Finance and Budget

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There was a time when Nashville was one of the most fiscally responsible cities in the United States, but unfortunately those days have passed. As the disease of endless spending and "who cares about the numbers, it's just debt" infested our city's government, Nashville's books have become more and more dangerous to its future well-being. Somehow, these reckless lunatics, desperate for re-election, promised more and more money we don't have to more and more places, leading Nashville to become one of the most in-debted cities per capita(in comparison to cities of similar size.) The cities current multi-billions in debt is more than twice the amount of the rest of Tennessee combined. Handling the budget and spending is what separates the muppets from the real leaders who truly care about our cities future. As a city and as a nation, we have spent, not only out of the pockets of our children, but our children's children too. With rising interest rates, America at large cannot even afford the interest payment on its debt, let alone service any of the actual debt, and Nashville is starting to take more and more out of this same foolish playbook. I don't think people understand the implications of this, or the giant storm looming on the proverbial edge of town, but soon it will be a reality too big and ugly to ignore. There is an extremely high likelihood we are about to enter one of the worst downturns our nation has seen, and if our city is not prepared, and extremely sound fiscally, the future will not hold the same hope. Like I mentioned in my introduction, the other candidates are not mentioning this, and it shows how truly little they understand or how little they care about the real issue. The fact that anyone could be campaigning right now for a position in the United States government, and not be honest with the citizens about the True issue at hand is inconceivable, and unforgivable to me.

As mayor the first place I will start is by safeguarding the revenues and wealth we already have and collect. This means not leaving our revenue in fiat dollars to wither into the inflationary abyss, but storing and investing it in real assets and tangibles that will not only hold value, but gain more value as our dollars dive. As a serious investor and trader myself, I will join forces with other bright investors to "hedge" our wealth in places like commodities, metals, property, sound companies, and other safe tangible investments. While this may sound a bit nerve wracking or discomforting from the outside, or like some type of gamble, it's actually the safest thing to do with our wealth. Just think, a million dollars of your tax money at this moment, can purchase about 67% of what it did just 3 years ago. That is equivalent to your leaders, putting your hard earned money into some random crypto coin that dropped by 33% in value. Now if your leaders have your wealth stored in something that has continually dropped in value without coming up with a viable solution to hold said wealth, are they really fit for the job? They haven't even handled problem ONE.

The second step to Nashville's financial future relies on doing one of those hard, unpopular things: cutting spending. No one likes to hear it, especially the local government itself, but it must be done (unless you would like to pass the hardships on to the future generations.) The math has to add up, and right now it does not. I fully expect this to upset certain people, and have no issue dealing with that. Like a mother who refuses to feed her child Oreos for breakfast, it takes a leader with thick skin and unwavering conviction to say: get over it timmy! Eat your spinach! Cutting the budget means trimming fat in the places that are not absolute necessities to the things Nashvilleans value the most: like an affordable house, good schools for their children, plentiful job opportunities, and a clean, safe city. The first place this money will be cut from, and one I'm sure almost everyone will actually be happy about, is the hundreds of millions of dollars a year our government hands to giant corporations to "come to Nashville." Pure lunacy, as these behemoths were coming with or without our tax payer dollars to sell to a growing market. The fact these companies were ever given a single penny is infuriating, and it's time it ended once and for all. My second proposal, related to the first, is the millions spent on programs for already successful private businesses to "expand." These businesses, if offering something of value at a fair price, naturally will expand on their own and don't deserve tax payer money in the process. Multi-millionaire radio host Dave Ramsey's private company was given 2 million dollars to "help build new headquarters." Dave is worth an estimated $200 million dollars, I think if he wants to expand, he can handle that himself. Personally, I find this out right criminal and would like to shine a bright light on whoever was involved in creating and passing these bilIs. Another proposal I will make is that any time a spending cut is made for the citizens, the city council members will take one too. City council and former mayors have dabbled in all kinds of cuts over the years, their pension plans and lifetime health insurance plans were never one of them! I will not watch members of the government, myself included, live a sweet and easy life while the rest of Nashville is struggling to afford their ballooning property taxes. If the council members refuse to pass this, which I'm sure they will, I will shine a bright light on those members for all Nashvilleans to see. These are just a few places we will start.. 

While spending cuts are integral to a healthy budget for the city, additional sources of revenue are needed to balance our budget. The last place I believe this extra tax should have to come from is a rise in property taxes, as Nashvilleans already pay enough and many will not be able to afford a higher rate. To combat this, I think Nashville needs to get creative and evolve with the times. Here are a few ideas to for future tax revenues:

1. The legalization of marijuana: Currently, "Delta 9," a synthetic analogue of marijuana IS legal. The Deltas look just like weed, smell just like weed, and make you just as impaired as normal marijuana, so why are missing large sums of tax revenue by continuing with the illegality of marijuana? It makes no sense. Marijuana taxes bring in over a billion dollars a year for the state of CA, and I would push with the voice I had for it's legalization in Tennessee. While I do believe marijuana should not be legal to walk down the street and smoke, I do believe grown adults should have the freedom and ability to buy or grow small amounts of marijuana for personal use at their homes. Not only should this be a freedom and right of any adult, it would help bring the city extra revenue and help keep property taxes from rising.

2. I would also like to propose a "Welcome Tax" for the corporate businesses moving to Nashville to "join the party." Nashvilians have built and bred this incredible city, and I think outsiders should pay a toll to them for coming aboard. I see this is the reverse tax policy to the corrupt funds given to the likes of Dave Ramsey, Pringles and Amazon in the past. Nashville is giving these large companies a place to acquire a large and growing market, which holds much value in a monetary sense to them. This tax would be specifically for large corporations, and not overly extreme, as these companies do bring jobs we will need, but there is absolutely a value and incentive for them to "pay to play," as Nashville's market is too large for them to ignore. The other possibility is a "welcome tax" on wealthy individuals coming from the likes of California and New York to show their gratitude for their new home and Nashville's hospitality. These wealthy individuals are obviously moving to Nashville because of some value it will bring to their life, and I think until Nashville is fiscally more sound, they should show the city some value in return.

3. I think we need to start treating Nashville like a business and get as creative and innovative as possible. The world is moving swiftly into a "subscription" based model and as outlandish as it may seem, I don't see any reason why Nashville as a city can't capitalize off this evolution in some way. What if there was a Nashville service where you could "subscribe" to the city and get to watch all the concerts happening at Bridgestone as they took place live, or you could have access to the Nashville playlist of all the best new artists curated by Nashville itself, or discounted stays at Nashville hotels. As the service would be targNot only would it bring in revenue, it would act as a calling card and window into the awesomeness Nashville has offer for those that have never visited. The possibilities are endless, and while this may not be "the" idea, this is inventive type of way I believe our leaders should be thinking if we want to make Nashville the greatest city our country has ever seen.