outsourcing jobs

Obama has repeatedly claimed that McCain supports tax breaks for companies that ship jobs overseas, and in one ad charged that McCain had "sold ... out" Pennsylvania workers whose factory closed. The ad further implied that their jobs were sent to China. That's not what happened. No jobs were sent to China, and the factory closed because the television parts it manufactured were becoming obsolete. As for those tax breaks, McCain has supported a provision of the tax code that allows companies to defer paying U.S. corporate taxes on profits they earn and leave overseas. But economists have said this isn't a major reason why jobs are lost. factcheck.org. Sounds like some upgraded training is in order here, to be competitive globally. outsourcing a job that costs $20 an hour here to a country where the cost are half, if the quality of work is comparable, is just good business. American workers need American jobs, doing what WE do best; innovation and technology. Renewing the American infrastructure will provide a LOT of good American jobs that CANT be outsourced.

The National Rifle Association opened fire on Obama with ads claiming he voted to ban deer-hunting ammunition (not true) and voted to "make you the criminal" for using a handgun in self-defense (a serious distortion of a vote to uphold enforcement of local gun bans in Illinois). factCheck.org. Any American has the right to defend his home, property, and self with a weapon. I personally dont feel the need for an automatic weapon to do that, as my pistol and shotgun will do nicely. Gangbangers, terrorists, and professional crooks frequently feel a need for automatic weapons and thats why the police and military should also have them.

Understanding the candidates' health care plans may seem almost as difficult as convincing your insurer to pay for an annual physical. And it's not made any easier when Obama and McCain misrepresent each other's proposals. We found an Obama ad perpetrating the whopper that McCain's plan contains the "largest middle-class tax increase in history." It's true that McCain would, for the first time, require workers to pay federal income tax on the value of their employer-provided health insurance. But that's offset by the tax credits he'd provide of up to $2,500 per individual and $5,000 per couple or family – and most people would come out ahead.
But the McCain campaign and Republican National Committee have gone after Obama's plan with a gigantic deception of their own, which they offered in a radio ad we dissected. Obama would "rob 50 million employees of their health coverage," the ad says. We flagged that statement for grossly mischaracterizing an analysis of a plan that wasn't even Obama's. In reality, two prominent studies found that Obama's plan would produce a net increase in the number of employees with health coverage through their jobs. Under McCain, according to the same studies, there would be a net decrease. In addition, McCain has repeatedly said that Obama wants to "take over the health care of America," as he said in the third debate between the candidates. "[H]is object is a single-payer system." That's not true, either. While the Democrat has remarked that he'd probably favor a single-payer design if he were building a health care system from scratch, he's said several times that at this point, it makes more sense to improve what's currently in place – and that's what his plan would aim to do. FactCheck.org
46 million people have no healthcare benefits, in the richest country on Earth.

McCain: The ACORN Fables
In another attempt to paint groups and people with whom Obama has some connection in as unsavory a light as possible, McCain has gone after the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now. And we've gone after him, for an ad accusing the group of "massive voter fraud" and for saying in the final presidential debate that ACORN is "now on the verge of maybe perpetrating one of the greatest frauds in voter history in this country, maybe destroying the fabric of democracy." Both claims are breathtakingly inaccurate. There's a huge difference between voter fraud and voter registration fraud. And while ACORN, which hires part-time, $8-an-hour canvassers to go door-to-door and register people to vote, has had widespread problems with phony registrations invented by employees who don't want to work, the problem has never been that it sent people to the polls using bogus identities or to vote in any other fraudulent manner. Even the Republican prosecutor of the largest ACORN case to date said the shenanigans of ACORN workers were "not intended to permit illegal voting."
To be sure, Obama's interactions with the group have been greater than he has let on. But whether those ties can accurately be called "long and deep," as McCain's ad claims, is highly questionable. FactCheck.org. It seems to me that fraudulent voter registrations COULD lead to fraudulent voting, no? Neither should be tolerated.

