Showing posts with label Taxes. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Taxes. Show all posts
Tuesday, October 27, 2026
Friday, October 23, 2026
The 2026 Election, 26th Edition. The hoping to avoid sitting on blisters edition.
Elections belong to the people. It's their decision. If they decide to turn their back on the fire and burn their behinds, then they will just have to sit on their blisters.
Abraham Lincoln.
October 18, 2026
When we last posted, we noted who we had voted for and why.
That post was on October 13, and it had already grown too unwieldy by yesterday to keep on keeping on, so we're starting a new one. The last one was fairly up to date, but over the past, national and international events have made it plain that the GOP is hopelessly captive to a declining Donald Trump.
Some new items:
Who showed up for Wyoming’s US House debate and key takeaways
October 19, 2026
Tom Lubnau: Governor's Debate — Louder And Faster Doesn’t Make It True
Gail Symons: Lies, Damned Lies And Statistics On Prop One
Joan Barron: Tax Referendums Hot Here And In Colorado
Cont:
October 19, 2026
Russo Ukrainian War
Victim of Russian missile strike:
Impeach Donald Trump and allow him, and Putin, to be tried for crimes against humanity. Putin, Ukraine. Trump, selling his sold for diesel to Russia, killing people extrajudicially off of South America and launching an illegal war against Iran.
Mark you, John Barrasso, Cynthia Lummis, Chuck Gray. By not taking action, you are taking action.
Voters, are you voting for this?
October 20, 2026
Governor Gordon endorsed Eric Barlow in the Governor's race.
While others certainly are disagreeing, more and more it looks to me as if Gray may really be in trouble. The GOP itself seems to be adrift here to some extent, given that people are drifting away from an increasingly erratic Trump. People are sick of the Freedom Caucus, of which Gray was an original member, and Gray himself is deeply unpopular.
A question is whether Johnson's presence in the race hurts or helps Gray. I suspect he hurts Gray by drawing away candidates that won't vote for Kinney, but you can argue it either way.
The local ballot:
October 21, 2026
October 22, 2026
"Pisses Me Off": Rock Springs Businessman Angered At Gov Candidate's Accusations
He should be angry.
Everyone who knows Bruce Pivic likes him and he's adamant that he didn't confront Alabama Becky about funding the University of Wyoming.
Not that people shouldn't confront Alabama Becky. Based on her statements she's very ill informed. She wanted, for example, UW to eliminate its German studies program, which it doesn't have. She probably meant its study abroad in Germany program, which isn't the kind of thing that young Wyomingites only suitable for driving semi trucks and working in the oil patch, the only jobs suitable for young Wyomingites if you watch adds from the Carpetbagger class, need.
Golly gee, if Confederate great great grandpappy didn't need no German, well you don't either.
While she would like to see Wyoming become what Alabama was, that doesn't provide an excuse for asserting that it was Pivic who talked to her at a UW tailgate. That's interesting in and of itself as Alabama Becky made a point of showing up at UW, even though the Freedom Caucus basically hates education and has really gone after UW. He says he didn't, and he seems to have proven it, even managing to show that contrary to her description of Bruce as a man who spoke to her below head level couldn't be him, as he's 5'10". She declined to show her height, but a law enforcement record showed it at 5'9". He'd be at face level.
Casper College Trustees unanimously approved a resolution outlining how Prop 1 could affect the college.
Wyoming's AAPG wrote an op ed for the Casper Star Tribune outlining potential harm to the geezer class by Prop 1.
That's important as the measure is often camouflaged by its backers as a means of keeping the elderly in their homes, rather than carpetbaggers having more money in their bank accounts. A major miss point is:
Currently, older Wyomingites benefit from the Long-Term Homeowner’s Exemption, which provides a 50% property tax reduction on home and land to qualifying homeowners who are 65 and older, and who have paid property taxes for 25 years. Proposition 1 only applies to “the assessed value of the dwelling” and states “...no more than one exemption shall apply to a single property or be claimed by a single owner per year.
