Click to Go Back

FRIDAY FACTS: April 18, 2008

- Then: “The war against illegal plunder has been fought since the beginning of the world. But how is... legal plunder to be identified? Quite simply. See if the law takes from some persons what belongs to them, and gives it to other persons to whom it does not belong. See if the law benefits one citizen at the expense of another by doing what the citizen himself cannot do without committing a crime. Then abolish this law without delay... If such a law is not abolished immediately it will spread, multiply and develop into a system.” – Frederic Bastiat
- Now: “The truth is, in order to get things like universal health care and a revamped education system, then someone is going to have to give up a piece of their pie so that someone else can have more.” – Michelle Obama  

- “The Legislature did have some worthwhile moments. A bill by state Rep. Jeff May (R- Monroe) cuts down on the games locals play with special elections, like the one the Cobb County Board of Education intends to call on Sept. 16 to extend the local option sales tax through 2013. May's legislation requires special elections on questions to be held in a primary or general election in even years and on two specified days in odd years, starting in 2010. The game has been to pick odd days when few people other than supporters are likely to show up.” – Jim Wooten, Atlanta Journal-Constitution 

- April 15th was “Tax Day,” the day every year by which taxpayers must file their income tax returns. But the average American must work until April 23 (113 days) to meet this year’s tax obligations to the federal and state government, according to the Tax Foundation. That’s three days fewer than last year, thanks to the one-time fiscal stimulus package. Georgia ranks 23rd, with Tax Freedom Day arriving on Saturday (April 19). Source: Tax Foundation 

- “As the baby boom generation retires, entitlement programs will grow and require increasing shares of federal spending. Absent significant changes to tax and spending programs and policies, we face a future of unsustainable deficits and debt that threaten to cripple our economy and quality of life. … [We need] a fundamental reexamination of government programs. …The nation’s surface transportation programs are particularly ready for reexamination. For example, the Highway Trust Fund (HTF) was created in 1956 to finance the construction of the Interstate Highway System . … That system is now complete. However, the federal highway program’s financing and delivery mechanisms have not substantially changed and their continued relevance in the 21st century is unclear.” Source: GAO, March 2008

- National one-stop government transparency shop: Nevada’s Open Government Initiative Web site, under construction after an executive order signed by Gov. Jim Gibbons on March 19, offers a U.S. map that instantly links to government transparency Web sites and efforts in other states. Find out more at http://open.nv.gov/OtherStates.htm. (Don’t bother to click on Georgia. There’s no link … yet.)  
- Local one-stop government transparency shop: Go West – to Carroll County – to find the next role model for government transparency.  Impressed by what Texas has done placing the school board checkbook online and freely accessible to citizens, Bill Chappell, former publisher of the Carroll Star News and current Carroll Commission chairman, plans “to be the first in the state of Georgia to follow suit. Comptroller Don Johnson is working on investigating the details on software and what we need to do to accomplish this,” current publisher Sue Horn quotes Chappell as saying.  

- “Nature rules the climate,” reiterated Fred Singer, the author of “Unstoppable Global Warming,” this week after President Bush announced plans to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. “Efforts to control emissions are pointless, hugely expensive, and in any case completely ineffective, as long as China and India keep increasing CO2 emissions. However, the earlier White House plan to reduce carbon intensity (CO2 emitted per unit of GNP) still makes sense since it is really a policy of improving energy efficiency through better technology.”

- Visit www.gppf.org to read the Foundation’s latest commentary, “Transparency Can Bring Clarity to Georgia Taxpayers,” by Benita M. Dodd.

Have a great weekend.

Rogers Wade 

FRIDAY FACTS is made possible by the generous contributions of supporters of The Georgia Public Policy Foundation. If you enjoy the FRIDAY FACTS, please consider supporting the Foundation. For more information, visit our Web site at www.gppf.org.