Monetary chairs is the Rhode Island solution to its economic problems. Who will be the last standing? Casinos are not the economic development machines they are portrayed to be, they are re-distributional mechanism dependent on Massachusetts players leaving more money here than the owners and operators take out of the State.
Pay to play schemes are an invisable tax that benefits the politician at the expense of tax payers. Before we lower taxes and cut programs, maybe we should stop the pay to play taxes extorted by our politician and their Zombies.
A good place to start would be the sweet heart deals with Union Leaders that help to insure both the leaders and politicians re-election while condemning the next generation of tax payers and union members on pensions to poverty from underfunded pension programs.
Prison would be a good place to send those who use alleged ballot interference tactics to influence the Providence election process. True or not it, such publicity only helps to reenforce that the public's perception that the Good Old Buddy Days are back. And frighten off prospective investors.
Moral obligation bonds are a contradiction in terms. They are fiction approved by a
legislature that has no morals and which feel their only obligation is toward
themselves not the tax payers. This is no way to build an economy. I guess that they feel because when the Heritage Bank failed they got all their money back at tax payer expense that the tax payers will be willing bail out any private company they approve, regardless where they are from or how the deal was made.
The Bishop, who thinks he is Pope of Rhode Island, forgets that Roger
Williams founded this state on the principle of separation of church and state. The Bishop seems to feel that this entitles him to declare his church's dogma should rule over all matters of personal conscious for everyone in the state to the exclusion of all points of view. He and his Tea Party allies would love to see a Constitutional Convention be given the opportunity to overturn the principle established in the Charter and the Federal Constitution.
Rather than hold a Constitutional Convention to change things in the
state, we might be better off just trying to play by the rules we have. The first step for such change to elect honest representatives who represent the best of the state and throw out the insiders who lie and cheat to get your vote by promising everything and leaving you and us with nothing..
Has the lively experiment failed? Maybe we will see in this election.
Showing posts with label Rhode Island. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Rhode Island. Show all posts
Friday, October 24, 2014
Tuesday, January 8, 2013
SANDY HOOK ELEMENTARY AND Rhode Island
On December 14, 11 days before Christmas in the year 2012 one
of the most hateful and viscous partisan political years in my personal memory,
“Adam Lanza, age 20, fatally shot twenty children and six adult staff members and wounded two at Sandy Hook Elementary School in the village of Sandy Hook in the town of Newtown, Connecticut. Before driving to the school, Lanza had shot and killed his mother, Nancy Lanza, at their Newtown home. After killing students and staff members, Lanza committed suicide by shooting himself in the head as first responders arrived.” From Wikipedia
Since that date a tremendous amount of public outrage has
been vented against guns, gun ownership, gun laws, gun rights from both the
general public and the radical extremist on both ends of the political spectrum.
That we should see such an outpouring of
concern and emotion is good and healthy, especially after such a painful
confrontation with our own failings as a human beings and as a society. It is
venting the sick and misguided venom of a partisanship that is blinding us to
the common interest we share for the safety of one another and our future, our
children.
Here in Rhode Island there has been concern for our
neighbors to the west and reflections that there but for an act of God that could
be us. Over the past week (since January 1.) there have appeared Op-Ed pieces
in the Providence Journal from the Jewish and Catholic community, a personal
observation by Congressman Langivan (a survivor of a gun accident), and today
by Allen Hassenfeld focusing on
priorities. Letters and comments also appear in the local letter to the editor
and the web-based versions. Many good points are being made, many simplistic
solutions proposed, and many self serving offers or promotions served up. All
of this, points to complexity of our motives and feelings toward the GUN as
physical objects and their use generates.
The central issue, I feel, is how does a civilized society
based on the principle of individuality, freedom of choice and self expression
survive when the power of life and death is granted to every citizen without
any control or constraint from the community in which the individual lives?
What happens when the social controls we, as citizens, agree to live under
through our system of laws and collective decision making are surrendered to super-rich plutocrats with private armies and the mentally deranged psycho- and sociopathic, isolated,
and alienated individual with an assault rifle? What is the proper role of government and the
citizenry?
Roger Williams founded Rhode Island based on the principle
that the answer to question the rights of diversity and the majority was not
civil war of the majority against the minority. The answer he proposed is a
civil debate based on the “tolerance” of the other’s views and interests.
Over the years I have heard many complaints about the word “tolerance.”
It is too weak, too insincere, too “liberal,” too “conservative.” What I
believe I am hearing when people reject or question the word, is a demand for
ideological purity of principle, rather than a pragmatic acceptance that there
will always be different points of view. Each of these has legitimate
perspectives and claims. These are claims that arise as much from experience
and they do from any “purity” the adherent might claim.
Tolerance is a term used in physics and engineering to
describe just how much room there is between the ideal stress that can be
applied to a material and the amount of actual stress that can be applied to
the material before it fails.
Rhode Island’s lively experiment, envisioned by Roger
Williams, has been and is a social experiment in the tolerance of something
called civil society. Since civil society is made up of imperfect material,
humans and their self interests, the question is when it comes to the GUN, what
are we willing to tolerate? Sandy Hook is a test of our resolve.
Can we tolerate
the murder of 22 children as price we are willing to pay for the right of some
people to own a GUN with minimum supervision and regulation by the community
into which they bring their GUN? Or do we insist that to own a GUN, because of
its power to kill and maim, carries with it a higher standard responsibility and a lower tolerance than
applies to other objects in our society. What is our tolerance for GUN
ownership and GUN rights?
Here in Rhode Island we are beginning the debate. Here in
Rhode Island we must exercise our rights under the 1st Amendment to determine our own course within the
very broad and vague provisions of the 2nd Amendment.
There are consequences for every action. There will be
consequences from whatever we decide. Let us take seriously the potential costs
of unintended consequence. Let us learn from Sandy Hook and tighten up our legal standards to the right GUN ownership and lower our personal tolerance for personal misuse of GUNS here in Rhode Island.
Also check out: Americans for Responsible Solutions Gabby Gifford initiative
Also check out: Americans for Responsible Solutions Gabby Gifford initiative
Thursday, May 24, 2012
38 Studios - Crony Capitalism is alive and well in Rhode Island
The crisis at EDC and 38 Studio
reflect the problem of crony capitalism at its best. Having written about this
while the deal was being negotiated, I can't say that this comes as surprise.
The public's money should never be invested in a start-up in a mature market. All one is doing is buying out the original investors (the capitalist who are cashing in their investment) and replacing it with public money. This is what an IPO, such a Facebook, is supposed to do.
From an economic development perspective public investment should go to infrastructure improvements that will have a longer term value and benefit for the taxpayers and improve the environment into which private investors might decide to locate.
If anyone has been watching the market for video games, it has been shifting. As a start-up, it would make more sense if 38studio had been creating Game APPS for smart phones to reach a wider audience, quicker, at lower risk and cost and used the experience to work out the problems that come to all start-ups. Instead they went for the Big Hit with its high risk, high cost and, untested team.
The video game business is not a new business. It is a variation on the movie business as 38 Studios has claimed as the rationale for applying for the movie tax credits. The movie business isolates the product from the company by creating a corporation for the movie placing the risk in that company and still controlling the upside.
In 38 Studios we had a company with no product at the time of the deal. Today it seems that we may have a product without a company. Is the state considering putting a lien on the box game, to guarantee our investment?
The public's money should never be invested in a start-up in a mature market. All one is doing is buying out the original investors (the capitalist who are cashing in their investment) and replacing it with public money. This is what an IPO, such a Facebook, is supposed to do.
From an economic development perspective public investment should go to infrastructure improvements that will have a longer term value and benefit for the taxpayers and improve the environment into which private investors might decide to locate.
If anyone has been watching the market for video games, it has been shifting. As a start-up, it would make more sense if 38studio had been creating Game APPS for smart phones to reach a wider audience, quicker, at lower risk and cost and used the experience to work out the problems that come to all start-ups. Instead they went for the Big Hit with its high risk, high cost and, untested team.
The video game business is not a new business. It is a variation on the movie business as 38 Studios has claimed as the rationale for applying for the movie tax credits. The movie business isolates the product from the company by creating a corporation for the movie placing the risk in that company and still controlling the upside.
In 38 Studios we had a company with no product at the time of the deal. Today it seems that we may have a product without a company. Is the state considering putting a lien on the box game, to guarantee our investment?
Arlene Violet has her take on the situation She points out that “As reported by
Ted Nesi of Nest’s Notes on WPRI’s website, 38 Studios was removed from the
list of companies scheduled to present at next month’s Electronic Entertainment
Expo, a sort of World Series of offerings in the electronic game industry.”
Such cut back in marketing effort is another sure sign that things are not
right.
As for the tax credits if granted, they can be sold to raise cash, as the Projo’s story pointed out. But for the tax payers, those credits mean less tax revenue from whom ever buys and uses them. In turn, it means an additional RI tax payer contribution to 38 Studios on top the $ 75M loan guarantee.
As for the tax credits if granted, they can be sold to raise cash, as the Projo’s story pointed out. But for the tax payers, those credits mean less tax revenue from whom ever buys and uses them. In turn, it means an additional RI tax payer contribution to 38 Studios on top the $ 75M loan guarantee.
Another problem is the potential loss of the human capital that we, as tax payers, have invested in to staff and provide the talent for 38Studios. Now that the wounded animal has left blood in the water, the sharks have gathered to bite off the prime cuts (top talent). Will there be enough talent left if the funding situation can be resolved to have a company? And if not, can we still keep that talent here or will we be exporting it to Massachusetts?
