July, 2016, Part 1, By The Numbers: Low Taxes Mean More Fiscally Sound States and More Individual Freedom

On a periodic basis we do some posts that fall under the theme of “by the numbers.” Rather than trust what the American political tells us about reality, we like to examine the real numbers and the real reality in the world to understand what is actually going on. Relying on politicians, and their cohorts in the media, to tell us what is reality is always a sucker bet. They have their own agendas and goals, usually centering around their needs and self-enrichment. So we need to look at the reality of the numbers to determine what is really going on.

Previous analyses of “by the numbers” can be accessed by entering the phrase in the search box above. This is the third and final post this month where we look at the numbers to truly find out how good, not likely, or bad, most likely, the American political class is doing in managing our tax dollars, protecting our freedoms, and resolving major issues that affect all of us. 

Today and tomorrow we are going to focus on economic freedom which is tightly linked with political freedom. I say this because the less money the government and the American political class allow you to keep from your work endeavors, the less overall freedom you have. You have less freedom, options and choices to send your kids to better schools, to start a business, to donate to charities, to retire in better financial shape, or to just enjoy life to the degree that you should be able to based on how hard you work. 

Today we will prove our constant libertarian point in this blog that the less government governs the better off everyone is on average. That the most heavily taxed states are usually the states in the worst financial shape which will eventually require residents of those states to pay more and more in taxes which will result in less and less freedom. As a result, as the numbers will show, that is why more and more people are leaving the highly taxed, financially distressed states for states that afford them the maximal return on their hard work and wealth. As always under this theme, you will see that the numbers do not lie. This is the cold reality of overreaching, freedom reducing politicians in this country today.

Let’s start with some numbers from a recent article and analysis from the Investors’ Business Daily website, written by John Merline. They recently ran an article where they found that the most financially sound states are are currently and/or historically have been operated by Republican politicians. Conversely, the financially unsound states have traditionally been operated by Democrats.

Their analysis is based on research and number analyses by the Mercatus Center operating out of George Mason University. Details of their methodology include:

• They ranked the fiscal status of each state and state government along five criteria.
• Government numbers and data were used to analysis the five criteria included such fiscal tasks as a state’s ability to pay its short term bills, meet longer term financial obligations and liabilities such as pension and healthcare expenses, budget management, service-level solvency measures a state’s ability to respond to a demand for increased spending, and trust fund solvency measures unfunded pension liabilities and state debt.

The ten most fiscally sound states are:

1 - Alaska

2 - Nebraska

3- Wyoming

4 - North Dakota

5 - South Dakota

6 - Florida

7 - Utah

8 - Oklahoma

9 - Tennessee

10 - Montana

Most of these states have been run by Republicans for a very long time with the exception of Florida which now has had a Republican governor for the past six years and whose both houses in the state legislature are Republican controlled. Living in these states is a good thing from a taxation perspective since they are the top states in a fiscal position to meet the five financial criteria listed above, meaning that need for more taxes is less likely than in the other states. This provides more freedom and liberty to residents of these states.

The worst states from a financial stability perspective are:

41 - Maryland

42 - New York

43 - Maine

44 - California

45 - Hawaii

46 - Kentucky

47 - Illinois

48 - New Jersey

49 - Massachusetts

50 - Connecticut

These states, with the exception of Kentucky, have been operated by Democrats for the longest time. Residents in these states are most likely to see their taxes go up in the future, and their freedom levels go down, since these states are most likely to need additional tax revenue to cover the failed financial management skills of the mostly Democratic state politicians. As we said above, as taxes go up, your freedom of choice for everything from your kids’ schools to your vacation experiences goes down.

Let’s move from the numbers that describe the financial health or sickness of each state and see how each state compares from a taxation perspective. One could make the argument that the reason that the above financial distressed states are in the condition they are is because they tax their residents at very low levels, depriving the state government of tax revenue. Conversely, the financially healthy states may be that way because they place the heaviest taxation burden on their residents, reducing their freedom.

Well, you could make that argument but you would probably be wrong. According to the numbers from the financial advising website, Wallethub, using statistics and numbers from Statista, believe it or not, the above states that are the financial soundest also have considerably LOWER taxes than the states above that are the least financial sound. Let’s see where the above financially sound states rank when it comes to the local and state taxation burden:

1 - Alaska - Wallethub rank - 6

2 - Nebraska - 39

3- Wyoming - 2

4 - North Dakota - 25

5 - South Dakota - 17

6 - Florida - 11

7 - Utah - 10

8 - Oklahoma - 12

9 - Tennessee - 4

10 - Montana - 3

Average rank for lowest taxation of the ten most fiscally sound states = 12.9

Now, let’s look at the ranking of the ten worst financially sound states and their ranking as far as the local and state burden is for its residents:

41 - Maryland - Wallethub rank - 44

42 - New York - 51 (this survey included D.C.)