Boomers, in other words, of average income, will screw themselves directly just by voting for this.
And the Casper Mountain Fire District weighed in:
That's going to be another irony of this, if it passes. Some retiree from California will build their dream home in the woods and have it burned up, and then be pissed off.
Speaking of voters screwing themselves:
Natrona County eyes two school closures. One is 40 miles away, the other is right around the corner
One of the schools is in Midwest.
Voters had a chance, as noted, to dump Allemand in the primary for a really good candidate. Allemand barely survived that challenge, and is going to be a completely worthless House member if he's reelected. He's one of the few Wyoming legislative candidates facing a challenge in the general, and in his case there are two candidates seeking to take him on, Keenan Morgan (D), and Joe Porambo (L). Morgan has put up a billboard near the Center Street underpass in Casper. He holds the typical slate of Democratic views. I don't know anything at all about Porambo.
In news that's nearly non news:
I"m disregarding Facebook in general as comments there by anybody about anything are extreme, but I noted that there are still some people who are upset that Hageman hasn't endorsed Bextel. They seem less upset about Chuck not doing so, perhaps because expectations for Chuck are low in general. There's a real "get real" aspect to this. It's hard to see Hageman putting an anchor around her neck in the form of Alabama Becky and then jumping off the GOP boat. That wouldn't help Hageman a bit.
On that, however, another aspect of this is that Hageman just doesn't need the Freedom Caucus anymore. It's dying out in the field, a victim of self inflicted wounds. Hageman was once a big colleague of Cheney's and wasn't afraid to stab her in the back, there's no reason she'd go to breath new life into the dying carcass of the Freedom Caucus.
Chuck is a founding member of it, but he's dangerously close of seeing his adulthood dream of being a real boy, um politician, evaporate. He's sure not going to step out in the line of fire either.
And so we have the irony of Trump endorsed Hageman and Gray, both of whom were darlings of the Wyoming Freedom Caucus, endorsing Eric Barlow, whom they hate.
Basically, they observed the dying body on the deck of the train station and have boarded the train leaving town.
October 23, 2026
It would appear that Gray is in trouble:
Tom Lubnau: A Party That Wants to Flush Fifty Years of Winning
Lubnau is spot on in his comments. The GOP has told huge numbers of rank and file Republicans in the state that they are not welcome in the party. I'm one of them. This year, while I'm still registered as a Republican, I took my votes elsewhere for the House and Senate.
What's more, I'll say something Lubnau didn't. The GOP isn't run by Republicans at all. They're Dixiecrats. They should be the ones who are not welcome.
And in Albany County:
October 23, 2026
And the start of the attempted 2026 Coup commences:
Trump administration sues to block Senate race certification in Alaska if Republican loses
As this is the first part of what will be a desperate effort of the Trump administration to cling to power, we'll start a new edition.
Last edition:
The 2026 Election, 25th Edition. The casting the vote edition.
2028 Election, Abortion, Brent Bien, Christian Democrats, Clerico-fascism, Communism, Fascism, French Fourth Republic, Lies, Populism, Predictions, Republican Party, Solidarity, Subsidiarity, Taxes, Wyoming Freedom Caucus,Aaron Appelhans, Daron L. Wyatt, Mississippi, police, Robert Short, Tamara Trujillo, Wyoming (Albany County)2020s, 2026, 2026 Election, Ana Cordova, Chuck Gray, Constitution Party, Democratic Party, Eric Barlow, Harriet Hageman, James Byrd, Kenneth Casner, Lisa Kinney, Rebecca Bextel, Republican Party, Steve Harshman
Additional Labels:
Saturday, October 17, 2026
The 2027 Legislature, super early edition. The make them stop edition.
Ugh, just when the first corn fed, cornfederate legislature was safely in the history books, the Management Council met. Of course, the same dumb ideas that get rejected repeatedly are back up for reconsideration, at least in part.
