The non-Presidential New Hampshire Primary is a week from today, and I hate going into the booth unprepared, so I went to the Secretary of State's sample ballots page and downloaded…
You'll note there are only two contested races, so I don't have a lot of choices to make. And if you believe the University Near Here Survey Center, it appears Kelly Ayotte is way ahead of second-place Chuck Morse 65% to 21% in the gubernatorial contest. They also have Russell Prescott in the lead for the right to oppose my current CongressCritter, Chris Pappas in November. But he's at 19%, and "Don't Know/Undecided" is at 60%! I did get a mailer from Russell Prescott the other day. Endorsed by Rand Paul! That's a plus! But I went to his campaign website. Here's a bit of his brave stance on Uncle Stupid's fiscal mess: The overall problem is not that our government taxes too little; it is that it spends too much. I will take that same attitude to Washington, supporting a Balanced Budget Amendment, zero-based budgeting, and always looking for ways to give taxpayers back more of their hard-earned money. I've said this before, but I think advocating a "Balanced Budget [Constitutional] Amendment" is phony. Passing a Constitutional Amendment is hard. And if you had enough Congressional votes (two-thirds) to pass a Balanced Budget Amendment, Mr. Prescott, you could just pass a balanced budget. You only need a simple majority for that! But it gets worse. What to do about Social Security and Medicare? Nothing, as it turns out: Promises made, promises kept. I will never vote to touch benefits that Granite Staters have rightfully earned. In Congress, I will be willing to make tough decisions elsewhere to ensure our seniors are protected and find solutions to ensure the program remains solvent for current and future generations. He's "willing to make tough decisions elsewhere". But not there. To be fair, scanning the other candidates' sites fails to find any profiles in courage on entitlements. See if you agree: Walter J. McFarlane III Hollie Noveletsky Max Abramson; to be fair, he does appear to have a gonzo "007 Tax Cut Plan" Chris Bright Joseph Kelly Levasseur Andy Martin As long as we're looking at candidate websites, you might want to check out gubernatorial candidate Shaun Fife's, which includes his "Free Energy Solutions": Choose life vote fife and free us from energy dependence by production of real local grown heirloom foods with gravity powered, ultra localized, power generation as the engine of food production. You might like Kelly Ayotte, but where does she stand on gravity powered power generation as the engine of heirloom food production? Also, um, unconventional but perhaps entertaining: Frank Negus Staples, and Robert Wayne McClory. Don't miss McClory's 6 Point Patriot page! Also of note: "Terrible" is an understatement. Tyler Cowen thinks Taxing unrealized capital gains is a terrible idea. And he's kind of shocked that Harvard Econ Prof Jason Furman is for it, based on his tweets and his 2022 WSJ op-ed Let me start with [Furman's] quick summary: I like the Biden-Harris proposal to tax unrealized capital gains. For any given level of capital taxation it’s more efficient & fair to tax unrealized gains, reduces lock in & tax planning. Read through Jason’s own words in the WSJ — do you really think a system that complicated is going to reduce tax planning? How about figuring out what percentage of liquid vs. illiquid assets to hold? Whether to finance ventures through private equity vs. public markets? Which risky assets to buy and sell before December 31? How much to put into your foundation, so as to adjust your net wealth status? Might there not be other “tricks” to adjust your tax eligibility as well? What about those “live in Puerto Rico” decisions? When it comes to your assets, how is “tradeable” defined? (Narrator: It isn’t) How about the “…rules to prevent taxpayers from inappropriately [sic] converting tradeable assets to non-tradeable assets”? Those are going to go down nice and smooth, right? And imagine the legal squabbles over what “tradeable” and “non-tradeable” mean. How about bundling assets and deliberately making them less tradeable? How does that count? Chopping up assets to make them less tradeable? Do we have to measure the intent of the investor? And doesn’t this make it much harder to invest in your own start-up? (As we will see below, Jason and others cite “capital flowing freely” as a supposed benefit of this plan — but their plan harms capital flows a great deal.) … and more. At the end, Cowen asks: "How many countries have ever made a system like this work?" And, reader, his answer is simple: "None." Clearing up some misconceptions. J.D. Tuccille points out some news I'd missed: Massachusetts Switchblade Ban Overturned on Second Amendment Grounds. The Second Amendment to the United States Constitution undisputedly protects the individual right to own and carry firearms for self-defense, sport, and other uses. But the amendment actually says nothing about guns; it refers to "the right of the people to keep and bear Arms," of which firearms are just one example of what dictionaries define as "a means (such as a weapon) of offense or defense." In Massachusetts, last week, that resulted in a decision by the state's highest court striking down a law against switchblade knives. "We conclude