Financial Crisis? Blame Someone!
There's nothing like a good disaster to bring on the finger-pointing. With the financial system in a tailspin, MoveOn.org seized the moment to hammer on former Sen. Phil Gramm, a onetime McCain economic adviser, for cosponsoring a 1999 bill repealing some regulations on financial institutions. But the bill had broad bipartisan support, passing the House 362-57, the Senate 90-8; Democratic President Bill Clinton signed it into law. Did it "strip the safeguards that would have protected us," as the ad charges? Actually, economists of various political stripes – as well as Clinton – have credited the law with cushioning some of the blows of the recent troubles.

A McCain ad turns the tables by saying the Republican candidate tried in vain to "rein in" Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the institutions whose underwriting of too many risky home mortgages contributed to the meltdown. Obama was "notably silent," the ad says, and "Democrats blocked the reforms." Actually, Republicans never brought the bill up for consideration on the floor; they controlled the Senate at the time. And besides, McCain signed on to the 2005 bill too late for it to have made any difference.

sleaze ads

An upstart group with an official-sounding name, the National Republican Trust PAC, emerged from the shadows in late September and claims to have raised nearly $7 million for a barrage of ads in the final weekend before Election Day. The "Republican" group actually has no formal connection to the Republican Party, and the first ad it aired is one of the sleaziest attacks we've seen. It flashes on screen the driver's license of 9/11 terrorist Mohammed Atta and claims Obama has a "plan" to give licenses to illegal aliens. Never mind that Obama says he's not proposing drivers' permits for non-legal immigrants, or that the 9/11 terrorists didn't need driver's licenses to board aircraft (their passports would have done just fine) or that Atta had actually been granted a visa and had been allowed to enter the country legally. This group doesn't let facts stand in the way of a smear.

There's more. The spot also alleges that Obama's health plan will cover illegal immigrants. Wrong again. Obama has quite explicitly ruled out coverage for those who are here illegally. Nor does he propose granting Social Security benefits to illegal immigrants, as the ad also claims.

stem cell position distorted

Any ad that features the mom of a sick child is sure to pull a few heartstrings. But this radio spot is flat wrong when it says that "John McCain has stood in the way – he's opposed stem cell research." Technically, the carefully-worded phrase is correct: McCain has opposed embryonic stem cell research. But not since 2001, when he became convinced, he says, that the potential good it could do outweighed other considerations. And although his vice presidential candidate feels otherwise, and the Republican Party platform doesn't support his views either, McCain still opposes the Bush administration's restrictions on stem-cell research. Our conclusion: The Obama-Biden ad seriously misstates McCain's position. factCheck.org. A misrepresentation of McCains current stem cell position, and a position that I agree with McCain on.Any ad that features the mom of a sick child is sure to pull a few heartstrings. But this radio spot is flat wrong when it says that "John McCain has stood in the way – he's opposed stem cell research." Technically, the carefully-worded phrase is correct: McCain has opposed embryonic stem cell research. But not since 2001, when he became convinced, he says, that the potential good it could do outweighed other considerations. And although his vice presidential candidate feels otherwise, and the Republican Party platform doesn't support his views either, McCain still opposes the Bush administration's restrictions on stem-cell research. Our conclusion: The Obama-Biden ad seriously misstates McCain's position. factCheck.org. A misrepresentation of McCains current stem cell position, and a position that I agree with McCain on.

Obama mis-statement

In two TV ads and in speeches, Team Obama made false claims aimed at frightening seniors into fleeing from McCain's camp, to wit: McCain proposes to cut $882 billion out of Medicare benefits and eligibility to help pay for his health care plan. This turkey draws in part from a newspaper story saying McCain would pay for the health plan with "major reductions to Medicare and Medicaid." The story said nothing about cutting benefits or eligibility, though, nor does it say the McCain camp has given a target number. One ad says benefits would be cut 22 percent, and there would be "higher premiums and co-pays."

