Preserving The American Political Philosophy

Tweet this post with short link:  http://goo.gl/aoedF6 Maine officials worry state effort won’t recapture revenue lost in alcohol sales to NH Bangor Daily News Under the previous contract, inked by the administration of former Gov. John Baldacci, the state was paid $125 million plus a small percentage of the annual profits between $7 million and $9 million per year over the contract’s 10-year span. The company doing the work, however, made about $36 million each year in profit. Now how unfair is that- the company DOING THE WORK is making a bigger share of the profits that the corporation of Maine?  Gotta change that ! And I am sure companies will be rushing to compete for the contract especially after the University of Maine business consortium (a kinder, gentler way of saying public- private oligarchy), arranged to have the PUC terms of agreement changed in the Wind Baron Wars *  in order to chase Norwegian company Statoil out of Maine so that Maine State Inc could cre

Under state capitalism cloaked in the language of quasi's and public-private relationships. the Maine State legislature accommodates the interests of state capitalism and/or it's chosen private beneficiaries by routinely rewriting the laws. When the state liquor contract laws were re-written to accommodate one company while making the incentives system of another bidder illegal, why was Governor Lepage so disappointed that there was only one bidder- the one for which the law was tailor made? http://americanpoliticalphilosophy.blogspot.com/2014/09/oops-maybe-maine-state-inc-owned-liquor.html

TWEET THIS USING THIS SHORT  http://goo.gl/aFQQ4q This is an interesting new development coming out of New Hampshire. When I first saw these words "Governor Hassan Ceremonially Signs NH Benefit Corporation Act at Badger Balm"- I thought Uh Oh New Hampshire is now going the way of Maine- but upon further reading I found this was not the case. This is a bill about Benefit Company certification . I think I mostly like it. Over the years of operating as a private enterprise, which has donated to umpteen hundred non-profit causes, I was often offended by non-profits as well - especially when I found them operating in the free market while conducting practices that go against the conventional standards of the free market - and when asked why would  answer such as "because we serve the public good" always with the undertone of "if you are not non-profit then you do not serve the public good" and I know this is not the case. There are plenty of private en

The Prelude to Andersen Studio's Crowd funding Series is my own creative project for having a mold produced by an outside American ceramic slip casting company of my Tufted Titmouse Sculpture- which is also the beginning of the new Andersen Studio Design and Limited Editions division- ready to launch at the end of the crowd-funding series http://andersenstudiokisckstarterdiaries.blogspot.com/2014/09/mackenzie-andersens-tufted-titmouse.html

TWEET THIS USING THIS SHORT LINK  http://goo.gl/i1bNrZ I created this statutory timeline- which includes targeted research of the 2013 Maine Legislative session to try to develop cash flow from my unpaid research efforts on this blog, as far as that intention goes, the statutory Time Line is a resounding failure. The Upside is that I am now more informed that I would have been if I had not created the timeline- it's very useful in political debates because I know exactly where to go to get the facts in support of my own argument- which is this timeline- which you can receive by sending a contribution ( suggested $10.00 but whatever you can afford- more or less) to mackenzie@andersenstudio.com via PayPal. That said when I saw this article in the Portland Press Herald- I just took it to be nothing more that partisan politics because I know that both sides put the interests of business above the interests of the environment and the general public: (The Partisan Political G

TWEET THIS USING THIS SHORT LINK http://goo.gl/u2fKk0 New Hampshire features a state by state comparison on its website. This is the comparison to Maine . Interesting to note that despite New Hampshire NOT taxing personal income, NOT having a sales tax, and NOT having an estate tax, it's top corporate income tax is still lower than Maine's . Top Corporate Income Tax New Hampshire 8.5% Maine 8.93% An explanation for this may be Maine's two-tier income tax whereby Maine offers corporations providing jobs of an income level above the median household income, tax exemptions and cash payouts - but taxes businesses offering jobs that pay the medium household income or below under general laws. I would argue that such a practice is unconstitutional by Article IV Part Third Section 14 of the Maine Constitution which stipulates that "All corporations, however formed, are subject to general laws" I suspect that all of the state by state comparisons tha

TWEET THIS ARTiCLE USING THIS SHORT LINK  http://goo.gl/u2fKk0 My father often told me that in the 1950's , the distribution of wealth in the United States took the form of a bell curve with the greatest amount of wealth distributed amoungst the greatest number of people. I grew up with the bell curve image embedded into my mind . It is the image of an algorithm, a form of economic visualization which seems to have all but disappeared from the methods of reporting income distribution- replaced by graphs showing two lines- one for the top and the other for the bottom. The median household income displays statistics in two separate parts- Those making above the median and those making below the median and does not address the distribution of wealth within the two halves.The mean gives us the averaged income of a specific group- but none of that tells us how the wealth is distributed- is there a gradual curve of distribution? a series of steps? or a huge gulf between levels ? A