The Depot Crossing in Berlin, Connecticut: Another Government Bailout of Banks, Financial Institutions, and Investors?

Yes, no one would deny that the Depot Crossing is an eyesore to the Town of Berlin; however, why should the Town of Berlin pay $850,000 for the Depot Crossing since that is the amount listed in Berlin’s property records as the sales price paid by the New England Capital Group, LLC on August 27, 2012?

Given an assessed value of $1,321,000, and given the projected mill rate of 29, that means annual property taxes of approximately $38,000. Are the owners of the property current with all of the taxes on the property?

Also since the property is blighted property, are not the owners liable for significant fines and penalties if the property is not improved in timely fashion to an acceptable condition? If the building is not corrected and fines and property taxes remain unpaid, the Town of Berlin ultimately could acquire the property by seizing it, right? Wouldn’t that be a lot cheaper than spending $850,000? What am I missing here?

So where is the logic of paying New England Capital Group, LLC the full sales price of $850,000 listed on the town’s records? If the property was worth $850,000 in its present condition, wouldn’t market forces have acted, resulting in its sale to interested developers? But the property has not sold. Doesn’t that imply much about its market value?

The citizens of the Town of Berlin should not be bailing out finance companies. Haven’t we learned anything from the recent bank bailouts? The building department and tax collectors should be taking appropriate measures and exerting sufficient economic pressure on the current owners of Depot Crossing to improve the property to an acceptable condition or sell it to an interested developer at its present market value rather than permit an indefinite holding in its present condition.

If the current owners prove unresponsive, fines, penalties, and seizure-of-property measures should force a more favorable resolution to the taxpayers of the Town of Berlin than a grant from a governmental agency, which is ultimately picked up by all taxpayers. Surely there are alternatives available other than paying the full sales price paid by the current owners.

Let’s make those who undertake these risks pick up their own tab for their losses. After all, isn’t this a free market? I don’t get any governmental bailouts. Do you?

I, for one, am sick and tired of bailing out banks and finance companies. It’s time for those who finance these investments to pick up their own tab.

Connecticut has the best tax code money can buy!

Blue Dog Democrats Make the Perfect Corporate Pets!

Another regressive tax is about to be passed by our beloved Connecticut legislators, even though our Governor is a Democrat and the House and Senate are controlled by Democrats. If you didn’t know by now, there has been a new breed of Democrats spawned over the last twenty-five years; extinct is the FDR species that gave us the middle class. What we have now is a Democratic Party who gave us NAFTA, the repeal of Glass-Steagall, the Commerce Act permitting derivative trading, bailouts of banksters, the National Defense Authorization Act, and a host of other corporate goodies….

Yes, we have a new breed of Democrats, and they have a name: blue-dog Democrats. These Democrats are largely indistinguishable from Republicans regarding corporate policies. Recall that last year and this year Obama proposed cutting the corporate tax rate, as well as agreeing to cuts in Social Security and Medicare and Medicaid. Bill Clinton and Barack Obama are blue-dog Democrats; they are not of the FDR generation or tradition.

So is it any wonder then that our Democratic Governor, Dan Malloy, is also a blue-dog Democrat, as well as many of our Democratic State Senators, and State Representatives? And is it any surprise that they will propose and support another regressive tax aimed at working and middle class families, sparring their super wealthy and corporate campaign contributors from progressive taxes?

This new found regressive tax to which I make reference is Raised Bill No. 6650, which proposes a 3.5 cent tax on every gallon of heating oil. It is a regressive tax because it robs more disposable income on a percentage basis from the working classes than it does from that of those multi-billionaire hedge fund managers living in Fairfield County.

But did not our Democratic controlled leadership just recently increase the sales tax, another regressive tax? And did it not also increase the state income tax rate on middle class families anywhere from 10% to 30%, while only increasing the rate on the super wealthy by a paltry 3%?

Isn’t it bad enough that $2 or $3 billion-dollar-per-year hedge fund managers living in Fairfield County only pay a 15% carried interest tax rate on their earnings to the federal government while middle class families pay on average 35% of taxes in total on their earnings? Do all tax increases now–even those at the state level–also have to be regressive in nature?

