Grand Rapids’ Chief Financial Officer, Scott Buhrer, updated the city’s Fiscal Outlook through 2014 on February 12. You can read the report here. My first reaction was, “Finally, somone at City Hall gets it!” I will quote extensively from his comments and bold the comments that I believe are important to note. This financial...
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Finally, Someone at City Hall Gets It
Housing and Taxes
The City of Grand Rapids and several surrounding areas are considering tax increases this May to shore up local budgets. Of course, much of the reason is the Great Recession we are currently in. Much of the problem is that city governments outspent themselves and sold taxpayers down the road by promising unionized municipal...
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Walk Away from that Mortgage
Now that the Federal Reserve-stimulated asset bubble has burst in the housing markets, and the subsequent follow-on government attempts to fix a government-created economic crisis are failing (see cash for clunkers and the market-distorting “first time homebuyer credit”), it’s time to assess your current situation and decide whether or not to walk away from...
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Change We Can Believe In
This week, President Obama re-appointed Ben Bernanke as chairman of the Federal Reserve. Bernanke declares that he “saved the world.” This is a bit like the arsonist firefighter declaring that, after he set fire to your house, he then “saved” it from the fire. Right. He lied then. He’s lying now. Change we can...
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Frightening Charts of the Day
I just wanted to quickly share a few telling charts regarding what is happening with the US economy over the last year, and especially over the last few months. First is the number of new home sales. Second is retail sales: Finally, to see what a bubble really looks like, check out...
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What Happens When You Take Away the Corn?
There’s an old parable about getting hooked on government handouts. I had heard this years ago, but it just popped in my mind again today. I searched the Internet and found one version of it. A chemistry professor at a large college had some exchange students in the class. One day while the class...
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Pigs Feeding at the Trough of Government Largesse
It was only a matter of time. Now that the Congress and US Treasury have decided that it is legitimate for the Federal Government to spend $700 billion “bailing out” various banks and financial companies, the line is getting longer of those holding their hands out for free money from heaven. First, we were...
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Failure of Capitalism, or Failure of Government?
We here at GR Pundit have made it a general policy to comment and report on local issues only. However, the extent and scope of the current market crisis requires that we break that policy. What is the origin of the current economic crisis? Is it capitalism run amok? No. It is government run...
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