Bob and Reese Hopkins Talk Lottery Money
On Friday August 29th, I was a guest on the Reese Hopkins radio program on WRKO 680AM, Boston.
Here’s what went down.
Segment 1 - 8:50
Segment 2 - 18:46
Segment 3 - 11:42
Segment 4 - 7:30
Archive for August, 2008
Whose Money Is It Anyway?
That’s a rhetorical when it comes to Massachusetts. The only thing citizens and businesses are good for, at least when it comes to the state legislature, is the hard-earned money they can take from us under penalty of law.
Laws that the legislature can always find a way to get around.
Speaking of Beacon Hill, how do they figure in the way that cities and towns have had to resort to double taxation? Perhaps it can be found in the magic bullet that the policy wonks under the golden dome came up with in 1971 and implemented in 1975. It was an innovation called The Lottery.
Remember that? It was an idea by which all revenue above the operating costs of the agency would be “returned to the cities and towns.”
Unfortunately, the Legislature put a cap on that money in 2003 to deal with their “deficiency budget.” Since then, $450 Million has been diverted in to the Stabilization or “Rainy Day” Fund — doubling its size to $1.5 Billion.
This was called fiscal responsibility by our legislators, who knew —or should have known — that the cities and towns figure that money in when configuring their budgets.
Based on their actions of blowing off lawfully obtained signatures for initiatives they could be bothered with allowing to make a ballot, why would anyone think the Massachusetts state legislature would respect us or our money?
An Appeal
Ladies and Gentlemen,
I owe each and every one of you sincere thanks for all the years we’ve been communicating and your putting up with my rants in the various media I’ve had the privilege to be part of.
In my commentaries over the years, I’ve chided all sides of government and in particular have focused on the absurd. Unfortunately a majority of the absurdity that comes our way each day is born on the Democrat side, at least here in Massachusetts where they hold a super majority. I’ve also chided folks for not becoming involved, saying on more than one written or televised commentary,
“We get the government we deserve.”
Massachusetts Is No Picnic
While Governor Deval Patrick hosted a picnic at his Berkshire mansion, should our lawmakers really be taking time off to have a good time when our state is in need of real leadership and a clear change in fiscal and economic direction?
The poll of 281 U.S. corporate executives put Arizona at No. 8 with 10.5 percent of respondents citing the Grand Canyon state as having the most favorable business climate. Texas ranked No. 1 with a 40.8 percent tally.
California was viewed as the state with the least favorable business climate with New York, Michigan, New Jersey and Massachusetts sharing the bottom rungs.
We can have all the 10-year, $1-billion Life Sciences initiatives we want, but the word is out: Massachusetts is a bad place to do business.