Blue Dog Democrats Make the Perfect Corporate Pets

Sure, I know the Republican mantra: don’t increase taxes on billionaire hedge fund managers because if we do, then they will not create jobs for us. (Just look at all the jobs they created over the past fifteen years. See all those help wanted ads in the Courant?) But I never expected Democrats to buy into that mantra, too.

Yeah, we have the best tax code money can buy, thanks to our blue-dog Democrats.

Another regressive tax on the middle class?! Will Abercrombie, Aresimowicz, and Gerratana vote for yet another regressive tax on working families?

Another regressive tax on the middle class?! Will Abercrombie, Aresimowicz, and Gerratana of Berlin, Connecticut vote for yet another regressive tax on working families?

A bill has been raised in the General Assembly calling for a 3.5 cent tax per gallon on heating oil: Raised Bill No. 6650. It’s not bad enough that Berlin residents are paying nearly $4.00 per gallon for heating oil during an endless and a deep recession, but now another regressive tax is being considered again on working families of Connecticut. Are not Dan Malloy, Catherine Abercrombie, Joe Aresimowicz, and Theresa Gerratana Democrats? Are not Democrats suppose to oppose regressive taxes? Have you heard any of these four Democrats come out stridently against this yet another regressive tax on working families?

This is at least the third regressive tax we have witnessed in recent years with Democrats at the helm. The sales tax was increased from 6% to 6.35%. The state income tax rate increased anywhere from 10% to 30% on middle class Connecticut families, but only 3% on the super wealthy. Are not Democrats suppose to represent working, middle class families? Then why did our Democratic Governor, Malloy, and our Democratic State Senator, Gerratana, and our Democratic State Representatives, Abercrombie and Aresimowicz, vote for passage of a state income tax sparring the super wealthy from its equitable share of Connecticut’s tax burden? Isn’t it bad enough that the billionaire hedge-fund executives pay only a 15% federal income tax rate on their earnings while middle class families average 35%? Where are the voices crying out for the middle class?

Working families feel the brunt of regressive taxes while a wealthy executive and owner of a Connecticut business is rewarded with $14.8 million in Connecticut tax credits for her company, and then is permitted to sell these credits. Why are not the Democratic leaders speaking up and opposing this inequity in our state’s tax laws? Do you hear their strident voices in opposition?

It’s time to make taxes progressive. It’s time for blue-dog Democrats to be replaced by progressive Democrats who advocate for working and middle class families.

Connecticut has the best tax system that money can buy. Remember this when you go to the polls again and vote for Governor, State Senator, and State Representative.

Political opportunism over principles? Glenn Greenwald predicts that President Obama will shift even further to the political right over the next four years and that Democratic voters will continue to give him a pass

Progressives, liberals, Democrats continue to look the other way from Obama’s continuation of the Bush counter-terroism policies even though they attacked the Bush administration for the use of these same politicies.  Glenn Greenwald makes a scathing attack on the political opportunism and hypocrisy of Democrats and liberals supportive of President Obama.

 

A Message from President Mitt Romney to the Voters of Berlin, Connecticut

Even though Barack Obama won the popular vote in Connecticut by a significant margin, he barely squeaked by in Berlin, Connecticut with a very slim victory of only 138 votes. Obviously, Mitt Romney won the hearts and minds of many, many voters in Berlin, Connecticut.

I just received a telephone call from a Berlin supporter of Willard Mitt Romney, urging all of you Berlinites to petition Washington in order to secede from the Union and annoint Mitt Romney as the President–and Ann Romney as Queen–of these newly created Secession States. He wanted me to assure you that Mitt will be ready to assume the Presidency of these Secession States of America and fix the economic malaise caused solely by Barack Obama and confronting all of us by creating well-paying jobs through Romney’s well thought out, six-point, economic plan:

1. Lower the highest effective tax rate on ordinary income from 35% to 20% since it has been stifling investment
2. Eliminate the capital gains tax entirely since it has been stifling investment
3. Eliminate taxes on dividend income for millionaires since it has been stifling investment
4. Eliminate taxes on carried interest since it has been stifling investment and hampering the luxurious life style of our beloved billionaire hedge fund managers
5. Eliminate the estate tax since it has been stifling investment and coffin sales
6. Eliminate corporate taxes since it has been stifling investment and has been a major cause of outsourcing of jobs over the past 15 years

This truly is an innovative, bold, progressive, job-creating economic platform. Who would ever dispute its effectiveness, its Americanness, its freedomness, its Ronald Reaganness, and its Godliness!