These claims have a de minimis relationship with reality, if that. The Obama camp borrowed calculations from a Democratic think tank that had piled detailed assumptions and calculations on top of a flat misrepresentation of what McCain's economic adviser had said in the newspaper article. He was quoted as saying Medicare benefits would not be reduced, and reductions would come through "efficiencies."

unsubstantiated BS

After all the times Mr Dotson has been the voice of reason, restraint, and common sense in a flood of fiscal irresponsibility, egos, and irrationality from the rest of the Council and Mayor, I find that COWARD remark to be uncalled for, totally unsubstantiated by the facts, and detestable. He is a man of unquestioned integrity, honesty, and good intent, with no ambitious ego and no personal agenda to fulfill, other than whats best in the long run for the residents of Miami Springs. Which is more than we can say about the rest of the crew.

recession now?

The standard medicine for a recession is more government spending on infrastructure (roads and bridges), an extension of unemployment benefits to prop up demand (and relieve suffering), grants to cities and states so they can keep spending and not add to the recession with their own set of cutbacks, and interest-rate cuts. Those fiscal moves are exactly the package of fixes that the Democrats in Congress have proposed for a second stimulus package. I think that kind of plan would indeed be good news for infrastructure companies and local governments, and could well reduce how far the economy will fall in this recession. However, the amount of money Congress is talking about -- and the amount in the first stimulus package (remember those checks that some of us got?) -- is small compared with the amount that the credit crunch has taken out of consumer buying power. Add to that the flip side of the wealth effect -- people spend less when their houses and stock portfolios are worth less -- and you can see why this recession is a lot more likely to look like the long recessions of 1973-75 and 1980-82 than the blink-and-they're-over recessions of 1990-91 and 2001. - Jim Jubak
Joseph Steiglitz is an economist who predicts that we are talking 2010 for a recovery, not 2009, as many are hoping. A bottom may be put in during 2009 but the economy wont start growing until 2010. Batten down the hatches. Tighten your belts everybody- everybody EXCEPT City government, of course, who are somehow immune, ignorant, or just could care less about the situation of the average residents.

Joe Sixpack

Unbelievable. Exxon Mobil just reported the biggest profit EVER for a U.S. company. It raked in a billion dollars a WEEK in pure profit in the July-September period, 58% more than a year ago. I don't know whether to admire the accomplishment or hurl. While other companies are concerned about the economic turndown, Exxon is NOT. I know, I know, they NEED these BILLIONS to drill for more oil- like we can actually drill our way out of this energy crisis.John D Rockefeller and the other robber barons must be smiling in their graves now. Joe Sixpack is reeling. the only ones taking a drilling is Joe and his family.

misquotes, and lies

http://www.snopes.com/politics/obama/ownwords.asp

Each and every claim against Obama was either taken out of context or was worded differently than the original. Supposed quotes from Obamas books were presented as evidence that he hates America, etc

drinking rain water

Drinking Rain Water

name Joe
age old

Question - Why can't I drink rain water?
Joe,

Normally you could drink rainwater without becoming ill.
However, rainwater contains pollutants, soil, plant parts,
insect parts, bacteria, algae, and sometimes radioactive
materials that the rain/snow has washed out of the air.
If filtered with one of the filtering systems that you
can buy in stores nowadays, and then boiled, you could
probably drink the water safely. However, it is safer yet
to get your water from municipal water supplies or from wells
that are frequently tested.

David Cook
Argonne National Laboratory
=========================================================
Since ancient times, the only sources of natural water that are recognized
as safe to drink are rain water and water from deep wells. The trick is
that the rain water must be carefully handled so that it does not become
contaminated. If it runs along the ground, it's anybody's guess what sort
of microbes and toxic elements it will pick up. But if you put a clean bowl
out in the rain to collect the rain water, there's no reason you can't drink
the water from it.

Richard E. Barrans Jr., Ph.D.
Assistant Director
PG Research Foundation, Darien, Illinois
=========================================================
Hi Joe,

The only reason I could think of where you can't drink rain water is if you
have no mouth.

