Water scam, accountability

Here are several items I've come across in my reading that I think you will find interesting:

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Bottled water -- now you see it, now you don't: Beginning with a modest invasion by the French Perrier and Evian brands in the early 1980s, purveyors of bottled water pulled off a brilliant marketing scam. They convinced the public that bottled water was more pure, tasted better and was safer than good old tap water.

In reality, tap water is much more vigorously regulated by the EPA than bottled water is by the FDA. The EPA requires daily tests for bacteria, and they are publicly reported. The FDA only does weekly testing, and it doesn't share those results with even local governments.

Nonetheless, last year Americans spent more on bottled water than on iPods and movie tickets combined -- a whopping $16 billion. And all for a product that, even with oil at over $100 a barrel, is sold for more per gallon than gasoline in most places.

Bottled water is the fastest-growing part of the beverage industry. Consumption hit 28 gallons per person last year, up from 17 gallons in 2000 and the mere trickle of 2 gallons per person back in 1980.

But now the pendulum may be swinging back. San Francisco, which started the trend toward bottled water in the chic 1980s, is dumping the "waste and pollution" that come with it. Mayor Gavin Newsom has issued an executive order forbidding city departments, agencies and contractors to use bottled water. Instead, the order touts San Francisco's "pristine tap water" as an alternative.

The private sector is also joining in. Alice Waters, the doyenne of organic food, has banned bottled still water from her Chez Panisse restaurant in Berkeley. Other establishments are following suit. Joseph Bastianich of New York's Del Posto restaurant told the New York Times: "Filling cargo ships with water and sending it hundreds and thousands of miles to get it around the world seems ridiculous." -- John Fund, author and columnist

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Blunt's accountability portal bests 10 million hits: Gov. Matt Blunt has highlighted the success of his Missouri Accountability Portal (MAP) as the site exceeded the 10 million-hit mark as more Missourians are using the site to find valuable information about how their tax dollars are spent.

"The Missouri Accountability Portal is one of the first of its kind allowing Missourians to literally map their tax dollars," Governor Blunt said. "Missouri taxpayers deserve a state government that is efficient, effective and uses new technologies to improve services. Missouri taxpayers also deserve to know how the state spends their hard earned money, and now this information is easy to find and track."

The governor's MAP Internet site enables Missourians to track tax dollars in near real time. Since launching the Internet site last year there have been more than 10 million hits to the MAP site at mapyourtaxes.mo.gov.

The MAP site is one of the first comprehensive databases of financial records based on real-time data in the nation. The MAP site is updated at the close of each business day to provide up-to-date access to information about state spending. Anyone can search the MAP site by budget category, vendor or contract. Links to other public information maintained by the state are also available on the MAP site.

The MAP expenditure site has also been enhanced to allow Missourians to review state expenditures by state agency and information regarding tax credits administered by the Missouri Department of Economic Development since tax credit application year 2000.

The site also provides easy-to-access, real-time information on state employee salaries.

Last month Blunt commended the team who developed his MAP portal. The team earned national recognition with an American Business Award. The Information Technology Services Division team won the Best MIS and IT Team category for the development of MapYourTaxes.mo.gov at the 2008 American Business Awards.

The American Business Awards are the only national, all-encompassing awards program honoring great performances in business.

Americans for Tax Reform has lauded Blunt for creating the Internet site. "Gov. Blunt is one of the first governors to enable taxpayers to become fiscal watchdogs, and I commend him for taking this step toward greater fiscal transparency," said Grover Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform.

In a post to a national leadership group, Blunt states Missouri is a low-tax state, but Missourians still pay more than $3,500 per capita in state and local taxes annually, according to the Tax Foundation.

"There were some who wanted me to raise taxes when I became governor to address an inherited $1.1 billion deficit. We did not raise taxes. We cut taxes -- three times. Each time, public awareness of the link between taxes and spending has been very important in securing legislative majorities. Every citizen has a right to know where and how their money is being spent. Citizens are supposed to hold us accountable. This principle is a bedrock of democratic self-government. At 25,000 site hits per day and total hits now nearly twice our state population, it is clear that people are eager for more and better knowledge about the state's checkbook," Blunt said.

The Missouri Accountability Portal is a free, online tool that provides ready access data about how elected officials and agencies spend hard-earned tax dollars. The administration built the Map with existing resources, without new spending.

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A New (Raw) Deal senator: Barack Obama has proposed lifting the tax cap on earnings subject to the 12.4 percent Social Security tax, which now covers only the first $102,000.

The Heritage Foundation analyzed the effect of eliminating the earnings cap. Heritage found that the take-home pay of 10.3 million workers would be reduced by an average of $5,650 in the first year alone. Taxes would be raised on four million workers over the age of 50. Taxes would also be raised on 3 million small-business owners who file their taxes as individuals. By fiscal 205 the number of job opportunities lost would exceed 865,000 and personal savings would decline by more than $55 billion.

And if you think this would raise taxes only on the "rich," think again. Taxes would be raised for 97,065 carpenters, 110,908 police officers, 254,992 nurses, 208,562 postsecondary teachers and 237,000 dentists. That would make a lot of people bitter.

Eliminating the earnings cap as Obama wants would raise taxes for many middle-class families, impose a huge burden on small business, slow the economy and cost jobs. You don't help the people riding the wagon by punishing the people pulling it. But Obama would.

-- Investor's Business Daily

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Liberal versus conservative: A young woman was about to finish her first year of college. Like so many others her age, she considered herself to be liberal, and among other liberal ideals was very much in favor of higher taxes to support more government programs -- in other words, redistribution of wealth.

She was deeply ashamed that her father was a rather staunch conservative, a feeling she openly expressed. Based on the lectures that she had participated in, and the occasional chat with a professor, she felt that her father had for years harbored an evil, selfish desire to keep what he thought should be his.

One day she was challenging her father on his opposition to higher taxes on the rich and the need for more government programs. The self-professed objectivity proclaimed by her professors had to be the truth, and she indicated so to her father.

He responded by asking how she was doing in school. Taken aback, she answered rather haughtily that she had a 4.0 GPA and let him know that it was tough to maintain, insisting that she was taking a very difficult course load and was constantly studying, which left her no time to go out and party like other people she knew. She didn't even have time for a boyfriend, and didn't really have many college friends because she spent all her time studying.

Her father listened and then asked, "How is your friend Audrey doing?" She replied, "Audrey is barely getting by. All she takes are easy classes. She never studies. And she barely has a 2.0 GPA. She is so popular on campus. College for her is a blast. She's always invited to all the parties and lots of times she doesn't even show up for classes because she's too hung over."

Her wise father asked his daughter, "Why don't you go to the dean's office and ask him to deduct 1.0 off your GPA and give it to your friend who only has a 2.0. That way you will both have a 3.0 GPA, and certainly that would be a fair and equal distribution of GPA."

The daughter, visibly shocked by her father's suggestion, angrily fired back, "That's a crazy idea, how would that be fair? I've worked really hard for my grades. I've invested a lot of time, and a lot of hard work. Audrey has done next to nothing toward her degree. She played while I worked my tail off."

The father slowly smiled, winked and said gently, "Welcome to the conservative ranks."

If anyone has a better explanation of the difference between conservative and liberal, I'm all ears.

-- Author unknown

Gary Rust is the chairman of Rust Communications.