Florida City Boots 103 Year Old Granny

The Florida City of Cape Coral, a suburb of Fort Myers, decided it wants to build a $60 million dollar park.  The only barrier is that there are families who have lived on the property for generations.  So city officials showed up with a check and said, "Get out!"

Some of the people don't want to leave.  According to a story from WINK television, one of these homes has a 103 year old grandmother who isn't interested in moving.

Nancy Wickston, who is a relative of the 103 year old woman, told WINK,

"There's five generations under the same roof and they're all on fixed income basically too." (Full Story Here) 

The family is asking for fair market value from the city but feel they won't get it.  What they would really like is to live out the rest of their lives in a home which has been in the family for decades.

A Conscious Conservative hopes that the citizens of Cape Coral will come to their senses and get rid of any city council members who are in favor of disrupting the life of a 103 year old grandmother and her family.  They can find their contact information at the link below.

Cape Coral City Council Contact Information

Canada Restricts Crypto

Canada decided that Bitcoin and other crypto-currencies fall under the Proceeds of Crime (Money Laundering) and Terrorist Financing Act this week. Using the usual scapegoat of fighting terrorism, Canada has put restrictions in place for platforms which trade crypto-currency.

Platforms which trade in currency must now register as Money Services Businesses under Canadian law.  FINTRAC Policy--Money Services Businesses .  They will now be subject to a plethora of regulations.   The chief among these being transaction reporting requirements 

The primary reporting requirement is any transaction of more than $10,000 CAD (About $7600 US).  All "suspicious" transactions are also required to be reported.  The definition of suspicious is left to the eyes of the beholder as the Canadian guidelines state "You are in the best position to know what are usual transactions for your business and therefore what is suspicious."  This undermines the idea of crypto-currency transactions untraceable and anonymous.  Transactions That Must Be Reported  

A Conscious Conservative view is that government should get out of the currency regulation business besides issuing money accepted for public debts.  Otherwise, people should be free to trade in any means upon which two individuals may agree.  Looking for terrorists behind every bush leads to an excess of innocent people getting harassed for conducting respectable business. 

Nevadans Worry About Income Tax

Certain groups in Nevada worry that Nevada may soon have to enact an income tax.  The culprit is a law recently signed by Governor Steve Sisolak.  The bill allows Nevada State Employees to unionize and engage in collective bargaining.  Nevada has long been known as a fiscally conservative state that funds its operation from other tax sources.  However, representatives of the Nevada Policy Research Institute NPRI have expressed concern that employees engaged in collective bargaining will lead to run away spending.  

"The price tag associated with this is something that really worried us," said NPRI Communications Director Michael Schaus, "simply because we're already straining our budgets." according to an article on the 3 News Las Vegas web site.

Conscious conservatives across the country worry about the natural conflict of interest that occurs when public servants are allowed to hold public interests hostage for salary increases.  We also hope that Nevada holds out as one of the examples of how government can be funded without a tax on income.