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[GROK]

I was reading the Herald this morning about Rendell's attempts to pay state workers (can't p**s off the state unions now can you Fast Eddie) Pretty slick how he is advocating that the Dem controlled House vote for the GOP Senate controlled proposed budget to get them payed, but he will use the line item veto to veto the attempts to hold down taxes and will continue to hold other budget areas as hostage (no doubt so that when education is still not funded to his higher proposed levels, we will be inundated with cries of "What about the children" to try and force higher taxes.)

[CindyLouWho]

I am just sick watching some of these families struggle through this.  I have two friends who are having a really really hard time because they aren't geting a paycheck.  One is a single parent household and the other has a stay at home homeschooling mom.  I have been helping with groceries with the one family.

[lifefeedsonlife]

Too late - he's already pissed off the unions. Thing is - when you DO fund things at a certain level, when lean times come, cutbacks are a bitch. Question is what gets cut? Education and Human Services are necessary - as are transportation and safety budgets at a State level - the rest is negotiable. But then - that depends on who's pork you're thinkin' about roastin' - right?

[Valley Exile]

There is so much fat in government because it's so easy to spend other people's money, and if you run out you just get some more by raising taxes.

When the taxpayers eventually start complaining, government doesn't cut back in the overstaffed bureaucratic offices, they cut by cutting highly visible and popular items, like closing parks or cutting back on trash pickup.  The solution that will never happen is for the blood-donor taxpayers to get as involved in lobbying efforts as much as the blood-sucking bureaucrats and government employees who feed at the trough of the public treasury.  That won't happen, though (until we're near total collapse) because the taxpayers have to work at their full-time jobs, while for the tax consumers lobbying government IS their full time job.

[GROK]

Valley Exile you are spot on. I wonder if our being a commonwealth precludes us from doing voter referendums such as California citizens do to keep themselves from being taxed to death (at least property taxed to death)? If we can forcibly cut off funding by bypassing the politicians who don't have the cajones to do it, then maybe we can wean people from the government's teats.

[NightmarePatrol]

I don't know, I lived in California and they get taxed and levied a lot out there. The problem is there are a lot of things that go on the ballot that get passed by the people (read "uninformed") that should not have. I used to joke about putting a proposition on on the ballot that would require the politicians to actually do their jobs in the interest of the people and not themselves or further sustaining and expanding the machine that is supported through the ever increasing flow of tax money.

[GROK]

Unfortunately in our "democracy" we are not allowed to have testing prior to voting to see if people actually have the comprehension skills to make informed decisions.

[NightmarePatrol]

Funny, I may have posted this before. I don't remember if I did or not. In California every register household received an 8x11 book that varied in size depending on how many propositions were on the ballot. Each proposition would have the summary paragraph followed by the sponsors, etc. Ten there was the statement for the proposition followed by the rebuttal against it. Then there was the statement against the proposition followed by the rebuttal for it. Then there was the actual textual intentions of the proposition. Needless to say they could get rather hefty.

Now these pubs wold arrive about 60 days prior to election time. Upon receiving them they would immediately be placed on top of my toilet tank along with a pen and a highlighter. In sixty days I had made enough trips to the bathroom  where the bills would get my mostly undivided attention. By the time election day rolled around I had my cheat sheet read to go.  Unfortunately I suspect that the majority of these publications were sent immediately to the landfills and people voted emotionally and in a reactionary fashion to the ad campaigns. So what many of the bills come down to is which camp hired the better marketing company.

[GROK]

Somewhat relevant to what our world is becoming is an excellent sci-fi short story called THE MARCHING MORONS by CM Kornbluth
If you had never read it, you should evenif you are not a Sci-Fi fan (It does not contain hard-core science per se)