In the mean time, you can watch a video which I recently obtained showing how Mitt Romney has been moving on since the election and how he has been preparing for the Presidency of our new, Godly, Reaganesque Secession States of America. (“Bedtime for Bonzo” will follow shortly.)

Long live Mitt Romney. And God save our Secession States of America.

My email to Congressman John Larson, House Representative from Connecticut’s 1st District, on the Fiscal Cliff

Dear Congressman John Larson, Representative from Connecticut’s 1st District:

Please do not support President Obama’s likely concession to the Republican “Grand Bargain”:  three cuts in spending for every dollar raised from “revenue enhancements”.

For $1 trillion in revenue enhancements, President Obama wants to cave into the Republicans and cut $3 trillion in spending, including social security, medicare, medicaid, and other entitlements, but sparring the military-industrial complex, which consumes 20% of our annual federal budget.

On December 31, 2012, it would be much more beneficial to the middle class to just let those Bush tax cuts expire on the wealthy, including the return of the Clinton-era tax rates of as much as 39.6% on ordinary income and 20% on capital gains as well as the removal of the special tax treatment accorded to dividend income and carried interest for billionaire hedge fund managers.

Please do not support President Obama’s allegiance to Wall Street; please support the middle class and labor:  the people who voted you into office again.

I did not vote for you to cave into Wall Street as President Obama will do once again.

Thank you,

William Brighenti, CPA

Please urge your Representative in the House and your Senators to vote for tax increases on the rich rather than cuts to social security, medicare, and medicaid.  Thank you.

Rowdy Roddy Piper, former star wrestler for Linda McMahon’s company, WWE, slams Linda McMahon

Linda McMahon can spend nearly $100 million on two campaigns for the US Senate from Connecticut, but according to Rowdy Roddy Piper, former star wrestler for WWE, her company did not provide medical nor retirement benefits, nor contribute to social security or medicare, nor even at times pay for travel and hotel expenses for some of its wrestlers, whose base salaries are as low as $35,000 annually, in spite of reported earnings of $100 million from a Wrestlemania event.

If this is how Linda McMahon treats her wrestlers and people working for her company, imagine how she would have treated you, her voters?

The video Linda McMahon doesn’t want you to see?

Linda McMahon, former CEO of World Wrestling Entertainment WWE from Barefoot Accountant on Vimeo.

Linda McMahon is running for the US Senate in Connecticut. For twenty (20) years, she ran World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) with her husband, Vince McMahon. A few years ago, a documentary film examined the WWE’s celebration of violence against women. Her campaign doesn’t want Connecticut voters to see that film. Watch these excerpts from the film to see why.

The “Huffington Post” recently published an article on Linda McMahon’s candidacy for the US Senate for Connecticut. This article was written by Jackson Katz, educator, filmmaker, and author. In that article, he observes that although McMahon has repositioned herself as “an advocate and role model for working women”, until her run for the US Senate after stepping down as the CEO of the World Wrestling Entertainment company, “she was one-half of one of the most culturally destructive, and blatantly misogynistic, business partnerships in the history of popular entertainment. Under Linda and her husband Vince McMahon’s leadership, over the past twenty years the WWE has featured some of the most brutal, violent and hateful depictions of women in all of media culture.”

Mr. Katz was “a major contributor on and off-screen to an educational documentary about professional wrestling that was released by the Massachusetts-based Media Education Foundation in 2002. Entitled ‘Wrestling with Manhood: Boys, Bullying and Battering,’ the film examined in detail the almost-unimaginable sexism, homophobia and racism of the WWE”, including “numerous clips from WWE programs, interspersed with commentary and interviews with wrestlers and fans.”