switchblades are not 'dangerous and unusual' weapons falling outside the protection of the Second Amendment," wrote Justice Serge Georges Jr. for the court in an opinion in Commonwealth v. Canjura that drew heavily on two landmark U.S. Supreme Court cases: Bruen (2022) and Heller (2008). The decision found the state's ban on switchblade knives unconstitutional and dismissed charges against the defendant. A rare bit of good news on the legal front. Aw, you're no fun any more. The Google LFOD News Alert brought some sad news: New Hampshire Ranked Nearly Last for Most Fun State in America. And "Krissy", writing at "B98.5 Central Maine's Country" is critical: I'm gonna tell you right now, I find this ludicrous. New Hampshire being ranked and degraded as one of the least fun states in the world is just a serial killer move. Yeah, so here we go. Let me give you the facts. According to the guys (or girls) over at WalletHub, New Hampshire is the 43rd "least fun" state out of 50 (obviously), and Maine falls at #38. I get it, we're not Miami, but that's the beauty of it. You're going to tell me Portsmouth, New Hampshire, isn't a blast every time you bar hop on the water? Riverjack's Restaurant? Lazy Jack's Restaurant? C'mon, those are some elite establishments to people watch at. Not to mention the shopping in Portsmouth. There are all the little boutiques like Open & Oak, and there's a Bobbles & Lace location that I know Portland, Maine, girlies love. OH, I almost forgot. Another huge reason why New Hampshire is awesome and should be given a higher score on the fun scale: the Liquor Outlet is off the highway there. Not to mention there's no sales tax in the state. Go crazy! I mean, their state slogan is literally, "Live Free or Die", so I don't know how much more I have to say here. I'll agree that it might not be the most fun state, but it still isn't "#43 out of 50 states" boring. Yeah! Take that, WalletHub! On the other hand: The Google LFOD News Alert also rang for "Kira's" article at Q96.1 (a different Maine radio station) pointing out: New England State Named the #1 Best State in the U.S to Retire. And that would be us. When a person reaches that stage of life, many factors come into play in terms of deciding WHERE they would like to retire. For many the ideal retirement spot would: have nice weatherbe affordablebe close in proximity to family friendshave lots of activities/a sense of community Now, New Hampshire checks a few of those boxes. But I'd be lying to you if I said I wasn't flabbergasted that a publication called retirementliving.com named New Hampshire #1 spot for U.S. retirement destinations for the second year in a row! […] And let us not ignore the lack of income tax, estate tax, and sales tax. We have a lot more freedom than other states. It says Live Free or Die on our license plates for a reason. It's a far better slogan than "Boring But We Like It That Way".
You'll note there are only two contested races, so I don't have a lot of choices to make. And if you believe the University Near Here Survey Center, it appears Kelly Ayotte is way ahead of second-place Chuck Morse 65% to 21% in the gubernatorial contest.
They also have Russell Prescott in the lead for the right to oppose my current CongressCritter, Chris Pappas in November. But he's at 19%, and "Don't Know/Undecided" is at 60%!
I did get a mailer from Russell Prescott the other day. Endorsed by Rand Paul! That's a plus!
But I went to his campaign website. Here's a bit of his brave stance on Uncle Stupid's fiscal mess:
The overall problem is not that our government taxes too little; it is that it spends too much. I will take that same attitude to Washington, supporting a Balanced Budget Amendment, zero-based budgeting, and always looking for ways to give taxpayers back more of their hard-earned money.
I've said this before, but I think advocating a "Balanced Budget [Constitutional] Amendment" is phony. Passing a Constitutional Amendment is hard. And if you had enough Congressional votes (two-thirds) to pass a Balanced Budget Amendment, Mr. Prescott, you could just pass a balanced budget. You only need a simple majority for that!
But it gets worse. What to do about Social Security and Medicare? Nothing, as it turns out:
Promises made, promises kept. I will never vote to touch benefits that Granite Staters have rightfully earned. In Congress, I will be willing to make tough decisions elsewhere to ensure our seniors are protected and find solutions to ensure the program remains solvent for current and future generations.
He's "willing to make tough decisions elsewhere". But not there.
To be fair, scanning the other candidates' sites fails to find any profiles in courage on entitlements. See if you agree:
As long as we're looking at candidate websites, you might want to check out gubernatorial candidate Shaun Fife's, which includes his "Free Energy Solutions":
Choose life vote fife and free us from energy dependence by production of real local grown heirloom foods with gravity powered, ultra localized, power generation as the engine of food production.
You might like Kelly Ayotte, but where does she stand on gravity powered power generation as the engine of heirloom food production?
Also, um, unconventional but perhaps entertaining: Frank Negus Staples, and Robert Wayne McClory. Don't miss McClory's 6 Point Patriot page!