OK, enough joking. In some third world nations, they drain rooftop rain
gutters into barrels to collect water for drinking. Rain water might be a
little bit acid compared to water out of the ground or from rivers, which
are somewhat neutralized from contact with minerals, so you'd be missing
some of those minerals.

If you live in a really polluted city, it might be a good idea not to drink
rain when it just starts, as it's washing out all the particulate material
in the air (car exhaust, diesel fumes, dust, etc). Other than that, I
can't think of why you shouldn't be drinking it.

Don

Donald Yee Ph.D. San Francisco Estuary Institute
180 Richmond Field Station, 1325 South 46th St. Richmond, CA 94804
=========================================================
There is no essential reason why you can't drink rain water. I think the
concern about drinking rain water has to do with the fact that in our
non-pristine environment the raindrops may have picked up some contaminant
on the way down from the clouds.

Vince Calder
=========================================================
Dear Joe-

Most likely, you ARE drinking rain water..! The water that comes from the
tap in your home at some point in the past fell as rain water (or snow). It
may have flowed into the ground to become part of the groundwater supply, or
may have arrived in resevoirs via rivers and streams. Usually this water is
treated to remove impurities and harmful organisms.

But you can collect rainfall and drink it also. It should be collected and
handled under sterile conditions, however. Much of the world's water supply,
especially in the tropics, comes from rain water.

Wendell Bechtold, meteorologist
Forecaster, National Weather Service
Weather Forecast Office, St. Louis, MO

campaign comments

It is good to see residents passionate about their politics, and political choices. The facts sometimes suffer in the heat of that passion tho. We have had a progressive tax system for the last century, and is based on the ideas of Teddy Roosevelt, whom McCain says is one of his idols. Those who make more have ALWAYS been asked to pay more. Socialism is when the government takes over big banks or big businesses, like the Republicans have just done in the past month, with Lehman Bros, AIG, etc. etc. Are the Republicans saying they LIKE socialism when it bails their greedy corporate butts out, but DONT like it when it gives the average guy a break? How convenient, not to mention self-serving and hypocritical.

annexation issues

Where is the updated and accurate map of the areas being considered for annexation? What were the last years tax revenues for those areas? On what basis did the City Manager come up with the figures he did? If the County has been losing their butt, "hundreds of thousands of dollars", according to the City Manager, what magic pixie dust are WE going to use to turn it into a gushing revenue source for US? The City Manager hasnt been anywhere CLOSE on his last two projected costs, for the CC addition AND the bathrooms, not within $200,000 to $300,000, and sometimes more. Why would any logical person think his numbers are anywhere close NOW? IF he truly believes that his numbers are close and he has good reasons to back him up, he should have NO problem producing the computations and figures that he derived those numbers from, right? Lets see.

pool issues

It is particularly galling to spend PUBLIC tax monies on a PRIVATE swim club that makes 60k in profits a year! If it was a nonprofit, or for our local high school it may be a different thing, but to pay the pool expenses for a PRIVATE enterprise that makes a nice profit is crazy. Its a lot like the Country Club, where we pay all the expenses, and all thats left for them to do is collect their profits! What is wrong with this picture?

missing monies, again

The final numbers on the bathrooms appears to be a MERE $414,000. Considering it could have easily been built for 140k, including a FAT 25% profit for the contractor, one would have to wonder WHERE that extra $275,000 went? Like the $400,000 excess we paid to enclose two walls of the Country Club, a LOT of our tax monies are missing- AGAIN. Where did THOSE monies go? Why did we pay Mr Santanas electric bills? Havent we given him enough? When does the tax monies stop disappearing for freebies to private businesses and contractors? EVER? The golf course, in theory, does use well water but is supposed to meter it and pay for it. The Council is supposed to oversee the City Manager, but they dont, and because of that are just as responsible for the cost overruns, freebies, and money wasted as the City Manager. Are they worried? No. They will just raise our taxes and fees to pay for their stupidities. Larry, Moe, and Curly are in control- why are we not worried about that? Other city and county governments are letting people go, cutting their budgets, reducing their costs - we are hiring 100k Dept heads with few qualifications. April cannot come fast enough.

