The sandwich chain, not the underground train. And it has wifi.
There wasn’t any internets at the event at Zones, but good lord, Ron Sims was off his ass good. After he’s done with politics, he should get his own TV show.
Turns out Zones is the biggest minority-owned business in Washington state. They have 700 employees, up from 550+ not too long ago. They want to DOUBLE in size. When right wingers say that the Gov is running business out of town, I have to ask: which ones?
Rep. Dicks made it clear that he thinks Gregoire is one of, if not the best, Gov. since Rossellini.
During her speech, Gregoire listed several accomplishments, some of which you think wouldn’t excite a room full of liberals. More prison space, property tax lids, that kind of thing. But at least Gregoire is consistent: she’s committed to following the will of the voters. That goes for property taxes, but also teacher pay and class size initiatives. (The last two, Rossi’s 2003 budget didn’t fund.)
This laptop is taking some getting used to. My elbows hurts. More later, I promise.
What about the Gregoire reinstating the “Death Tax” did that follow the will of the voters?
Unlike Gary Do Nothing Locke, we always know where the Governor stands on major issues. If she hasn’t decided, we know that as well. I predict that the Governor will coast to reelection on her record and that Dino Rossi will have to explain to his pals how he managed to get beat (again) by a mere woman.
@ 1
Actually, yes.
1 Which voters? The few inheritors of millions who are in a position to care, or the rest of us who don’t give a shit?
I see in the news that Ellen Craswell has died at age 75. She made an important contribution to Washington politics by helping elect Gary Locke governor, and we should all respect her memory.
The state inheritance tax was thrown out by the courts on a legal technicality. The Legislature imposed the tax by cross-reference to a provision of the IRS code that Congress subsequently repealed. When something like this happens, the normal procedure is for the Legislature to pass a housekeeping measure to clean up the language of the state statute, but apparently nobody was aware of the problem until clever lawyers challenge the tax in court. The state supreme court agreed with the lawyers and ruled that in the absence of the federal law the state statute was no longer in effect.
In reinstating the state inheritance tax, which had been on the books for decades, Gov. Gregoire and the Democratic legislators gave heirs a 50% tax cut. This was more than fair to heirs; after all, why should people get millions of dollars of unearned income (and this tax doesn’t affect earned income or inheritances of less than $2 million) pay no taxes at all, when working people struggling to make ends meet are already paying more than their fair share?
The wealthy free riders just got a huge tax break — the Democrats cut the state inheritance tax in half — and all we get from them is bitching. Go figure.
And yes, it’s fair for Gov. Gregoire to campaign on a platform of having cut taxes, because she did. She cut the inheritance tax by 50%, and deserves credit for that.
The last thing we should do is raise taxes on the poor, unemployed, disabled, and senior citizens on fixed incomes. The P-I has a story today about the financial travails battering retirees:
“The Money Squeeze: Seniors face financial ‘quadruple whammy’
“Retirees see expenses rise, income fall in an ailing economy
“By JENNIFER LANGSTON
“P-I REPORTER
” … With gas approaching $4 a gallon and no sign that food prices will ease soon, many seniors are finding that their income — whether from Social Security, pensions, savings or investments — is losing ground to inflation. …
“A troubling combination of rising food prices, higher energy costs, larger health care bills, reduced interest on savings and stock market declines has developed over the last few months, said John Rother, director of policy and strategy for AARP.
“If it were simply a problem in one part of the economy, people might be able to adapt, he said. But it’s not. ‘It’s more than a double whammy — it’s more like a quadruple whammy,’ he said. …
“So far, Seattle hasn’t experienced the same kind of job losses and plummeting home values as some other parts of the country. But the flip side of that relatively intact economy is inflation: food prices up 4.2 percent from last year; clothes up 5.1 percent; medical care up 6.5 percent; gasoline up 27 percent, according to figures released last month by the U.S. Department of Labor.
“In a survey of aging baby boomers by the city of Seattle in September, residents said the high cost of living and expensive housing were the top two things making Seattle a bad place to retire. …
Tim Hill, president of the financial planning company BAC and a volunteer adviser for Senior Services of Seattle/King County, said he’s hearing more concern from clients who are trying to retire …. Seniors on fixed incomes with no investments are ‘in a very anxious position …,’ he said. …
“Alvertine Williams, 86, a retired receptionist who lives in the Central District, is characteristically pragmatic about the rising expenses that are chewing up her pension. ‘People are all broke, honey,’ she said. ‘But you start boiling the pot of beans instead of eating whatever you want.'”