Also of note:
"Terrible" is an understatement. Tyler Cowen thinks Taxing unrealized capital gains is a terrible idea. And he's kind of shocked that Harvard Econ Prof Jason Furman is for it, based on his tweets and his 2022 WSJ op-ed
Let me start with [Furman's] quick summary:
I like the Biden-Harris proposal to tax unrealized capital gains. For any given level of capital taxation it’s more efficient & fair to tax unrealized gains, reduces lock in & tax planning.
Read through Jason’s own words in the WSJ — do you really think a system that complicated is going to reduce tax planning? How about figuring out what percentage of liquid vs. illiquid assets to hold? Whether to finance ventures through private equity vs. public markets? Which risky assets to buy and sell before December 31? How much to put into your foundation, so as to adjust your net wealth status? Might there not be other “tricks” to adjust your tax eligibility as well? What about those “live in Puerto Rico” decisions?
When it comes to your assets, how is “tradeable” defined? (Narrator: It isn’t)
How about the “…rules to prevent taxpayers from inappropriately [sic] converting tradeable assets to non-tradeable assets”? Those are going to go down nice and smooth, right? And imagine the legal squabbles over what “tradeable” and “non-tradeable” mean. How about bundling assets and deliberately making them less tradeable? How does that count? Chopping up assets to make them less tradeable? Do we have to measure the intent of the investor? And doesn’t this make it much harder to invest in your own start-up? (As we will see below, Jason and others cite “capital flowing freely” as a supposed benefit of this plan — but their plan harms capital flows a great deal.)
… and more. At the end, Cowen asks: "How many countries have ever made a system like this work?"
And, reader, his answer is simple: "None."
Clearing up some misconceptions. J.D. Tuccille points out some news I'd missed: Massachusetts Switchblade Ban Overturned on Second Amendment Grounds.
The Second Amendment to the United States Constitution undisputedly protects the individual right to own and carry firearms for self-defense, sport, and other uses. But the amendment actually says nothing about guns; it refers to "the right of the people to keep and bear Arms," of which firearms are just one example of what dictionaries define as "a means (such as a weapon) of offense or defense." In Massachusetts, last week, that resulted in a decision by the state's highest court striking down a law against switchblade knives.
"We conclude switchblades are not 'dangerous and unusual' weapons falling outside the protection of the Second Amendment," wrote Justice Serge Georges Jr. for the court in an opinion in Commonwealth v. Canjura that drew heavily on two landmark U.S. Supreme Court cases: Bruen (2022) and Heller (2008). The decision found the state's ban on switchblade knives unconstitutional and dismissed charges against the defendant.
A rare bit of good news on the legal front.
Aw, you're no fun any more. The Google LFOD News Alert brought some sad news: New Hampshire Ranked Nearly Last for Most Fun State in America. And "Krissy", writing at "B98.5 Central Maine's Country" is critical:
I'm gonna tell you right now, I find this ludicrous. New Hampshire being ranked and degraded as one of the least fun states in the world is just a serial killer move. Yeah, so here we go. Let me give you the facts. According to the guys (or girls) over at WalletHub, New Hampshire is the 43rd "least fun" state out of 50 (obviously), and Maine falls at #38. I get it, we're not Miami, but that's the beauty of it.
You're going to tell me Portsmouth, New Hampshire, isn't a blast every time you bar hop on the water? Riverjack's Restaurant? Lazy Jack's Restaurant? C'mon, those are some elite establishments to people watch at. Not to mention the shopping in Portsmouth. There are all the little boutiques like Open & Oak, and there's a Bobbles & Lace location that I know Portland, Maine, girlies love.
OH, I almost forgot. Another huge reason why New Hampshire is awesome and should be given a higher score on the fun scale: the Liquor Outlet is off the highway there. Not to mention there's no sales tax in the state. Go crazy! I mean, their state slogan is literally, "Live Free or Die", so I don't know how much more I have to say here. I'll agree that it might not be the most fun state, but it still isn't "#43 out of 50 states" boring.
Yeah! Take that, WalletHub!
On the other hand: The Google LFOD News Alert also rang for "Kira's" article at Q96.1 (a different Maine radio station) pointing out: New England State Named the #1 Best State in the U.S to Retire. And that would be us.
When a person reaches that stage of life, many factors come into play in terms of deciding WHERE they would like to retire. For many the ideal retirement spot would:
Now, New Hampshire checks a few of those boxes. But I'd be lying to you if I said I wasn't flabbergasted that a publication called retirementliving.com named New Hampshire #1 spot for U.S. retirement destinations for the second year in a row!
[…]
And let us not ignore the lack of income tax, estate tax, and sales tax. We have a lot more freedom than other states. It says Live Free or Die on our license plates for a reason.
It's a far better slogan than "Boring But We Like It That Way".
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