By The Wall Street Journal
The relentless slide in home prices has left nearly one in six U.S. homeowners owing more on a mortgage than the home is worth, raising the possibility of a rise in defaults -- the very misfortune that touched off the credit crisis last year. The result of homeowners being "underwater" is more pressure on an economy that is already in a downturn. No longer having equity in their homes makes people feel less rich and thus less inclined to shop at the mall. And having more homeowners underwater is likely to mean more eventual foreclosures, because it is hard for a borrower in financial trouble to refinance or sell a home and pay off the mortgage if the debt exceeds the home's value. A foreclosed home, in turn, tends to lower the value of other homes in its neighborhood. When will the Mayor and Council realize that our whole economy and ways of life are in trouble? Perhaps that extra million was the message they need to realize how tough things are for the residents, it is an even better time to adjust course and rehab the gym with the money we now have, incurring NO NEW DEBT. The roof, walls, floors, plumbing and electrical system would be NEW. The pool would be repaired. The gym could be air conditioned. Billy could get his placque. A new theater could be added to the adjacent complex, if desired. The Senior Center could be expanded. All this with NO NEW DEBT. Contractors would still be working.

grant lady

I have heard that the grant lady got a grant for sensors for the golf course sprinklers, so that when it rains the sprinklers dont come on. It is supposed to save thousands of gallons of water and a lot of money. Sounds reasonable to me.

Ralph Giglio hiring

Ralph Giglio was a nice, personable guy back in high school. He was very quick, kinda like a scatback, on the football field, and had some success, but was really too small to move up to the next level. It would be interesting to hear from somebody who has kept up with him over the years, maybe seen him at some of the Reunions, or at the Festival, and get their opinion. I wonder how much of what he learned 25 years ago, he remembers. I dont want to hang the guy before he has a chance to show what he can do, but being the City Managers choice places him in a difficult position from the start, as Gym has had several other bouts of poor judgement in the past ie contractors and costs for the CC addition, the bathrooms contractor, the "forgotten" bathroom hookups, the costs for the bathrooms elevations, paying Santana's electric bills, the ongoing pool snafu, etc. He brought on Ron Gorland who was supposed to keep an eye on our bonds, but fell asleep at the switch and cost us 75k when our bonds went South. He DID bring on Mike Aldredge and Sandy Pell to run the golf course, and they seem to be doing a good job. We are still hopeful they will one day break even. Its too early to decide on the Finance guy yet. The Chief Baan was a good choice, and the grant lady has done some good things. So the City Manager has a spotty record, at best, of personnel and performance decisions up to this point.

accountibility?

Apparently there will be three licensed people in charge of overseeing the new gym project- an architect, Manny Perez-Vichot is the front runner; an engineer, my vote goes to Pistorino, and a contractor to be determined later. Approximately 150k has been allocated for them. They will oversee the day-to-day operations in that construction process, and be accountable. Skip Reed will do the final inspections.

Council commentary

The attorney who is going to handle the ADA lawsuit for the City is willing to work for the bargain-basement rate of $225 per hour. Youngs stated that he has experience with ADA lawsuits in his day job at WaMu and they are NOT cheap. The lawsuit could easily run into the millions. The City Attorney stated he thought it would ba case of mostly negotiations, and not much litigation. That may be but lengthy negotiations could be VERY expensive in its own right. While a previous post about the Sosa new money may have been tongue in cheek, this ADA lawsuit could seriously soak up a LOT of that new money. OR they will just raise OUR taxes and fees again.

real estate bottom?

"There's still quite a bit further for prices to go down, even though the volume has probably bottomed out," William Cheney, chief economist at John Hancock Financial Services, told Bloomberg Television. "Prices will probably find a bottom sometime next year." Home prices have fallen 20.3% since peaking in June 2006. It is NOT generally believed that home prices will immediately start rising once they bottom. We are in deep trouble and there is NO easy way out! Todays rally was nice, but a deadcat bounce, as they say, and wont last. Batten down the hatches, its gonna be a rough year or two.

