Of course it would and here’s why? 1. The Meskwaki casino is not required by law to contribute their funds to the states revenue stream. All other casinos are. a percentage of Cedar Rapids business will be taken from them…meaning…a clear and significant net gain to Iowa’s overall gambling revenue. 2. Dubuque, Waterloo and the [...]

Sue, some key points you missed. 1. Willy Wonka was not animated 2. I clearly differentiated between Medicare and Medicaid, read more thoroughly 3. All staunch right wingers ditto spout Freddie and Fannie, what few do however, is actually understand how and why CDOs, used by most banks because of a bogus unregulated formula, sold [...]

Rhymes are nice and there is some truth to those words, just don’t take your eye off the low hand while the top hand dances a ball. The ball, in this case, and therefore the trick and illusion, is that the greatest transference of wealth in human history is occurring right before our eyes from [...]

Has anyone noticed that this article above has been posted multiple times with the exact same wording and link to an article throughout this pre-election buildup. Michael, you may not be spam but your cut and paste method sure is on the verge.

Have you ever seen the original Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory? Remember the beginning where Charlie has 4 grandparents bedridden on the main floor of their small home? Well, that may have been a movie but for thousands of people pre New Deal, that was the truth. Healthcare on your own for the elderly [...]

The measure lost by 3,000 votes last time. I predict it will win by 1400 votes this time. It would have been about 1700-2000 with better weather and without the last ditch VERBAL commitment to build a waterpark. I am certain at least 1501 votes have been swung the other direction this time. I personally [...]

My wife and I are voting yes. I am a huge cost analysis and fiscal analysis guy and after reviewing numerous projections, and comparitive studies on the impact of similar facilities in similar communities as well as the overwhelming support those communities have POST casino it is clear that the benefit to Cedar Rapids is [...]

Fiscal surplus less than 15 years ago. Also, every year the feds “balance” their books. Deficit spending has been a fact of government for decades. No nation on earth has the capacity to generate revenue and pay bills like the USA. Our GDP is in excess of 17 trillion. Japan has functioned, albeit not thrived, [...]

The cuts will happen, then they will compromise on a short term basis. That way the Republicans can say they pushed for and got “cuts” and the Democrats can say they fought against it but ultimately got the cuts lessened. As for blame, this is an interesting argument. Lets assume this is Obama’s idea. You [...]

In the end, Branstad will cave. What he is doing is political. He must bolster his base with an election a year away. The base loves the red meat of rejecting any form of Democratically initiated proposals. The argument that the government may not meets its financial obligations is so unsound it gives me pause [...]

Lets just be honest. 1. the fear mongering works on some, but not most. Did any community in Iowa see a crime increase comparing pre and post casino? The answer is no. 2. the facts are clear, the lowest vote approval POST casino in any community was 74%, the highest north of 82%. Cutting throught [...]

The strength of a city has to eminate outword for long term health and economic diversity. You want a healthy city center, as well as strong development on its edges. Cities begin to fail when the center collapses and only the suburbs see growth. Economic and geographic diversity in development foster long term growth and [...]

I completely agree with Rich, well said. I respect the legitimate concerns of in county residents but have no respect for massively profitable outside interests doing all they can to manipulate good hard working folks in Linn County. The funny thing is, the no ads almost prove the yes ads point Their worst case scenario [...]

Much of the migration continues to be housing related due to the flood. Its hard to quantify but its easy to observe still abandoned houses and lots by the dozen in major portions of the Cedar Rapids schools zone. The other two factors appear to be home schooling and class size. While it is easy [...]

I should probably know better then to argue with negative public commentary but one lesson I have learned in the last several years is that over time, negative and defeatists people often erroneously believe they are right because few disupute them publicly. Yes it is true that similar less developed proposals have been shot down. [...]

With all due respect, defeatist attitudes have produced little change and overall stagnation in Cedar Rapids. We can change that. You have a mayor well connected in Des Moines totally in support of it. You have a leader in Steve Gray who is a diehard Cedar Rapids guy with kids in school here and a [...]

Jessie, awesome point. For those of you who genuinely seek the truth, and not a political point on issues, snopes. com is a fantastic resource. Even if you agree with the isse you are being told by the media, check it out on snopes. Finally, for anyone who wants to fact check the issue of [...]

John, John, John, Do you remember the “im just a bill up on capital hill” cartoon. Apparently not. A bill, is a proposal, that must go to the senate and be signed by the president. I like your passion, I am a bit saddened by your lack of basic politics. And you completely sidestepped the [...]

I’m bumping this for good measure. I have a relative with an MBA who had no clue about margin requirements those this is for him, and for all those who don’t watch enough CNBC (Bloomburg is an acceptable alternative, that other joke of a business network is a political propoganda machine). And I said CNBC, [...]

I am going to make this real simple as to the price of gas and oil 3 weeks ago oil and gas peaked. The last week, oil, gas and most commodities dropped 10%. This week, after a small bump, they dropped again, in excess of 5%. Wanna know why? They raised margin requirements. That means [...]