayers
- Lame Duck Governor Ed Rendell Not Going Gently Into That Good Night – New Call for Higher Taxes
- Happy Cost of Government Day, California
- Bay Staters Spent 239 Days Paying for Government Burdens in 2010 (CFA Site »)
- Washington Welcomes Cost of Government Day (CFA Site »)
Friday, August 27, 2010
- Spill Commission Should Lift Moratorium Which Has Cost Gulf Residents 12,000 Jobs and $2.1 Billion
- Daily Media Spotlight August 26, 2010
- Why is Dan Onorato Knowingly Misleading Pennsylvania Voters?
- Unions plan on spending big this election cycle
- Utah Tobacco Sellers Feeling the Impact of Tax Hikes
Thursday, August 26, 2010
- Daily Media Spotlight August 25, 2010
- WI Democrats Launch “Blatantly False” Attack on Sean Duffy
- Unions plan on spending big this election cycle (AWF Site »)
- Philly's New Blog Tax May Foreshadow Other eTaxes
- BNA: For 14 States, Existing Tax Code Leaves Room for Etax (Stop eTaxes Site »)
- Philly's $300 Blogger Tax (Stop eTaxes Site »)
- Cost of Government Day Arrives in the Commonwealth
- Pennsylvania Finally Celebrates Cost of Government Day
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
- California Budget Proposal Advocates eTax (Stop eTaxes Site »)
- Daily Media Spotlight August 24, 2010
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
- Daily Media Spotlight August 23, 2010
- Government Workers' Pensions are Underfunded by $3 Trillion
Monday, August 23, 2010
- Fourteen Ways to Reduce Government Spending
- FCC Report on Broadband Performance: A Scare Tactic
- Sen. Al Franken Doesn’t Understand Wireless Networks...or the First Amendment
Friday, August 20, 2010
- Daily Media Spotlight August 19, 2010
Thursday, August 19, 2010
“Stimulus” Fact of the Day: Taxpayers Taken for a Ride … on a Skateboard
From Sandra Fabry on Tuesday, March 17, 2009 12:54 PM
As the Providence Journal reports, the City of Pawtucket in Rhode Island will be using $550,000 in federal “stimulus” money to build a skateboarding park and renovate tennis and basketball courts at a local high school.
The city’s planning director explained that the money is for shovel-ready projects and the city is ready to go on these two projects. The funds will be made available through the federal “Community Development Block Program.”
The federal trillion dollar spending and debt package cleared Congress on Friday February 13, only hours after the conference report and explaining statements were made available for public scrutiny.
Taxpayer advocates wonder how this project ties in with the promise that the “stimulus” money would be spent on “critical” projects. Several weeks prior to passage of the package President Obama had stated: “What we need to do is examine: What are the projects where we're going to get the most bang for the buck? How are we going to make sure taxpayers are protected?” adding that “the days of just pork coming out of Congress as a strategy, those days are over.”
Says taxpayer advocate Grover Norquist:
We always felt that taxpayers were being taken for a ride with this ‘stimulus’ package, and now they are quite literally.That’s what you get when you hastily cobble together a massive spending package and then let nobody look at it before you vote on it – haste makes waste. I am sure taxpayers will appreciate knowing that the ‘must pass or else’ package focuses on such ‘critical’ projects like skateboarding parks, which are just known to spur economic growth, right?
For a pdf version of the press release click here.
Comments
And what is so wrong with building a skate park? Is it that children will will spend less time rotting in front of the TV? Or is it the extra exercise to combat the epidemic of obesity among American children? Or the reduced future health care costs associated with healthier future generations? Or are you just sore that some private investor isn't able to profit off of this particular economic activity that will benefit the kids who live in Pawtucket?
>> Michael Stevenson Wednesday, March 18, 2009 1:47 PM Report Comment
As for spurring economic growth, I am sure there is a skateboard shop, and for that matter a manufacturer, smiling.
>> Michael Stevenson Wednesday, March 18, 2009 1:47 PM Report Comment
Skateparks are a positive step towards empowering youth to feel as part of the community. Once treated as criminals for skating everywhere possible, skateparks give them the opportunity to do what they love, without vandalizing public and private property. Parents of skaters can now encourage and finance their child's interest knowing that they have a safe place to skate and that they will not be involved in illegal activity by doing so, and parents are taxpayers.
>> Robert Friday, March 20, 2009 7:57 PM Report Comment