The City Manager SOLD the Council on this new guy for the Rec dept, saying this guy may not know much, but he DOES have several friends to ask when our problems arent easily resolved, and THEY might know! This guy is a salesman and its obvious he has sold the City Manager. The guy had ten years Rec experience and a Rec degree 25 years ago. He has sold rec equipment as his private business for the past 20 years or so. Gym has vouched for him and says if he doesnt work out, Gym will let him go. The salary is 89k plus benefits, 100k in total. There was NOTHING said about this guy having ANY experience managing people, organizing programs and events, budgeting, or coordinating recreation construction projects with the needs of the residents- all skills THIS guy will need. I hope Gym is right about this guy, but if he isnt, shouldnt we just fire Gym too? Or just chalk it up to ANOTHER example of poor judgement on his part? The good news is that this time we may actually get a construction contract that has protections for the City built into it, like deadlines and penalties for not meeting those deadlines! Hooray for us! We are apparently hiring real attorneys for this project, at considerable expense, but at least they will be accountable for this contract. Also good news, Sosa donated another 1.5 million to the City - however that money was immediately allocated to build a couple more bathrooms on the Circle. After considerable debate, one million was designated for both bathrooms and the other 500k was held in reserve, just in case electrical, water, and sewer hookups became necessary.

common sense?

Now prices are plummeting, especially in once-sizzling markets like California, Florida and Nevada. And the bleeding might not stop until the END OF NEXT YEAR. The median home price in the U.S. dropped 9 percent in September from a year ago to $191,600, and is down 17 percent from the peak in July 2006, the National Association of Realtors said Friday. Already, 23 percent of homeowners with a mortgage owe more on their loans than their homes are worth, and that figure is expected to rise to 28 percent by this time next year, according to Moody's Economy.com. While the majority of homeowners will continue to make their payments and wait for values to recover, some will mail their keys to their lender and walk away, leaving the lender with no choice but to foreclose. There are several foreclosures in Miami Springs. Foreclosures drag down the prices of existing homes, and tax revenues with them. Wake up, Council! Tighten your belt! Reduce our costs. You can start by closing the pool until June, and saving us almost 200k! Suspend the jitney- saving us 120k per year! Initiate 15% pay cuts for all Dept heads-leadership starts at the top! Suspend the new gym project while we can do it at minimal cost! Suspend the Riverside project, a nice but not necessary idea, before it costs us more! Our incoming revenues are dropping drastically- act like you KNOW, and even maybe CARE. DONT hire a new, unqualified Rec Director for 100k! Have some common sense!

WASHINGTON (AP)- Each day from July through September, more than 2,700 Americans lost their homes in foreclosure. That number, up from 1,200 a day a year ago, is a sign that the mortgage industry and government programs have done little to help troubled homeowners. The mortgage market's troubles have proved to be far more serious and intractable than most in government or the private sector had predicted a year ago. Foreclosures have more than doubled over the past year, home prices fall 25% in Miami in ONE MONTH, unemployment is at 5 year highs- how much more will it take for the Mayor and Council to realize that WE, and the country, are is serious financial straits? Yet the go on their merry way, spending 500k or more on two bathrooms, losing 300k at the pool, spending 120k on a jitney that nobody rides- how long can they remain comatose? Oblivious? Incredibly wasteful? Dump them all, except for Dotson, before they drive us to the poorhouse. NOBODY can be THAT stupid ALL the time, can they? Is it more the ridiculously unresponsive and poor management by the City Manager OR is it the Mayors and Councils NO OVERSIGHT, blank check, rubber-stamp policies that are responsible? One financial fiasco after another, the result of constant mismanagement and cost overruns in EACH and EVERY project the City Manager is associated with, and NO oversight. When was the last time a project of his came in on budget and on time? EVER? The evidence speaks for itself.