38Studios is NOT GM. Its success or failure is NOT
going to destroy the economy. One hopes that some investors will be found to
refinance and restructure the company so that it is a success. Governor Chafee
is to be commended for getting on top of the problem as quickly as he has in an
attempt to protect tax payer interests and by being an active participant in
the effort to find a solution to the problems.
But one also hopes that the blind, star struck,
politicians in this state have learned something from this. And that lesson is
that we, the tax payer, are paying them do their due diligence before throwing
tax payer money at deals that no self respecting or even greedy bank would turn
down.
Crony Capitalism and Sweetheart Union deals are the
cause of our economic problems. I, for one, am happy to see that something is
now being done to move us in a sane direction.
Friday, February 10, 2012
Rhode Island preparating for Bankruptcy? The New Legislative District Maps
Today's Providence Journal online carries a map of the proposed redistricting maps for the Rhode Island U.S Congressional districts based on the 2010 census. There is something very interesting in these maps. Click on the above link. What do you see?
Given the threat of more city and town bankruptcies and the narrow minded greed of the special interests who can't see the bigger picture, here are some thoughts about the maps and what they might mean for the Lively Experiment.
Can you see the potential if Rhode Island goes bankrupt?
The current (2/2012) district lines
Proposals F & E both, would move the district line to the east and make for a division that more closely aligns with the natural boundaries created by the Blackstone River and Narragansett Bay
Given the threat of more city and town bankruptcies and the narrow minded greed of the special interests who can't see the bigger picture, here are some thoughts about the maps and what they might mean for the Lively Experiment.
Can you see the potential if Rhode Island goes bankrupt?
The current (2/2012) district lines
Proposals F & E both, would move the district line to the east and make for a division that more closely aligns with the natural boundaries created by the Blackstone River and Narragansett Bay
Proposal F
Proposal E
What would it mean, if Rhode Island were to be the first state to go bankrupt? Because the population balance is fairly even, just think how easy it would be to use Proposal E to simply divide the Districts equally between Massachusetts (District 1) and Connecticut (District 2).
The boundaries are almost perfectly aligned with the natural boundaries created by the river and the bay. Woonsocket and Pawtucket might have to become the twin cities, Woon, CT and Socket, MA and Paw, CT and Tucket, MA, for example. Or maybe West Woonsocket (CT) and East Woonsocket (MA) and East Pawtucker (MA) and West Pawtucket (CT).
In the case of State Bankruptcy, this would make sense. Just like a failed bank, the Federal government might have to step in and force a merger. There might be a contest between CT and MA over the assets. Just think of the potential!
First of all, there would be two seats in Congress (a major asset) at stake. What would happen to them?
For Connecticut, the South County beaches would certainly benefit its tourism business as well as the privately held Twin River Gambling facilities in Lincoln. Meanwhile, Massachusetts would gain Newport's attraction as a tourist center, and the gambling facilities at Newport Grand.
The economic value of Narragansett Bay would benefit for both states.
CT would get the west shore with Quonset Point thus bringing in the whole of Electric Boat's Sub operation under the state's tax system (maybe they could do a better job than Rhode Island has with this gem). In addition they would get the Port of Providence and a second Ivy League university, as well as RISD, J&W, PC, and most of the Rhode Island University system.
MA would get control of the east passage in the Bay. It would get Roger Williams University and Salve Regina and the Naval War College. It would also gain Raytheon and its subcontractors The merger would bring the eastern side of Narragansett Bay (Aquidnick Island and Bristol Co, RI) under the same state jurisdiction and unite it with Mount Hope Bay (Fall River, MA) and the Taunton River watershed (Taunton, MA). This would have the potential of creating a single, integrated economic development district in southeastern MA with direct access to the sea.
By the way, it would also lead to County government!!!
By the way, it would also lead to County government!!!
Such mergers might create something that might be TOO BIG TO FAIL. And if they did fail in the future, it would set the stage for another merger -- the Super State of Southern New England. In any case, Rhode Island's bankruptcy would mark the end of the Lively Experiment.You can see all there in the maps.
Tuesday, November 29, 2011
Providence ranks 5th
Thought you might like to know according to Yahoo
The 10 Healthiest Cities for Families in the USA
5. Providence, Rhode IslandThis small, tight-knit community thinks big. Providence has as many playgrounds and ball fields as cities two to three times its size, plus its own top-notch children's hospital. The food scene is superb, with lots of mom-and-pop cafés in town, many serving up local seafood. "It's not unusual to see 3- Rhode IslanRhode Island; Providenced; Providenceand 4-year-olds digging into clams or shrimp here," says local restaurant owner Ellen Gracylyny, a mom of two. A recent perk: Farm Fresh Rhode Island, a group of 40 local family farms, has set up a "local food guide," which lists all the nearby farmers' markets, farm stands, pick-your-own farms, and community-supported agriculture programs. It also highlights restaurants and private schools that buy locally grown food.
Monday, July 25, 2011
Let's get Kool and appreciate what we have here in RI
Driving to my favorite coffee shop this morning, I was listening to WRNI. Scott McKay was giving his Monday Morning commentary.
I got to thinking that with all the economic uncertainty we face here in RI and the nation which we ordinary citizens have little or no chance of changing in the immediate future, maybe Scott has a point. It is summer and time to kick back and appreciate what we do have
Click on the links above and listen to the GOOD NEWS for a Change. Meanwhile like Jonathan Livingston here, enjoy the Beach, the Sand and the Sea.
I got to thinking that with all the economic uncertainty we face here in RI and the nation which we ordinary citizens have little or no chance of changing in the immediate future, maybe Scott has a point. It is summer and time to kick back and appreciate what we do have
Click on the links above and listen to the GOOD NEWS for a Change. Meanwhile like Jonathan Livingston here, enjoy the Beach, the Sand and the Sea.
And watch where you step
Monday, March 21, 2011
The Year of 1905 --- Congratulations RI Philharmonic Orchestra
On Saturday night, March 19th, the night of the Great Moon, the halls of Veterans Memorial Auditorium
were blessed with a spectacular production of Shostakovich's Symphony No 11 in G minor, Opus 103 by the Rhode Island Philharmonic Orchestra.. Conductor Larry Rachleff and the entire orchestra put the near capacity audience into a trance taking us on a journey back to the turmoil bumbling up in Russia in that year of 1905. As Rachleff pointed out in his introduction to the piece, there is some prescience, a sort of deja vu, that we are now watching events take place in our time that have happened before. Hopeful dreams of freedom run up against the violent reaction of the status quo.
For almost an hour, Rachleff and the orchestra lead us through Shostakovich's sound portrait of the moods and emotions of the time. Ranging from the sublime to the chaotic, the seductive to the triumphant, the musician were tested and proved worthy of this long and complex piece. Movement to movement without a pause, the audience sat spell bound lulled by the soft tapping of the drum rolls of a procession then were knocked out of their seats by the crashing percussion of the blasts of cannons played by bass and kettle drums.
The brass and woodwinds combined to create a "visual" picture of the moment giving the performance a cinematographic feel. The brass moved from the loud blare of a triumphal entry to a sad lament. The woodwinds added their mellow colors to the phonic palette.
Most of all, the strings demonstrated the pure physicality of Schostakovich's work. The musicians were put to the test as they moved from the slow passages so typical of Russian folk music to a frenetically loud, at times almost discordant, series of passages. The audience could almost see their sweat, and certainly felt, the physical challenge each artist faced.
Afterward, the audience exploded with an enthusiastic standing ovation. But more than that, the conversation in the lobby and on the street the next day was one of exhilaration and marvel. The Projo headline on Sunday read, Conductor Rachleff shines in Shostakovich. There was an air among those leaving the auditorium that they had witnessed something very special. Rhode Islanders should be proud to have such a fine professional civic orchestra. It is a true symbol of what Rhode Island can be when people marching to a different tune can suddenly and so brilliantly get it together.
The concert began with the overture from Mozart's Cosi fan tutti, a pleasant way to warm the audience up on a cold night. This was followed by an other Mozart piece, Violin Concerto No. 3 in G major. Featured was Karen Gomyo, violinist who performed brilliantly on the solo parts. Ms. Gomyo displayed a poise and mastery of her instrument and the music that captured the audience. Her performance was strengthen by her complete physical involvement in her performance.
As if the program itself was not enough, this was the evening of the Great Moon. Walking to the Veterans Memorial Auditorium from the parking lot behind the Department of Administration Building, we watched as the Great Moon rose above the ridge that marks the East Side. A crowd with their cameras were gathered by the RI Credit Union lot taking pictures of this once in 18 year event.
Later we saw the moon hanging over the Independent Man on top of the State House.
Before the concert began, Marie Langlois from the Philharmonic Board welcomed the audience and made an appeal for support. The current economic conditions, the cut back in federal and local government funds, and the decline in the stock market have drastically impacted the Orchestra and its Music School. Currently they are expected to close out their fiscal year in the end of May with a $220,000 deficit. We were asked to help by contributing to cover this deficit. "If each person here tonight could just contribute an additional $100.00 to the Philharmonic ..." then the deficit could be covered. Certainly the performance last Saturday night was worth a $100.00.
