BuckeyeBlog

If you think the “stimulus” package is doing any good, this chart should disabuse you of that notion:

If you need any more explanation about the stimulus package’s failures, the article that contains this chart is found here.

While I have issues with some of Governor Strickland’s decisions, he hit the nail on the head with his recent comments about tax increases, as quoted by Gongwer News Service($):

Maybe in their ivory towers a tax increase seems like something that would not be painful or harmful. I have said that I think a tax increase could – could – have the effect of deepening the recession and causing it to last longer. And I continue to hold to that belief….I think those who believe that higher taxes are the answer to Ohio’s economic needs and economic recovery are flat out wrong.

He said this in response to Senator Voinovich’s glee over the idea that the slots plan may be killed and thus taxes may have to be raised. As the governor told the Columbus Dispatch:

If I were to have to ask the people of Ohio, as they are struggling to survive in this economic recession, to give even more of their resources to the state, it, in my judgment, would not be the best course of action…. [Senator Voinovich] has a right to his opinion, but he is not the governor. I’m the governor, and I will make the decisions that I consider in the best interest of the state of Ohio.

In this case, the people of Ohio are lucky that Strickland, not Voinovich, is governor. Strickland understands that taxes take the resources of Ohioans and that there are negative economic consequences from raising taxes. Sure, Ohio would be in a better position if Strickland had clamped down on spending more in his first few years in office, but he deserves credits from all fiscal conservatives for holding the line on tax increases.

Not very, according to this article:

Health insurers, in fact, ranked below many other industries in profitability, including other health sectors, according to the latest Fortune magazine rankings. While pharmaceutical companies were the third-most profitable industry last year, with a 19.3 percent profit margin, health insurers ranked 35th, with a 2.2 percent profit margin. Health insurers also ranked lower in profitability than medical products and equipment makers, pharmacies and medical facilities.

Those who say the profit motive destroy health care in this country are ignorant not only of basic economics but also the health care marketplace. Many health insurers and health care providers are non-profit organizations. And even those health insurance companies that are for-profit don’t have very high profit margins. Even if the federal government confiscated every dollar in profit made by health insurance companies it would do almost nothing to reduce overall health care spending.

The Washington Post has a story today about an Ohio woman who is unable to find work in this state and so moves to North Dakota:

She grew up in California, taught piano while raising two children in Nevada, filed for divorce and decided to attend college in Ohio starting in 2004. She wanted to find a “grown-up” job. After graduating from Ohio University in March, she spent three weeks working with a career counselor and scanning local job listings. Nothing.

She lowered her expectations and applied for hourly-wage jobs across Ohio. Nothing.

After searching in other states, she found a job in North Dakota. While this one story isn’t really anything to base public policy on, it certainly puts Ohio to shame when graduates are leaving to work not in Florida or Texas or some other sunny state that’s noted for its good business climate, but are instead going to North Dakota.

According to the Tax Foundation, North Dakota ranks 30 in terms of the state business tax climate. Ohio ranks 47. I’ve written here about how to make Ohio a more attractive place for college graduates.

Here is video with Maurice Thompson of the 1851 Center for Constitutional Law and Fox News Contributor, Judge Andrew Napolitano:

Police equipment costs are adding to the City of Columbus’ budget hole again this year.

According to a report provided to City Council in 2007, the Columbus Division of Police’s helicopter fleet is the third largest of any police helicopter fleet in the country. The City even seems to be in disagreement about just how many choppers make up the fleet. One report links the city to owning eight helicopters, six of which are operational and another two that are held in storage.

A 2008 report from the City Auditor cites seven fully operational helicopters. City Council approved the purchase of a new helicopter in 2007, which cost tax payers $1,356,545. If each helicopter cost around $1.3 million, the city has spent between $9.1 and $10.4 million on purchasing helicopters. In addition, the city has $1.7 million worth of insurance on each helicopter.

However, those figures do not include the cost of operating every helicopter. In a report to City Council, the division claims to fly a helicopter in the air 16 hours a day, 365 days a year. That is more than 5,800 hours a year. According to a manual on the manufacturer’s website, it costs $375/hour to operate a McDonnell Douglass MD500E. Therefore, the cost of operating one helicopter at that rate is $2.19 million a year.

However, the claim that helicopters are used 16 hours per day is inconsistent with the numbers in the department’s budget this year. Only $248,000 has been appropriated for fuel costs this year, but as of June 23, 2009, not a single penny of that money has been spent. So far this year, the department has spent $100,000 on maintaining and servicing its fleet.

Does the City own “hybrid” helicopters that don’t require fuel, or is the fleet not being used as regularly as the Division claims?

Recent posts regarding the City of Columbus employee salary database has garnered some attention throughout Columbus and Ohio.  A lot of the interest stems from Issue One, a proposed income tax increase in the City of Columbus.  I had an opportunity to join Dirk Thompson from 610 WTVN on his show “Dirk Thompson Hunt for the Truth.”  Click here to listen to the show.

More information regarding the employee salary database can be found here.

President Obama has said that under his health care reform, “if you like your doctor, you keep your doctor.” While President Obama wants to create a new government-run “insurance” program, there are already government-run health care programs for the poor and elderly. Perhaps the President is unaware of it, but in one of these programs, Medicaid, some patients are having to sue the government in order to keep their own doctors:

Some desperate patients went to court in Hamilton County Monday, begging a judge for help.

They say the state won’t let them see their longtime doctors anymore.

The patients are so sick, they’re in the state’s Medicaid program for the aged, blind and disabled.

They’ve sued to keep their Health Alliance doctors and hospitals after the state’s Medicaid provider, Buckeye Insurance, dropped the Health Alliance in April.

If the government is already forcing people in government health care to choose new doctors, can we really believe that this will change under a new government health care program?

The Division of Police is the biggest personnel cost for the City of Columbus.  It represents over 31% of total personnel costs in 2008, totaling over $166 million.

The Division of Police employed over 2,300 people last year.  More than 950 of those employees earned more than $75,000 in 2008; that is more than 40% of the people employed by the Division of Police.  97% of those earning more than $75,000 were police officers.

A number of Division of Police employees are making even more than that, 150 employees took in more than $100,000 in 2008.  More than 90% of those employees were police officers.

79% of employees in the Division of Police earned more than the median household income in Columbus.  The percentage of police officers making more than that is even higher, 93%.

Employees in the Columbus Division of Fire are seeing plenty of green as well.  Over 800 employees in the fire division took home more than $75,000 last year.  More than 120 of them earned more than $100,000.

More than 1,500 employees in the fire division took home “other” pay that was more than $1,000.  20% of the total money paid toward Columbus Division of Fire salaries went to overtime or “other” pay last year.

Extra hours means lots of extra money for the City of Columbus.  In 2008, total overtime pay for City Columbus employees was over $28 million.

Over 150 city employees made more than $25,000 in overtime alone last year.  That overtime payment alone is more than 65% of the median household earned in Columbus.  Those same employees represent 65% of the total overtime pay.

Who brought in the most?  The top ten employees who made the most overtime in 2008 all worked for the Police or Sewerage and Drain Division.  These same employees all made more than $106,000 total last year and all of the top ten overtime earners also took home “other” pay.

The City of Columbus paid these ten employees $80,407.83 more in overtime pay than in regular pay.  Their overtime pay is on average more than 51% of their total pay in 2008.