New Hampshire, Gambling Is Not The Answer

As New Hampshire continues to spend itself into bankruptcy, there are those that believe the answer to our financial woes rest in the false promise of gambling. Gambling is nothing more than gasoline to be thrown on the fire of irresponsible spending; and who are the willing pyromaniacs fiddling as Concord burns? Our representatives in Concord, and in particular the Democratic leadership of Norelli, Larsen, Hassen, and Governor Lynch.

It does not matter at this point whether any politician in Concord supports gambling or not. The real issues is that their lack of fiscal discipline has set New Hampshire on the road to economic ruin, which in turn has opened the door to the false salvation of another government sanctioned ponzi-scheme in the form of expanded gambling. Gambling does nothing more than encourage our commonsensical challenged representatives to add another link to the chain of debt we have placed around the necks of future generations.

The facts are simple:

Compulsive gamblers will increase by 100% to 500%, when gambling is introduced (Kindt, University of Illinois).

Casinos earn more than ½ their incomes from problem/pathologic gamblers (Grinols, University of Illinois).

The crime rate is nearly double for those communities that allow gambling (US News and World Reports analysis).

The promise of tourism dollars is greatly overstated. Most of the money made by those businesses that offer gambling comes almost entirely from in-State residents (Better Government survey in States that sponsor legalized gambling).

Gambling is nothing more than a regressive form of taxation. The poor always lose the greatest share of their income (Wisconsin Policy Research Institute report). In fact, casino gambling causes up to $289 in social costs for every $46 of economic benefit. (Grinols, University of Illinois).

Bankruptcy dramatically increase wherever gambling has been introduced: 1,000 Minnesotans annually file for bankruptcy since the introduction of riverboat gambling; gambling related bankruptcy has increase 40% in Detroit since the opening of a neighboring casino.
Each problem gambler cost society an estimated $15,000 to $60,000 per year (Goodman and Robert, Free Press). It has been calculated that for every $1 the State receives in gambling revenue, they will spend at least $3 in increased criminal-justice, social-welfare, and other related expenses (US House of Representatives on Small Business testimony).

The lure of big money is not just limited to the poor and the pathological. Corruption amongst government officials will increase as it did in Louisiana, Missouri, South Carolina, Arizona, as well as others States that legalized some form of expanded gambling. Dozens of officials were arrested and convicted in each of those States on gambling induced corruption (The National Gambling Impact and Policy Commission, US House of Representatives).

In fact the gambling lobby has become the single most powerful lobby in States that have legalized gambling (Goodman, US Gambling Study)

Study after study tells us that the social costs of gambling, such as increased crime, lost work time, bankruptcies and financial hardships faced by the families are costing the American economy as much as $54 billion annually. Is this what is in the best interest of New Hampshire? The solution to our fiscal crisis is right in front of our representative’s faces? They must do what thousands of our fellow New Hampshirites do every day…….live within our means? It’s the spending stupid, and no amount of gambling will help.

The morality of gambling is a debate we can have on another day; but the immorality of excessive spending is one we must confront today.

Jeff Chidester, is the host of the weekly radio show which can be heard every Sunday at 11:00am on 96.7 – the WAVE (www.967thewave.com)

New Hampshire Stimulus Spending Update: 22 Million Dollars, 221 Jobs Created…????

Stimulus: to spur, motivate or incentivize. Based on the numbers, none of that happen in New Hampshire:

Now New Hampshire.com: Stimulus Has Created 221 Private Sector Jobs in NH

New Hampshire has received roughly 22 million dollars in Federal Stimulus Funds, and only created 221 new jobs (22 million divided by 221 jobs = political farce!). And what is the Democratic response….we need more stimulus spending!

President Obama: The Post Office Is Kaput, Let’s Do The Same To Heathcare

Many things can be said about President Obama’s townhall meeting in Portsmouth, NH. It was a staged event; yes and so are Republican rallies. It was stacked with people “friendly” to the President’s cause; Yep, as all political rallies are. The questions were softballs; What’s your point?

The town hall was a staged event, as has been most of the Obama’s presidency. All politics is politics, and no one should be surprised by the way the Democrats handled the Portsmouth Townhall Meeting.