I hear we want to do the election review again and redo the same bills that just died three weeks ago ... in exchange for 911 funding.
Tara Nethercott.
The corner crossing bill won't be back, which is too bad.
Vote the WFC out and send them back to pre 1964 Alabama where they'll be happy.
May 13, 2026
Woman Sued By House Candidate Reid Rasner Urges Ban On Frivolous Lawsuits
I was aware this legislation had been introduced. Frankly, Anti SLAPP provisions are really tricky as they're based, basically, on pre judging a litigants intent.
June 10, 2026
Lawmakers revive proposal to remove Wyoming property taxes
The money has to come from somewhere. Property taxes rise because in no small part new people come in and overpay in the local housing market, and otherwise inflate it.
A better idea would be to have an unrealized sales tax on the sale of real property from other states that
is used by a person within five years of moving to Wyoming.
August 13, 2026
Lawmakers reject proposal for online court records, streamed hearings
Thank goodness. This idea was outright unworkable.
August 29, 2026
Things are going to be rough from now until the the beginning of the next legislative session as the members of the deposed Freedom Caucus be a general pain.
At Least Five Lawmakers Walk Out Of ‘Absurd’ Joint Committee Meeting
August 30, 2026
The WFC food fight at the legislature continues as Chip Neiman took to Facebook to pout over Senators walking out of the recent pointless joint meeting.
As Speaker of the Wyoming House of Representatives, I’m entrusted with the responsibility of appointing legislators to standing committees. It’s a charge I didn’t take lightly upon my election to the Speakership.
I’m proud of the members of the House Minerals and Appropriations Committees for finishing the job they took up for the interim pertaining to local government infrastructure funding and the Wyoming Business Council.
Today, the Senate walked out on Wyoming cities, towns and counties. Conversely, the House committee members remained steadfast in order to deliver the strongest local government funding model seen in decades. This bill will fund local infrastructure and benefit every local jurisdiction and citizen.
The Legislature isn’t a place for turf warfare.
I worry for the future of the Wyoming Legislature. I encourage those new members coming to Cheyenne, to remember who they serve; not a committee, a chamber or any particular lobbying outfit, they serve the people of Wyoming. See less
Neiman notes that he's Speaker of the House in the legislature, which is true, but he's on his way out and is a lame duck. The complaint that the "Legislature isn't a place for turf warfare" is really rich given that the WFC acted like the first Vandals in Rome in Cheyenne. If it's turf warfare, they started it.
We're going to see a lot more of this. The WFC has been kicked to the curb, but like the the 33rd Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS Charlemagne (1st French) in the Battle of Berlin, it's going to see that everything is destroyed that it can destroy before it goes.
One common theme we're now seeing in connection with the WFC losing is this one that appears in the comments to Nieman:
Me too! We are quickly becoming a blue state, just as Charlie Kirk predicted!😢
I've scene that more than once now.
People who make that comment are deluded. I don't know about this person, but they're likely also carpetbaggers. Wyoming is a conservative state, but it's not a Turning Point USA Southern Bible Belt state. This is why traditionally there was no support for restricting abortion much here (which I do feel should be restricted, and indeed illegal) and nobody cared much whether somebody was a homosexual or not, which apparently is also no longer the case. The local view, and it was expressed in the Democratic and Republican parties, wsa "I don't care what you do as long as you leave me alone". The WFC didn't want to leave people alone.
As for Charlie Kirk and his predications, I'm increasingly in the "I don't care what Charlie had to say" camp. I don't mean to sound like a Kirk basher, but those politicos and their followers that are Kirk acolytes increasingly don't impress me. Kirk was brought to UW by one of his collegiate admirers who went on to work for Hageman and get canned for following Francoist website, with the same fellow then managing Chuck Gray's campaign. That's a good enough reason not to vote for Gray, although were are are plenty of other reasons not to do so. Anyhow, Kirk never reflected a Wyoming point of view.
