Archive for the '$$$' Category
Thune ‘n’ Boone
By Denise Ross
It was part school lesson, part persuasion speech at the Rushmore Plaza Civic Center Wednesday afternoon when Texas oilman T. Boone Pickens promoted his plan to save America from itself.
(Photos by David Larson)
T. Boone spent a good portion of his half-hour presentation at the dry-erase board writing down numbers to explain where our energy comes from and where our money goes. He even made a pie chart. More on that later.
If you haven’t heard or seen the commercials, this energy guru and billionaire is promoting a plan to convert America to a lot more of its domestic energy. (Click on link above.) He’s pressuring politicians, John McCain and Barack Obama chief among them, to sign on to his plan or come up with one of their own.
1 comment
Thune sides with Clinton on gas tax
By Denise Ross
In the most ironclad proof yet that politics makes strange bed-fellows, it appears Sen. John Thune, R-SD, is lining up with Hillary Clinton on a gas tax holiday. Either her or Barack Obama and Tom Daschle.
And not John McCain, whom he has endorsed for president, who wants simply to suspend the tax this summer.
Taking the pressure off high gas prices, especially going into the summer travel season, has some merit, Thune said.
“I just think that you have to figure out a way to backfill the highway trust fund,” Thune said. “We can’t afford to not make sure that the highway trust fund is replenished so we can continue to meet the infrastructure needs that we have out there.”
Correct me if I’m missing something, but that appears to be Hillary Clinton’s position. Of course, Thune might not agree with Hillary’s plan to rob from the oil companies
1 commentUncle Sam sends Hoghouse some love
By Denise Ross
So I got some cash today so as to purchase a PowerBall ticket (hey, it could happen), and noticed that in this season of income taxes, IRA payments, property taxes (due today, people!), the annual car insurance premium and a little trip to the dentist, the bank account looked a little too healthy.
Well guess what. The economic stimulus has landed in my bank account. (pending, so says Wells Fargo.)
I thought the checks weren’t going in the mail until June or July, so - while I’m not a huge fan of these early tax returns (and that is how the deposit is labled, as a “tax return”) - it was sort of a pleasant surprise.
Anyone else get stimulated today?
No commentsDrought aid a mirage?
By Denise Ross
In my most recent newspaper column I wrote about the prospects for permanent drought aid, or a Disaster Title, becoming a reality. My take is that were it not for the entire Farm Bill being on the ropes, a Disaster Title would be moderately controversial but would pass.
But the entire Farm Bill is on the ropes, and, therefore, a Disaster Title is unlikely to materialize. And if not now, will there be a next time?
No commentsIf the farm bill weren’t teetering on the brink, a disaster title might be one of those compromises that would pass with grumbles from those who don’t like spending the money. But with the whole farm bill more than six months behind schedule, The Washington Post reports that the House, Senate and White House have started squabbling over how to extend the 2002 farm bill provisions, making a return to 1949 farm policy more of a possibility than anyone cares to contemplate.
Holy drought aid, Batman!
By Denise Ross
I’m putting together my weekly newspaper column (Mitchell, Spearfish, RC Weekly) about the Farm Bill, and more specifically about the would-be Disaster Title (guaranteed drought aid) that Sen. John Thune is working hard to get passed.
Writing a guarantee of those disaster payments into the Farm Bill isn’t terribly popular outside of a few enclaves. This map from the Environmental Working Group might explain why.
This map shows where disaster checks are sent almost as a matter of course - like every other year. It’s us here in SD and ND in a dramatic fashion. And now I have the Gear Daddies song African Killer Bees Are Coming running through my head. (If you squint, you can see Frank Kloucek’s dot on the map.)
The disasters waiting to happen (but not waiting long) are the Dakotas, west Texas, Oklahoma, to a slightly lesser extent Georgia and Alabama and then something’s going on in northern Arkansas.
2 commentsMorningStar rates SD’s 529 plan
By Denise Ross
South Dakota’s sanctioned 529 college savings vehicle, run by Allianz, gets high marks from MorningStar, which has released rankings for the nation’s 529 plans.
No commentsThis plan … has plenty of appeal. Investors are charged just for the underlying funds, which in most cases are in the form of reasonable-priced institutional share classes. Plus, South Dakota is currently capping
Stan to the rescue
By Denise Ross
When Rapid City school administrators sounded the funding alarm, Stan Adelstein got out his checkbook.
Stan Adelstein put his money where his mouthpiece used to be, but the Rapid City Area School District is still well short of the money it’s going to need in the near future.
Adelstein pledged $165,000 to pay for elementary band and orchestra.
That is the lead of the lead story at the Rapid City Weekly News. Meanwhile, the Rapid City Journal also reported on Tuesday’s packed school board meeting as the winged prayers of SD’s school funding formula came home to roost in the state’s second-largest city.
“For years, music has been an essential part of my life,” said the politician and philanthropist Stanford Adelstein. “This opportunity must not be taken away from our children.”
Oh, what I wouldn’t give for a photo of Stan at the mic.
Meanwhile, Sen. Tom Katus, the incumbent Democrat who will face Stan, a Republican, in November, also took to the microphone, after
4 commentsJohn Thune throws out a little GOP red meat
By Denise Ross
Tuesday was the deadline for Americans to pay the IRS, and Sen. John Thune, R-SD, took the opportunity to promote the GOP’s desire to make President Bush’s tax cuts permanent.
Except it should be noted that they aren’t calling them “President Bush’s” tax cuts any longer. Wonder why? Could it be that, as Joe Klein noted over the weekend, the prez’s approval rating is “below freezing”?
Anyway, here is what the GOP, and by extension, Thune IS saying about “the largest tax increase in history,” brought to you by the Democrats.
Under the Democrat’s proposal, tax rates beginning on January 1, 2010 will be increased in most tax brackets. The increased child tax credit will expire, the marriage penalty will be reinstated, and the death tax will increase to pre-2001 levels, making it among the highest in the world.
Read the full press release on the jump.
1 comment$4 gas, our senators have heard of that
By Denise Ross
What’s a US Senator to do when gas prices hit prices that are not only record highs but that seemed impossible during their last election campaigns?
Since the price of gas is, short of some serious hearings and legislation, not directly within their sphere of influence, a senator is left to express a bit of I-feel-your-pain and then move on to the blaming portion of the program. (Not blaming SUV-driving voters, however. That would be imprudent.)
During calls with reporters Wednesday, both Sen. Tim Johnson, D-SD, and Sen. John Thune, R-SD, acknowledged the pain and placed some blame, with the villians being identified as the Bush administration, oil companies and their profits, Congress and OPEC countries.
Said Johnson:
1 comment$4 gas would be devastating for the people of SD, with the agriculture and tourism industries getting hit extra hard. I will continue to support ethanol and cellulosic ethanol and wind energy. That is a long-term agenda.
