We may be voting to let government sink further into debt this November under a load of Bond Issues serviced with tax increases. The Dunwoody City Council may have us vote on a $65 million Parks & Transportation travesty. The Atlanta Regional Planning Commission may have us vote on a $125 billion transportation boondoggle. The State of Georgia is scheduled to increase its Bond debt service from $25 million a year to over $1 billion a year.
The Federal government wants to spend another $2 trillion to buy the world a Coke. Georgia just spent $29 million on Okey Woods, 10,000 acre “wildlife preserve” and plans to spend more. Atlanta Regional wants to spend $125 billion for a train hub, MARTA bailout and schemes to make our roads worse. DeKalb County wants a 4.5 mil increase. Property tax revenue fell and they want to raise our rates, just like they did with the water rate during the drought. Sandy Springs wants to spend $50 million to buy a strip mall. Dunwoody wants to spend $65 million on parks and bike lanes. They want Bond Issues and Tax Increases. Way too much money will be spent on low use items like Afghan elementary schools, low use transit infrastructure, city halls, parks and wildlife preserves, places you go every day.
Bond Issues are a particularly expensive way to run a government. The debt a 30 year Bond creates is roughly double the face amount of the Bond. The CPI is currently 3.2% The Bonds will need to deliver a return at least as high as the CPI. Over 30 years a return of 3.2% costs 96% of the face amount (30 years x 3.2% = 96%) As the CPI goes up, the Bond values go down. Smart governments pile up surpluses to pay for big projects.
The Atlanta Regional Plan to spend $125 billion includes lots of MARTA funding. MARTA’s income from customers is $100 million a year, but it’s cost of operations, maintenance and expansion is $700 million a year. Their operations are subsidized by the Federal, State and Local government covering 86% of their costs. Why would we expand this ?
The Federal government is on a spending spree Congress can’t seem to stop. They loaded up their departments with extra cash and these departments are offering transportation “earmarks”. To get these, States, Regions and Cities must agree to go into debt and raise local taxes money and spend it on uneconomical public transit, very expensive light rail, biking, walking and green space. This is a bribe we can’t afford to take. The Federal government is waging a mythical war with their imaginary CO2 problem. They hate cars, roads, suburbs, America, the Constitution and the free enterprise system.
Apoplexy Now !
Apoplexy produces a state of unconsciousness. That could explain why government thinks it can borrow its way to prosperity without being aware of the consequences. Governments, at all levels, are in a feeding frenzy to borrow money. Interest rates are low and inflation is upon us and low rates won’t last, so government wants to lock in that mortgage rate and hope for the best.
The Federal Reserve has kept interest rates artificially low and under market for over a decade. The Fed also prints U.S. dollars out of thin air whenever the Federal Government needs them. The Federal Government has been on a spending binge for over a decade. This particular form of apoplexy is contagious, but isolated to government officials, so it probably resides in the selective unconscious. (Why hasn’t the CDC warned us ?)
Government spending and debt have caused free markets to atrophy. Our home, land values and stocks are falling, commodity prices are rising, consumer demand is stalling, small business is struggling and stagflation is ascending and government is complaining that we won’t give them enough money. So, we started this Tea Party group to ask the hard questions.
Send me an email to march with us in the Dunwoody July 4th parade. Go to TheTeaparty.net website and join the Dunwoody GA Tea Party. Norb Leahy, Dunwoody GA Tea Party, ntl@mindspring.com NTL Conservative Blog 770-394-1284
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