CLT
UPDATE
Thursday, April 27, 2006
The New Socialism meets
a cool welcome
Bay State businesses cast a gimlet eye on a Senate
plan to give workers up to 12 weeks of paid family time off, saying it
would make an already tough business climate even harder to navigate....
But business leaders worried that the leave plan was too inflexible and
didn’t take into account how difficult it can be to replace some workers
temporarily.
"There are a number of issues. Productivity is one and the flexibility
impaired by an employee on leave, especially in a small business setting
and dropping in and out of the work force, that’s a real cost," said
Robert Ruddock, Associated Industries of Massachusetts general counsel.
Small businesses are especially worried about being forced to grant
three months off to employees, said Bill Vernon, state director of the
National Federation of Independent Businesses.
"This is just something where government just doesn’t need to be
involved," he said. "These issues are worked out by small businesses
every day all year long all across the state of Massachusetts."
Small business employers are also concerned that the plan is a "bait and
switch," he said. "It starts as an employee-paid program and it becomes
an employer-paid program."
The Boston Herald
Wednesday, April 26, 2006
Businesses wary of leave plan:
Travaglini floats measure
Oh, I get it. Senate President Robert Travaglini’s combo
family-leave and family tax-cut plan is intended to introduce a new two-tiered
system of state services and taxes, i.e. those who don’t have kids will work
harder while others take paid family-leave and they get to pay more in taxes.
What a benefit! This utopia, I tell you. It’s going to be great! FYI, Trav: The
NYT is on to you. Keep the crowing lower. P.S. - Favorite straight-faced quote
from Trav on his plan to pay people not to work: "There isn’t any lost
productivity."
The Boston Herald
Wednesday, April 26, 2006
'Mr. Travaglini crowed'
By Jay Fitzgerald
I just did some math on Senate President Travaglini’s 'most
generous' paid family-leave proposal. Follow me:
At a maximum $750 per week payment, recipients would receive a total of $9,000
if they take the full 12 weeks of paid leave offered by our most generous senate
president.
But if the final tax is $2 per worker every week, that would mean a $104 annual
payment per worker. Thus it would take 86.5 years for someone to pay back $9,000
that he or she took out of the system. Put another way: it would take 86.5
workers’ annual tax payments to fund just one person taking 12 weeks of paid
leave.
This is indeed 'generous' — on behalf of those who are transferring their wealth
to subsidize other people.
The Boston Herald
Thursday, April 27, 2006
'Mr. Travaglini crowed,' Part II
By Jay Fitzgerald
More than 50 school construction projects slated to cost more
than the state agreed to pay may apply for $150 million in loans if they are
willing to sacrifice extras to save money, School Building Authority officials
said yesterday.
The loan program, led by Treasurer Timothy P. Cahill, outraged city and town
officials, who say the state is reneging on a promise to cover their costs....
To qualify, schools must have started construction between 2005 and 2007,
explain why they are over budget, and find ways to cut costs. The 30-year loans
would be granted at 2 percent interest, less than half the current rate....
Geoffrey Beckwith, executive director of the Massachusetts
Municipal Association ... expressed outrage that the authority is now reviewing
construction projects that had been approved by the Department of Education
But state officials say the Argenziano school followed a troubling statewide
trend that led to schools larger than state regulations dictated, driving up
costs....
At least one school project on the list, at Worcester's North High School, has
already sliced $9 million from its budget by making changes such as scrapping a
planned greenhouse and reducing the planned size of the school auditorium and
gym.
"It would be nice if kids had a greenhouse if they were studying botany and
biology," said James Caradonio, Worcester's school superintendent.
"But we certainly didn't need to do it."
The Boston Globe
Thursday, April 27, 2006
Loans offered for school projects
Towns say state is reneging on deal
The high price of gasoline is the talk of the nation.
But there is little talk about government's piece of the action -- the
revenue collected from federal and state gas taxes.
Why not temporarily roll them back? ...
Government levies include a federal 18.4 cents-a-gallon tax on gas; and
the states tax on top of that. In Massachusetts, the gas tax includes a
21-cents-a-gallon excise tax and a 2.5-cents-a-gallon fee to reimburse
gas stations for environmental cleanup....
