HUMAN RESOURCES

Is this really how our government thinks of us?

I’ve gotta be honest here, I’m starting to feel a little used and abused.

I do understand that it costs money to maintain a civilization, and you know, people have to make a living blah blah blah. But this is getting ridiculous!

Me every time I get a new tax increase

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Literally every single overhead item cost - goods and services that most of us have to purchase by default with very little discretion in order to survive- has skyrocketed in the past 5 years, with no indication of slowing down ever.

As a taxpaying homeowner with responsibilities, this inflation explosion is undeniable, and so widespread as to negate any need for the offering of current relevant statistics on my part. In other words, we all know this is true, no matter what the government or other so-called “experts” may be saying about it.

For any naysayers, I will invite you to read the very well informed, and friend of this Substack - SD VOICES link - where you can get your fill of facts supporting my thesis.

If you rely on the smooth justifications of the pro-government Spendacrats, you may find yourself hypnotized by their ability to fold, spindle & mutilate statistics in such a way as to make the listener feel like the proposed budget and/or tax increase is the most necessary thing in the world, and that only a hearltess idiot would oppose it. But the problem is, they never stop.

Here are the state of SD budgets for the past 3 years:

2023- $685 million

2024- $734 million

2025- $763 million

Funny how government always grows, never shrinking into the background of our lives, lacking the discipline to simply STOP SPENDING OTHER PEOPLE'S MONEY. I may not be an accountant, but even I can see that this level of spending is not sustainable.

As a long-time business owner (30 years and counting), I can testify that, like homeowners, we are facing unprecedented price spikes in nearly every category. For over 25 years, our credit card processing fees were below 2% per transaction. A few months ago I was shocked to discover that, over the past 5 years, our rates had incrementally ballooned to over 7% per transaction. That means, for example, that on a $2,000 sale, the credit card processor is taking $140 instead of $36!

Extrapolate that over a year and that amount equates to me hiring a full time person to sit around doing diddly squat. Just yesterday I was notified that our health insurance premiums for employees, which we pay 100% of, is going up 18.5% next month.

Then there’s the tariffs…

I won’t bother to list everything, but you can imagine. It’s enough to make a guy wonder when it will all end? When can we regular citizens, who dutifully pay all of our taxes, obey the laws of the land, contribute to our communities, get a break from being used like “human resources” for the sake of large entities? When will our elected officials start actually giving a crap about the plight of the working folks? Like, all of us, not just a politically convenient select category like the farmers, for instance. Don't get me wrong, I love family farms, ranches and really any group of hard working Americans who contribute to this country. But politicians in SD only seems to kowtow to one particular group of regular folk, to suit their sales pitches when it is politically expedient.

But the sad fact is, most small business operators are completely ignored by our “leaders” in government. It seems like every other day we hear of a small local company dying the quiet death of closure, with nary a peep from our elected. Retailers in particular have been under extraordinary pressure in the past 5 years, what with the fallout of the covid years radically inflating all overhead costs, particularly labor. This is why I am against the idea of raising sales taxes in exchange (the “Shift”) for lowering property taxes. Most people don't understand that retailers are already being used as Unpaid Tax Collectors for the state, and we are not excited about being required to confiscate even more of our customers’ money at the point of purchase.

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Fortunately, in South Dakota, we are blessed to have some elected officials who have been very vocal in standing up for the rights and interests of the powerless.

I won’t attempt to name them all, but most recently we’ve seen Dylan Jordan, Scott Odenbach, Jon Hansen, Liz May, Karla Lems, and Kevin Jensen holding public meetings to address some of the issues of government overspending and the imminent need for property tax reductions in South Dakota, along with questioning the need for a new $2 billion dollar prison. These folks should be commended, supported & encouraged. In fact, all of our elected officials need to feel - and obey - the desires and demands of their constituents. We the People are oberburdened by taxes, and We need You to cut spending. Yes it will be met with protestastions from the dependency & donor classes, but if we can cut back on our spending then so can you!

But speaking from the Grassroots perspective, it must be stated that the most difficult part of our mission is getting more Normie citizens to join in. Most folks simply can't feel the water starting to boil. They must think they’re in a jacuzzi.