September 3, 2026
Wyoming lawmakers change course on property tax reform amid signs of waning support
This is a result of the defeat of the WFC, and that Wyomingites did not rise to the occasion to take advantage of a bevy of potential exemptions, at least one of which was in my view likely illegal.
The last year made it increasingly obvious where local funding came from for municipalities and counties, which likely helps explain this.
It also signals the death spiral of a WFC dream.
September 23, 2026
Outspoken Veterinarians Kill Bill To Let Non-Vets Do Livestock Pregnancy Checks
I'll just be blunt about this.
The same sort of dumb ass movement that backs crap like raw milk as being safe, home delivery by midwives, and "denturists" making dentures without a dentist support stupid ideas like this.
Scientific idiocy has always been part of American culture. It's why people go to chiropractors and think its like going to the doctor. Or why people wear brass bracelets, or take ivermectin for Covid (a really bad and dangerous idea). Or why they think vaccines or dangerous. Or why they think Robert F. Kennedy makes sense on anything.
It really needs to stop.
October 9, 2026
Wyoming lawmakers take steps to further restrict online gaming
Task force ditches Wyoming-run health insurance plan idea, mulls unorthodox service models
October 17, 2027
The Bitterenders:
Wyoming Freedom Caucus lawmakers vote to sponsor election bills, reject dark money resolution
Wednesday, October 14, 2026
Wednesday, September 30, 2026
Subsidiarity Economics 2026. The Times more or less locally, Part 10, The Autarky Edition.
Autarky is the economic concept of producing everything a nation consumes within its own borders. It's been tried numerous times, and inevitably leads at best to high prices and deprivation. At worst, it results in warfare.
Autarky was the official economic model of the Nazi Party after German economist Hjalmar Schacht joined the party in 1926 and after Gregor Strasser was ousted from party influence.* Nazi Germany provides a perfect example of how it doesn't work. Germany was a major industrial power leading up to, during and after World War Two (it still is), but it could never produce enough of anything for its own economy, even in peacetime. Moreover, it didn't have the raw materials to supply all it did produce. It imported 20% of its food supply in the early 1930s, and by the late 1930s the Nazis had only managed to boost that to 83%.
The solution was simple.
What the Germans did have, they could just seize from neighboring countries through war, and then either kill off the native population or subjugate it. That's exactly what it attempted to do. It pursued that murderously in Poland and the Soviet Union, and through vassal states in the form of France, Romania and Spain. Where that proved to be impossible. . . for the time being, it used bullying and threats, such as in regard to Sweden.
Even at that, it was never able to do it.
That seems to be to some extent what Donald Trump is advocating right now.
If we were playing hardball, all we'd do is say we're going to do no trading with Canada. If we did no trading with Canada would save $90 billion.
We could do tremendous good for ourselves by just not trading with countries.. We lose with Mexico $195 billion a year. They have nothing that we have to have, I mean. Hot tamales, tomatoes, a couple of things
Trump seems to believe that by closing the economic border with Canada and Mexico, and everyone else, unless they essentially become vassal states, the US can simply go it alone and not be harmed. Where it's obvious that won't work, we'll force acquisition, as we have now done in Venezuela and keep threatening to do with Greenland.
This is immoral, and stupid.
You'd think that a guy who went to Wharton would have a basic grasp of economics. Open economic borders, truly open economic borders, make countries rich, not poor. That doesn't mean that there's never a place for tariffs, including for protectionism, but it's generally a bad idea.
What makes for more sense is for the United States, Mexico, and Canada, to have a seamless economy with no tariffs at all. The US and Canada had a nearly duty free relationship prior to Trump, save for the infamous very high ones on dairy, poultry, and egg products. Those latter tariffs were absurd, but the US also has absurd tariffs in the agricultural sector. The US relationship with Mexico is, right now, duty free.