Katz observes in the article that “WWE lawyers have been hard at work bullying countless web sites, including YouTube, to remove these clips [from WWE programs], because viewers who watch them come away not only horrified by the sexist abuse, but also much more critical of the McMahons and their eagerness to cater to the culture’s lowest common denominator.”

Katz then goes on to state that “instead of showing her as a ‘role model for businesswomen,’ those clips from WWE programs expose the shamelessness of McMahon and her husband Vince’s quest for profit and power, a shamelessness that extends to their willingness to glamorize sexual and domestic violence in the name of ratings and ticket sales.”

Herein is the video entitled, “Only Entertainment”, recently removed from YouTube on the grounds that it violated copyright laws. Was that the real reason for its removal?

That’s Linda McMahon’s husband, Vince McMahon, in the video ordering a woman to undress, kneel down, and bark like a dog. Also Vince McMahon is seen unzipping his pants to a woman kneeling down and facing him, while teenagers in the audience watch and cheer him on.

Is this “only entertainment”, as Linda McMahon has said?

Kate Middleton: A Different Set of Laws for the Rich and Elite?

Kate Middleton, the future Queen of England, was caught on camera not wearing her top as well as showing her bottom.  Although she was sunbathing in the nude on private property, she was visible to the public:  that is, the photographer took the pictures from a public area.

The British government obtained a court order forbidding the publication of the pictures.  But is this an infringement of freedom of the press?  And, more importantly, are the rich and elite outside the realm of laws applicable to ordinary citizens?

In fact, if Kate Middleton’s nudity was visible from a public area, and if nudity is prohibited in public by law, should not Kate then be subject to arrest for breaking the law instead of the photographer and the magazine being subject to possible fines and penalties and imprisonment?

Needless to say, if you or I sunbathed nude in our backyard, and if our neighbors saw us and called the police, in all likelihood we would be arrested for indecent behavior. And our pictures, like any other criminal, would be on the evening news. The point that I am making is if Kate Middleton did not want nude pictures of herself published in magazines, perhaps she should not have been sunbathing in the nude, especially where she was visible from public areas. The same set of laws should apply to her and all the other elites in the world that apply to you and me. I believe that is commonly referred to as justice.

But the British wouldn’t know about justice, would they? We had to fight them on that issue over two hundred years ago.

Rocky Anderson, Presidential candidate of the Justice Party, to speak in Woodbridge, Connecticut on August 22, 2012

Rocky Anderson, Presidential candidate for 2012, will speak at the Winchester Restaurant & Bar in Woodbridge, Connecticut on Wednesday, August 22, 2012 on the corruption in American politics today and what you, the average American citizen can do about it.

Rocky Anderson, formerly the Democratic mayor of Salt Lake City for eight years, and a Constitutional attorney and civil rights lawyer by profession, left the Democratic party in 2011 out of disgust with its allegiance to its wealthy contributors:  that is, Corporate America and the one percent who own virtually the majority of the wealth in our nation.

Rocky is now running as an independent candidate, believing that the majority of Americans, the 99%, are looking for a leader who will represent their economic, social, and environmental interests.  Mr. Anderson believes that change in our present corrupt political system—where both political parties, Democrats and Republicans alike, are bought and paid for by the wealthy—is possible if only the American people come together, unite, and simply “will” change.

If you, like the majority of Americans, are tired of our corrupt government and truly wish to have real reform and change, and get money out of politics so that all Americans will have a voice in our government, then perhaps you may wish to attend the speaking event scheduled for Wednesday, August 22nd at the Winchester Restaurant & Bar in Woodbridge, Connecticut.  Incidentally, this speaking event won’t cost you $35,000 per plate to attend.

After all, America is your country, too…at least, the last time I looked it was.

For more information, please contact justicepartyct@gmail.com or call (860) 249-1323.

Want to know what Rocky stands for? See below and compare:

The Barefoot Accountant