If we could get just a small percentage of the 99% of Normie Sleepers to wake up and say NO! To all of the proposed tax increases we are getting assaulted with, we can stop them. Who is “them”?

Well, Them is whoever it is that seeks to justify spending more money while increasing our taxes. It is that simple. Some of these people, whose income is dependent on confiscating your money, will show up to every single meeting and use all of their insider fancy-talk lingo to confuse regular folk into believing whatever nonsense propaganda they are spreading. It's like they're drunk on spending money. I noted this in our last legislative session where, whenever a new spending bills came up it seemed to sail through smoother than butter on a hot monkey. But any bill that sought to curb spending - even a little! - was met with histrionics and dramatics.

Clearly our government employees need a lesson in simple kitchen table economics. Like my buddy Mick commented at a recent property tax forum, it's time our elected officials act like parents instead of grandparents.

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SPENDACRATS

Then here comes the Chamber of Commerce MVP Mayor Paul TenHaken pulling his pet pony into the conversation once again with his Grand Legacy Vision of wasting other peoples’ money for a downtown convention center that no one other than some developers think is needed.

Yeah, so apparently We the People paid a consultant to tell Paul how great his idea is, and in return all we need to know is that it's going to cost at least $250 million, which if recent developments are an indicator, would end up being probably $1 billion or maybe $2 billion haha who really knows!

“Oh, but think of the TAX REVENUE!” Sure, sure, the tax revenue that somehow never seems to actually help the vast majority of the local citezenry. Let us not forget the fact that the so-called “Republican” mayor of SD’s largest city implemented a mask mandate, lectured us all on the need to “follow the CDC’s (ludicrous) guidelines”, and has helped orchestrate a serious decline in our overall quality of life. These and other reasons helped land Paul on my infamous RINO Blacklist, which by the way is the most read article in this Substack’s history, by a huge margin. It turns out, people in the Grassroots are bloody well sick & tired of being lied to. And the reality is that all of these “Economic Development/Growth/Boondoggle” schemes are transparently intended to benefit a few at the expense of the many. So yeah, the politicians pushing these schemes are liars.

Mayor Paul seemingly loves burning through our money

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GOVERNOR RHODEN

A few weeks ago our (hopefully) temporary appointed Governor, Larry, deided it would be a great use of taxpayers money to fly over to Israel - in the middle of a war mind you! - to obstensibly try to convince this foreign country to buy some of our South Dakota stuff.

Whatever.

Needless to say, I don’t expect to be shipping any of my custom made mattresses over to the Middle East any time soon. But I’m sure there are a basket of lucky donors who will see some extra dough from this ED trip. AIPAC certainly requires it of many of our elected officials, but let’s not go there at this moment…

While there, Woody, ah I mean Larry, did that cringy thing of leaning at the “Wailing Wall, cowboy hat on instead of a yamaka, reflecting on wdeep thoughts known only to our wandering head of state.

Larry, please just come on home and focus on us nobodies for a while huh?

mmmmmm, very somber, yes

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SCHOOLS : LESS BANG FOR MORE BUCK!

A few days ago, as reported by the Dakota Scout and Dakota Voices, we learned that the Sioux Falls public schools have decided to “Opt out” of making the apparently too difficult task of cutting $2 million from their budget. Interesting language these government people make, isn’t it? Lol I think I’ll just “Opt out” of not trying to live within my means, and instead force other people to give me more of their hard earned money! Sound good?

Because that is exactly what the public school system is doing. Shirking their responsibility to make necessary cuts to meet the available budget, instead relying on the state’s power to increase taxpayers’ already record-high property taxes.

Here’s an idea: How about we all agree to simply not pay our property tax next time the bill comes in the mail? Does our state have the resources to prosecute 50,000 people at once? I don't think they do.

Would be interesting to watch.

The point is, we pay these fees VOLUNTARILY and peacefully. Maybe we should make a bigger fuss. Maybe we should act like a parent who's put up with nonsense from their child for far too long.

Maybe it's time to get the belt.