However, what can be addressed is the content of the President’s address; especially things that were said off prompter. One such statement was his poorly selected analogy regarding the US Post Office and private package delivery services. It is in this statement that the truth about why people are concerned about the Democrats plans to take over our current healthcare system; the government can never do it better than the free-market.

President Obama went off prompter when attempting to answer how a public plan might co-exist with a private healthcare system. Chuckling as he usually does when he is trying to formulate an answer; President Obama made the following observations:

“I think private insurers should be able to compete. They do it all the time. I mean, if you think about, if you think about it, um, UPS and FedEx are doing just fine. Right? The, uh, no they are. I mean, it's the post office that's always having problems. "

First point, in a free society private industry should never be in “competition” with a government program. The deck is always stacked in the government’s favor; the government writes the rules, enforces the rules, and when need be, changes the rules. No true competition can be achieved.

UPS, FedEx, Airborne Express are not in the business of daily mail delivery service. Daily mail delivery service, regardless of what some people might think, is vital to a fluid communication infrastructure, thereby permitting to some degree government involvement. However, many of the inefficacies of the post office are a glaring example of a bloated bureaucracy and a failed business model.

Point two, UPS and FedEx actually aren’t real competitors of the United States Postal Service. UPS, FedEx, Airborne Express were born out the need to provide fast delivery service, as inexpensive as possible, originally to the business community. Nevertheless, the customer understands that there will be a premium cost for a higher degree of service, and the customer is willing to incur that burden. The United States Postal Service has tried to play in the “fast delivery” service arena, and has failed (the reason for this failure could be a whole other article). The same thing will happen when you try to build a healthcare model based on this flawed premise, as President Obama eluded to at the Portsmouth Townhall.

If anything, President Obama’s analogy demonstrates what happens when a government system, also known as a public opinion, is overburden. The public program rations the service options and quality, then tries to “change the rules” when a private option is successful at exploiting the government programs failures.

And the final point comes from the last sentence of President Obama’s statement – “I mean, it's the post office that's always having problems. “ You are correct Mr. President! The government run program, weight downed with a bloated bureaucracy, continuing to function using outdated business principals, rationing services to ease their own internal pressure points (also known as customers), in the end providing sub-standard service to all, but hey, they are servicing everyone!

Maybe President Obama should work on reforming the Postal Service first before trying to tackle healthcare reform. But I have a strong suspicion that he will come to the same conclusion many have come to regarding healthcare reform. The government will never be as affected at these types of programs as the fair market solution. Period.

Word of advice to President Obama and his staff; next time use analogies that support your position, not hurt it. Just a thought.

President Obama in Portsmouth, NH: Read The Sign

President Obama will be traveling to Portsmouth, NH to put on a well-orchestrated "town hall." meeting. As he travels to the Portsmouth High School, I would suggest he take the time to see the beauty that is New Hampshire, and the words of wisdom that await him.

NH Patriot Greets President Obama

New Hampshire is proud of its history, and its commitment to liberty. Jack Kimball is a modern day patriot who is merely continuing the fight for liberty, but instead of bullets, his weapon is "just words."

How Can You Tell Obama Is Lying…..His Lips Are Moving

There are things that you can always count on in life, and one such thing is that Democrats will always raise your taxes, because they cannot control their need to spend your money.

Obama will raise our taxes not because of what happen under the Bush administration. No, Obama will raise our taxes because of the reckless spending his party has committed over these past few months. President Obama will go back on his pledge (for my liberal friends, that means a guarantee, oath, word of honor), vowing not to raise taxes on those making less than $250,000.00 (although that number kept creeping down as the campaign progressed).

From a speech in Dover, NH, September of 2008 (go to 1:21 – “I can make a pledge, no family making less than $250,000.00 will see ANY form of tax increase….NOT ANY OF YOUR TAXES!



………NOT ONE SINGLE DIME. Not one of New Hampshire’s proudest moments. I love the wit….cracks me up.

What the speech told us then, and tells us now, is how naïve (or stupid, your choice) Obama's economic plan is.