Compare what you will get for that $100 and what it will do for the community. Compare that to what a $500.00 ticket to see Charlie Sheen's "Violent Torpedo of Truth," will do for Charlie Sheen.
were blessed with a spectacular production of Shostakovich's Symphony No 11 in G minor, Opus 103 by the Rhode Island Philharmonic Orchestra.. Conductor Larry Rachleff and the entire orchestra put the near capacity audience into a trance taking us on a journey back to the turmoil bumbling up in Russia in that year of 1905. As Rachleff pointed out in his introduction to the piece, there is some prescience, a sort of deja vu, that we are now watching events take place in our time that have happened before. Hopeful dreams of freedom run up against the violent reaction of the status quo.For almost an hour, Rachleff and the orchestra lead us through Shostakovich's sound portrait of the moods and emotions of the time. Ranging from the sublime to the chaotic, the seductive to the triumphant, the musician were tested and proved worthy of this long and complex piece. Movement to movement without a pause, the audience sat spell bound lulled by the soft tapping of the drum rolls of a procession then were knocked out of their seats by the crashing percussion of the blasts of cannons played by bass and kettle drums.
The brass and woodwinds combined to create a "visual" picture of the moment giving the performance a cinematographic feel. The brass moved from the loud blare of a triumphal entry to a sad lament. The woodwinds added their mellow colors to the phonic palette.
Most of all, the strings demonstrated the pure physicality of Schostakovich's work. The musicians were put to the test as they moved from the slow passages so typical of Russian folk music to a frenetically loud, at times almost discordant, series of passages. The audience could almost see their sweat, and certainly felt, the physical challenge each artist faced.
Afterward, the audience exploded with an enthusiastic standing ovation. But more than that, the conversation in the lobby and on the street the next day was one of exhilaration and marvel. The Projo headline on Sunday read, Conductor Rachleff shines in Shostakovich. There was an air among those leaving the auditorium that they had witnessed something very special. Rhode Islanders should be proud to have such a fine professional civic orchestra. It is a true symbol of what Rhode Island can be when people marching to a different tune can suddenly and so brilliantly get it together.
The concert began with the overture from Mozart's Cosi fan tutti, a pleasant way to warm the audience up on a cold night. This was followed by an other Mozart piece, Violin Concerto No. 3 in G major. Featured was Karen Gomyo, violinist who performed brilliantly on the solo parts. Ms. Gomyo displayed a poise and mastery of her instrument and the music that captured the audience. Her performance was strengthen by her complete physical involvement in her performance.
As if the program itself was not enough, this was the evening of the Great Moon. Walking to the Veterans Memorial Auditorium from the parking lot behind the Department of Administration Building, we watched as the Great Moon rose above the ridge that marks the East Side. A crowd with their cameras were gathered by the RI Credit Union lot taking pictures of this once in 18 year event.
Later we saw the moon hanging over the Independent Man on top of the State House.
Support the Philharmonic and Music School
Before the concert began, Marie Langlois from the Philharmonic Board welcomed the audience and made an appeal for support. The current economic conditions, the cut back in federal and local government funds, and the decline in the stock market have drastically impacted the Orchestra and its Music School. Currently they are expected to close out their fiscal year in the end of May with a $220,000 deficit. We were asked to help by contributing to cover this deficit. "If each person here tonight could just contribute an additional $100.00 to the Philharmonic ..." then the deficit could be covered. Certainly the performance last Saturday night was worth a $100.00.
Compare what you will get for that $100 and what it will do for the community. Compare that to what a $500.00 ticket to see Charlie Sheen's "Violent Torpedo of Truth," will do for Charlie Sheen.
Supporting the RI Philharmonic Orchestra and The Music School is an investment in Rhode Island. Definitely deserving of public support.
It is the Debt Stupid!
In a recent oped piece entitled, No compassion for you if you’re in R.I.’s private sector, Projo columnist Edward Achorn bemoans the fact that Governor Chafee has asked the General Assembly to enact new taxes on a range of products, and some services, previously exempt. As has been the case in the past Mr. Achorn argues a popular point based on a flawed analysis of the problem.
We have had a party. We have borrowed big time from the future. We have borrowed to pay for the present without regard for the future. As a result, until we repay the future, there will be no future for Rhode Island.
Government's job is to serve the public interest by providing the goods and services that the voters and public determine they need. It does this by generating income from taxes and related fees.
Cutting expenses diminishes the goods and services you can consume. Some of that is waste; some luxuries that we can do without; and some is real belt tightening by forgoing things that are needed such as roads and bridges
and public health and safety.
How are Government finances any different from your finances?
Can you get rid of your debt by lowering your personal income? What happens if you lose your job?
Look at your own credit card behavior, for example. Waste would be buying your Big Mac with your credit card rather with the cash in your pocket or balance in checking/debit card account. A luxury would be to buy that sales item using your credit card rather than cash or debit card just because it was on sale, even through you did not need it. Belt tightening is like paying your mortgage with your credit card, borrowing more at a higher interest rate, to make a payment on a debt at a lower interest rate. In each case, your are increasing your borrowing simple to buy time and hoping to put off your eventual default.
Do tax cuts and budget cutting reduce debt?
Spending cuts do not effect the interest cost on the public debt. What cuts the interest cost is paying down the principle. And this can only be done by shifting the savings from cost cutting to principle payments. That means either no tax cuts, or raising additional income through tax increases (i.e. taking a second job). In either case, the proceeds from savings and/or the new job should be dedicated to pay down the debt.
Those, like Mr. Achorn, who complain about their taxes being too high, or the waste in government, should look to their own credit card debt. How good a job are you doing to manage your debt?
Who pays for drinks?
Rhode Islanders have been having a party. They have become drunk on quick fixes. It seems that those who would have us ignore the debt and focus only on taxes, really want us to look the other way. They want us to pay for the drinks while they can skip out of the state. They would leave the tab for the rest of us and our children to pay, or default on the debt.
Sharing the wealth also means sharing the risk and burden.
Everyone in the state has benefited in some way from the debt. Each of us shares responsibility for letting it happen. This includes the tax payers, the unions, and politicians who have created the debt arising from the unofficial borrowing caused by underfunding or postponing payments into the pension funds.
Everyone in the state should share in the cost of retiring this debt. Tax cuts for the wealthiest without demanding they pay their fair share on the principle first, is like letting them take you to lunch and then allowing them to leave you with the tab. In my experience they often will do this, if you let them.
The Hidden Cost of Debt
The same is true for politicians. Letting politicians postpone paying for current earned pension obligations and deferring them for the future, is like being treated to lunch and then be told that they left their wallet at home. They will promise,
What about all those businesses and union members who cash in their chips before paying their share of the debt, and then move to Florida? Aren't they doing the same thing?
The problem is not the budget or the taxes -- it is the State's debt.
Government's job is to serve the public interest by providing the goods and services that the voters and public determine they need. It does this by generating income from taxes and related fees.
Cutting expenses diminishes the goods and services you can consume. Some of that is waste; some luxuries that we can do without; and some is real belt tightening by forgoing things that are needed such as roads and bridges
and public health and safety.
How are Government finances any different from your finances?
Can you get rid of your debt by lowering your personal income? What happens if you lose your job?
Look at your own credit card behavior, for example. Waste would be buying your Big Mac with your credit card rather with the cash in your pocket or balance in checking/debit card account. A luxury would be to buy that sales item using your credit card rather than cash or debit card just because it was on sale, even through you did not need it. Belt tightening is like paying your mortgage with your credit card, borrowing more at a higher interest rate, to make a payment on a debt at a lower interest rate. In each case, your are increasing your borrowing simple to buy time and hoping to put off your eventual default.
Do tax cuts and budget cutting reduce debt?
Spending cuts do not effect the interest cost on the public debt. What cuts the interest cost is paying down the principle. And this can only be done by shifting the savings from cost cutting to principle payments. That means either no tax cuts, or raising additional income through tax increases (i.e. taking a second job). In either case, the proceeds from savings and/or the new job should be dedicated to pay down the debt.
Those, like Mr. Achorn, who complain about their taxes being too high, or the waste in government, should look to their own credit card debt. How good a job are you doing to manage your debt?
Who pays for drinks?
Rhode Islanders have been having a party. They have become drunk on quick fixes. It seems that those who would have us ignore the debt and focus only on taxes, really want us to look the other way. They want us to pay for the drinks while they can skip out of the state. They would leave the tab for the rest of us and our children to pay, or default on the debt.
Maybe it is time to stopping drinking single malt scotch and switch to beer
Sharing the wealth also means sharing the risk and burden.
Everyone in the state has benefited in some way from the debt. Each of us shares responsibility for letting it happen. This includes the tax payers, the unions, and politicians who have created the debt arising from the unofficial borrowing caused by underfunding or postponing payments into the pension funds.
Everyone in the state should share in the cost of retiring this debt. Tax cuts for the wealthiest without demanding they pay their fair share on the principle first, is like letting them take you to lunch and then allowing them to leave you with the tab. In my experience they often will do this, if you let them.
The Hidden Cost of Debt
The same is true for politicians. Letting politicians postpone paying for current earned pension obligations and deferring them for the future, is like being treated to lunch and then be told that they left their wallet at home. They will promise,
"We can use your credit card to pay the bill. I promise to repay you when we get back to the office." Of course, when you get back to the office, they have disappeared.
What about all those businesses and union members who cash in their chips before paying their share of the debt, and then move to Florida? Aren't they doing the same thing?
After all, aren't they feeding off of us, just to leave the rest of us with their share of the tab!
Monday, June 21, 2010
Fireworks and the RI General Assembly -- a Combustable Mixture
Insane, Short sighted, incompetent and forgetful is the only way to describe the RI General Assembly and a Governor who goes along with them.
