Federal Funding in Education
Controlling federal funding is well beyond the scope of a state senator, and I am fully aware of this fact. Apparently I indicated in a newspaper interview over five months ago that I was opposed to our schools receiving any federal funding. That overstates my position. This statement is now being used to play 'gotcha' in an effort to color public perception on my views regarding education. Federal control concerns me greatly, because when the decision-making process is far removed from the communities involved, the effects of bad policy decisions become difficult to adjust or correct. My other grave concern is we have developed a deadly dependency on federal funding. When the "austerity measures" hit our continent, how will we cope? My campaign has not focused on eliminating the Dept. of Education. What I have focused attention on is positioning Idaho to survive when much of the loose federal spending has to be reigned in. Anyone willing to look at the volumes I have written on my website and blog will see that I desire genuine improvement in education. And a honest look at the education systems throughout the country will support the premise that more funding is not the answer. We need key reforms to help local communities meet the educational needs of their students, with more parental control and involvement and less federal mandate. When government decisions are moved closer to the people, it gives accountability and transparency a fighting chance. http://chum.ly/n/3fbf02
Thursday, October 28, 2010
Post from greshambouma at CHUM.LY
Every time you create a new federal agency which handles money, you create a new niche market for criminals to exploit. The criminals just learn to do paperwork and too often the federal employees in their overpaid, union protected jobs are either incompetent or indifferent as they dole out the "free money" that has been extracted from you and I. Do we really want Obamacare to create a whole slew of new bureaucracies at this point? Should Idaho give up another whole category of rights to the federal government? No. Lets make Idaho a means of protecting our rights, our freedom, our cash. http://chum.ly/n/3fb66f
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
Post from greshambouma at CHUM.LY
If People ain't Working the Economy Ain't Working
We're at the end of a trend known as tax, borrow and spend, and its going to be ugly because when govt. spending goes bust so does the economy. The economic hardship we are experiencing has occurred in spite of massive govt. stimulus which means we ain’t seen nothing yet. It is maybe world history's biggest “elephant in the room”, but the media is starting to feel around its legs like blind men examining that same elephant. Just remember, if people ain't working, the economy ain't working. http://chum.ly/n/3f95a9
We're at the end of a trend known as tax, borrow and spend, and its going to be ugly because when govt. spending goes bust so does the economy. The economic hardship we are experiencing has occurred in spite of massive govt. stimulus which means we ain’t seen nothing yet. It is maybe world history's biggest “elephant in the room”, but the media is starting to feel around its legs like blind men examining that same elephant. Just remember, if people ain't working, the economy ain't working. http://chum.ly/n/3f95a9
Sunday, October 24, 2010
Post from greshambouma at CHUM.LY
Only one more "Frieday" left for this lightning rod! http://chum.ly/n/3e6bd1
Thursday, October 21, 2010
Post from greshambouma at CHUM.LY
Let's Make Idaho More Business Friendly
It should be painfully obvious to all of us that America’s economic trouble is just starting. We have been struggling economically for ten years in spite of massive government stimulus. The borrowing and spending has gone off the charts lately, and we need to sober up and think about what life will be like when we have to live within our means. The federal budget for 2010 shows close to 2.2 Trillion in gross revenue while it shows total spending of over 3.7 Trillion. It is spending about 68% more than it brings in during 2010. What happens when the world’s biggest spender has to cut its budget by around 70% because it can no longer find willing lenders? With federal debt at 13.5 Trillion., we owe about six times our annual tax receipts. This is like a person making 50 K a year, spending 85 K, and carrying credit card debt of 300 K.
To solve a problem, the first step is to correctly identify it. Until America comes to grips with the unbelievable problems our own government has created for us, we won’t begin to correctly address those problems. What Idaho needs to do is to protect and encourage every bit of economic strength that we have. Every job and business is important, and businesses that produce exports or reduce our reliance on outside goods are extremely vital. Idaho’s taxes are already higher than our surrounding states, and that is a serious error. Our regulations need to be reasonable and our taxes absolutely must not be raised or we are cutting our own economic throats. If we want jobs and a future for our children, we must let the sustainable job-producing sector grow, rather than the burden of government. http://chum.ly/n/3d6638
It should be painfully obvious to all of us that America’s economic trouble is just starting. We have been struggling economically for ten years in spite of massive government stimulus. The borrowing and spending has gone off the charts lately, and we need to sober up and think about what life will be like when we have to live within our means. The federal budget for 2010 shows close to 2.2 Trillion in gross revenue while it shows total spending of over 3.7 Trillion. It is spending about 68% more than it brings in during 2010. What happens when the world’s biggest spender has to cut its budget by around 70% because it can no longer find willing lenders? With federal debt at 13.5 Trillion., we owe about six times our annual tax receipts. This is like a person making 50 K a year, spending 85 K, and carrying credit card debt of 300 K.