According to the conservative Tax Foundation in Washington, D.C.,
federal and state gas taxes "pumped more than $54 billion into federal
and state coffers last year alone." Now, it would be nice if those
billions were actually used to repair and upgrade US roads and bridges.
However, they seem to be going elsewhere -- maybe to Baghdad? A 2005
report card for America's infrastructure issued by the American Society
of Civil Engineers found little improvement from the "D plus" issued in
2001. It found that 34 percent of America's roads are in poor or
mediocre condition and 27 percent of bridges are structurally deficient
or obsolete. In Big Dig-consumed Massachusetts, 71 percent of roads are
in poor or mediocre condition, 51 percent of bridges are structurally
deficient or functionally obsolete....
Yes, America is addicted to oil. But government is addicted to taxes.
Conservation is a two-way street.
The Boston Globe
Thursday, April 27, 2006
Real relief on gas prices
By Joan Vennochi
Chip Ford's CLT Commentary
Reaction from the business community to the
ridiculous paid family leave scheme proposed by Senate President Robert
Travaglini (Socialist-Boston) has been less than enthusiastic,
especially among small businesses. How can they possibly operate
with a revolving-door for temporary hires?
By the way, Boston Globe business columnist Steve
Bailey's inclusion yesterday of "mortgage- and rent-protection plan,
employee clothing allowance, and Friday Pizza Day" was, I hope, intended
as tongue-in-cheek sarcasm taking the proposal to the extreme ("Only
in Mass.") -- though some have taken it for real. In
this climate of New Socialism on Beacon Hill, this is entirely
understandable -- it had me guessing too.
Boston Herald business columnist Jay
Fitzgerald nailed it right on target in
his pithy blog: "This is indeed 'generous' — on behalf of
those who are transferring their wealth to subsidize other people."
His math is something that apparently Travaglini didn't bother with, and
his socialist advisor, Randy Albelda, never cared to mention.
Bill Vernon, state director of the National
Federation of Independent Businesses, according to the Boston Herald,
got it right too: "Small business employers are also concerned
that the plan is a 'bait and switch,' he said. 'It starts as an
employee-paid program and it becomes an employer-paid program.'"
Looking at Fitzgerald's numbers, this is inevitable -- unless the
"assessment" burden on working stiffs climbs to match the demand.
*
*
*
You do have to love folks like those at the
Massachusetts Municipal Association, hypocrites who violate regulations
that cost us then complain when the state enforces those regulations.
As if we're supposed to cover their greed in building their Taj Mahal
schools, their edifices to tax profligacy, now that they're committed to
them? What unmitigated gall.
*
*
*
The price of gas is skyrocketing, the talk of the
nation, and the driving public has the politicians' ear these days.
Oh boy, we're going to have a whole new round of congressional
hearings -- like this hasn't happened before. They drag their
A-List campaign contributors before one committee or another then
pronounce no evidence of price gouging and move on. Pardon me if
I'm not impressed, but some have termed me a cynic and I can't help
myself.
In Massachusetts, we drivers are paying 41.9 cents
per gallon of gas in taxes, state and federal. Eliminating those taxes, at least for the
immediate future, would drop the going price of near-$3.00 a gallon to
$2.58. This could be accomplished tomorrow with a couple of votes
and signatures. And the pols are trying to convince us that they
care, they feel our pain?
*
*
*
Let me leave you with a touch of humor just passed to
me; god knows we can use it:
RED, WHITE & BLUE
A Dutchman was explaining the red, white, and blue of the Netherlands
flag to an American.
"Our flag is symbolic of our taxes. We get red when we talk about them,
white when we get our tax bills, and blue after we pay them."
The American nodded. "It's the same in the United States -- only we see
stars, too!"
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Chip Ford |
The Boston Herald
Wednesday, April 26, 2006
Businesses wary of leave plan:
Travaglini floats measure
By Kevin Rothstein
Bay State businesses cast a gimlet eye on a Senate plan to give workers
up to 12 weeks of paid family time off, saying it would make an already
tough business climate even harder to navigate.
Frank Muscato wondered how he would manage if two of the six specially
trained employees in his Carver medical equipment company took time off.
He said he’s already paying as much in taxes as he earns.
"It’s a productivity issue," said Muscato, owner of the Mayflower
Equipment Co. "I can’t take somebody off the street and have them work
tomorrow."