On June 16th, 2010 the RI General Assemble and The Governor gave approval of the
This morning the Projo carried this story about fireworks in a public building,Motel guests evacuated after fireworks set off
On Thursday, February 20, 2003, The Station nightclub fire occurred beginning at 11:07 PM EST. Located in West Warwick, Rhode Island, this is the fourth deadliest nightclub fire in American history, killing 100 people, four of whom died after being admitted to local hospitals. The fire was caused when pyrotechnic sparks ignited flammable sound insulation foam in the walls and ceilings around the stage. This subsequently created a flash fire that engulfed the club in 5½ minutes. Some 230 people were injured and another 132 escaped uninjured. Video footage of the fire depicts its initial growth and the exit blockage which hindered evacuation
At least one person appears to remember and care. I just received the following bulletin from the Providence Journal.
It does not take a genius to know what Albert Einstein observed.
I guess our elected officials are as insane as those who elect them.
On June 16th, 2010 the RI General Assemble and The Governor gave approval of the
Fireworks bill
This morning the Projo carried this story about fireworks in a public building,Motel guests evacuated after fireworks set off
On Thursday, February 20, 2003, The Station nightclub fire occurred beginning at 11:07 PM EST. Located in West Warwick, Rhode Island, this is the fourth deadliest nightclub fire in American history, killing 100 people, four of whom died after being admitted to local hospitals. The fire was caused when pyrotechnic sparks ignited flammable sound insulation foam in the walls and ceilings around the stage. This subsequently created a flash fire that engulfed the club in 5½ minutes. Some 230 people were injured and another 132 escaped uninjured. Video footage of the fire depicts its initial growth and the exit blockage which hindered evacuation
At least one person appears to remember and care. I just received the following bulletin from the Providence Journal.
From the Projo 6/21/10 Breaking news.'The state fire marshal on Monday expressed concerns about the newly adopted law that allows the sale of fireworks in Rhode Island, but he stated emphatically that it does not permit the use of gerbs -- the kind of indoor pyrotechnic that set off the Station nightclub fire that killed 100 people in 2003. Jack Chartier, the fire marshal, said that under the new law, only "consumer grade'' fireworks, such as sparklers and poppers, are allowed to be sold to anyone 16 years of age or older. He said these type of fireworks are only permitted outdoors"
It does not take a genius to know what Albert Einstein observed.
Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.
I guess our elected officials are as insane as those who elect them.
Friday, February 26, 2010
The Providence Journal discovers a story - The Amazon Law
For the past 9 months, I have been following the implications on small business as the states attempt to use their constitutional right to nexus provision to extend their taxing power to the Internet. Today the Providence Journal, the premier daily newspaper for the informed Rhode Islander, finally discovered and carried a story about the "Amazon tax" and its impact on a small business here in Rhode Island. Under the headline Small businessman says R.I. ‘Amazon law’ hurts him
If you have been following this blog, you will have read about my problem with the "Amazon Law" It put my own e-business plans on hold.
The Projo could have been more helpful and informative to the public, if it had picked up on and reported the story earlier. It also could have done a better job informing its readers if it put the story in its broader national context.
The "Amazon law" is a national problem, not just a Rhode Island problem. It is the law requiring out of state internet vendor's to collect sale taxes on goods and services sold to resident in the taxing state.
This is a common requirement for firms doing business in multiple states. For example, if you purchase a big ticket item from a company in Massachusetts that also does business in Rhode Island and the item is to be delivered and used in Rhode Island, you will pay the Rhode Island sales tax on the item. Why do you think the clerk asks for your zip code?
The problem comes when a vendor does not have a physical or business presence in the state. Under the nexus principle, that vendor would not be required to collect the sales tax for the taxing state. Amazon does not consider its affilates as employee or agents. Therefore Amazon and similar out of state vendors do not feel that they have representatives in the state, specifically in this case Rhode Island and are under no obligation to act as Rhode Isalnd's tax collector.
The Rhode Island legislature decided that any RI website which carries ads for Amazon or other e-commerce companies is an employee or agent for the companies whose ads they carry. This is sufficient grounds to require the parent firm to collect sales for the state on Rhode Island on all goods sold to Rhode Island residents.
In my case, I wanted to rent space to Amazon on my website to advertise their products. I felt that I was supplying a billboard as a way to help pay for the operating costs of the site. Amazon decided this imposed a potential tax and administrative burden on them. To avoid the issue, they and others have chosen to eliminate that risk by severing their ties to their affiliates. As a result, Amazon will continue to sell to Rhode Islanders and Rhode Islanders will continue to buy from Amazon.
However, Rhode Island businesses that depend upon the rental revenue they earned by allowing Amazon and others to advertise on the their site no longer have that revenue source. As the Projo story documents, they make less income and pay lower taxes. Meanwhile, because these sales outlets no longer sell for Amazon, B&H and other e-commerce firms, Rhode Island collects no new sales tax revenue.
Reading the comments to the Projo story shows how poorly the readers understand the issue and how poorly the Projo explained the issues. It is no wonder that more and more of us seek our news from more aggressive and informed sources.
If you have been following this blog, you will have read about my problem with the "Amazon Law" It put my own e-business plans on hold.
The Projo could have been more helpful and informative to the public, if it had picked up on and reported the story earlier. It also could have done a better job informing its readers if it put the story in its broader national context.
The "Amazon law" is a national problem, not just a Rhode Island problem. It is the law requiring out of state internet vendor's to collect sale taxes on goods and services sold to resident in the taxing state.
This is a common requirement for firms doing business in multiple states. For example, if you purchase a big ticket item from a company in Massachusetts that also does business in Rhode Island and the item is to be delivered and used in Rhode Island, you will pay the Rhode Island sales tax on the item. Why do you think the clerk asks for your zip code?
The problem comes when a vendor does not have a physical or business presence in the state. Under the nexus principle, that vendor would not be required to collect the sales tax for the taxing state. Amazon does not consider its affilates as employee or agents. Therefore Amazon and similar out of state vendors do not feel that they have representatives in the state, specifically in this case Rhode Island and are under no obligation to act as Rhode Isalnd's tax collector.
The Rhode Island legislature decided that any RI website which carries ads for Amazon or other e-commerce companies is an employee or agent for the companies whose ads they carry. This is sufficient grounds to require the parent firm to collect sales for the state on Rhode Island on all goods sold to Rhode Island residents.
In my case, I wanted to rent space to Amazon on my website to advertise their products. I felt that I was supplying a billboard as a way to help pay for the operating costs of the site. Amazon decided this imposed a potential tax and administrative burden on them. To avoid the issue, they and others have chosen to eliminate that risk by severing their ties to their affiliates. As a result, Amazon will continue to sell to Rhode Islanders and Rhode Islanders will continue to buy from Amazon.
However, Rhode Island businesses that depend upon the rental revenue they earned by allowing Amazon and others to advertise on the their site no longer have that revenue source. As the Projo story documents, they make less income and pay lower taxes. Meanwhile, because these sales outlets no longer sell for Amazon, B&H and other e-commerce firms, Rhode Island collects no new sales tax revenue.
Reading the comments to the Projo story shows how poorly the readers understand the issue and how poorly the Projo explained the issues. It is no wonder that more and more of us seek our news from more aggressive and informed sources.
Monday, February 8, 2010
The Rhode Island 2011 Budget: WHAT WOULD YOU CUT, HOW AND WHY?
Rhode Islanders, like everyone, are complaining about their taxes, federal, state and local. But how many of them know what they are talking about? How many know how much of a free ride they are getting from others? How much others are getting a free ride off of them?
Do you know what the budget for running the state of RI is?
Have you ever thought of looking at it, analyzing what is there?
Do you know who is paying for what?
Or, Are you relying on the special interests to explain to you why they should get more and pay less?
Have you ever cornered your representative or senator and demanded to know what and why he or she is voting for a certain expenditure or tax?
Citizenship requires constant vigilance. If you are just complaining and whining but not taking any action to correct the problem, then the problem is you and not the government's.
The role of government is to respond to the needs and desires of its citizens. In a democracy that means responding to those who are exercising their first amendment right to the petition the government to help them with their grievances.
Reading the Providence Journal, and the comments often made to stories appearing there, I am amazed at the stupidity and lack of civility that many "thoughtful" citizens express. They rejoice in their 1st amendment right of free speech and the opportunity use a free press to spill their vial prejudices and ignorant opinions. But how many are following through with their responsibilities?
Are they using their right of free assembly to get together with others air their common concern to work out realistic solutions for the problems they see?
How many take the time and the effort to put those realistic solutions down on paper and bring them to their representation?
How many petition their representative for a hearing? And then, how many actually back their proposal and to push for their adoption.
I don't always agree with the Governor or the legislature. But I do understand the situation they find themselves in as public servants. If everyone hates you, then what is to be gained from trying help those who hate you, especially when your friends will happily reward you for your favors by reelecting you?
Sometimes weakness is strength. President Obama has been hamstrung by the Democratic majority in Congress. So has the Republican minority. With the election in Massachusetts of Senator Brown, Obama and liberal Republicans are freer to move to the center. Neither is totally accountable to their party any longer, their vote is no longer the determining factor to achieve party tactical advantage.
Each republican is now accountable to the voters in their state. And the President is now accountable to the American voters, all of those who help put him in office.
The real power in this country is among the independent, non- affiliated voters, a group of ranging from the politically alienated to the political centrists. It is here where the horse trading should take place, not with their radical cores of ideological party hacks.
Don't let these hacks and their media blowhards pigeonhole you into their simplistic categories of liberal or conservative.
