One was a gentleman who helped build some of the original passive solar houses in NH. He told me that when they assess homes built with thick, super-insulated walls, they count the outside measurements and figure the inside dimensions, that is floor space, as if the building had regular walls. This adds enough to the assessment that property taxes can eat up the efficiency savings the houses provide in terms of heating and cooling. Maybe the legislature could look at that issue, since we should be building efficient, green buildings as part of our energy future, and that should be rewarded, not penalized.
We talked about expanding gambling as a revenue source, the pros and cons. We didn’t really come to a conclusion on that one, which tells me that in this small group, there are still a lot of questions out there. As far as other revenue sources, one idea that surfaced was an income tax solely dedicated to reducing property taxes on primary residences by a percentage, such as half.
The discussion of education really made me think again about exactly what we are doing and why. Our public education system has a legacy of many different objectives, basic literacy, preparing the work force, keeping teens out of the job market, getting kids ready for higher education, making it possible for both parents to work, encouraging good citizenship, etc. It’s an enormous system, with a lot of inertia, and my fear is that that inertia makes it slow to react to changing needs. So how do we transition from a time when there were just some things that people really needed to learn, and the future, which I see as a time when critical thinking skills, the ability to know when one is being fed a line, ability to quickly change course and find new information when it is needed will be essential? How do we build a flexible, efficient, timely educational system?
And I received an excellent analysis of where exactly the national debt comes from, with interest on the debt allocated properly to the party that ran up the debt on which it is being paid. It’s a remarkable piece of work, and unfortunately for those who insist Obama is to blame, it shows that since the presidency of Gerald Ford, when the national debt left over from WWII mostly was $6.35 trillion dollars, Republican presidencies have added $6.75 trillion to the debt, and Democratic presidencies have added $0.1 trillion.
Here’s the breakdown:
US DEBT WITH ACCUMULATED INTEREST BY PRESIDENTIAL TERM
The total US debt owed as of 6/30/10 was $13.2 Trillion. Since Ford left office the total interest payments on the debt have amounted to $8.9 Trillion. This shows how the debt has gone up or down with the yearly interest allocated to the Ford balance and to the deficit spending during each subsequent presidential administration.
| | Debt Increase Without Interest | Interest Allocation | Total Debt |
| Ford Balance | 0.65T | 5.70T | 6.35T |
| Carter | 0.05T | 0.43T | 0.48T |
| Reagan | 0.55T | 2.41T | 2.96T |
| G H Bush | 0.41T | 0.89T | 1.30T |
| Clinton | (1.22T) | (1.02T) | (2.24T) |
| G W Bush | 2.06T | 0.43T | 2.50T |
| Obama | 1.77T | 0.09T | 1.86T |
| Total | 4.28T | 8.92T | 13.20T |
| Recap | | | |
| Ford Balance | 0.65T | 5.70T | 6.35T |
| Last three Dems | 0.60T | (0.50T) | 0.1T |
| Last three Reps | 3.02T | 3.72T | 6.75T |
| Total Recap | 4.28T | 8.92T | 13.20T |
Computations and analysis courtesy of a resident of Deerfield.
