City Balance Sheet Dilemma! Blake Proves Worse Than Richetelli

FACTS DO NOT LIE! Milford Republicans prove themselves as less irresponsible than Milford Democrats. The Graph below demonstrates that when it comes to eroding the city balance Sheet, Mayor Ben Blake has topped all previous records held by the previous kleptocrat Jim Richetelli. The city is not yet bankrupt because we still have more assets than liabilities, but we are well on our way with Blake "the snake." I predicted some years ago that under the present trends the city would be in big trouble around 2014 at the latest, because that is when (under the present trends) Milford would have depleted its entire asset base. Every good accountant will tell you that when you have more Liabilities than assets you have a negative net worth or in other words you are bankrupt. This makes borrowing more difficult and creditors grow concerned about a responsible plan whereby the city can balance not only its budget but its books. This often results in a massive spike in property taxes, credit downgrades and a decline in services. The future of Milford looks bleak with this administration we may want to think about a change come next election. 

To see the graph click the link:

http://www.facebook.com/#!/roccofrank.milfordindependents

Taxes... They Are All Going Up... A Little

Milford's real estate taxes are going up a little only $106.00 for the average homeowner, state taxes well they are going up just a little when we include the increase in the sales tax, gas tax, and the  increased income tax. The average person in our state will have to pay an additional $750.00 a year. Federal taxes, well they are still working on that but we did see a glimpse of their plans, these include new health insurance taxes and carbon taxes.

To make matters more interesting there are thousands of homeowners who live in Milford that are part of Condo Associations, and yes those fees are also sadly going up with all else.

Thus far it would appear that the cost of food and clothing is going up along with the price of gas. Borders bookstore announced it is going into bankruptcy and will be closing its store at the Milford Mall. Connecticut's state unions are being forced into very large concessions and local governments like ours in Milford are still struggling to balance their budget.

The trend is very clear, the government wants more money from the taxpayers, employers cannot keep up and are laying people off or closing stores and more and more people are relying on help from the government.

Energy assistance, unemployment extensions, food stamps, housing assistance, health care for economically disadvantaged kids, and of course transportation assistance as we have seen in the past. These programs included "cash for clunkers," "Home buyers Credits," "cash infusions to big banks" and who can forget the millions of foreclosures and the latest government program "Keeping Americas Homes Affordable Act."

The disconnect between government, at all levels, and the reality that has become the Greatest Recession America has ever seen is crystal clear. The national debt is growing at a staggering pace and is expected to top 15 Trillion by years end, entire states are bankrupt, and municipalities are expected to go into default on government bonds issued under the "Renew America Act."

For the lucky few out there who have lots of savings, you may weather the storm and be able to see the light at the end of the tunnel. While no one knows where the "end of the tunnel" is, there are some out there who already see the the light.

Wall Street for some odd reason seems to defy Main Street, this is because as Main Street continues to struggle Wall Street continues to prosper. The index is up nearly 20% since last year but few on Main Street feel that recovery. Why you must be thinking? Over and over again the answer is clear and that is that Americas stock markets represent international companies with international business models. 

Many of the companies represented on Wall Street  are international companies. They do business in emerging and developed markets around the world and have unbridled access to liquid money and investment lending that ordinary Americans do not.

Most people who look at America for investing are immediately concerned with the extensive regulations on business that include employer mandates, environmental regulations, high energy costs, taxes, and according to our President our "D" rated infrastructure that must support their manufacturing operations. What governments fail to realize is that increases in taxes, along with the creation of new laws and regulations can dramatically alter the commercial and economic landscape of a community.

This problem is further exaggerated by treaties such as NAFTA, GATT, EPP, ETC.. these treaties make it possible for our nations corporations to shop every government in the world for economic opportunity and to gain an advantage over their competitors.

This is why so many former U.S. based companies have abandoned America. Our global manufacturing is more often than not conducted in nations that pay very low wages, have little to no regulation, low environmental standards and provide a welcome package for those who boost the quality of life of the once destitute people who lived in those host nations.

The issue of taxes, big government, and jobs will persist so long as we live in a bifurcated world where all levels of government tax without regard to the other. The notion of small tax increases is fine until those small increases, combined with others create an environment inhospitable to conduct business. The bankruptcy of Borders books this week is perhaps a reminder that things need to change if we are to stem the tide of economic decline in America and our state.

I hope those of you who read this today are able to make those decisions that ordinary job seekers cannot make for themselves, those decisions must be aimed at rebuilding the U.S. manufacturing base through tariffs and policies that help rather than hurt American wages and jobs. 

Milford CT High School Merger Followup.

A proposal to replace the city's two public high schools with one large, new one drew mixed reactions Tuesday.

Timothy Chaucer, who co-founded Milford Citizens Against Mega-Schools to defeat a similar plan five years ago, said Tuesday that large high schools don't work and that cities that have tried this experiment have gone back to two facilities.

