Sunday, April 29, 2012
A Small Fortune: Defined
Thanks to we now know what "...a small fortune" is worth: $204,000. That's less the the average house costs in my neighborhood. Yeah that's a significant amount of money but come on, "a small fortune." I think someone is letting there bias show.
Saturday, April 28, 2012
Omaha, Buying or leasing police vehicles
Recently Omaha, Nebraska decided to replace about half their aging police car fleet with something newer. Which is all well and good. However the financing has me befuddled. Apparently the city is going to lease the vehicles for three years with an option to buy at the end of the lease. But from whom is the city leasing the vehicles?
Here's where it gets confusing. The city is setting up a non-profit government entity to purchase the police cruisers using funds raised by the issuance of bonds guaranteed by the city. What did I just say? Essentially the city is buying the vehicles and then leasing the vehicles to itself.
Why doesn't Omaha just buy the vehicles outright with the money they are using to lease the vehicles? Why does Omaha want to issue bonds to purchase the vehicles? Why is Omaha saying they are leasing the vehicles when they are in fact buying them?
As an aside, why didn't Omaha have an ongoing program to replace obsolete and unrepairable vehicles when they wear out? Seems like something a competent manager of a fleet of vehicles would do.
Here's where it gets confusing. The city is setting up a non-profit government entity to purchase the police cruisers using funds raised by the issuance of bonds guaranteed by the city. What did I just say? Essentially the city is buying the vehicles and then leasing the vehicles to itself.
Why doesn't Omaha just buy the vehicles outright with the money they are using to lease the vehicles? Why does Omaha want to issue bonds to purchase the vehicles? Why is Omaha saying they are leasing the vehicles when they are in fact buying them?
As an aside, why didn't Omaha have an ongoing program to replace obsolete and unrepairable vehicles when they wear out? Seems like something a competent manager of a fleet of vehicles would do.
400 deaths. A lot or a little?
I recently red Gail Collins' column, More Guns, Fewer Hoodies. In her column she cites statistics indicating that 402 people over five years have been killed by concealed weapon (CW) permit holders. WOW! That seems like a lot. Clearly CW permit holders are the scourge of the the earth. But wait. How often do I hear news reports linking CW holders to murders? Except for the recent Trayvon Martin shooting I could not think of one instance. After doing some quick mental math to determine the annual rate I figured about 80 deaths per year or about 1 or 2 deaths per state per year. No wonder I don't remember hearing about all those murderous CW permit holders. Where I live it's probably rarer still.
Okay. The absolute number is small. How about a relative comparison to all firearm deaths. Some quick research via Google revealed roughly 30,000 (It's actually higher) firearm deaths per year WISQARS Fatal Injury Reports, National and Regional. Only 0.27 percent of all firearm deaths are caused by CW permit holders. That's only 1 of 375 deaths by firearms are caused by CW permit holders. Seems like a little to me.
For me, the numbers Ms. Collins quotes are unconvincing. But you decide.
Okay. The absolute number is small. How about a relative comparison to all firearm deaths. Some quick research via Google revealed roughly 30,000 (It's actually higher) firearm deaths per year WISQARS Fatal Injury Reports, National and Regional. Only 0.27 percent of all firearm deaths are caused by CW permit holders. That's only 1 of 375 deaths by firearms are caused by CW permit holders. Seems like a little to me.
For me, the numbers Ms. Collins quotes are unconvincing. But you decide.
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