inexplicable stupidities continue

Price declines in Las Vegas and Phoenix surpassed 30 percent in August, according to Case-Shiller, while prices in Miami, Los Angeles, San Francisco and San Diego all plunged more than 25 percent. Home prices likely won't improve in September either as other key housing indicators have shown the housing slump still in full swing. Recent data the government and the National Association of Realtors showed the median prices for new and existing homes both tumbled by 9 percent in September. Home prices decline 25% in ONE MONTH in Miami. What does the Council think that will do to proprty taxes? Revenues coming into the City? Sales taxes? We are in a deepening recession and the Council ignores it, like it wasnt really happening. BUT IT IS anyway, and they will raise our taxes and fees to pay for their inexplicable stupidities. They have put us on the road to bankruptcy in spite of all the warnings and good sense demonstrated by Dotson. Dumber than dirt comes to mind, for the rest of the Council, and Mayor.

spellcheck missing in action

Originally there was hope that the High School Kids for McCain would be so caught up in school typing and spelling courses that they wouldnt post here much. That has obviously NOT come to pass, as those DEMOCRATES have been doing bad things with Moncia and got COUGHT. This is surely just another case of why we need Obama- our schools are allowing virtual illiterates to pass thru without learning much English, typing, or spelling. Obama will focus on basic education and raise teachers salaries, so that students can learn, something that is obviously not happening now. High School Kids For McCain - thank you for participating in this exercise in American democracy. Next time you want to comment, however, please use spellcheck first. A little research beforehand may lead to some facts and a working knowledge of what you are talking about. Opinions based on facts are generally considered helpful in a debate or discussion, and are generally welcomed. Opinions based on racism, rumors, BS, half-truths, or self-interest are not accepted nearly as well. Your welcome, and good luck in your studies! Literacy is one of the fundamental keys for success in America, for most people.

Its good to see there are a few wild-eyed optimists left in the Springs- the ones who HOPE that the gym will ONLY cost TWICE what Gym says and ONLY take TWICE what time is allocated for completion. It totally ignores Gym's history tho - no project the City Manager has been associated with in the past four years has come in any less than a TRIPLE, or 300%, of what was quoted at the beginning, and some were MUCH more, 400% and up. In addition, no project the City Manager has been associated with in the past four years has been completed in less than TWO YEARS. It took over TWO years to enclose the 520 sq foot CC project, and 500k, for a project that was intially projected to cost 150k. More recently, it took over two years to complete a 1116 sq foot bathroom project that should have cost 140k but has cost us at LEAST TRIPLE that amount. The final figures havent been released but it will probably be OVER 500k. Using that history as a guide, and knowing that history is the best predictor of future behavior, the gym will cost 18-20 million and take FIVE YEARS to complete. It DID take over TWO years to build two bathrooms (1116 sq feet) at a price that is at least TRIPLE the usual costs. How long, and at how much cost, do you think it will take them to build a 32,000+ sq foot gym? City officials are not concerned because A) its NOT their money they are wasting, and B) they will just raise our fees and taxes to cover their butts. The Mayor and Council's policy of NO OVERSIGHT or controls will continue until there IS no more tax monies to waste, at which point they will refill the municiple coffers by raising our taxes and fees, and the change orders and cost overruns will continue unabated. The contractors will do VERY WELL, on the backs of the taxpayers.

McCain commentary

What are McCains deeds, really? He has admitted to voting with Bush on at least 90% of his votes. That is not a maverick, much more like a conservative Republican/Bush party-line follower. He, like most Republicans for the last century, has been for small government and deregulation all along that allowed the rich to loot the economy to the point of us being in an international crisis! I believe he is a decent man and probably honest, altho I have my doubts about the honesty of ANY politician, in any party, these days. I am concerned about his ties with Big Oil. Big Oil is not going to push for energy alternatives that might put them out of business and probably explains why McCain has no real energy plan, other than more drilling and nuclear power, both of which will be of NO benefit for the next 8-10 years. Thats how long it will take for either one of those options to become viable and productive. In the meantime I refuse to just turn over my paycheck to the Big Oil companies and pay whatever they want. We CANNOT drill our way out of this energy crisis. The Bush policies that he has followed so closely obviously hasnt worked. We need a new direction, a new game plan.

