Thank Kalin

A gallon of gasoline is commonly $1.999 today. The price has dropped below the $2.10 per gallon that was a benchmark before the dramatic spike in prices this last year.

It's great to see the price below the $2.00 mark. But the next time you fill up, look at the $1.999 per gallon price and realize it would have been $1.944 if Kalin and his pals had not dipped their hands into your wallet. Because they raised the gas tax 5½¢ per gallon, the price of gasoline is now $1.999 rather than $1.944.

While you are forced to feed the pig, government refuses to go on a diet.

It is $1.999

think $1.944

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Update 11/23/08

Gas is now $1.599

think $1.544

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Update 12/06/08

Gas is now $1.499

think $1.444

Kalin Strikes Again

In less than an hour, on October 1, the gas tax in Minnesota increases another 3 cents per gallon. This is on top of the 2 cent increase last April and ½ cent increase in August.

Kalin has reduced your purchasing power by that amount. For every gallon of gas you buy, Kalin has taken 5 ½ cents away from you. When you turn on that pump, every 10 gallon fill costs you 55 cents more. Every 20 gallon fill costs you $1.10 more.

That means you have $1.10 less to spend on your groceries. And oh yes, your groceries will increase in cost because the trucks delivering the groceries have to pay more gas tax to transport the goods to the store.

For every 20 gallons of gas you have $1.10 less to spend on clothes or your home heating this winter. And you had a hard time saving money before this.

And that gas tax will be passed on to you by the tanker trucks delivering that very gas to the pumps. They too will pay the 5 ½ cent increase for each gallon they burn to get the gas to you. This too will be built into the cost you pay for the gasoline, making it more than a 5 ½ cent per gallon increase.

Thanks to Jeremy Kalin, we all have reduced purchasing power.

Let’s take away his ability to diminish our purchasing power by voting him out of office and electing Don Taylor.

Kalin Responds: Part 2

Back on April 23, Rep. Mark Buesgens (Jordan) reminded us at the Post Review that Rep. Jeremy Kalin (D-17B) voted for a 42% increase in the gas tax.

While local writers have not be able to get Kalin to respond, his fellow Representative did. Thank you Mr. Buesgens. Kalin’s writes:

Because of partisan politics in previous years, the only major impediment to building a new bridge in North Branch was lack of state funds. The bipartisan 2008 Transportation Bill changed all that. Design on the new North Branch bridge should begin this year, with construction likely in 2009.

On February 22, 2008, Kalin provided a press release, but did not state any thing about a new I-35 bridge in North Branch as a result of the T bill passage.

In March, Kalin said Mn/DOT had penciled in the bridge replacement for 2012 although he didn't give any documentation for that. He also said the City of North Branch had secured funding from Congress for it.

On April 11, 2008, Kalin stated "Passage of this [HF 2800] bill likely will allow the North Branch Bridge design to begin in 2008 with construction to follow soon after" (my emphasis).

And now, Rep. James Oberstar has announced there is federal money to the tune of "$7,120,745 for the design and construction of a new bridge on Highway 95 in North Branch."

Oberstar has potentially bailed out his buddy, Kalin. These dollars come out of money left over from projects in the 2005 federal transportation bill. Oberstar has pulled the right strings, but the bill still must be signed by President Bush.

So it is stretching the truth to say as Kalin did above, "the only major impediment to building a new bridge in North Branch was lack of state funds." Kalin is just plain lucky that there were left over federal funds and that a Minnesotan is head of the federal Transportation Committee. Without those two factors, the bridge would still not be built before 2012.

So now the question becomes, if the $7 million of federal money actually comes through, how will the state have enough money to pay for the whole project earlier than scheduled? Won’t some other bridge in Minnesota have to wait? Will a local, safe, but functionally inadequate, bridge be bumped ahead of bridges ranked lower in safety?

It’s one thing to pass a bill and authorize the money to build roads and bridges. It’s another thing for the state to collect the money and allocate each year’s resources to all the needs in priority. Projects like the highway 23 bridge in St. Cloud have a way of upsetting well-intentioned schedules. Kalin just might be out of office before anything happens on the North Branch bridge.

Kalin Responds: Part 1

Back on April 23, Rep. Mark Buesgens (Jordan) reminded us at the Post Review that Rep. Jeremy Kalin (D-17B) voted for a 42% increase in the gas tax.