Senate President Robert Travaglini’s plan introduced to business leaders
yesterday would grant up to 12 weeks of paid leave at full salary,
capped at $750-a-week. The leave could be used to care for a newborn or
adopted child or a sick family member.
The East Boston Democrat said productivity would be helped, not hurt, by
the leave, citing MIT Workplace Center and other research.
"There isn’t any lost productivity," Travaglini said. "We’re doing a
service for the level of productivity in the Commonwealth of
Massachusetts by moving this proposal forward."
Legislation will be filed later this week. But Travaglini said at a
breakfast address before the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce that
salaries for people out on leave would be paid out of a fund filled with
employee contributions - about $1.50 to $2 a week, and administered by
the state.
A doctor would have to certify that a serious medical condition exists
requiring leave.
Under Massachusetts law, employers with at least six workers must grant
women up to eight weeks of unpaid maternity leave. Federal law provides
for 12 weeks of unpaid medical leave for employees of larger companies.
Travaglini also rolled out a pair of family tax cuts. One for families
earning less than $75,000 would raise the deduction from $3,600 to
$5,000 for one dependent. Another would raise the deduction allowed for
day-care expenses from $4,800 to $10,000 for one dependent.
Revenue is strong enough now to pay for the estimated $70 million cost
of the cuts, Travaglini said.
But business leaders worried that the leave plan was too inflexible and
didn’t take into account how difficult it can be to replace some workers
temporarily.
"There are a number of issues. Productivity is one and the flexibility
impaired by an employee on leave, especially in a small business setting
and dropping in and out of the work force, that’s a real cost," said
Robert Ruddock, Associated Industries of Massachusetts general counsel.
Small businesses are especially worried about being forced to grant
three months off to employees, said Bill Vernon, state director of the
National Federation of Independent Businesses.
"This is just something where government just doesn’t need to be
involved," he said. "These issues are worked out by small businesses
every day all year long all across the state of Massachusetts."
Small business employers are also concerned that the plan is a "bait and
switch," he said. "It starts as an employee-paid program and it becomes
an employer-paid program."
Return to top
The Boston Globe
Thursday, April 27, 2006
Loans offered for school projects
Towns say state is reneging on deal
By Maria Sacchetti, Globe Staff
More than 50 school construction projects slated to cost more than the
state agreed to pay may apply for $150 million in loans if they are
willing to sacrifice extras to save money, School Building Authority
officials said yesterday.
The loan program, led by Treasurer Timothy P. Cahill, outraged city and
town officials, who say the state is reneging on a promise to cover
their costs. The School Building Authority was created in 2004 to
control construction spending and pay for more than 400 projects on a
waiting list. The projects must be paid off by 2007, when a statewide
freeze on new school construction will be lifted.
Katherine P. Craven, the authority's executive director, said the state
agreed last summer to pay $1.4 billion more than it had intended for
projects on the wait list, driving the total cost to $5.5 billion.
But for more than 50 projects, that money still wasn't enough to help
them finish construction, she said, and those projects will have to
apply for a loan. To qualify, schools must have started construction
between 2005 and 2007, explain why they are over budget, and find ways
to cut costs. The 30-year loans would be granted at 2 percent interest,
less than half the current rate.
Geoffrey Beckwith, executive director of the Massachusetts Municipal
Association, said the state is not sufficiently covering inflation. And
he expressed outrage that the authority is now reviewing construction
projects that had been approved by the Department of Education, which
ran the school building program before the authority took over.
"They should not hold communities hostage by saying they're not going to
honor their past commitments," he said.
Mayor Joseph A. Curtatone of Somerville said he cannot alter the Albert
F. Argenziano School, which was to break ground yesterday. The school is
$9.2 million over budget because of the soaring cost of construction
materials, he said.
"This is just a back-door way for the treasurer to walk away from his
commitment to cities and towns," Curtatone said.
"Do we want to cut windows out of classrooms? Should I cut out the gym?"
But state officials say the Argenziano school followed a troubling
statewide trend that led to schools larger than state regulations
dictated, driving up costs. The Argenziano School provides 183 square
feet per student; state rules call for 115 to 135 square feet per
student.
State officials said they have the right to review school blueprints.
"We're not just going to be giving this money out to those who refuse to
rein in their programs," Cahill said.
