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KENNEDY: Budget Maneuver Will Hurt TOPS
Written on 21 May, 2013 at 18:59 By: State Treasurer John Neely Kennedy in High Popalorum, Louisiana
In 2001, Louisiana wisely sold a portion of its tobacco settlement with the four major tobacco companies by issuing bonds to investors for around $1 billion. We put the $1 billion in a constitutionally-protected trust fund dedicated to health, education... (Continue reading)
KENNEDY: A Plan B For Income Tax Reform
I appreciate Gov. Jindal’s plan to end Louisiana’s personal and corporate income tax. Our state needs a tax code that looks like somebody designed it on purpose, and the Governor is correct, in my estimation, that the income tax, which... (Continue reading)
KENNEDY: The Proposed State Budget Is A Fond Illusion
Imagine, God forbid, that your boss just cut your salary by 25% because business is bad. Instead of reducing your spending or getting a second job, you elect to do the following: 1. Take a cash advance on your credit... (Continue reading)
KENNEDY: Finally, A Serious Debate On Taxes
Written on 15 Jan, 2013 at 10:25 By: State Treasurer John Neely Kennedy in High Popalorum, Louisiana
Every state relies primarily on one or more of three taxes to raise revenue: income, sales and property. None is perfect or pleasant. It’s more a case of “pick your poison,” and then try to achieve fairness by keeping rates... (Continue reading)
KENNEDY: Just How Real Is This Medicaid ‘Crisis?’
Last spring the Legislature increased the state’s Medicaid budget by $788 million. Don’t take my word for it. According to the Legislative Fiscal Office, “Prior year actual expenditures for Medicaid indicate total actual expenditures of $6.64 B in FY 12.... (Continue reading)
KENNEDY: Show Me The Money!
Written on 10 Sep, 2012 at 11:24 By: State Treasurer John Neely Kennedy in High Popalorum, Louisiana
In 1998, the City of Walker hired the state DOTD for $1.3 million to relocate some of Walker’s utility lines. DOTD didn’t send a bill until 2003. After the bill wasn’t paid, DOTD sent a second bill 9 years later... (Continue reading)
KENNEDY: A Plan to Solve the Medicaid Crisis
Written on 26 Jul, 2012 at 13:29 By: State Treasurer John Neely Kennedy in High Popalorum, Louisiana
Congress just eliminated the extra Medicaid money it was giving Louisiana because of the hurricanes. With the state match, that means we are facing a deficit of $860 million in our Medicaid program, which provides health care for the poor,... (Continue reading)
KENNEDY: Louisiana Is A Consultants’ Paradise
Written on 26 Jun, 2012 at 12:51 By: State Treasurer John Neely Kennedy in General, High Popalorum, Louisiana
Did you ever wonder why taxes go up (think tuition and “user fees”) and yet our colleges and health care get cut every time the legislature meets? It’s not because the state doesn’t have enough of your money. Current year... (Continue reading)
The Texaco Building Renovation Is A Poster Child For Government Waste
Written on 15 May, 2012 at 11:00 By: State Treasurer John Neely Kennedy in High Popalorum, Louisiana
Do you live in a home or apartment that costs $329 per square foot? Me neither. Thanks to your tax dollars, however, 112 New Orleanians will have the opportunity, with subsidized rent, to boot. At its last meeting, while the... (Continue reading)
KENNEDY: The Truth About State Job Costs
Written on 26 Apr, 2012 at 10:50 By: State Treasurer John Neely Kennedy in High Popalorum, Louisiana
You may have read or heard that Louisiana state government is spending less of your hard-earned taxpayer dollars because it has fewer employees. That’s not true. It is accurate that we have reduced the number of state jobs over the... (Continue reading)
KENNEDY: Why Our Public Officials Should Try Substitute Teaching
Written on 27 Feb, 2012 at 15:12 By: State Treasurer John Neely Kennedy in High Popalorum, Louisiana
Governor Jindal has made the improvement of our public schools the top priority of his second term. He has promised bold reform. Thank you, Governor. Constructive change requires understanding, however. How many of the officials who will help craft a... (Continue reading)
KENNEDY: On Education Reform, What’s Past Is Prologue
Governor Jindal is right to try to fix our public schools. His proposal to put the best teacher in every classroom by changing the way we hire, fire, promote and pay teachers is critical. We need a teacher evaluation system... (Continue reading)
The Challenge Of I-49 South
Written on 11 Jan, 2012 at 14:49 By: State Treasurer John Neely Kennedy in High Popalorum, Louisiana
Louisiana has hundreds of needed road projects, the most important of which is the completion of Interstate 49. I-49 North from Shreveport to the Arkansas line will be completed relatively soon. Now we need to get serious about the much... (Continue reading)
KENNEDY: Fight Crime By Forcing Criminals To Earn GED’s In Stir
Written on 18 Nov, 2011 at 10:21 By: State Treasurer John Neely Kennedy in High Popalorum, Louisiana
Most people don’t think of education when they think of prison. They think of punishment, lack of freedom and loss of rights. They think of the old adage that crime doesn’t pay, which is true, especially if you are a... (Continue reading)
Five Louisiana Goals For The Next Four Years
Louisiana will shortly be electing a governor, other statewide officials and a new legislature. Here are five goals these new leaders should set for themselves, and for the state, for the next four years: Create 250,000 new, good jobs. Do... (Continue reading)
Condos – At Angola?
Louisiana has a $1.6 billion budget deficit. The main reason for the shortfall is the political decision to spend more than we take in and make up the difference with one-time, nonrecurring money, mostly federal “stimulus” dollars, that is no... (Continue reading)
Another 8 Ways to Balance The State Budget Without Destroying Health Care And Higher Education
Written on 18 Jan, 2011 at 11:45 By: State Treasurer John Neely Kennedy in Louisiana
Here are eight additional ways to balance the state budget without destroying health care and higher education: 1. Abolish the state’s three separate systems of higher education and place all universities (excluding community colleges) under the Board of Regents. Direct... (Continue reading)
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Quote of the day
Quote Of The Day, June 18, 2013
“I believe that any American who is in possession of [knowledge about Communist activities] has the obligation to make them known, either to the public or to the appropriate government agency. We must never let the Communists get away with the pretense that they stand for the very things which they kill in their own countries. I am talking about free speech, a free press, the rights of property, the rights of labor, racial equality, and, above all, individual rights. I value these things. I take them seriously. I value peace, too, when it is not bought at the price of fundamental decencies.”- Film director Elia Kazan, in a 1952 open letter published in space he purchased in the New York Times, amid the House Un-American Activities Committee investigations. Kazan, who at one time had been a communist but left that party in disgust, was one of the few witnesses before that committee to name names of communist party members.