Do you mean because we can figure on 500% cost overruns on all these projects? sm
Posted By: TechSupport on 2009-03-22
In Reply to: does anyone use the Interstate? - ok
I use the interstate. After all, I have to visit my vast real estate holdings scattered hither and thither around the state. Us wealthy folks are like that.
Now, I just checked with my chauffeur as to his opinion. "Wigweevil", I said. "Wigweevil, tell me. How is the state of the interstate in your opinion? And take off that cap while you're inside the mansion!"
"Sire", said Wigweevil (he pretends he lives in feudal England). "Sire, what do you mean by the state of the interstate?"
"Well, you know, Wigweevil. That road thingie that runs from one village to the next. Is the concrete, or mortar or whatever you call it. Is it all there? No yawning caverns? And the bridges - not too wobbly, I trust?"
"No, sire. The asphalt or macadam is entirely intact and the bridges seem trustworthy."
"I see, Wigweevil. That greatly relieves my mind. How about animals? No vast herds of buffalo wandering about on the asphalt or macadam? No dodging around charging rhinocerussusses? Everything in order along those lines?"
"Quite, sire."
"Very good, Wigweevil. Well, I am hearing that the interstate is becoming a veritable wilderness, so I want you to put the elephant gun in the car against the eventuality of rhinocerusseses in the future. And you might throw my water wings in the trunk in case a bridge collapses and throws us into the drink. That is all, Wigweevil."
"Very good, sire."
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Pet projects
But the true evil of this spending boondoggle is not so much its title as its substance. Virtually every pet project and constituency of the Democratic Party will be at the receiving end of the billions of dollars rushing down this latest federal money sluice. The disaster that is this “recovery and reinvestment act” is made far worse by the fact that every single one of its more than $800 billion bills is borrowed.
When all is said and done according to the government’s own estimate, this spending measure will add more than a trillion dollars to our national debt which already tops $10.2 trillion.
Moreover, this appropriations vehicle comes on top of last year’s “Emergency Economic Stabilization Act” —- the so-called “bailout” —- and the now small, $152 billion 2008 “Economic Stimulus Act.” Thus does the true magnitude of the damage to the value of our currency and to the future economic health of our nation start to come into focus.
State and local government officials, including our own here in the Peach State, are already gleefully counting the billions they are slated to receive from Washington’s “reinvestment” largess.
These are the same spendthrift state and local governments that have failed for decades to keep their own spending under control.
Throwing even more federal money their way simply rewards their irresponsibility, and further disguises the necessity for state and local governments to rein in their own spending.
Some of the details of the “reinvestments” in the House’s version of the stimulus package are truly amazing. For example:
> A billion dollars will continue to subsidize the perennial money loser, Amtrak; $20 billion expands the already bloated food stamp program.
> About $2 billion is diverted from the wallets of hard-working Americans to subsidize childcare. Some $2.8 billion is slipped to global warming advocacy programs.
> $600 million will buy more and newer cars for government bureaucrats, along with $44 million to refurbish the Department of Agriculture, $50 million for the National Endowment for the Arts, and $150 million to spruce up the Smithsonian buildings.
> Another $650 million is earmarked for helping consumers convert analog TVs to digital (because the government earlier decided to halt analog television broadcasting). More than $400 million promotes anti-smoking programs and programs to fight sexually transmitted diseases. Those are just the tip of the fiscal iceberg.
There are minor differences in the House and Senate versions, but overall the amount of money spent and the amount of pork in each is outrageous and harmful; and besides, the House-Senate conference may very well add back in what the Senate took out but really just shifted around, in a typical example of congressional legerdemain.
When all the dust settles, the only thing this fiscal monstrosity will “stimulate” is making American citizens, businesses and state and local government even more dependent on Uncle Sam than before; even as we and our children and grandchildren are rendered the poorer.
Pet projects...(sm)
By this I'm guessing that you're talking about stuff in the stimulus? If so, my understanding was that those are "shovel ready" projects that will be immediate. I think he asked for those in the first meeting he had with the govenors, and I think all states had the opportunity to participate in that. As far as the longterm goes, if we go with the alternative energy and re-tooling the auto industry (assuming there still is one), then wouldn't that be a start?
You consider Social Security and Medicare expanding government projects, t hen?
Help me understand this concept. I am afraid the logic escapes me.
Not very cost effective, is it? nm
x
The boxes only cost about $75.... sm
and as the poster above said, this has been in the offing for some time now. Surely, if a person can afford a television, they could afford a box.... Even if they have to save up for it. What about when all the analog televisions have been converted? They are no longer making analog televisions, so the jobs in this field would go bye-bye.
What would cost more in the long
The government astronomically increasing the deficit -or- the government doing nothing our nation nosediving into economic collapse?
Yes, our taxes will increase, as will our children's and probably, at least for some of us, our grandchildren's. But the alternative is far more dire.
Frankly, I don't know if what the feds have done (during both administrations) was the right thing to do. Even the economists can't agree. Some say it was ill-advised, some say it was misdirected, some say it was too much, others say it was not enough. I am just glad that, for the moment at least, I have a roof over my head and do not have to stand in a soup line. The future? Who knows?
It may have cost her this crown........... sm
but it may have preserved her other one! I, for one, am glad to see a Christian standing up for her beliefs in the face of being unpopular and losing something that is important to her.
I think it did cost her the crown
I heard that Perez gave her zero points for her answer. If he was being at all fair, she would have gotten something for her answer; it was a good answer, and her opinion, but he didn't agree with it.
She was in the lead before this question, so yes, I believe it did.