To solve a problem, the first step is to correctly identify it. Until America comes to grips with the unbelievable problems our own government has created for us, we won’t begin to correctly address those problems. What Idaho needs to do is to protect and encourage every bit of economic strength that we have. Every job and business is important, and businesses that produce exports or reduce our reliance on outside goods are extremely vital. Idaho’s taxes are already higher than our surrounding states, and that is a serious error. Our regulations need to be reasonable and our taxes absolutely must not be raised or we are cutting our own economic throats. If we want jobs and a future for our children, we must let the sustainable job-producing sector grow, rather than the burden of government. http://chum.ly/n/3d6638
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
Stimson Lumber CEO: Oregon on "skull and crossbones list" | www.oregonlive.com
blog.oregonlive.com/mapesonpolitics/2010/10/stimso....html
Hiring people in Idaho and laying off in Oregon because of the business climate! Businesses care about the climate! http://chum.ly/n/3d111b
Hiring people in Idaho and laying off in Oregon because of the business climate! Businesses care about the climate! http://chum.ly/n/3d111b
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
China's not the villain if the West tries to debase its debt through QE - Telegraph
www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/comment/liamhalligan/8....html
This article notes that the US has already had a Quantitative Easing program of 1.7 Trillion (QE is when you print $ out of thin air and use it to buy your own debt). Historically, this has always been the action of countries in desperate financial trouble (just like us). http://chum.ly/n/3cefd3
This article notes that the US has already had a Quantitative Easing program of 1.7 Trillion (QE is when you print $ out of thin air and use it to buy your own debt). Historically, this has always been the action of countries in desperate financial trouble (just like us). http://chum.ly/n/3cefd3
Thursday, October 14, 2010
Post from greshambouma at CHUM.LY
Side With Citizen Involvement
Attacking someone you don’t know and have never spoken to has its advantages--you can say anything since you know almost nothing at all. To say I don’t care about older people is just one of many false accusations leveled at me by Vera White [various INK columns]. My favorite part of campaigning has been meeting with retired folks. I deeply value the older generation and believe in honoring them. My world is enriched by lifelong friendships with them, their great wisdom and wonderful stories, and I visit nursing homes regularly. I hope our retired community will forgive me for wanting to bring my complete message in my own format rather than AARP's. Those who have heard me speak may recall that one of my legislative goals is to keep our parents and grandparents from losing their residences if property taxes keep escalating beyond their ability to pay. Rising property taxes are a tremendous burden for those on fixed incomes, as many elderly can attest.
My opposition calls me a tea party candidate, a great evil in their eyes. The 'tea party' is a disorganized nationwide grassroots movement composed of Democrats, Republicans and Independents...common people fed up with big government politicians from both parties. To attack the tea party is to attack the very idea of citizen involvement in government. These attacks seek to protect big, bloated, powerful government from the average mom, dad, grandma and grandpa who feel outraged at the debt shackling our future. Is accountability and transparency too much to demand from government? In this David & Goliath struggle, Vera and much of the media champion Goliath. I urge voters to stand for the Davids, for the people and for liberty.
Gresham Bouma
for Idaho Senate District 6
sent 10/6/10, published in Moscow-Pullman Daily News on 10/12/10 http://chum.ly/n/3b0ec9
Attacking someone you don’t know and have never spoken to has its advantages--you can say anything since you know almost nothing at all. To say I don’t care about older people is just one of many false accusations leveled at me by Vera White [various INK columns]. My favorite part of campaigning has been meeting with retired folks. I deeply value the older generation and believe in honoring them. My world is enriched by lifelong friendships with them, their great wisdom and wonderful stories, and I visit nursing homes regularly. I hope our retired community will forgive me for wanting to bring my complete message in my own format rather than AARP's. Those who have heard me speak may recall that one of my legislative goals is to keep our parents and grandparents from losing their residences if property taxes keep escalating beyond their ability to pay. Rising property taxes are a tremendous burden for those on fixed incomes, as many elderly can attest.
My opposition calls me a tea party candidate, a great evil in their eyes. The 'tea party' is a disorganized nationwide grassroots movement composed of Democrats, Republicans and Independents...common people fed up with big government politicians from both parties. To attack the tea party is to attack the very idea of citizen involvement in government. These attacks seek to protect big, bloated, powerful government from the average mom, dad, grandma and grandpa who feel outraged at the debt shackling our future. Is accountability and transparency too much to demand from government? In this David & Goliath struggle, Vera and much of the media champion Goliath. I urge voters to stand for the Davids, for the people and for liberty.
Gresham Bouma
for Idaho Senate District 6
sent 10/6/10, published in Moscow-Pullman Daily News on 10/12/10 http://chum.ly/n/3b0ec9
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
Post from greshambouma at CHUM.LY
Taxing, borrowing and spending is highly stimulative as long as much of the borrowing or taxes comes from outside the system. When all the taxes and borrowing comes from inside the system all you do is transfer economic activity from the wealth producing (private) sector to the wealth consuming sector (public). Wait, you say, you can’t tax foreign sources! Not true, you just have to be sneaky. You do it by expanding your money supply, which is a stealth tax on anyone who holds your debt or currency in their account. As long as the market does not devalue your currency as you inflate it, you transfer wealth and the game goes on. http://chum.ly/n/3a1cce
Monday, October 11, 2010
Senator Fulcher Endorses Bouma
Dear Editor,
As Idaho Citizens, all of us should be interested in who is representing us in the Idaho legislature. But as a member of the Idaho State Senate, I also have an immediate vested interest in who I will be working with.
So when Gresham Bouma won the primary election last May, I took the initiative of getting to know him. I asked him to communicate to me his platform and positions on issues currently facing Idaho. The summary of that dialogue is this: I like what I see.
It is clear to me Gresham understands that our future is dependent on a well-funded, diversified education system. Gresham also understands that the answers to the economic challenges we face today are based on empowering the free market, encouraging individual incentives, and protecting personal liberties.
I believe that if you elect Gresham Bouma to the State Senate on Nov. 2, he will represent his constituents with honesty, integrity, and dedication. He has responded to me and my questions by preparing diligently and analyzing all of the issues placed before him; all with the spirit of "listening before speaking."
I expect to start my 4th term in the legislature this coming January, and I want Gresham Bouma there with me. Only you can make that happen, and I respectfully ask that you do.
Sincerely,
Senator Russ Fulcher
Majority Caucus Chairman, Idaho State Senate
Published in the M/P Daily News
As Idaho Citizens, all of us should be interested in who is representing us in the Idaho legislature. But as a member of the Idaho State Senate, I also have an immediate vested interest in who I will be working with.
So when Gresham Bouma won the primary election last May, I took the initiative of getting to know him. I asked him to communicate to me his platform and positions on issues currently facing Idaho. The summary of that dialogue is this: I like what I see.
It is clear to me Gresham understands that our future is dependent on a well-funded, diversified education system. Gresham also understands that the answers to the economic challenges we face today are based on empowering the free market, encouraging individual incentives, and protecting personal liberties.
I believe that if you elect Gresham Bouma to the State Senate on Nov. 2, he will represent his constituents with honesty, integrity, and dedication. He has responded to me and my questions by preparing diligently and analyzing all of the issues placed before him; all with the spirit of "listening before speaking."
I expect to start my 4th term in the legislature this coming January, and I want Gresham Bouma there with me. Only you can make that happen, and I respectfully ask that you do.
Sincerely,
Senator Russ Fulcher
Majority Caucus Chairman, Idaho State Senate
Published in the M/P Daily News
Sunday, October 3, 2010
Post from greshambouma at CHUM.LY
The federal govt. is like a subcontractor who agrees to do a job for a certain amount, had been paid many times more than the original agreement, has abandoned the job, interferes with all the other subs and still comes demanding more payment. Fire the damn sub, or make him do the original job at the original price. http://chum.ly/n/377426
Saturday, October 2, 2010
Post from greshambouma at CHUM.LY
In modern liberalism you can’t define either good or bad, one of the many bad results is that you can no longer define and reward excellence, or define and punish incompetence. All performance is equal, and deserves equal rewards. What nonsense. One application of this principle is the idea of rewarding the govt. with more responsibility and tax revenue after it has proven itself such a gross mismanager of what it has already received. http://chum.ly/n/37027e
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