The former don't know when to stop run and the latter doesn't know when to get off first base. If you are like me you want to get around the bases and score and not get thrown out or left on base.
But unless these independents stop whining, start rallying around their issues, and take responsibility for proposing realistic, actionable solutions to those issues, their voices will not be heard.
Right now we are seeing the birth of movement -- the Tea Party movement. Conservatives are trying to capture the energy they see there for their own agenda. Liberals are frightened by it. And entrepreneurial husksters, such as Sarah Palin and Steve Laffee, are making small fortunes exploiting them. Hopefully, as the dust settles, the emotional high runs its course and the opportunists go on to other victims, some real thought and leadership will emerge from the Tea party movement. Leadership and thought which will foster innovation designed to address real problems rather than current sloganeering. We will see!
In Rhode Island, we have a General Assembly bought and paid for by the donors to the Democrat party and a Republican party on oxygen. This is just the type of situation where a third party effort is needed at the grassroots. The only way to break the party stranglehold on individual legislators is to create an opportunity for local representatives and senators to vote their conscience. To do this means to free them from the monopoly power of party bosses. Here again the independents, united on the basis of their local concerns and interests, actively exercising their 1st amendment rights to the fullest, can provide the political cover these local representatives need.
If you think that public debt is too high, fine. How would you change it and where would you change it and have you really tested whether your solution can work?
The fiscal problems we face as a nation and as a state are too big and too important for you to sit in the stands. It is time to get off the bench and get out there and help solve the problems. It is time to put up or shut up. If you chose to shut up, just remember then that you are the problem. And, I know you won’t like the solution.
So here is the 2011 Rhode Island state budget proposal. Read it in detail. What don't you want in it, what do you want in it? How are you going to pay for it? And remember, the whole thing has to balance.
For more information about the Rhode Island budget for 2011 click here.
Do you know what the budget for running the state of RI is?
Have you ever thought of looking at it, analyzing what is there?
Do you know who is paying for what?
Or, Are you relying on the special interests to explain to you why they should get more and pay less?
Have you ever cornered your representative or senator and demanded to know what and why he or she is voting for a certain expenditure or tax?
Citizenship requires constant vigilance. If you are just complaining and whining but not taking any action to correct the problem, then the problem is you and not the government's.
The role of government is to respond to the needs and desires of its citizens. In a democracy that means responding to those who are exercising their first amendment right to the petition the government to help them with their grievances.
Reading the Providence Journal, and the comments often made to stories appearing there, I am amazed at the stupidity and lack of civility that many "thoughtful" citizens express. They rejoice in their 1st amendment right of free speech and the opportunity use a free press to spill their vial prejudices and ignorant opinions. But how many are following through with their responsibilities?
Are they using their right of free assembly to get together with others air their common concern to work out realistic solutions for the problems they see?
How many take the time and the effort to put those realistic solutions down on paper and bring them to their representation?
How many petition their representative for a hearing? And then, how many actually back their proposal and to push for their adoption.
I don't always agree with the Governor or the legislature. But I do understand the situation they find themselves in as public servants. If everyone hates you, then what is to be gained from trying help those who hate you, especially when your friends will happily reward you for your favors by reelecting you?
Sometimes weakness is strength. President Obama has been hamstrung by the Democratic majority in Congress. So has the Republican minority. With the election in Massachusetts of Senator Brown, Obama and liberal Republicans are freer to move to the center. Neither is totally accountable to their party any longer, their vote is no longer the determining factor to achieve party tactical advantage.
Each republican is now accountable to the voters in their state. And the President is now accountable to the American voters, all of those who help put him in office.
The real power in this country is among the independent, non- affiliated voters, a group of ranging from the politically alienated to the political centrists. It is here where the horse trading should take place, not with their radical cores of ideological party hacks.
Don't let these hacks and their media blowhards pigeonhole you into their simplistic categories of liberal or conservative.
The former don't know when to stop run and the latter doesn't know when to get off first base. If you are like me you want to get around the bases and score and not get thrown out or left on base.
But unless these independents stop whining, start rallying around their issues, and take responsibility for proposing realistic, actionable solutions to those issues, their voices will not be heard.
Right now we are seeing the birth of movement -- the Tea Party movement. Conservatives are trying to capture the energy they see there for their own agenda. Liberals are frightened by it. And entrepreneurial husksters, such as Sarah Palin and Steve Laffee, are making small fortunes exploiting them. Hopefully, as the dust settles, the emotional high runs its course and the opportunists go on to other victims, some real thought and leadership will emerge from the Tea party movement. Leadership and thought which will foster innovation designed to address real problems rather than current sloganeering. We will see!
In Rhode Island, we have a General Assembly bought and paid for by the donors to the Democrat party and a Republican party on oxygen. This is just the type of situation where a third party effort is needed at the grassroots. The only way to break the party stranglehold on individual legislators is to create an opportunity for local representatives and senators to vote their conscience. To do this means to free them from the monopoly power of party bosses. Here again the independents, united on the basis of their local concerns and interests, actively exercising their 1st amendment rights to the fullest, can provide the political cover these local representatives need.
If you think that public debt is too high, fine. How would you change it and where would you change it and have you really tested whether your solution can work?
The fiscal problems we face as a nation and as a state are too big and too important for you to sit in the stands. It is time to get off the bench and get out there and help solve the problems. It is time to put up or shut up. If you chose to shut up, just remember then that you are the problem. And, I know you won’t like the solution.
So here is the 2011 Rhode Island state budget proposal. Read it in detail. What don't you want in it, what do you want in it? How are you going to pay for it? And remember, the whole thing has to balance.
For more information about the Rhode Island budget for 2011 click here.
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
A New American Revolution???
The American Revolution began on June 10th 1772 with the burning HMS Gaspee in Narragansett Bay in the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations.
As reported in a London newspaper and reprinted in the Virginia Gazette (October 15, 1772 -- note they didn't have Twitter back then)
London, July 18
From Rhode Island we received advice that one of his Majesty's ships of war, interrupting the trade of some smugglers in that neighbourhood, the people rose up, and thinking it patriotism to resist the laws of this country, burnt the ship's boats, and carried their commerce in triumph to their own habitations.
The conduct of Rhode Islanders, on the foregoing occasion, it is thought, will be productive of much disturbance in America. If our government resents it with the spirit they ought we shall have fresh exclamations from the sons of liberty beyond the Atlantic; and if they do not, the colonies are immediately discharged from their dependence upon England. The Mother country and the colonies are now come to a kind of crisis, and one or the other must necessarily give way in the dispute. Should the former, however, relax from her just authority, she may as well resign all her dependent territories, and content herself with what is merely contained in her own island.
A year and a half later on December 16th, 1773...,
In Boston, the arrival of three tea ships ignited a furious reaction. The crisis came to a head on December 16, 1773 when as many as 7,000 agitated locals milled about the wharf where the ships were docked. A mass meeting at the Old South Meeting House that morning resolved that the tea ships should leave the harbor without payment of any duty. A committee was selected to take this message to the Customs House to force release of the ships out of the harbor. The Collector of Customs refused to allow the ships to leave without payment of the duty. Stalemate. The committee reported back to the mass meeting and a howl erupted from the meeting hall. It was now early evening and a group of about 200 men, some disguised as Indians, assembled on a near-by hill. Whopping war chants, the crowd marched two-by-two to the wharf, descended upon the three ships and dumped their offending cargos of tea into the harbor waters.
This morning I awoke to read and hear that The Kennedy Senate seat in Massachusetts had been captured by a Republican, Scott Brown, a relatively unknown.
Later I went to a breakfast meeting sponsored by the RISC (Rhode Island Statewide Coalition)for Small Business. The agenda was to unveil a strategy for the small business owners in Rhode Island to become a political force equal to their economic presents in the state. Small business represents 97% of the businesses in the state and employs 57% of the state's workers, according to RISC.
Underrepresented in the General Assembly, over-taxed and easily dismissed by the traditional powers that have ruled Rhode Island for close to a century, small business is stirring. RISC, founded in 2003, as a grassroots organization is inviting small business to flex its muscle.
This morning we witnessed a presentation of strategy and the tactical approach for small businesses to become politically active. The crowd of small business owners who attended the meeting are being asked to participate in a program designed to win back the General Assemble over the next 9 months. for the core of Rhode Island producers and employers. In turn, this will set the stage to bring about fundamental change in the state's economic policy. In turn it was suggested that this would set the state back on a course of positive economic growth and development.
Today we are seeing the true beginnings of a revolution in the New England political environment. What happened in Massachusetts will have national ramifications. But what happened this morning in Warwick, RI not far from Gaspee Point, will have immediate impact on the daily lives of Rhode Islanders.
In the coming days and weeks we will be following this revolution on this blog. Stay tuned.
As reported in a London newspaper and reprinted in the Virginia Gazette (October 15, 1772 -- note they didn't have Twitter back then)
London, July 18
From Rhode Island we received advice that one of his Majesty's ships of war, interrupting the trade of some smugglers in that neighbourhood, the people rose up, and thinking it patriotism to resist the laws of this country, burnt the ship's boats, and carried their commerce in triumph to their own habitations.
The conduct of Rhode Islanders, on the foregoing occasion, it is thought, will be productive of much disturbance in America. If our government resents it with the spirit they ought we shall have fresh exclamations from the sons of liberty beyond the Atlantic; and if they do not, the colonies are immediately discharged from their dependence upon England. The Mother country and the colonies are now come to a kind of crisis, and one or the other must necessarily give way in the dispute. Should the former, however, relax from her just authority, she may as well resign all her dependent territories, and content herself with what is merely contained in her own island.