Quoted under fair use; for complete article and/or copyright info see http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/.....eze07.html
Roger Rabbit Commentary: It’s hard to appreciate what it’s like being a senior citizen on a fixed income until you’re there. When you walk out of the employer’s door, staring at the gold-colored plastic watch they gave you, you should tell yourself, “It may seem like a lot right now, but this has to last the rest of my life, because it’s all I’m ever going to have.” When you reach a certain age, you don’t have the option to work anymore, because employers won’t hire you no matter how good your skills are. Somehow, they always figure out your age no matter how much plastic surgery you’ve had — I don’t know how they do it, maybe it’s the fact the first three digits of your social security number are all zeros.
Inflation is the retiree’s worst enemy. A pension that is adequate when you retire becomes peanuts within a few years. Most retirees are soon forced to economize, cut spending, and save everything they can. They quickly learn to do without luxuries like movie tickets, restaurant meals, the daily latte, exotic rabbit hunting trips on private game farms, and light rail. They take advantage of free services and recreation at senior centers, get rid of the second car, make weekly trips to the food bank, ask their doctor for free medicine samples, and vote against higher sales taxes for light rail. But eventually inflation overwhelms even these strategies, and then you have no choice but to sign up for Medicaid, check into a nursing home, and wait to fucking die.
@6 why should people get millions of dollars of unearned income (and this tax doesn’t affect earned income or inheritances of less than $2 million) pay no taxes at all, when working people struggling to make ends meet are already paying more than their fair share?
Why shouldn’t they Roger? Or more accurately, why should the government get it? What did the state do to deserve the fruits of someone elses labor? Yeah the heirs are merely inheriting, but so what? If they don’t deserve their inheritance, why should anyone at all?
As for working people, paying more than their fair share? What exactly is “their fair share”? Can you define it? How is it determined? No one has ever asked me what “my fair share” should be. Why not? You’re always bragging about not working, so shouldn’t you be paying most, or at least more, of your unearned income to the state? And if they’re remiss in collecting, then surely it’s your moral duty to go ahead and write them a check anyway? Afterall, you aren’t paying your fair share, otherwise. Right?
@9 “Why shouldn’t they Roger? Or more accurately, why should the government get it? What did the state do to deserve the fruits of someone elses labor?”
Your argument, as I interpret it, is that no one should pay any taxes and there should be no government. Try that in a commune with your fellow wingnuts on a desert island and report back to us in 12 months on how well (or poorly) it works.
Why shouldn’t heirs pay taxes on millions of dollars they did nothing to earn? Because that would require people who do pay taxes on money they had to work for to pay more, and that’s unfair. If you can’t see this, you’re a clod.
Hi all, Let’s change the subject from the death tax already!
It’s depressing how the left is so happy with Gregoire.
Building more prison space–what a wonderful accomplishment! Now we can put more young people of color in jail for various victimless crimes against Prohibition so industries can have more access to Prison labor, our new way of ushering slavery back into this country through the side-door.
I certainly don’t want Rossi, but let’s face it, Rossi isn’t going to get 40% of the vote this time around, so real leftists should refrain from unnecessarily cannonizing this visionless governor.
Thanks all, New Left Conservative #1
@11 What I see is that you wiggle like a snake to avoid answering a straightforward question. Of course you were a lawyer. Equivocation must be second nature for such as you.
I don’t know I’d go so far as to say Gov. Gregiore is the best governor since Rossellini. Rossellini was a good governor but I think Gov. Evans was better, he has been called one of the 10 best governors of the 20th century.
Still I don’t think I’ll get much argument in saying Gov. Ray, Gov. Spellman, Gov. Gardener, Gov. Lowry, and Gov. Locke aren’t quite up to the standard set By Gov. Rossellini and Gov. Evans.
I will say she might be the best since Gov. Evans. She’s certainly got Ray, Spellman, Lowry, and Locke beat.