Saturday, August 22, 2009

blog news

Hey sorry again for the long delay.

new job, long hours and low pay.

gads it's nice to be a college graduate. too bad that did not get me a job :-P

please stay tuned, more to come...

Monday, August 17, 2009

Oregon construction contractors license renewals dropped by almost 14%

USA Today --

The number of Oregon contractors renewing their general contractor's license is declining, and some worry that some contractors who are not renewing their licenses may be working illegally.

This is based on the decline of 699 license renewals and 220 construction businesses or individuals that were fined for working, or offering to work without a license.

"We think there is an increase (in contractors working without a license during the recession)," Yorke said. "There are a lot of Craigslist listings and informal work going on. Half of the people on Craigslist aren't licensed, and some of them even admit it."

out in the field, some contractors are seeing a real correlation between the economy and the number of unlicensed contractors trying to find work.
"I can't hire them," claims Tim Schmidt, owner of Got Power Electric. "There is work going on out there that is unlicensed and unpermitted. I know that for a fact. People are stupid if they don't renew their license. Even if you're not going to use it, you should renew it."

it is scary to hire a contractor who is not licensed and/or experience. However, isn't it interesting that "it seems" that the CCB is now concerned about the lack of revenue from contractors not renewing their licenses either because they're trying to cut costs or they went out of business in this economy by trying to compete against other contractors who are using illegal aliens to undercut them.

Wednesday, August 12, 2009

illegal aliens committing crimes and escaping back to Mexico
Beware!
It's no longer a safety zone from US law

The Oregonian--

Oregon police are hoping to take advantage of a little-known law in Mexico, article 4, which allows judges in Mexico to try their citizens accused of crimes overseas.

In the past, Mexicans who commit serious crimes in the United States could literally "go home and hide" and flee prosecution. The problem however is that article 4 cases are complicated and expensive.

Senator Ron Wyden has drafted a bill to streamline the filings of article 4 cases across the US. The bill would additionally create a Department position in the Justice Department, "director of foreign prosecution" would you be a liaison to the nation's attorney general.
"There's something very wrong when murderers, drug kingpins and violent criminals can come into Oregon, commit violent crimes, basically thumb their noses at the Oregon judicial system and go back across the border and live happily ever after," Wyden said in an interview.

although preferably Oregon would like to prosecute their own cases, Mexico's willingness to try their citizens for crimes across the border, saves Oregon the cost of apprehension, incarceration, prosecution and ultimately long-term incarceration was they are convicted by the Mexican government.

Tuesday, August 11, 2009

Monday, August 10, 2009

GPS transponders in personal vehicles
Oregon thinks it should be a federal program

Daily Journal of Commerce

Using a GPS system in your car in order to collect a VARIABLE PER MILE TRAVELED tax versus the current system of paying a tax per gallon, is such a bad idea, that US representative Earl Blumenauer, Democrat Oregon, would like to take it to the federal level.

To recap, this would require installing or having installed by the manufacturer a GPS system which will monitor how many miles you drive, where you drive, and what time of the day that you drive as well as the congestion level of the road in order to calculate how much tax that you owe the government for the pleasure of traveling down the road.

THE SOLE REASON that the government claims it needs such a system, is due to the higher efficiency cars do not generate the same REVENUE as lower efficiency vehicles. In other words, less gas used = less government revenue.

James Whitty, manager of ODOT’s Office of Innovative Partnerships and Alternative Funding, believes Oregon has the opportunity to “spread its expertise” across the nation. He’s confident the federal government will recognize this, and fill the state program’s funding gap.

“Oregon is still the only state that has tested a complete testing system for mileage fees,” Whitty said.

Oregon estimates that creating a vehicle's miles traveled fee could cost $33 million however, that cost could be offset in part by charging drivers for the transponders.
[for those you that are slow, basically you will be paying yourself for the device that will collect more money from you]

Blumenauer's office however says that a federal vehicle miles traveled fee program, could require a five to 10 year. Study and slow integration.

like I've always said, if you do the math... the "per mile traveled" GPS system will cost the consumer more than the current system.

For example, let's take a vehicle that gets 60 miles per gallon versus a vehicle that gets 20 miles per gallon and compare the GPS method of road tax collections versus the current system. Which do you think will cost more?


Car #1 gets 60 miles to the gallon. Car #2 gets 20 miles to the gallon. And we'll say that the current fuel tax is $.42 per gallon

both cars will travel 500 miles

Car #1 uses (500 divided by 60) 8.3 gallons of fuel times $3.50 per gallon = $29.05
car #2 uses (500 divided by 20 ) 25 gallons of fuel, times $3.50 per gallon = $87.50
in fuel cost alone, it costs car #2, $58.45 more than car #1 in fuel to get to the same destination.

At this point, using a higher mileage vehicle seems to make sense for the consumer. In other words, if you wish to use a vehicle that gets lower mileage, you will be paying for the privilege. Including, gas tax.
Car #1 is paying (8.3 times .42) $3.36 in taxes whereas
car #2 is paying (25 times .42) $10.50 in taxes for the same trip

Under the GPS per mile system...

Under normal road conditions, light traffic, the GPS system will be charging .02 cents per mile. .05 cents per mile in high congested areas. During our trip, 50 miles were through high congested zones.

Both cars of course will be paying the same amount of tax.

50 miles times .05 = $2.50
450 miles times .02 = $9
total tax collected = $11.50.

Both vehicles wind up paying more in fuel taxes.

The high mileage vehicle, car #1 Pays $8.14 MORE than under the current system while at the same time, car #2 merely pays one dollar more.

In short, the vehicles that cost more and gets better gas mileage is actually being penalized for their efficiency.

The ONLY economical advantage to the GPS system on every vehicle, is the revenue gains for the tax system, and a financial loss for the consumer.

Tuesday, August 04, 2009

Still Around

Hi folks,

Yes I am still around, and have a LOT of stuff that the good fools (er, I mean folks) in the Salem capital are up to.

however, unlike the government, I have to take care of my financial responsibilities.

please keep checking back for more fun and excitement.

Robin