An absolute lack of tariffs is how it should be between the three major North American economies. Only an an economic ignoramus would disrupt that.
And only an immoral person would advocate taking the oil of another nation that is providing it under the gun. The US has been an oil addict for a century, but was showing signs of getting off the stuff. Trump, with his "it's always the 1950s" mindset can't seem to get out of that.
Trump should really know better. Wharton has a reputation as one of the best, maybe the best, business school in the country. He owes us an explanation, which he seems to be incapable of articulating, for his idiotic economic views. Wharton, and I'm serious about this, does as well. I know one Wharton graduate personally, and he is brilliant. But the example of Donald Trump is to weird to explain. For that matter, the example of Wyoming's Chuck Gray, who is an absolute Trump sycophant, is as well.
We need a combination of supreme moral sensitivity and economic knowledge. Economically ignorant moralism is as objectionable as morally callous economism. Ethics and economics are two equally difficult subjects, and while the former needs discerning and expert reason, the latter cannot do without humane values.
Wilhelm Röpke, A Humane Economy: The Social Framework of the Free Market
September 8, 2026
Retaliatory Canadian tariffs took place today with duties ranging from 15% to 50% across hundreds of U.S. products worth a total CA$27.6 billion, including dairy, agricultural equipment, paper, household appliances and electronics.
This will hurt Canadian consumer through increased cost to them, and American producers due to decreased demand.
Cont:
And as this wasn't enough, 5he United States is banning the import of some dairy products motorcycles and most alcoholic beverages from Canada.
This is rank stupidity. Peter Navarro ought to be sent to kindergarten and Wharton declared a clown college.
So, if you can, go out and buy a Can Am motorcycle and some Crown Royal.
Well, probably not. I'm too old to start riding a motorcycle (I'd much prefer a mule) and I can't stand Crown Royal. But if I liked Canadian whiskey, I'd go buy some for spite.
I may just for spite.
September 10, 2026
Cont:
U.S. wholesale inflation hits 5.4% annually in August 2026.
More good news from the Trump administration.
September 11, 2026
Lame duck defeated state senator Bob Ide used the Hilltop disaster to say something monumentally stupid.
Hilltop Bank Shutdown Just Confirms Why Wyoming Needs Gold, Lawmaker Says
Bob, that's stupid.
September 15, 2026
Oil everywhere is up over $100/bbl and set to rise.
Prices at the pump are at record highs.
This appears to be set to get extremely bad.
September 16, 2026
The Fed raised interest rates, contrary to the wish of King Donald.
cont:
This guy is a Wharton graduate?
September 17, 2026
Railroad surcharges on grain have doubled over the past year.
September 18, 2026
If we buy $2 billion worth of bananas from Brazil, we’re actually losing $2 billion. So if we stop eating bananas, we actually save $2 billion.
Donald Trump
Oh for goodness sakes. What an idiotic statement.
But one Trump appears to really believe.
First of all, a trade deficit in and of itself, unless you believe in autarky, si not a bad thing. A rich country, which Trump is helping to end our status as, will probably have a trade deficit. Trade deficits can be bad, but not simply because they exist, but for other reasons.
And, this is a classic example from the Wealth of Nations.
The US produces hardly any bananas. Just some in Florida, which stay in Florida, and some in Hawaii.
The US imports hardly any bananas from Brazil. Brazil only exports about $21 million to $24 million anywhere. Brazil does import $11.23 billion in fuel from the US. And this economic analysis is moronic.
Even assuming that we bought bananas from Brazil, which we do not, if we are to eat bananas, and people like bananas, we have to buy them from a foreign source. We given them money, we get bananas.
That doesn't make us poor, it actually does the opposite.
Which, once again, leads to this:
WHARTON, WHAT THE FUCK IS MATTER WITH YOU? HOW DID THIS GUY GRADUATE WHAT IS SUPPOSED TO BE ONE OF THE BEST ECONOMIC SCHOOLS IN THE WORLD?
