Up here in the state that’s probably going to give Al Franken (!?!?!?!??!) a senate seat, atleast some knows what they are talking about.

With Minnesota facing huge budget problems, Gov. Tim Pawlenty on Thursday proposed a counterintuitive solution: Cut business taxes.

In his seventh State of the State address to a joint session of the Minnesota House and Senate, Pawlenty called for a smorgasbord of tax breaks designed to cut the costs of doing business in the state.

“Minnesota has to come to grips with this fact: In 2009, it costs too much for employers to create and keep jobs in this state,” he said. “If we want to build up employment, we need to bring those costs down.”

Calling his plan the “Minnesota Jobs Recovery Act,” Pawlenty proposed cutting the state’s business tax rate in half — from the current 9.8 percent to 4.8 percent — over six years. He also put forward a series of tax breaks to spur small-business expansion.

While Washington is sending billions of dollars to Wall Street, he said, “Here in Minnesota, I want us committed to helping Main Street.”

As much as I’m not a big fan of the governer, this is the kind of stuff we need to turn the state around.  Of course, the libs aren’t too happy:

Senate Majority Leader Larry Pogemiller, DFL-Minneapolis, noted federal tax cuts for business have been a “failed strategy at the national level.”

Pogemiller’s about as left-wing as you can get, and he will do whatever he can to prevent this.

Pogemiller said he had expected an “uplifting speech on the need for shared sacrifice” to balance the budget.

But Senate Minority Leader David Senjem, R-Rochester, described the speech as “courageous, inspiring, maybe I’d even use the word revolutionary … in terms of business climate.”

During the speech, Republican lawmakers applauded enthusiastically while DFLers mostly sat on their hands. Senjem said that signaled a new level of “hard partisanship” absent from earlier budget talks between the governor and DFL leaders.

All democrats ever want to hear about is “self-sacrifice”.  I don’t think they ever want anything to get better, but then again, they’re democrats.

The plan really is brilliant, here is how the Pioneer Press layed it out:

Cutting the business tax rate in half would “take us from having one of the worst business tax rates in the country to having one of the best,” Pawlenty said in a 40-minute speech that was interrupted by applause 29 times.

In addition to the rate cut, he proposed:

 

$50 million in small business tax credits that he said would spark $100 million in new investments. 

A 25 percent refundable tax credit for small-business owners that reinvest in their firms quickly. 

A capital gains exemption for qualifying investments in small businesses. 

A 100 percent, upfront exemption for the sales tax businesses pay on equipment, “eliminating the need for a bureaucratic rebate,” he said.

Allowing businesses to deduct the cost of equipment purchases in one year instead of depreciating it over several years.

I really hope he can pull this off, right under the democrats in the legislatures noses’.

Pawlenty said he would slash state aid for cities and counties. To offset that loss of funds, he advocated eliminating or reducing as many state mandates on local governments as possible.

But then he proposed what Pogemiller called “the mother of all mandates” — a pay freeze for any city, county, township or school district that accepts state money.

“The state of our state is challenged,” Pawlenty said, “but overcoming challenges is what Minnesota does best. So let’s get at it.”

The comments section really is enlightening.

A plan for how we can use the Obama Stimulus Package for our own advantage and to help America. This is our chance to block Obama’s economic disaster package, help fix our economy greatly, and score major political points in the process. But it will be tough, tricky, and we must be organized. Based on Speaker Gingrich's and Rep. Gohmert's plan.

http://drudgereport.com/flashrur.htm

Tue Nov 25 2008 09:04:22 ET

A leading Russian political analyst has said the economic turmoil in the United States has confirmed his long-held view that the country is heading for collapse, and will divide into separate parts.

Professor Igor Panarin said in an interview with the respected daily IZVESTIA published on Monday: “The dollar is not secured by anything. The country’s foreign debt has grown like an avalanche, even though in the early 1980s there was no debt. By 1998, when I first made my prediction, it had exceeded $2 trillion. Now it is more than 11 trillion. This is a pyramid that can only collapse.”

The paper said Panarin’s dire predictions for the U.S. economy, initially made at an international conference in Australia 10 years ago at a time when the economy appeared strong, have been given more credence by this year’s events.

When asked when the U.S. economy would collapse, Panarin said: “It is already collapsing. Due to the financial crisis, three of the largest and oldest five banks on Wall Street have already ceased to exist, and two are barely surviving. Their losses are the biggest in history. Now what we will see is a change in the regulatory system on a global financial scale: America will no longer be the world’s financial regulator.”

When asked who would replace the U.S. in regulating world markets, he said: “Two countries could assume this role: China, with its vast reserves, and Russia, which could play the role of a regulator in Eurasia.”

Asked why he expected the U.S. to break up into separate parts, he said: “A whole range of reasons. Firstly, the financial problems in the U.S. will get worse. Millions of citizens there have lost their savings. Prices and unemployment are on the rise. General Motors and Ford are on the verge of collapse, and this means that whole cities will be left without work. Governors are already insistently demanding money from the federal center. Dissatisfaction is growing, and at the moment it is only being held back by the elections and the hope that Obama can work miracles. But by spring, it will be clear that there are no miracles.”

He also cited the “vulnerable political setup”, “lack of unified national laws”, and “divisions among the elite, which have become clear in these crisis conditions.”

*He predicted that the U.S. will break up into six parts – the Pacific coast, with its growing Chinese population; the South, with its Hispanics; Texas, where independence movements are on the rise; the Atlantic coast, with its distinct and separate mentality; five of the poorer central states with their large Native American populations; and the northern states, where the influence from Canada is strong. *

He even suggested that “we could claim Alaska – it was only granted on lease, after all.” Panarin, 60, is a professor at the Diplomatic Academy of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and has authored several books on information warfare.

Developing…

Read More →

We’ve all heard the terms by now. And thanks to the no good David Brooks, they are being widely used throughout the political landscape – not just in the GOP.

These are not really flattering phrase for the “traditionalists (aka: us) and is just one more way the MSM is trying to discredit the conservative movement. We must discredit these terms and bring back the real terms: conservatives and moderates.

This reformer bullcrap is actually catching on with s good number of independents. They aren’t exactly thrilled with Obamamania but they don’t want to be percieved as hard-right conservatives. Others in some of my classes are actually refering to themselves as part of the “Republican Reformers”. They advocate that the Republican party must turn towrds the center in order to win in upcoming elctions. I tell them that real reformers want to bring the party back towards the ideas of Reagan.

We must eliminate these terms immediatly as they are already catching on even on this site. We should try to come up with our own catchy terms and use them at all times. Hopefully the new terms will catch on. Any ideas?

Read More →

http://www.yahoo.com/

Make of it what you want. The part I really think is most interesting though is where at the end, the commentator states how Palin is playing it as a centrist. What??? Listen to it for yourself.

Read More →