A year and a half later on December 16th, 1773...,
In Boston, the arrival of three tea ships ignited a furious reaction. The crisis came to a head on December 16, 1773 when as many as 7,000 agitated locals milled about the wharf where the ships were docked. A mass meeting at the Old South Meeting House that morning resolved that the tea ships should leave the harbor without payment of any duty. A committee was selected to take this message to the Customs House to force release of the ships out of the harbor. The Collector of Customs refused to allow the ships to leave without payment of the duty. Stalemate. The committee reported back to the mass meeting and a howl erupted from the meeting hall. It was now early evening and a group of about 200 men, some disguised as Indians, assembled on a near-by hill. Whopping war chants, the crowd marched two-by-two to the wharf, descended upon the three ships and dumped their offending cargos of tea into the harbor waters.
This morning I awoke to read and hear that The Kennedy Senate seat in Massachusetts had been captured by a Republican, Scott Brown, a relatively unknown.
Later I went to a breakfast meeting sponsored by the RISC (Rhode Island Statewide Coalition)for Small Business. The agenda was to unveil a strategy for the small business owners in Rhode Island to become a political force equal to their economic presents in the state. Small business represents 97% of the businesses in the state and employs 57% of the state's workers, according to RISC.
Underrepresented in the General Assembly, over-taxed and easily dismissed by the traditional powers that have ruled Rhode Island for close to a century, small business is stirring. RISC, founded in 2003, as a grassroots organization is inviting small business to flex its muscle.
This morning we witnessed a presentation of strategy and the tactical approach for small businesses to become politically active. The crowd of small business owners who attended the meeting are being asked to participate in a program designed to win back the General Assemble over the next 9 months. for the core of Rhode Island producers and employers. In turn, this will set the stage to bring about fundamental change in the state's economic policy. In turn it was suggested that this would set the state back on a course of positive economic growth and development.
Today we are seeing the true beginnings of a revolution in the New England political environment. What happened in Massachusetts will have national ramifications. But what happened this morning in Warwick, RI not far from Gaspee Point, will have immediate impact on the daily lives of Rhode Islanders.
In the coming days and weeks we will be following this revolution on this blog. Stay tuned.
Sunday, January 10, 2010
Entrepreneurship is a Rhode Island Legacy
Happy New Year
Over the past year we have seen and commented on some of major issues facing Rhode Island. These are well known by now. But not enough is said about the good things arising from our heritage and our legacy. This year our resolution is to focus on the positives that are at the core of this state and which are often neglected in the political gamesmanship that is Rhode Island's favorite sport.
Here is an example of the hidden secrets that go on day to day unrecognized and unheralded. Clear Carbon and Components Inc. is a boat-building business that has survived the ups and downs of a tough economy. This Bristol company now makes a wide range of products from lightweight springs to military components to a black carbon-fiber cello owned by Yo-Yo Ma. Today, this entrepreneurial company depends on recreational boating for about 15 percent of its business. See
"R.I. boat builders stay afloat by navigating new markets — from aerospace to cellos"
The Rhode Island arts community continues to be a shining light adding to the quality of life and general welfare in the community. Even in the poor economy and its impact on the nonprofit sector, Trinity Repretory has been able to step forward during this recent cold spell and help out the homeless.
These are the types of examples we need to be seeing and we will try to bring you over the new year.
Over the past year we have seen and commented on some of major issues facing Rhode Island. These are well known by now. But not enough is said about the good things arising from our heritage and our legacy. This year our resolution is to focus on the positives that are at the core of this state and which are often neglected in the political gamesmanship that is Rhode Island's favorite sport.
Here is an example of the hidden secrets that go on day to day unrecognized and unheralded. Clear Carbon and Components Inc. is a boat-building business that has survived the ups and downs of a tough economy. This Bristol company now makes a wide range of products from lightweight springs to military components to a black carbon-fiber cello owned by Yo-Yo Ma. Today, this entrepreneurial company depends on recreational boating for about 15 percent of its business. See
"R.I. boat builders stay afloat by navigating new markets — from aerospace to cellos"
The Rhode Island arts community continues to be a shining light adding to the quality of life and general welfare in the community. Even in the poor economy and its impact on the nonprofit sector, Trinity Repretory has been able to step forward during this recent cold spell and help out the homeless.
These are the types of examples we need to be seeing and we will try to bring you over the new year.
Friday, December 11, 2009
Can we afford the best?
In a time of economic crisis, when unemployment is at 12.9%, the State of Rhode island threatened to lay off a 1,000 of employees back in September, and is still facing a $200 million deficit the State has decided to hire a new Executive Director for the RI Economic Development Corporation for 1.5 times the salary of the former Executive Director.
According to the Providence Business News story
And according to Providence Journal, when asked about the high salary Governor Carcieri is quoted as saying.
The Journal article points out that Rhode Island has recently hired several key senior level administrative personnel. These include the President of URI, Director of Education, and now the Director of EDC at a cost of well over $1 million in salary and benefits annually.
The trend seems to be to look beyond the State for talent to bring about "needed" changes in the way we operate the State government. The big question is
Will these highly paid experts actually be able to produce value for the tax payers of Rhode Island, or are we just hiring carpetbaggers to replace the state's more traditional bag men?
In 04-30-2003 the Governor's office issued the following press release
Rhode Island government is NOT a private sector company, government is PUBLIC SERVICE not PRIVATE SERVICE. Government is supposed to do the "People's or the Stakeholder's business", not the private Stockholders.
Nor is Rhode Island like Massachusetts or Connecticut. Rhode Island is more like the city of Detroit, than it is like the state of Michigan to which we have been so often compared lately. If the State Benefit package is out of whack, how does paying higher private sector salaries and benefits to a select few change this?
Are we missing something here?
Cut costs by reducing the number of $5.00/hr employee who could produce (35 hr/wk x 3 workers) 105 person hours and replacing them with one $15.00/hr person who can only produce 35 hours of work seems counter-intuitive. Will those 35 hours create greater value for the tax payer's of Rhode Island? I wonder when we read that "R.I. to close jobless benefits call center some days to catch up on claims>"
Three workers pay three tax bills, live in three homes that are taxed by their communities, support three family/households in those communities.
The leaders of this state seem to think that if you drive a 2010 BMW rather than a 2000 FORD 150 somehow or other you can have a BMW life style.
I seriously pray (and that is the right word) that these new hired guns can produce the value their inflated (in RI terms) salary and benefit packages are costing the tax payers of Rhode Island.
Can we afford the best, or is what we really need the most competent?
According to the Providence Business News story
The board voted to give Morfessis a three-year contract that will pay her $250,000 a year plus benefits. The state also will cover her relocation costs and provide her with an automobile.
And according to Providence Journal, when asked about the high salary Governor Carcieri is quoted as saying.
“You want to do a national search? You want to recruit the best candidate you can find? Then you’re going to have to pay for that,”
The Journal article points out that Rhode Island has recently hired several key senior level administrative personnel. These include the President of URI, Director of Education, and now the Director of EDC at a cost of well over $1 million in salary and benefits annually.
The trend seems to be to look beyond the State for talent to bring about "needed" changes in the way we operate the State government. The big question is
Will these highly paid experts actually be able to produce value for the tax payers of Rhode Island, or are we just hiring carpetbaggers to replace the state's more traditional bag men?
In 04-30-2003 the Governor's office issued the following press release
CARCIERI ADMINISTRATION MAKES CASE FOR REINING IN COST OF STATE GOVERNMENT Administration Official Testifies that Escalating State Benefit Package Costs "Out of Whack" with Private Sector & Neighboring States
Rhode Island government is NOT a private sector company, government is PUBLIC SERVICE not PRIVATE SERVICE. Government is supposed to do the "People's or the Stakeholder's business", not the private Stockholders.
Nor is Rhode Island like Massachusetts or Connecticut. Rhode Island is more like the city of Detroit, than it is like the state of Michigan to which we have been so often compared lately. If the State Benefit package is out of whack, how does paying higher private sector salaries and benefits to a select few change this?
Are we missing something here?
Cut costs by reducing the number of $5.00/hr employee who could produce (35 hr/wk x 3 workers) 105 person hours and replacing them with one $15.00/hr person who can only produce 35 hours of work seems counter-intuitive. Will those 35 hours create greater value for the tax payer's of Rhode Island? I wonder when we read that "R.I. to close jobless benefits call center some days to catch up on claims>"
Three workers pay three tax bills, live in three homes that are taxed by their communities, support three family/households in those communities.
The leaders of this state seem to think that if you drive a 2010 BMW rather than a 2000 FORD 150 somehow or other you can have a BMW life style.
I seriously pray (and that is the right word) that these new hired guns can produce the value their inflated (in RI terms) salary and benefit packages are costing the tax payers of Rhode Island.
Can we afford the best, or is what we really need the most competent?
Monday, November 23, 2009
How the Governor opposes the Lively Experiment
Rhode Island was founded on the basic principle of a separation of church and state. This was, and is, the foundation for the Lively Experiment which is Rhode Island.
There is a supreme irony that Roger Williams who fled Massachusetts Bay Colony to avoid religious persecution at the hands of the Puritans and founded Rhode Island on this principle of separation, would find today that Massachusetts has taken the lead in recognizing the separation. Three years ago, Katie Zezima reported in the New York times: Rhode Island Couple Wins Same-Sex Marriage Case
Since then Rhode Island has yet to recognize the validity of any same sex union. It is both disappointing and insulting, as a Rhode Islander and a follower of Roger Williams' principle, to see the following headline in the national news.