While local writers have not be able to get Kalin to respond, his fellow Representative did. Thank you Mr. Buesgens. Read Kalin’s response.

As is typical, Kalin admits to only a 2¢ gas tax increase, ignoring the increase coming in October and the several cent increase in years to come. It just seems to be impossible for a Dem to tell the whole truth.

Then he proposes a 3 point plan to get the US Congress to reduce gas prices. By the time his proposal might be adopted, the Strategic Petroleum Reserve could be 100% full anyway so it would take care of itself. In the end, even he admits it might not drop the price per gallon any more than he raised our gas tax.

Second, buying directly from Iraqi oil fields may reduce our cost slightly, but then why should the Iraqis absorb the loss which is our gain? Is that fair? How long can we buy on the closed market? Closed markets are not open and free markets. Closed markets disrupt the economy.

Third, I too would like to see the US get out of the subsidy business. But if Kalin gets the feds to eliminate the $51 billion in subsidies to the oil companies, what do you suppose will happen? Gas prices will rise! It’s as simple as that.

So we can have $3.50 per gallon gasoline plus the hidden cost per gallon that we pay out of the other pocket to cover the $51 billion in subsidies. Or we can have $3.50 per gallon gasoline plus the recognizable cost per gallon that the oil companies will charge to cover the $51 billion in subsidies that they formerly got out of our other pocket.

If we should get rid of subsidies for BIG OIL then let’s get rid of the subsidies for BIG ETHANOL and BIG WIND.

Here in Minnesota, Kalin supports subsidized alternative energies (corn and cellulosic ethanol, wind) to help cut our dependence on foreign oil. With his 3 point plan, we are still as dependent on the foreign market as before and just as costly.

It would be far more effective if Kalin asks the feds to allow drilling in ANWR and off-shore and to create the environment in which new oil refineries can be built. Prices comes down when supply goes up. That is a basic concept in the OPEN market which he would understand if he were a true fiscal conservative.

So far, Kalin’s efforts are to pinch the oil hose to restrict the flow.

Kalin has the audacity to take BIG OIL to the woodshed for making a profit per gallon that is far less than state and federal gas taxes per gallon. He loves BIG GOVERNMENT and hates BIG OIL. His 42% tax increase is fine. BIG OIL's much smaller profit percentage is abhorrent. That’s chutzpah.

See this post.

Democrats for Chavez

The Democrats continue their unabashed attack on the citizens they laughingly claim to 'protect'. While still patting themselves on the back for pulling the wool over in Minnesota and passing the new gas tax, Pelosi and friends are getting ready to quietly pull off another coup, HR5351, for their good buddy Chavez. I am sure that the off shore accounts have been set up by now for rewarding them for 18 billion dollars in new taxes for his hated Americans, and the exempt status they have offerred his oil company. How easy it is to fleece the sheep who never bother to read or examine what their leaders are truly doing, but instead listen to all the pie in the sky lies and promises that seem to flow like honey to their sound bite mentality. If you can read this, thank a parent, a homeschooler or someone who cared that the dumbing down of America is a constant goal that socialists strive for daily. Become active, they are. The great "Silent Majority" needs to find its' voice again, before it is too late. Type in HR5351 in your browser, read and share.

Special Legislative Session

DFL leaders seek quick special session
Senate Majority Leader Larry Pogemiller and House Speaker Margaret Anderson Kelliher offer to drop a gas-tax hike from their session agenda.
By Mark Brunswick

"DFL legislative leaders said Tuesday they're ready to abandon a more comprehensive special session to focus on last month's Interstate 35W bridge collapse and the massive floods in southeastern Minnesota. They also suggested a willingness to drop advocacy of a gas-tax increase."

Read more...

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It was obvious many liberals were drooling for pork at the thought of a special session. Governor Pawlenty has wisely refused to allow the pigs access to the public trough in an uncontrolled special session. When will liberals ever learn that "Dems gone (hog)wild" are a menace to society? Perhaps the Democrat leadership is learning a little moderation as noted in this article.

During the recent Minnesota State Fair, 58% of those participating in the 2007 House of Representatives poll support raising the state’s gas tax by a dime. But 58% also supported the medical use of marijuana, which may indicate this poll drew more liberals.

The Taxpayers League of Minnesota also conducted a poll at the state fair. The results may indicate it drew more fiscal conservatives.