43 - Maine - 40

44 - California - 33

45 - Hawaii - 49

46 - Kentucky - 27

47 - Illinois - 43

48 - New Jersey - 47

49 - Massachusetts - 46

50 - Connecticut - 50

Average rank for the lowest taxation among the ten most fiscally unsound states = 43.0

The tax burden average rank of the states in the worst financial shape is about three and half times higher than the tax burden average rank of the states in the best financial shape. Thus, one obvious observation is that the more you tax your residents, the worst financial shape your state ends up in. Which means that the taxation burden will have to go even higher in the future to keep the financial solvency of your state whole. And you end up in a financial death spiral.

Lower taxes means more financial integrity in the state government. Who knew? Many of the states in the worst financial shape ask their residents to pay a whopping ten percent or so of their household income to state and local taxes in addition to their Federal income taxes, Social Security taxes, and Medicare taxes. Tough to say you live in a freedom loving state when the various levels of government decimate your income with little societal benefit in return.

So our preliminary analysis of the numbers leads us to conclude that: low taxes = fiscally sound states and state governments. And low taxes also means more freedom and liberty for the residents of those fiscally sound states. Simple logic, solid numbers to support it. Tomorrow, we will continue this number analysis by looking at another measure of state by state financial shape and state by state migration to see if fiscally sound states with low taxes, as we proved today, also increases the wealth and sheer numbers of state residents.

Our book, "Love My Country, Loathe My Government - Fifty First Steps To Restoring Our Freedom And Destroying The American Political Class" is now available at:

www.loathemygovernment.com

It is also available online at Amazon and Barnes and Noble. Please pass our message of freedom onward. Let your friends and family know about our websites and blogs, ask your library to carry the book, and respect freedom for both yourselves and others everyday.

Please visit the following sites for freedom:

Term Limits Now: http://www.howmuchworsecoulditget.com
http://www.reason.com
http://www.cato.org
http://www.bankruptingamerica.org
http://www.conventionofstates.com
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08j0sYUOb5w

Retro 3: The American Freedom Pyramid: Where It Should Be Vs. Where It Is Today

Note: Given the Thanksgiving holiday this week and the resultant preparations, family visitors, and other commitments, we will be rerunning the top rated and most popular blog posts from the past five years. These posts cover a wide variety of political class insanity, wasteful spending, inane quotes, and other idiocy and are the discussions that most resonated with our readers. We will be back next week with fresh material, starting with our monthly update on "Political Class Insanity."


Thursday, November 18, 2010

The American Freedom Pyramid: Where It Should Be Vs. Where It Is Today 

 
An important part of the book, "Love My Country, Loathe My Government," is the understanding of what I call the Freedom Pyramid. The Freedom Pyramid tries to imagine what our founders had in mind when the put the U.S. Constitution, the Bill of Rights and a government based on individual freedom together. The ideal American Freedom Pyramid fits together as follows:

• The base and foundation of the pyramid is the Constitution and the Bill Of Rights.
• Sitting on top of this base level is the government structure that the founders defined to implement the liberty principles and concepts of the Bill of Rights and the Constitution in a limited government manner.
• This government structure serves all of the country's citizens equally in guaranteeing each person's rights and freedoms as defined by the base level documents.
• And finally, the pinnacle of the Freedom Pyramid is our own individual rights, freedom, and liberties. 

These concepts are graphically illustrated below:
 

 There are a few important characteristics of this pyramid. The power in the pyramid flows up from the Bill of Rights and U.S. Constitution to our individual freedoms which is the pinnacle of our country. Government exists to serve the citizens and the country and is just the mechanics for implementing the tenets in the Bill of Rights and Constitution. Finally, the political class appears nowhere in the Freedom Pyramid structure.

This structure has served the country and its citizens quite well over the past two centuries. Americans were usually the freest people in world, which allowed the country to grow into the most prosperous ever. The Freedom Pyramid concept placed individual freedom above all else, including the government and the political class, whose sole purpose should be implementing the concepts and principles of the Constitution and the Bill Of Rights.

However, over time, we have allowed the American political class to pervert this original Freedom Pyramid concept:

• Today, individual citizens and their freedom and liberties are no longer at the pinnacle of the pyramid, having been replaced by a self serving political class.
• This political class uses government functions and institutions to enlarge, entrench, and enrich itself. Examples at this level abound and include earmark abuse, favorable campaign finance laws, Congressional voting district gerrymandering, excessive Congressional benefits and perks, confiscating large amounts of citizens wealth and income via taxes, and a general low priority for the needs and desires of the country's citizens.
• The political class uses their increased power to divide the country into various and competing tribes and voting blocks of citizens, "energizing their bases" as needed and demonizing those not in their bases or tribes.
• This increased power of the political class and their abuses of power results in diminished individual rights and freedoms.