On this topic, the news relates that a top Texas BBQ joint will no longer offer beef brisket. Too expensive. That isn't a good sign.
September 24, 2026
The Secretary of Agriculture reports that if you don't like beef prices, you can switch to chicken or pork.
That's frankly quite true, and it's a thing that producers need to worry about. Pork was the primary meat for most Americans up until the post Civil War era. Once people make a major shift in diet, they tend to stick with it.
September 21, 1946 advertisement from the American Meat Institute featuring a leg of lamb.
Also regarding meat, the USDA is recalling 167,000 lbs of uninspected beef, pork and goat meat.
On all of this, the meat prices would be easy to blame on Trump, as the Wharton School of Business seems to be economically incompetent. This, however, is largely due to other factors, although I don't know how to explain the inspection glitch.
One thing that will impact the price of meat. . .and everything else, is the price of fuel. Indeed, after a year that featured record cattle prices, for those who had cattle to sell, profits are now being lost to diesel fuel.
A common cry out there in the hinterlands right now is to impose an export ban on diesel fuel. Such a ban was in place from 1975 to 2015. It's really debated what lifting the ban would do. Midwest GOP candidates started crying for it recently, but Wyoming's Congressional representation opposes it. That doesn't tell us much, however, as Wyoming's delegation probably wouldn't oppose a proposal to nuke the state.
Anyhow, Trump indicated support for a temporary ban, and then energy secretary Chris Wright walked it back, which is extremely interesting, particularly as farmers in the Midwest are now having real second thoughts about King Donald now that they realize he's fucking them with his policies, and not other people they didn't car about.
September 29, 2026
The Trump ban on the importation of Canadian alcohol, dairy and motorcycles, comes into effect today.
The ban is moronic.
Trump rolled back fuel efficiency standards on automobiles, as he's an ancient fool about to die and lives in the past in many ways.
And, on fuel, this item:
As Wyoming Tries Again To Build Out EV Charging Network, Trump Goes The Other Way
Wyoming has always had some progressive and farsighted people working behind the scenes while, at the same time, the troglodyte faction of the GOP, particularly strongly represented in the Wyoming Freedom Caucus From The South seek to believe it's 1861.
Electric vehicles are coming, and diesel at $6.00 will help revive interest in them. The comments on this, of course, are "dem new fangle aut o mobiles won't replace the horse", basically. EVs are coming, like it or not, and when the Trump administration is in the outhourse of history where it so richly belongs, they'll significantly revive.
September 30, 2026
A flood of Chinese soda ash has Wyoming’s industry swimming in troubled waters
And with the following item, we'll close out this installment:
The soaring cost of diesel means a bumpy road for school buses in Colorado
Footnotes
*Strasser was permanently ousted from influence in the Night of the Long Knives.
Schacht is interesting in that he was never a Nazi himself and was involved in prewar anti Nazi plots. He served in the German government nonetheless.
Last edition:
Subsidiarity Economics 2026. The Times more or less locally, Part 9, 25th Amendment Watch, 23d Edition. The Canadian Harvard and Oxford doctor in economics vs. the Wharton playboy. The Trade War with Canada edition.
Labels: 2026 Election, Agriculture, Cowards, Cynthia Lummis, Food, Harriet Hageman, Health, James Byrd, John Barrasso, Reid Rasner, restaurants and bars, The Second Trump Administration, Wyoming, Wyoming (Casper), Wyoming (Evanston) Canada, Education, Great Lakes, Industry, International trade, Lake Ontario, Mining, Populism, The Second Trump Administration, United States and Israel v. Iran,2020s, 2026, 25th Amendment Watch List, Canada, Distributism, Donald Trump, Economics, Mark Carney, Solidarity, Subsidiarity, The Madness of King Donald, Trump Trade Wars, United States, Wyoming, Wyoming's boom and bust economy
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