• 82% of respondents don’t want a gas tax increase
• 7% would like to see a nickel increase
• 7% would like to see a dime increase
• 4% could not decide

Our own thoroughly scientific poll on Chisago is GOP shows 100% opposition to raising the gas tax! And we are not biased in the least! That must have convinced the Dem leaders.

But seriously, the Governor's more reasonable approach is winning the day.

A Common Sense Approach

Here is one highlight in a great article from Minnesota Majority on the bridge collapse and a gas tax increase.

"Fact #1: Minnesota already spends more than most other state [sic] on our roads and bridges. In 2006, the state transportation budget exceeded $2.3 billion! There’s simply no evidence to suggest that state engineers have been forced to compromise bridge maintenance due to a lack of funding. We may have an issue with how spending is prioritized, but we sure don't appear to have a lack of adequate funding."

Read more...

With this Thinking, No Wonder We are in Trouble

Melissa Hortman (DFL, 47B), an assistant majority leader in the Minnesota House, wrote the following:

The tax questions we ought to ask

Of course Minnesotans would opt to pay less in the broadest sense. That might change if their leaders spelled out the consequences.

A poll taken shortly after the bridge collapse shows that most Minnesotans still do not want their gas tax increased. That should surprise no one. Any poll asking Minnesotans whether they would like to pay a higher or a lower price for a key commodity would produce the same result. People prefer lower prices.

Read the rest of her commentary here.

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Hortman draws an analogy between the increasing need to maintain bridges and consequently the need to increase the gas tax with the need to eat and the need to pay higher food prices. She used this analogy because she thinks Minnesotans are too dumb to realize we need to be willing to pay more gas taxes.

Being willing to pay higher food costs does not translate into a willingness to accept legislator-imposed gas tax hikes. The one is our personal choice within our budget; the other is foisted upon us without respect to our budget.

Hortman fails to recognize that a different conclusion can be drawn from her analogy. Since we need to eat within our budget, if some foods cost more, we have choices to switch brands, shop another store, eat less of the higher priced food and more of something less costly.

Government has those same choices regarding roads and bridges. But Hortman limits the options to one–increase the gas tax. Families cannot by fiat increase the budget like government can. And when government increases its budget by fiat, it simultaneously decreases what is available in the budget for the family to buy food. Government must live within its means, which is the collective means of all taxpayers. Government too has choices within its budget.

In other words, whether buying groceries or maintaining bridges, we should prioritize. Hortman knows nothing of prioritizing buying groceries or infrastructure. Throwing money at it is a typical Democrat response. Whether at the local, state or federal level, far too many politicians, who live within their own personal budgets, lose their heads when they get to spend our tax dollars. Priorities fly the coop; just levy more taxes. And then suddenly when a bridge collapse reveals their prior lapses, they put it on top priority where it should have been all along.

The thinking (or lack thereof) Hortman reveals in her piece should scare all Minnesotans because we all will be affected by her legislative ventures. This is the same unthinking person who speculated, "Did the heat put extra strain on the steel?" and said, "You wonder if this bridge was built to withstand the massive heat we have had this summer." She forgot about the summer of '88.

Showing more ignorance, she wrote,

“In the United States, we have a republican democracy. Why is that? Elected officials are supposed to lead as well as listen. Lately, it seems we have been seeing a lot of listening, but now we need to exercise leadership.”

What is a republican democracy? Never heard of it and our founding fathers were terrified of democracy.

She concludes it is time to quit listening and exercise leadership. Apparently the listening is the republican part and exercising leadership is the democracy part. Well, she hasn’t done enough listen’ cuz she doesn’t know what she’s talking about.

Another Voice of Reason

Gas-Tax Hikes Only Fuel the Problem
In the era of the earmark, it would be insane to entrust any additional transportation dollars to Congress.
By Phil Kerpen

The country’s transportation infrastructure has received long-overdue attention in the wake of the tragic bridge collapse in Minnesota. Throwing more money at the problem is the immediate impulse of many commentators and politicians. Unfortunately, highway funding at the federal level is rife with abuse, diversion, and mis-prioritization, mostly because of the practice of earmarking— a method by which politicians steer funds to politically favored projects, regardless of whether they are legitimate priorities.

And until earmarks are eliminated, higher gas taxes in the name of rebuilding our transportation infrastructure would simply throw good money after bad.

Read the rest of the commentary.