 These concepts are illustrated in the current day, perverted Freedom Pyramid below, where the only Americans with the freedom and power tend to be our politicians:
 

 As you can see in this pyramid, the Bill of Rights and Constitution are no longer vital to this pyramid's structure since the often act as an obstruction to the needs and desires of the political class rather than their original intent, the foundation of the country. Also, the power is driven down from the political class and is imposed on American citizens and their freedom.

We need to recognize how far we have deviated from the concept of the first Freedom Pyramid. The reality of America today is that we no longer live in a free country. We do not get true freedom in our election processes since the political class has rigged the voting process to favor existing officeholders and existing political parties. 

We do not get true freedom while under our excessive tax burden. When an individual is forced to pay more than 30% of their annual income to all levels of government, that individual's freedom to send his or her kids to a better school or to start a business or to save for retirement or to go on a vacation is severely limited: you cannot have political freedom without financial freedom. We do not get true freedom when politicians call individual citizens racists, Neanderthals, un-American, smelly, and other derogatory names just because they dare to disagree with a politician's programs.

If we ever want to get back to the right Freedom Pyramid, where individual citizens are in charge and the political class and the government the run are subservient, we need to implement most, if not all, of the steps laid out in "Love My Country, Loathe My Government." Some of the most important steps include:

1. Step 1 - reduce the size and budget of the Federal government by 10% a year for five years.
2. Step 6 - allow only individual American citizens to contribute to election campaigns, forbidding unions, corporations, PACs and other organizations from flooding the election process with money. The Bill of Rights guarantees freedom of speech to individual Americans, not organizations.
3. Step 7 - allow only citizens that are affected by an election to contribute to election campaigns within that election. For example, political parties would not be allowed to accept campaign contributions from someone in Kansas and send/funnel that money to be used in an election campaign in New Jersey. 
4. Step 14 - stop gerrymandering Congressional voting districts to almost guarantee the re-election of incumbents.
5. Step 17 - eliminate the Democratic Party's "Super Delegate" process which has the potential of voiding the votes of all voters who voted in Democratic Party Presidential primaries.
6. Sep 34 - hold politicians sitting on Congressional committees accountable for their respective government areas of oversight and remove them from their committee positions if that committee falls short of serving the country, e.g. all members of Congressional Intelligence committees should have been removed from those committee posts on September 12, 2001 for their inability to foresee the 9-11 terror attacks. 
7. Step 39 - institute term limits for all Federal political seats.

 Many of the other 50 steps are also important but implementing these listed above would go a long way to getting us back to the true and rightful Freedom Pyramid concept for this country.

Our book, "Love My Country, Loathe My Government - Fifty First Steps To Restoring Our Freedom And Destroying The American Political Class" is now available at:

www.loathemygovernment.com

It is also available online at Amazon and Barnes and Noble. Please pass our message of freedom onward. Let your friends and family know about our websites and blogs, ask your library to carry the book, and respect freedom for both yourselves and others everyday.

Please visit the following sites for freedom:

Term Limits Now: http://www.howmuchworsecoulditget.com
http://www.reason.com
http://www.cato.org
http://www.bankruptingamerica.org
http://www.conventionofstates.com
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08j0sYUOb5w

 

The Funnier Side of Politics and Government - The Most Inane Laws By State

Over the past few posts we have been taking a serious look at how much taxpayer wealth the Federal government wastes every year along with an in-depth look at economic numbers, all of which general indicate that the country and its economy are in pretty sad shape.

Let's take a break from the depressing news of the past few days at look at something a little more lighthearted today. It is still just as insane, inane, and idiotic as the more serious topics, but at least the following information is not nearly as dangerous to our wealth, our liberty and freedoms, and our sanity. 

The following information comes to us courtesy of writer David Rufful who researched and wrote the following information for the Young Conservatives website. Check out your state and see if its craziest, zaniest, and more stupid law on the books is one that could get you thrown in jail.

ALABAMA: You can’t wear a fake mustache that causes laughter in church.

ALASKA: It’s against the law to wake bears for the purposes of taking a picture.

ARIZONA: It’s illegal to drive a car in reverse.

ARKANSAS: You’re not allowed to pronounce Arkansas incorrectly.

CALIFORNIA: You will be fined if you detonate a nuclear device. Thank goodness no jail time is involved.

COLORADO: People must not dress unbecoming of their sex.

CONNECTICUT: Scrabble is not to be played while politicians are giving an oration.

DELAWARE: You may not marry on a dare.