R.I. Gov. Vetoes Same-Sex Funeral Rights, Bill Allows Same-Sex Partners Same Right as Spouses to Plan Funerals
There are strong religious arguments for and against homosexuality. But there is no justification for a political partisan state official to ban or support an activity by a citizen on solely religious grounds. This is especially true here in Rhode Island where the constitution and tradition are founded on acceptance and tolerance of diversity,
When the Governor, elected by all of the people, denies the basic civil rights of some of the people based on a personal religious prejudice, isn't he violating his oath of office. Or is he acting as a tool of a particular church or religious body? That is what Roger Williams fled from in the Bay Colony. Now RI gays must go to Massachusetts to find the freedom that Roger Williams sought to establish here.
In a time of economic crisis such as Rhode Island faces today, petty bigotry is not helpful in promoting economic recovery, nor creating a business friendly environment. Would the Governor ban an employer bringing in much need jobs from moving into the state, if he knew that the owners of that family business happen to be a committed gay couple?
Is there any difference here between "high taxes" and "don't ask, don't tell" as a disincentive to business. Isn't the very ownership of the "family" company placed in legal limbo, if one or the other gay partners die??
The purpose of marriage is twofold: Procreation and nurturing. Sex and sexual orientation apply only to the former. Humanity is the test for the latter.
Marriage is a religious and civil act. Let religion decide what the procreative purposes of marriage for its followers. But let's make certain that the State supports the social and public purposes of marriage as a nurturing institution for individuals regardless of their beliefs.
The Lively Experiment is based on the concept of religious liberty, or, in Roger Williams' terms, "soul liberty."
There is a supreme irony that Roger Williams who fled Massachusetts Bay Colony to avoid religious persecution at the hands of the Puritans and founded Rhode Island on this principle of separation, would find today that Massachusetts has taken the lead in recognizing the separation. Three years ago, Katie Zezima reported in the New York times: Rhode Island Couple Wins Same-Sex Marriage Case
Since then Rhode Island has yet to recognize the validity of any same sex union. It is both disappointing and insulting, as a Rhode Islander and a follower of Roger Williams' principle, to see the following headline in the national news.
R.I. Gov. Vetoes Same-Sex Funeral Rights, Bill Allows Same-Sex Partners Same Right as Spouses to Plan Funerals
There are strong religious arguments for and against homosexuality. But there is no justification for a political partisan state official to ban or support an activity by a citizen on solely religious grounds. This is especially true here in Rhode Island where the constitution and tradition are founded on acceptance and tolerance of diversity,
When the Governor, elected by all of the people, denies the basic civil rights of some of the people based on a personal religious prejudice, isn't he violating his oath of office. Or is he acting as a tool of a particular church or religious body? That is what Roger Williams fled from in the Bay Colony. Now RI gays must go to Massachusetts to find the freedom that Roger Williams sought to establish here.
In a time of economic crisis such as Rhode Island faces today, petty bigotry is not helpful in promoting economic recovery, nor creating a business friendly environment. Would the Governor ban an employer bringing in much need jobs from moving into the state, if he knew that the owners of that family business happen to be a committed gay couple?
Is there any difference here between "high taxes" and "don't ask, don't tell" as a disincentive to business. Isn't the very ownership of the "family" company placed in legal limbo, if one or the other gay partners die??
The purpose of marriage is twofold: Procreation and nurturing. Sex and sexual orientation apply only to the former. Humanity is the test for the latter.
Marriage is a religious and civil act. Let religion decide what the procreative purposes of marriage for its followers. But let's make certain that the State supports the social and public purposes of marriage as a nurturing institution for individuals regardless of their beliefs.
The Lively Experiment is based on the concept of religious liberty, or, in Roger Williams' terms, "soul liberty."
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
Thinking Outside the BOX: Tax the Tagger Graffiti artists????
Thinking outside the box is an occasional off the wall thought that might make sense in Rhode island.
Here is an interesting way to control graffiti. Sign painting is subject to sales tax. Why aren't we collecting sales tax from either the owners of the property being tagged, or from the taggers themselves?
Think About IT
STATE OF RHODE ISLAND - DIVISION OF TAXATION
SALES AND USE TAX
REGULATION SU 02-08
BILLBOARDS AND SIGNS
Tax applies to retail sales of signs, showcards and posters, and to charges for painting signs, showcards and posters whether the materials are furnished by the painter or the customer.
Where a billboard or sign manufacturer fabricates a sign and delivers it to the customer, who either installs it or has someone other than the manufacturer install such sign, the sale by the manufacturer of such a completed sign constitutes the sale of tangible personal property and the tax applies. This category would also include signs that are wholly fabricated in the dealers' shops but delivered to the job site in two or three sections as a matter of convenience, provided, that either the customer or some person other than the sign fabricator affixes such sign to the building. The rental of such signs is a rental of tangible personal property and is therefore taxable.
All signs which are fabricated by a sign company, whether they are completely fabricated prior to reaching the job site, or whether they are fabricated at the job site, or whether they are fabricated partially in the sign company's shop and partially at the job site, are considered as improvements to real property, provided that they are affixed by the sign company to the real estate in a permanent manner. The sign company in this situation is operating as a contractor and not as a retailer and is required to pay sales or use tax as a consumer on the purchase of materials and supplies.
Roadside billboards and bulletins which are constructed on the site where they are to be permanently located and which rest on foundations or have their own supports anchored into the ground in a permanent manner, are considered as improvements to real property. The fact that the panels may be removable for painting or storm protection does not alter the situation.
Lettering on walls, floors, doors, and windows of buildings are improvements to real property. Dealers who do this type of work are the ultimate consumers of materials and supplies so used and should pay tax on the cost thereof.
Other signs -- All other types of signs, whether handpainted, printed or electric, are tangible personal property taxable at their selling price. Installation charges, if separately stated, are exempt.
Except as otherwise stated above, sign companies must charge and collect the sales tax on the full selling price.
Sales of signs to contractors for use on their jobs are taxable whether or not the job is for a tax-exempt organization.
CROSS REFERENCE: SU 91-27 Contractors and Subcontractors -- "Regulation C"
R. GARY CLARK
TAX ADMINISTRATOR
EFFECTIVE: FEBRUARY 1, 2002
THIS REGULATION AMENDS AND SUPERCEDES SU 87-8 PROMULGATED MAY 1, 1987.
Here is an interesting way to control graffiti. Sign painting is subject to sales tax. Why aren't we collecting sales tax from either the owners of the property being tagged, or from the taggers themselves?
Think About IT
STATE OF RHODE ISLAND - DIVISION OF TAXATION
SALES AND USE TAX
REGULATION SU 02-08
BILLBOARDS AND SIGNS
Tax applies to retail sales of signs, showcards and posters, and to charges for painting signs, showcards and posters whether the materials are furnished by the painter or the customer.
Where a billboard or sign manufacturer fabricates a sign and delivers it to the customer, who either installs it or has someone other than the manufacturer install such sign, the sale by the manufacturer of such a completed sign constitutes the sale of tangible personal property and the tax applies. This category would also include signs that are wholly fabricated in the dealers' shops but delivered to the job site in two or three sections as a matter of convenience, provided, that either the customer or some person other than the sign fabricator affixes such sign to the building. The rental of such signs is a rental of tangible personal property and is therefore taxable.
All signs which are fabricated by a sign company, whether they are completely fabricated prior to reaching the job site, or whether they are fabricated at the job site, or whether they are fabricated partially in the sign company's shop and partially at the job site, are considered as improvements to real property, provided that they are affixed by the sign company to the real estate in a permanent manner. The sign company in this situation is operating as a contractor and not as a retailer and is required to pay sales or use tax as a consumer on the purchase of materials and supplies.
Roadside billboards and bulletins which are constructed on the site where they are to be permanently located and which rest on foundations or have their own supports anchored into the ground in a permanent manner, are considered as improvements to real property. The fact that the panels may be removable for painting or storm protection does not alter the situation.
Lettering on walls, floors, doors, and windows of buildings are improvements to real property. Dealers who do this type of work are the ultimate consumers of materials and supplies so used and should pay tax on the cost thereof.
Other signs -- All other types of signs, whether handpainted, printed or electric, are tangible personal property taxable at their selling price. Installation charges, if separately stated, are exempt.
Except as otherwise stated above, sign companies must charge and collect the sales tax on the full selling price.
Sales of signs to contractors for use on their jobs are taxable whether or not the job is for a tax-exempt organization.
CROSS REFERENCE: SU 91-27 Contractors and Subcontractors -- "Regulation C"
R. GARY CLARK
TAX ADMINISTRATOR
EFFECTIVE: FEBRUARY 1, 2002
THIS REGULATION AMENDS AND SUPERCEDES SU 87-8 PROMULGATED MAY 1, 1987.
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
The General Assembly Get's It Wrong -- AGAIN
On Friday morning I awoke to this message From Amazon.com (6 26 2009)
We regret to inform you that the Rhode Island state legislature is preparing to pass an unconstitutional tax collection scheme that, if passed and not vetoed by the governor, would leave Amazon.com little choice but to end its relationships with Rhode Island-based Associates. You are receiving this e-mail because our records indicate that you are an Amazon Associate and resident of Rhode Island.
Please note that this is not an immediate termination notice and you are still a valued participant in the Associates Program. All referral fees earned on qualified traffic will continue to be paid as planned.