"Fairfield tried this, and it was an absolute failure," said Chaucer, a retired Hamden High School teacher. "Meriden merged Maloney and Platt into one huge school and they regret it. Joe Foran (a former Milford superintendent), said the ideal size of a high school is 900 to 1,000 students." Rocco Frank, chairman of the local Independent Party, wrote on his blog that building one new high school makes more sense than spending the same amount of money to repair two older buildings that waste a lot of energy

Continue Reading Frank Juliano Story by Clicking HERE

Mail Delivery In Milford Hits Record Low

This is a blog about my daily conversations with our friendly mailmen in town. Recently I noticed there have been at least three different people delivering mail to my location. Earlier this week my local mailman Daniel stopped by to get his computer repaired and we got into a discussion about the status of the Postal Service here in Milford.

He repeated the same things that I heard my New Haven Ave. Mail person say, and that is "that the volume of mail in Milford is dramatically down." Daniel estimates that his route alone is off by about 50%.

This decline in volume could eventually translate to increased layoffs of Milford Postal workers, and the expansion of routes for the more senior postal employees. This problem has also been resonating at the national level as the post office has been running advertisements to boost flat rate box shipping.

This program, it is hoped, will increase volume from shippers who wish to have flat rate boxes up to 70Lbs. shipped anywhere in the U.S.

The economy has certainly been a factor in the Post Office problems, but when it is combined with the advent of e-mail and electronic transmissions that do not require postage, the future of the mailman gets pretty uncertain.

From my own personal experience the only things I receive via my mailbox is mostly bills and junk mail. Even many of my bills, if no money is owed or I pay online results in nothing being mailed to me in some cases.

Reform is required to alleviate these issues, and our misleading leaders always end up reverting to punitive actions against those systems that result in the problem. For a long time now there has been talk on Capitol Hill of taxing the Internet, and some Representatives have gone so far as to suggest a tax on e-mail to aid the ailing Post Office.

This idea was met with contempt from those in the Internet community who support "net neutrality" a concept that precludes any censorship, or regulation of the Internet. Media giants like Rupert Murdoch and Senator Rockefeller have gone on record and said the Internet is a economic hazard, not only to commercial interests but to the energy grid and military systems.

Thus far, there has been no successful legislation or attempts to tax E-mail to help the Postal Service, however the banking sector did succeed in having a court shut down Wikileaks, marking the first major case of Internet censorship in the U.S.

Economy Gives Mixed Signals

Connecticut resident, Glenn Beck often expresses great concern over the national economy. While many view Beck as a "Drama Queen" or an alarmist, that group is becoming the minority.

There is nothing more difficult, for any political official running for office, than to have to constantly address the negative elements of our great country. Our nation has always been the envy of the world with massive wealth, the worlds largest banks, and the highest standard of living.

Today our Federal government is now reaping the comeuppance of over 30 years of bad decisions. The punishment, unfortunately is not only theirs to bear but ours as well. How does main street affect your street? Well it is not hard to see, all you have to do is ask your neighbor what is going on with their stocks, 401K's, the value of their home, and the purchasing power of their dollars. We could then also pose the question has your income kept up with inflation? The answers are almost always somber and sobering, yet our citizens are correct when they say these problems are now so great they are beyond what our local or state leaders can repair.

Former governor Ventura on a GCN radio show told his listening audience that in his opinion and in the opinion of the economists he spoke to the only way we could begin to rectify our economy is to restore faith in the U.S. Dollar. This can occur by first addressing our national debt now estimated at 9.6 trillion dollars, ending our costly wars, and next (in my opinion) raising interest rates to attract foreign investors who have dollar wealth.

The weakening dollar has been blamed for the high cost of everything, while our Federal Leaders in Congress are blaming speculators on Wall Street for driving up energy prices, the reality is that this is only part of the problem. The weak U.S. dollar now fetching a record low of 1.60 Euro is as responsible for its loss of purchasing power as the Wall Street speculators.

America has now sadly reached a point where manufacturing has shrunk to less than 10% of all jobs, our banks are failing or are in serious trouble, Americans finding it difficult to afford their homes, health care is all but affordable, a nursing crisis exists, we import 70% of our Oil creating a disturbing transfer of wealth to foreigners and our capitol is paralyzed by global corporations who has a vested interest in eliminating our national sovereignty in favor of global trade agreements.

Television, and our American news reporters are nothing more than the spawn of "puppet masters" who report trite that fails to connect with the true nature and gravity of our nations peril. While the media calms the public, and often outright mocks our national issues with hundreds of channels of game shows, soap opera's, music video's, reality shows, and slanted feudalistic opinion shows we are in a state of our greatest national crisis since 1930.

There was a time when our national prosperity was so great that we, as a society became victims of our own complacency, we made a public oath never to discuss religion or politics... absolute lunacy for anyone who knows that the founders of America built our country with the moral foundations of religion and every citizen was either a minuteman or a freedom fighter vying to break the death grip of British occupation.

Today we have a population that polls 70% against the war in Iraq and yet one of the top Republican contenders John McCain vowed to keep us in Iraq for 100 years if necessary . Things are strange, and reality is often stranger than fiction. The future is posing challenges that have been all but forgotten but thoughts of preparedness, and survival are increasingly on peoples minds.

What you decide to do for yourself and family are entirely up to you, but during these hard and unpredictable times we can take nothing for granted. We need to be proactive and preemptive in our future plans for our families. Not being prepared for an economic anomaly can severely impede our quality of life.