At least one school project on the list, at Worcester's North High
School, has already sliced $9 million from its budget by making changes
such as scrapping a planned greenhouse and reducing the planned size of
the school auditorium and gym.
"It would be nice if kids had a greenhouse if they were studying botany
and biology," said James Caradonio, Worcester's school superintendent.
"But we certainly didn't need to do it."
Return to top
The Boston Globe
Thursday, April 27, 2006
Real relief on gas prices
By Joan Vennochi, Globe Columnist
Let them eat cake -- or wait in line for a Prius.
The high price of gasoline is the talk of the nation. But there is
little talk about government's piece of the action -- the revenue
collected from federal and state gas taxes.
Why not temporarily roll them back? That would provide instant consumer
relief -- not the future, fantasy relief suggested this week in
Washington.
"Gasoline price increases are like a hidden tax on the working people,"
President Bush said in a speech that called for a federal inquiry into
possible price-gouging, an easing of environmental rules on gasoline
production, and a halt to new purchases for the nation's energy reserve.
Bush conveniently ignored one built-in cost: Government levies include a
federal 18.4 cents-a-gallon tax on gas; and the states tax on top of
that. In Massachusetts, the gas tax includes a 21-cents-a-gallon excise
tax and a 2.5-cents-a-gallon fee to reimburse gas stations for
environmental cleanup.
Lowering the gas tax is disputed as a disincentive to conservation.
However, by that logic, government should do nothing to address the
rising gas costs. Just let them rise and conservation will follow -- or,
what is the more likely scenario, the rich will drive state-of-the-art
hybrids and the poor will hitchhike.
And of course, there is the eternal argument that government needs more
taxpayer money to do its job.
According to the conservative Tax Foundation in Washington, D.C.,
federal and state gas taxes "pumped more than $54 billion into federal
and state coffers last year alone." Now, it would be nice if those
billions were actually used to repair and upgrade US roads and bridges.
However, they seem to be going elsewhere -- maybe to Baghdad? A 2005
report card for America's infrastructure issued by the American Society
of Civil Engineers found little improvement from the "D plus" issued in
2001. It found that 34 percent of America's roads are in poor or
mediocre condition and 27 percent of bridges are structurally deficient
or obsolete. In Big Dig-consumed Massachusetts, 71 percent of roads are
in poor or mediocre condition, 51 percent of bridges are structurally
deficient or functionally obsolete.
But politicians, including tax-cut-loving Republicans, get twitchy when
gas-tax rollbacks are proposed.
Last fall in Massachusetts, when prices started to spike, state
Representative Bradley H. Jones Jr., a Republican from North Reading,
called for a three-month holiday from the state's gasoline tax. Governor
Mitt Romney initially dismissed the idea, calling it "an additional
incentive to use gasoline and energy." He later amended his comment to
say the proposal made no sense as a long-term solution. This week, Jones
proposed to exempt municipalities from the tax when they purchase gas
for public vehicles; the proposal was blocked by Democratic legislators.
"There is a limited amount we can do at the state level," said Jones.
"This was not a panacea or long-term solution. But to ignore the short
term is a mistake."
Ignoring the short term is what Bush did in his four-point plan "to
confront high gasoline prices." Mary Anne Marsh, a Democratic consultant
and Fox News commentator, offers this alternative four-point plan: Call
upon Congress to temporarily suspend the federal gas tax; call on
governors across the country to temporarily suspend state gas taxes;
tell the Saudi Arabian ambassador that the United States wants lower oil
prices in return for protecting Saudi production plants; and call in
every oil and gas industry CEO and ask them to forgo a percentage of
profits for reasons of national security.
When it comes to raising an issue to a national security level,
"Republicans do it for lesser things than oil," she said. As for
Democrats, she said, those who really want to help working men and women
should also support temporary suspension of the gas tax.
All the talk about conservation and hybrid cars ignores some basic facts
of life in America. The wealthier, more highly educated consumer has
more flexibility to work from a laptop at home -- and more income to
purchase the new, more fuel-efficient vehicles. The working poor often
commute long distances, often from rural areas and the exurbs, with
little access to mass transit. When you clean homes for a living or work
in restaurant kitchens, you need a sure way to get to work. Often, the
only choice is an older car that runs on too much high-priced gasoline.
Yes, America is addicted to oil. But government is addicted to taxes.
Conservation is a two-way street.
Return to top
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