Kentucky Government Pressing for Gambling Revenue

With the government of Kentucky, overall, refusing to make the tough decisions associated with
spending far more than it takes in, there is a growing move to make it legal for casinos to operate in the state.

Co-chairman of Kentucky Wins, a proponent of Kentucky gambling, Bill Robinson, says, “Statisticians, people that study these things, estimate over $500 million a year is leaving Kentucky going to surrounding states because of gambling in surrounding states. We need the money to stay home. We need the money to benefit Kentucky’s citizens.”

Concerns are the introduction of gambling would lead to government corruption, gambling addiction, and an increase in crime.

One bill has already been filed that would allow casino gambling to be placed on the November 2014 ballot. It would require a constitutional amendment to make gambling legal in Kentucky. This particular bill would require any casino to be operate in only counties bordering other states. There are plans for another bill to be introduced as well.

As usual, the major problem isn't addressed, which is out-of-control government spending, much of which is allocated to the pensions government workers who are paid benefits far above the private sector.

This is the real issue that must be addressed. With the government, if new revenues are found and spent, it will still do nothing to cut back on spending unless it's forced to.

Let's see cutbacks in outrageous government employee benefits so the rest of us don't have to continue to pay for them.

Kentucky Horse Breeders Now Eligible for Disaster Aid

Horse breeding farms in Kentucky will now be eligible for some federal aid when disasters hit the state.

The parameters associated with being eligible for relief include commercially operating horse breeding farms which also claim the breeders for tax purposes with the IRS.

Horse farms will now be able to seek technical assistance and emergency loans for restoration after natural disasters occur. The programs are administered under the auspices of the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Other benefits are for relief during times of drought where emergency water measures may need to be taken.

Kentucky Lawmakers Refuse to Fix Pension System

The alleged attempts to fix the government pension system of Kentucky remain anemic, to say the least, as there have been no attempts to deal with the real problem, which is overpaid and overcompensated government workers.

All that is being done so far is to put a retirement plan in place that is somewhat like a 401(K) for new employees, and cap the cost-of-living increases for government workers already drawing benefits.

With the deficit already at $33 billion and growing, these types of band aid fixes are a joke, and it does nothing to deal with the real problem, which is government workers are paid and compensated far beyond what the productive private sector can pay for, and that wages and benefits need to be slashed to market rates, while government workers begin to bear the major brunt of the outrageous benefits they get by paying more for their own unsustainable plans.

It worked fantastic in Wisconsin, and it should work well here too. It only took a fairly short time after workers were asked to contribute a little bit more to their plans that the situation righted itself. That is what should be done in Kentucky as well.

The problem is the lawmakers are cowards in that they refuse to take these needed steps, and instead are looking to throw this burden on the already heavily taxed private sector by, of course, looking to raise taxes to solve the problem.

Everyone is talking about the lack of a revenue source. There is no lack of a revenue source, there is a lack of will to make those receiving these ridiculous benefit packages to pay more for their own way.

After all, why should us in the private sector have to pay for government workers who get far more pay and benefits than we do? The answer is we shouldn't, and the only long-term solution is to make the government workers pay more for their own way. How hard is that to understand and implement?

U.S. Postal Service to Stop Saturday Deliveries

The U.S. Postal Service announced it will stop delivering mail on Saturdays, although it will still deliver packages on that day.

Financially struggling, the mail service will announce today that the changes will be implemented in August, and should save the service about $2 billion a year.

The decision actually makes sense because people have increasingly abandoned the use of physical letters and gone with a variety of Internet services as their main means of communication. On the other hand, package delivery has increased about 14 percent for the agency.

It appears this will drag the politicians into the fray, as they have quietly done nothing to alleviate the problem, as the Post Service has asked to change delivery to a five-day week for several years without Congress doing anything. This announcement will force them to respond in one way or another, which is what should have been done a long time ago.

Patrick R. Donahoe, postmaster general and CEO of the entity, said this in a prepared statement, "The Postal Service is advancing an important new approach to delivery that reflects the strong growth of our package business and responds to the financial realities resulting from America's changing mailing habits. We developed this approach by working with our customers to understand their delivery needs and by identifying creative ways to generate significant cost savings."

Some aren't sure the U.S. Postal Service has the authority to implement the changes without the approval of Congress, but it is probably being done more to force the issue and face the needed changes.

In reality, it's best that the U.S. Postal Service be gradually shut down, as there are more than enough private companies to take care of all the delivery needs of people.

When we live in an age where government spending is out of control and a mounting debt that will never be able to be paid off, it's imperative that government shrinks in size, and the U.S. Post Office is a good place to start.

As for Post Offices being opened on Saturday, the Postal Service says those that are already doing business will remain open; the implication being you can do business there even though there will be no Saturday deliveries.

The agency lost an incredible $15.9 billion in its last fiscal year, which was reported in November, and looks for more of the same in 2013. In order to deal with the situation it had to default on billions in prepayments for the health benefits of retirees in order to keep from declaring bankruptcy.

The $15.9 billion in losses was three times what it was the year before. It has also reached its borrowing limit, which is in reality good, as there is no reason for it to continue to mount debt in a shrinking market.

Now that the mail delivery pace has somewhat leveled out, the biggest challenge, as it will be for all government workers who are entering retirement, are the pensions they are promised by the government, which are simply unsustainable to pay for.

Of the $15.9 billion in losses, $11.1 billion of that is directly related to paying out the mandatory costs of pensions and health benefits for government workers, benefits that are far beyond what the private sector enjoys.

The answer is to make these over-compensated government workers pay more of the financial burden themselves. It worked fantastic in Wisconsin, and it'll work in other government agencies as well.
A unique factor for the Post Office is Congress requires it to place $55 billion in an account to cover health benefits for the future, with the Post Office having a goal of placing $5.5 billion a year into it until it reaches that level. It has no money to do so, and so is looking at ways to cut other costs.

Other steps that are expected to be taken are to close small rural post offices and to restructure the pension and health care costs of retirees. Even that may not be enough to save it.

Again, why try to save something that has no way of surviving, and really no longer has a practical purpose to serve? There are plenty of other services out there, which do a far better job, and can do it profitably.

The bottom line for government workers, just as here in Kentucky, it they're over-compensated, and the productive private sector can't afford to prop up and pay for the outrageous benefits and pay packages offered to them.

This is going to happen again and again across government agencies, which have repeated this disaster over and over again, and are now facing the consequences of making promises they can't fulfill.

It's not known at this time whether this will have an impact on the Larue County Post Office.