wants it BOTH ways

Lets see, first the rich Wall Street types want, and get, no regulation of their greedy and corrupt ways. Once the rich have run the financial system into the ground, they WANT the government to bail their sorry butts out, and THAT happens. THEN the rich complain about socialism (the bailout) that THEY asked for. They want NO government or oversight until they have bankrupted the system and it suits them, and when the government DOES bail their greedy butts out, they complain about the VERY thing they asked for. Incredible. Cant have it BOTH ways. Springs is on the same path, after the gym bankrupts us, as only the contractors will get well feeding at the City's trough. The City will give the contractors their usual 300%, 400% and more profits and then raise our taxes and fees to pay for it, until we eventually go bankrupt. Greedy and corrupt players on both the national level AND the local level should go to jail for fraud, bid rigging, and kickbacks, for starters.

local oversight missing

There is a hedge fund manager who made a return of 600% for his well-to-do clients last year and took home 3.62 BILLION hinself. He placed bets against our economy with credit swaps. Credit swaps are side bets that were placed at pennies on the dollar. No regulation is what caused this disaster. We dont even know how much worse it could get because of the lack of transparency, mainly with the hedge funds. On a local level, the lack of supervision and oversight by The Council and City Manager in the past has cost the residents close to million dollars SO FAR. If the current mismanagement team keeps the pace it has in the past, millions will disappear and eventually lead us into bankruptcy. Wonder how many are taking side bets about Miami Springs becoming bankrupt?

corporate numbers made no sense

What's inexcusable is that the SEC missed the problems or failed to act. Let's look at two examples. More than a year before the demise of Washington Mutual, Gradient pegged it as a bank that was overstating earnings because it was not setting aside enough money to protect against loan losses. Gradient noticed that problem loans were piling up at a much faster rate than write-offs for losses. But the SEC didn't act. Perhaps even more egregious, AIG auditor PricewaterhouseCoopers stated in February that it thought the company had significant shortcomings in how it was valuing insurance derivatives known as credit default swaps, a kind of insurance on debt payments. At the same time, Gradient described AIG as "downright frightening," in part because it had increased the estimated worth of credit default swaps virtually overnight by switching to a new valuation model. "It was as if Santa Claus himself had visited AIG the night before, leaving gift certificates with value derived by higher mathematics," Gradient wrote in a report.
The SEC didn't launch an investigation until many months later. More and better oversight is needed now so this doesnt happen again.

A Wall Street step in the right direction

Fix No. 1: Start the 'perp walks'
No one on Main Street trusts Wall Street anymore, and you can't blame them after what's happened. This is a huge problem because the Street is supposed to channel money to the entrepreneurs who invest it to create businesses and jobs that keep our economy rollicking. This won't happen when so many people prefer cash to stocks. To restore confidence, we need lots of "perp walks" to prove that those who committed fraud are being rooted out and punished. Not long ago, after another set of scandals, seeing ex-Enron CEO Kenneth Lay and former Adelphia Communications chief John Rigas paraded on TV in handcuffs helped restore confidence that the system would be cleaned up.
We need the same assurances now. News releases about what the FBI may do aren't enough. President Bush needs to direct his attorney general to set up a task force that draws on the resources of the main law enforcement and regulatory bodies, just as he set up a corporate-fraud task force to deal with the last round of fraudulent behavior. The first of 5 necessary steps toward stability.

pool mis-management continues

While the pool and the Rec Dept are not intended to be profitable centers, it is also not intended to lose 300k per year, especially when losses can be easily minimized. The pool is not designed to be paid for by the residents and used by mostly nonresidents for THEIR profit. The deficits at the pool have been growing every year and, in these difficult times, needs to be closed down from September thru June, which will save us $200,000. The six Springs kids on the swim team can use any of the nearby pools to develop their skills. This is just common sense, something that City management has a severe shortage of. Horrible mismanagement continues.