Coyote Blog

That is ... stupid beyond words.

That is really stupid. And won't go anywhere. People like their beer too much (tax increase from 11 cents to $6.08 for a six-pack), and there are a lot of them. Would be a nice exercise to have it circulate, though, if just to add to the people's anger at anything involving more taxes.

What silly nonsense; obviously tax should be heaped onto gasoline, not onto happy juice.

When I read something as dumb as this, I wonder if it isn't just put out there to distract people from the real goings-on.

> They’re getting close, but I’m still waiting for them to tax/regulate to extinction the high performance car and motorcycle builders.

Consider this: Every time we have any sort of automotive scare-mongering going on, the inevitable result is yet more electronic nannies being added to modern automobiles. In particular, the Ford Explorer roll-over fiasco from a few years ago which led to Electronic Stability Control (ESC) and Tire-Pressure Monitoring Systems (TPMS) being mandatory on new cars.

So, between the current Toyota "sudden acceleration" fiasco and more aggressive EPA enforcement, I predict that we'll see 2011 or 2012-model-year automobiles have tamper-resistant programming in their engine-management computers to limit top speed to something like 60-70 MPH and restrict maximum acceleration to 5 MPH/Sec (i.e. 0-60 in 12 seconds).

The Greenies would love this, as it'd result in the instant demise of anything even resembling a performance automobile. Why put anything larger than a 1.5L four-banger in a car if it can't go faster than 70 MPH[1]?

Also expect that current automobiles will require a government-mandated ECU reflash or replacement as well to ensure compliance.

[1] Or should I say 100KPH, as I expect metricification to be Yet Another Carter-Era Bright Idea to make it's way back...

Explains why they’re bankrupt.

Past stupidity is a guarantee of future idiocy….

Must be a slow news day

The "Ballot Initiative" has been "Approved for circulation". It has not qualified for a vote

There are currently some 60 or so other proposals in a similar state including one banning divorce and another exempting those over 55 from paying any state property or income taxes.

http://www.ballotpedia.org/wiki/index.php/California_2010_ballot_propositions

You can propose anything. You have to get a lot of signatures to qualify it as an initative

Check out the following list of other

Watching CA state government die requires patience.

You know what must happen - ceteris paribus - but you can't be sure which convulsion will be the last.

Money for a month or so will probably materialize from somewhere and the rules be damned.

Then the dying will resume. I wouldn't keep money where CA can get at it.

> In Case You Didn’t Already Know that California has Lost It

Well, we'll know they've lost it if they actually pass it. I doubt if that will happen.

This thing is stupider, even, than Florida's Pig Amendment.

> What silly nonsense; obviously tax should be heaped onto gasoline, not onto happy juice.

WRONG.

Tax should be heaped upon politicians. I think we should tax the commissioners, and state and national legislators. Ten thousand bucks for every law they pass on a national level, a thousand for every law they pass on a state level, and a hundred bucks for every ordinance they pass on a local level... Add to that a refund for national legislators of a 10 bucks for every page they reduce the CFR by during the course of a year in office, from Jan21 to Jan21 (and what, a buck a page for state legislators?).

It won't solve the deficit directly, but it ought to have an interesting effect on the size of the CFR and the general legal codes.