But because the new law is drafted to go into effect once enacted, we will have to terminate the participation of all Rhode Island residents in the Amazon Associates program on or before the day on which is it enacted. After the termination day, we will no longer pay any referral fees for customers referred to Amazon.com or Endless.com nor will we accept new applications for the Associates program from Rhode Island residents.
Note that other states, including Maryland, Minnesota, and Tennessee, considered nearly identical schemes, but rejected these proposals largely because of the adverse impact on their states residents.
The governor's website is
http://www.governor.ri.gov/ [ http://www.governor.ri.gov/ ],
the Rhode Island legislature's website is
http://www.rilin.state.ri.us/
[ http://affiliate-program.amazon.com/ http://www.rilin.state.ri.us/?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=assoc-center-1&pf_rd_r=&pf_rd_t=501&pf_rd_p=&pf_rd_i=RhodeIsland062609 ],
and additional information may be obtained from the Performance Marketing Alliance at http://www.performancemarketingalliance.com/ [ http://www.performancemarketingalliance.com/ ].
We thank you for being part of the Amazon Associates program, and we will apprise you of next steps.
Sincerely,
Amazon.com
On Monday Morning I found that, I and all other affiliates in Rhode Island had been dropped by Amazon and our accounts closed to us.
This action by Amazon has created a little excitement here in Rhode Island but NOT YET enough.
I don't think the RI legislature nor the Governor's office are aware of the potential damage that may have already been done. It is not the sale tax per se that is the issue -- there are enough problems with that without this. It is the additional unemployment in the state with the third highest in the nation.
The real issue is that many individual, sole proprietors who have started legitimate businesses using the Amazon and/or other affiliate programs as a key element of their business plan, are now without a business. Business models such as Drop and ship, "clickthrough", renting ad space on websites, etc. are the way the web based business is developing.
These are not the traditional sales tax revenue streams. They don't fit the "brick and mortar" local sales tax model. Yet the issue which faces these private contractors and, businesses is that the legislature deems them to be an extension of Amazon.com Corporation. As result the legislature has deemed it within its power to impose upon a foreign (non-RI) corporation not doing business in Rhode Island a tariff, that is a customs duty, on all products shipped into the state of RI by that company.
In order to protect itself and any legal claim it may or may not have to the unconstitutionality of one state imposing a customs duty on the products shipped from another, Amazon has canceled all its ties with anyone who was enrolled in their affiliate program. This includes sole proprietors, and llc's who have enrolled and with the many nonprofit organizations who depend on innovative fund raising opportunities such as "clickthrough".
To the degree that the sole proprietors depend on the affiliate relationships for their income, I wonder how many more unemployed non-taxpaying individuals have been created by this poorly considered attempt by the legislature to avoid another year of poor fiscal legislation and third world economic development planning.
While the world moves toward freer and freer trade between countries for a 21st century global economy, RI moves backwards into the 19th century isolationist mode.
The argument is offered that this sale tax will level the playing field between Big Amazon and little mom and pop stores in RI. That is an illusion someone smoking a weed that the legislature wanted to legalize in a limited way contrary to federal law might come up with.
First, mom and pop stores serve a very useful function when they serve a specific need in the community. But second, when they are inefficient, poorly managed and unable to adapt to changing times by modifying or adapting they business model to the times then they will die with or without the help of the legislature. A sales tax on Walmart does not make mom and pop competitive with Walmart. The big box stores have done more to un-level the playing field than any invasion of mail order purchases.
There is nothing to stop a mom and pop store from setting up a website to expand their potential customer base beyond their block, town, city or for that matter the state. Further, if they have any sense at all, they will offer to rent, or even give away, space on their website to promote other peoples sites, just as they now post notices for others in their brick and mortar store windows.
Why Amazon you might ask? Because this is where the battle has broken out. It might next be Google, Ebay, Overstock or any of the thousands of websites that have joined an affiliate program for a major internet business. As you can see I am still enrolled in Adwords on this BLOG, but for long?? What's next?
When I planned to become an Amazon Affiliate it was with the idea that if I was going to recommend a book, movie, CD, or other product to one of my coaching or consulting client it would be easier for them to click on the Amazon widget and make the order from my site. In return for the referral Amazon would be paying me for space I gave it on my website to advertise. Well that never happened because I am still working on the site http://www.januslifecoaching.com and the Amazon widgets had not been installed.
Certainly I can still refer clients to Amazon and Amazon will get paid but I won't and I won't be paying the RI income tax on my profit.
Well maybe I can now apply for unemployment, or for a grant under the New Trade and Globalization Adjustment Assistance Act of 2009.
We regret to inform you that the Rhode Island state legislature is preparing to pass an unconstitutional tax collection scheme that, if passed and not vetoed by the governor, would leave Amazon.com little choice but to end its relationships with Rhode Island-based Associates. You are receiving this e-mail because our records indicate that you are an Amazon Associate and resident of Rhode Island.
Please note that this is not an immediate termination notice and you are still a valued participant in the Associates Program. All referral fees earned on qualified traffic will continue to be paid as planned.
But because the new law is drafted to go into effect once enacted, we will have to terminate the participation of all Rhode Island residents in the Amazon Associates program on or before the day on which is it enacted. After the termination day, we will no longer pay any referral fees for customers referred to Amazon.com or Endless.com nor will we accept new applications for the Associates program from Rhode Island residents.
Note that other states, including Maryland, Minnesota, and Tennessee, considered nearly identical schemes, but rejected these proposals largely because of the adverse impact on their states residents.
The governor's website is
http://www.governor.ri.gov/ [ http://www.governor.ri.gov/ ],
the Rhode Island legislature's website is
http://www.rilin.state.ri.us/
[ http://affiliate-program.amazon.com/ http://www.rilin.state.ri.us/?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=assoc-center-1&pf_rd_r=&pf_rd_t=501&pf_rd_p=&pf_rd_i=RhodeIsland062609 ],
and additional information may be obtained from the Performance Marketing Alliance at http://www.performancemarketingalliance.com/ [ http://www.performancemarketingalliance.com/ ].
We thank you for being part of the Amazon Associates program, and we will apprise you of next steps.
Sincerely,
Amazon.com
On Monday Morning I found that, I and all other affiliates in Rhode Island had been dropped by Amazon and our accounts closed to us.
This action by Amazon has created a little excitement here in Rhode Island but NOT YET enough.
I don't think the RI legislature nor the Governor's office are aware of the potential damage that may have already been done. It is not the sale tax per se that is the issue -- there are enough problems with that without this. It is the additional unemployment in the state with the third highest in the nation.
The real issue is that many individual, sole proprietors who have started legitimate businesses using the Amazon and/or other affiliate programs as a key element of their business plan, are now without a business. Business models such as Drop and ship, "clickthrough", renting ad space on websites, etc. are the way the web based business is developing.
These are not the traditional sales tax revenue streams. They don't fit the "brick and mortar" local sales tax model. Yet the issue which faces these private contractors and, businesses is that the legislature deems them to be an extension of Amazon.com Corporation. As result the legislature has deemed it within its power to impose upon a foreign (non-RI) corporation not doing business in Rhode Island a tariff, that is a customs duty, on all products shipped into the state of RI by that company.
In order to protect itself and any legal claim it may or may not have to the unconstitutionality of one state imposing a customs duty on the products shipped from another, Amazon has canceled all its ties with anyone who was enrolled in their affiliate program. This includes sole proprietors, and llc's who have enrolled and with the many nonprofit organizations who depend on innovative fund raising opportunities such as "clickthrough".
To the degree that the sole proprietors depend on the affiliate relationships for their income, I wonder how many more unemployed non-taxpaying individuals have been created by this poorly considered attempt by the legislature to avoid another year of poor fiscal legislation and third world economic development planning.
While the world moves toward freer and freer trade between countries for a 21st century global economy, RI moves backwards into the 19th century isolationist mode.
The argument is offered that this sale tax will level the playing field between Big Amazon and little mom and pop stores in RI. That is an illusion someone smoking a weed that the legislature wanted to legalize in a limited way contrary to federal law might come up with.
First, mom and pop stores serve a very useful function when they serve a specific need in the community. But second, when they are inefficient, poorly managed and unable to adapt to changing times by modifying or adapting they business model to the times then they will die with or without the help of the legislature. A sales tax on Walmart does not make mom and pop competitive with Walmart. The big box stores have done more to un-level the playing field than any invasion of mail order purchases.
There is nothing to stop a mom and pop store from setting up a website to expand their potential customer base beyond their block, town, city or for that matter the state. Further, if they have any sense at all, they will offer to rent, or even give away, space on their website to promote other peoples sites, just as they now post notices for others in their brick and mortar store windows.
Why Amazon you might ask? Because this is where the battle has broken out. It might next be Google, Ebay, Overstock or any of the thousands of websites that have joined an affiliate program for a major internet business. As you can see I am still enrolled in Adwords on this BLOG, but for long?? What's next?
When I planned to become an Amazon Affiliate it was with the idea that if I was going to recommend a book, movie, CD, or other product to one of my coaching or consulting client it would be easier for them to click on the Amazon widget and make the order from my site. In return for the referral Amazon would be paying me for space I gave it on my website to advertise. Well that never happened because I am still working on the site http://www.januslifecoaching.com and the Amazon widgets had not been installed.
Certainly I can still refer clients to Amazon and Amazon will get paid but I won't and I won't be paying the RI income tax on my profit.
Well maybe I can now apply for unemployment, or for a grant under the New Trade and Globalization Adjustment Assistance Act of 2009.
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