Public Finance

If you get the feeling this guy of full of it, it's only because he is.

His name is Matthew Lesko and you may recall him from those inane late-night infomercials I remember seeing since the mid 1990s.

They rival Head-On in stupidity.

Essentially Lesko's claim to fame is his assertion that the government is giving away millions and millions of dollars of "free Money" and you would be amazed at what you could get. Just buy any one of his 15 books on the subject.

I say any one of his books because they are all essentially the same thing. You actually can obtain the information for free. It's called the Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance. Published every year.

Famous (infamous) Quotes:
"I plagiarized the whole thing," he says proudly. "I didn't write a lick."

"I get stuff for free and I sell it for as much as I can get."

I Will NOT be showing a video as a matter of principle. Punish yourself on your own time.


Bridge to Nowhere

"Wasteful Spending" has been a catch phrase for a while now in the lingo of arguing for smaller government.

I thought I would take a look at the logistics of one of the more famous examples from the 2008 presidential election. Ignoring however, the he said she said of for or against.

The idea started and was championed by every Alaskan representative as a positive idea.

Personally I never had an opinion because I don't live in the area and don't know the specifics of the situation.

The Following is pulled from this website:





Why did they like it? Because every politician loves federal funding that boosts the economy of a given area in their district that creates jobs and looks good. Spending generally only becomes wasteful when it's not in your district.

Again from Knik Bridge Facts
Who will benefit from the bridge? Who will lose out?

Those who may benefit from the bridge include:

* Residential and industrial/commercial developers in the Point MacKenzie area
* Landowners in the Point MacKenzie area
* New homeowners in Point MacKenzie (but many of these homeowners will pay a daily toll to travel to work, reducing the financial gain from cheaper housing)
* Bridge-related construction firms

Those who may lose out from the bridge include:

* Downtown Anchorage businesses and cultural institutions
* Anchorage bowl residential property and business owners, whose homes and businesses will not increase in value as much as they would without a bridge
* Mat-Su Borough property owners whose taxes likely will increase to fund access roads and/or new infrastructure needed because of the bridge
* Communities throughout the state that will lose state transportation funds to pay for the Knik Arm bridge instead
* Government Hill residents, who will have a highway through their close-knit, historic neighborhood

Cost:
Total cost around 1.5 Billion dollars.

Although I would say that calling it a bridge to nowhere is a relative term. If you happen to find yourself on an uninhabited island and want to get back to the city, you may find yourself likely to take that convenient "Bridge to Somewhere"

Although the whole idea does remind me of this: