Author / Hoosier Econ

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Posts by Hoosier Econ

Located out of Central Indiana. Blogger of economics, politics and societal trends.
by Hoosier Econ

Average Obamacare Tax is $1130

Back in 2009 when President Obama repeated that the Obamacare mandate was not a tax.

Today, more Obamacare information keeps rolling out showing the fees or what the U.S. Supreme Court labeled a “tax”. Here is a brief excerpt from Forbes.com:

As millions of Americans scramble to file their tax returns, many are shocked by the full cost of ObamaCare’s individual mandate.

“Those who failed to obtain minimum essential health insurance coverage last year will have had to send the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) a check for $1,130, on average,” Doug Holtz-Eakin, former director of the Congressional Budget Office, testified today before a congressional hearing.

You can read the rest here.

by Hoosier Econ

Portable Speakers: 1980’s vs Today

How people listened to music in the 1980’s with their portable radios
80sboombox

Present day device for a portable speaker which you can listen to music from a device like your cellphone. You can buy it at Amazon.com for $36
mini speaker
This is the TDK A12 TREK Micro NFC Bluetooth Portable Mini Wireless Outdoor Speaker. It weighs 6.6 ounces and product dimension of 3.2 x 3.2 x 1.2 inches. Power source is one AAA battery.

by Hoosier Econ

Visual of the Federal Government School Lunch Mandate Part 2

Back in November I posted a write up called “Visual of the Federal Government School Lunch Mandate”. I received A LOT of negative comments from people saying I didn’t know how the school lunch process works. One person even claimed I was a liar and I challenged that person to eat what the school lunch program suggested. Person hasn’t talked to me since. Problem with some people today is they don’t grasp how fast social media can tell the truth. A picture can be sent out and in the matter of minutes the entire U.S. can view it.

Now another picture has been sent out of what a lunch looks like under the federal government mandate. It’s not pretty. You can read the whole article here at EagNews.org. I’ll give you a brief snippet:

    PORTSMOUTH, Va. – That’s not really a fish filet with a whole wheat bun resting on top.

    Nah, your eyes are playing tricks on you.

    That’s what administrators at Virginia’s Portsmouth Public Schools want parents to believe after a mother took a photo of her child’s paltry school lunch and posted it on social media.

    The mom says James Hurst Elementary served the lunch Tuesday.

    After the photo began circulating around the community, Food Service Coordinator Jim Gehlhoff admitted the lunch “concerns us,” but added that it might not actually be as bad as it looks.

    portsmouth-lunch“Poor lighting and food presentation make this lunch unappealing,” he said in a statement released to the media.

portsmouth-lunch-e1429202916475

by Hoosier Econ

Illegal Immigrants Getting Social Security Numbers Five Times Higher Than Expected

wpid-illegalscrossingfence.jpg

Back in March TheBlaze.com reported two Senators asked the Social Security Administation how many social security numbers were issued to illegal immigrants under Barack Obama’s 2012 executive amensty plan. It was believed to be around 90,000.
The Social Security administation answered with a shocking number and here is what TheBlaze.com reported:

    The Social Security Administration has told Congress that more than half a million illegal immigrants have received new Social Security numbers, under President Barack Obama’s 2012 executive action allowing younger immigrants to stay in the United States and work.

    “By the end of fiscal year 2014, we had issued approximately 541,000 original SSNs to individuals authorized to work under the 2012 Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals policy since its inception,” she wrote.

The economic ramifications of adding these people to America’s government welfare benefits programs will be staggering and escalate the cost down the road for taxpayers. Here is one example:

    Critics of Obama’s plan have criticized the plan because low-income immigrants with no net tax liability could gain as much as $3 in Social Security benefits for every $1 they pay into the system, which means Americans will now be subsidizing these immigrants.
by Hoosier Econ

Asset Value of Nonprofit’s

Tax day has hit America. The United States tax code is well over 70,000 pages long with special give aways that benefit many organizations. One of those being nonprofits. Here is some tax day information about nonprofits via StastiticBrain.com

Number of nonprofit returns–

383,064

Assets controlled by nonprofit’s –

$3.796 Trillion

by Hoosier Econ

JP Morgan Legal Costs

ZeroHedge posted this on their Twitter account but this shows how lawyers make billions off a highly regulated financial system via the government.

by Hoosier Econ

Price of Bull Semen

bull

AustinHeraldDaily.com had an interesting article about $70,000 worth of bull semen being stolen in Minnesota. The fascinating aspect of it was the price of bull semen being sold on the market. Here is a snapshot of the pricing.

    The canister was worth about $500, and the vials of semen were worth from $300 to $1,500 apiece.

by Hoosier Econ

Most Valuable Exports by State

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H/T Washington Post

by Hoosier Econ

Study: People Are Leaving High-Tax States

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Washington Times and Stephen Moore put together a piece showing migration out of high tax states and migration into low tax states.

The least “regressive” tax states had average population growth from 2003 to 2013 that lagged below the national trend. The 10 most highly “regressive” tax states, including nine with no state income tax, had population growth on average 4 percent above the U.S. average. Why was that? Because states without income taxes have twice the job growth of states with high tax rates. Unlike the experts at the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, most Americans think that fairness means having a job.

Read the rest here.

by Hoosier Econ

Pennsylvania Pension Plans Are In Trouble

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With a so called “booming” stock market states pension systems are still getting worse. Decades of shady accounting practices and too many promises have made pensions almost broke.

In Pennsylvania there is talk of pension reform after one startling find recently. Here is more from IndianaGazette.com:

Pennsylvania Auditor General Eugene DePasquale warned Friday that the growing collective municipal pension debt in the commonwealth, if allowed to worsen, will become a problem for every Pennsylvanian.

“We found 46 percent of the municipal pension plans in Pennsylvania … are in some level of distress,” DePasquale said. “Certainly the bigger dollar amounts are in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. … Scranton is very bad.”