FLORIDA: Women who kill themselves by electrocution in a bathtub with a “self-beautification utensil” will be fined. Adding insult to injury.

GEORGIA: You can’t keep ice cream in your back pocket on Sundays. Probably a good idea everyday of the week.

HAWAII: Everyone is required to own a boat.

IDAHO: Motorists or pedestrians may not scowl or grimace. I am sure that cleaned up the road rage in the state.

ILLINOIS: Midget tossing is illegal in bars, but is legal in other parts of the city if you have a permit. I cannot even begin to think why this law was needed.

INDIANA: Everyone is required to work on a public road six days a year.

IOWA: One-armed piano players must perform for free. Is this really a problem in Iowa?

KANSAS: If two trains meet on the same track, neither shall proceed until the other has passed.

KENTUCKY: It’s required that you register all nude people in your home. Wonder what the registration forms look like and who in the government reviews the forms for accuracy?

LOUISIANA: It is an assault for a person wearing false teeth to bite someone. But I guess if you use real teeth you are okay.

MAINE: You can’t buy a car on Sunday unless it has plumbing. Huh?

MARYLAND: One cannot spit on the sidewalk.

MASSACHUSETTS: The sexual position “woman on top” is illegal. What government employee checks for compliance in this area and where do I submit a job app? 

MICHIGAN: It’s against the law to have sex in a car unless it’s parked on your own property.

MINNESOTA: You must list your date of death on tax forms.

MISSISSIPPI: A man must not seduce a woman by promising her marriage.

MISSOURI: Single men between 18 and 50 must pay a $1 tax. Much cheaper than paying a divorce lawyer.

MONTANA: Seven or more Indians are considered a raiding or war party… and you can shoot them.

NEBRASKA: It’s illegal to go whale fishing within the state. I guess this law did not work since there are so few whales in the state these days.

NEVADA: A man can’t buy drinks for more than three people at a time.

NEW HAMPSHIRE: It’s illegal to show a movie before 2 pm.

NEW JERSEY: One cannot sell cabbage on Sundays.

NEW MEXICO: Idiots may not vote. Nor may insane people. I guess that means state politicians cannot vote for themselves.

NEW YORK: You may not stick your thumb to your nose and wiggle your fingers at someone.

NORTH CAROLINA: Bingo games cannot last more than 5 hours.

NORTH DAKOTA: Beer and pretzels cannot be served at the same time. Who lobbied for this law, the potato chip lobbyists?

OHIO: One cannot kill a housefly within 160 feet of a church.

OKLAHOMA: It’s illegal to make funny faces at dogs.

OREGON: Canned corn is not to be used as fishing bait.

PENNSYLVANIA: It’s a crime to tell a fortune-teller where to dig for buried treasure. Shouldn't a good fortune teller know already without being told?

RHODE ISLAND: Lunacy is grounds for divorce.

SOUTH CAROLINA: You have to be at least 18 to play a pinball machine.

SOUTH DAKOTA: You can’t sleep in a cheese factory.

TENNESSEE: Crimes against nature are illegal.

TEXAS: Criminals must notify their victims 24 hours in advance of the nature of their crimes yet to be committed.

UTAH: Husbands are responsible for their wives’ criminal behavior in their presence.

VERMONT: Margarine must be served in triangle patties. How else would one serve it?

VIRGINIA: The chicken labor lobby has set the egg laying workday between the hours of 8:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m.

WASHINGTON: All lollipops are banned.

WEST VIRGINIA: Roadkill may be taken home for dinner.

WISCONSIN: It’s illegal to serve margarine to prisoners.

WYOMING: It’s against the law to have sex while standing up in a walk-in meat freezer.

Funny stuff. But depressing also if you consider that at some point in time in these states' legislative bodies, these laws were actually proposed, debated, written up, edited, and voted upon by politicians, wasting valuable time, resources and taxpayer wealth to come up with a set of laws that are just plain ridiculous.

And if you think these are bad and total wastes of time, think about the proposed laws that did NOT get passed but which also took up time, money, and resources.

But again, these are nothing compared to the major embarrassments that emanate out of Washington every year. Those efforts costs us hundreds of billions of dollars a year and erode our freedom over time.

Our book, "Love My Country, Loathe My Government - Fifty First Steps To Restoring Our Freedom And Destroying The American Political Class" is now available at:

www.loathemygovernment.com

It is also available online at Amazon and Barnes and Noble. Please pass our message of freedom onward. Let your friends and family know about our websites and blogs, ask your library to carry the book, and respect freedom for both yourselves and others everyday.

Please visit the following sites for freedom:

Term Limits Now: http://www.howmuchworsecoulditget.com
http://www.reason.com
http://www.cato.org
http://www.robertringer.com/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08j0sYUOb5w