What with the rise in the cost of living....(sm)
its hard to make it on just $169,300 a year.....ROFL...they should try working with my budget.
How much does it cost to throw a party?
Look, I don't care if Obama's inaugaration party is costing 21 million, but in the light of where our economy is right now, do you think it's a good idea? I mean, can't you have a good party for around 10 million? This is NOT a political question. I'm not attacking Obama, it's more of an economic question.
Nothing is very cost effective and now i heard
they want to up the ethanol production by 12%....so that means higher corn prices again next year.
and of course, the speculators are currently driving up the cost, again.....
All the more reason to institute Picken's Plan..........there
and of course, the speculators are currently driving up the cost, again.....
All the more reason to institute Picken's Plan..........there isn't
We don't know if the answer cost her the crown.
There were apparently either 10 or 12 judges, each of whom rated each candidate in the final round as "1 through 5". Depending on the margin she lost by, and how her answer figured in each judge's assessment, the answer may very well have cost her the crown - or not. We simply do not know without seeing the score cards and also finding out from each judge how her answer figured into their decisions.
This does not cost anything. Just pick a card and a message...sm
Or even type your own message and Xerox handles the mailing. This is neat.
And do you know why the cost of living for the middle class has gone down...?
because we are being taxed to death. The amount of our income off the top for taxes has increased over all those years. More programs to help the "poor," some of which have moved people from what used to be middle class to the "poor class" to get on some of those social programs...which is never a good thing...and meanwhile the working middle class continues to get the tax shaft. Yeah, we are being had...by those who want to spend, tax, spend, tax, spend....
Again, you are skirting the major issues and the cost...
did you read all the France article? Their physicians make two-thirds less than ours...and why? Because there is no medical school tuition in France. Can you imagine what would happen to this country's quality of care if you made medical schools no tuition? Can you see Cornell Medical School, Harvard Medical School to name just two, schools who graduate the most brilliant minds in medicine...going to a no-tuition basis? How are they going to be able to train physicians with only government doled-out money to support them? The quality of physician in this country, followed rapidly by the quality of care would tank. If you come from academic medicine, ask those physicians how they feel about no tuition medical school and having their fees capped. Go ahead and ask them.
Our own socialized care is substandard. Articles every day about VA Hospitals and the deplorable conditions in many of them. Veterans having to wait weeks and months for appointments, etc. I know. I have seen the system at work. The government cannot oversee the socialized programs they have now. Medicare and Medicaid are both rife with waste and fraud. We all know this. Because the government cannot oversee them the way they should. And you want to extend this to every person in the US? Look at this reality-based. It is a fiasco in the making.
I am sure the Canadians and the UK thought it would be wonderful too. In the first months it may have been. However, things get skewed when the cost starts to catch up. That is when you end up with a population having over HALF their income taken off the top in taxes to feed the fatted calf. You will note that the article said France was considering taxing both earned and unearned income to feed THEIR calf. When that happens, ask the French how they feel about socialized medicine.
I don't know where you get that healthcare costs are driven by insurance companies. That is nuts. They don't set the fees doctors, clinics, drug companies, yada yada, charge. In fact, it was some of the organized insurance companies, like HMOs, who went to clinics, physicians, etc., to negotiate deals for their consumers...so that those clinics would accept a certain rate for their services. The clinics would agree to less than their normal fees in order to get the business of that HMO. That is the free market WORKING. The clinic I go to for my care, when I get a bill, the insurance company shows what they charged, what they paid, and in nice bold letters at the bottom it says that I am not responsible for the difference because the clinic agreed to that amount for that service, regardless of what their normal charge is.
So, yes, in a way insurance companies do drive health care...but in a good way in my case, and I am sure in other cases across this country, if people would just open their eyes and look.
What this appears to be, on the face of it, is that people just do not want to pay for their own insurance, they want to turn it into yet another entitlement...the biggest one ever. If they want to let the government control them to that extent...more power to them. These same people who want to give up their personal right to control their own health care are the same people that complain about civil liberties and wiretapping. Don't tap my phone, but go ahead and take my health care completely out of my hands as long as you pay for it I don't have to.
No thanks. I do not want to be tied to the government for my health care and I do not want them making my decisions for me. One thing leads to another and before long the government (or more specifically, the Democrats) have you tied to them for your every need. Then, my friends, they have you. You will be living in a socialist country. And if that looks good to you...look at Venezuela. Look at the disparity there between those in power and the "people." Look at Cuba. Look at what socialist Germany turned into before World War II. Please look at history, folks. Socialism always evolves into a dictatorship. Always. Because once they have you dependent upon them for your every need...all I am saying is be careful what you ask for.
Read the article...it says it all there cost of bed and electricity...nm
Palin is a fraud....
lol
I agree....cost and insurance practices DO...
need overhaul. And McCain has good ideas to take care of that, called competition. Making all insurance available in all parts of the country is a start...so no monopolies in certain parts of the country. Now there are some really great plans, trouble is, not available everywhere in the country. McCain thinks if you offer a policy, you offer it everywhere, if you are a national company. Insurance companies, if they toe the line, can help control costs, just like they do in certain parts of the country where physicians will take whatever the insurane company is willing to pay. If they are made to compete nationally prices will have to come down. That is what competitive market does. And rather than having the government muck around in it, McCain is just going to give a tax credit $2500 individual and $5000 family to help pay premiums. That is pretty significant, and no strings attached. You still make your own health care decisions. And that works for me.
Keating 5 cost taxpayers $125 billion.
x
Fannie/Freddie going to cost 7 billion...
if we are lucky.
O's alleged ties will cost money plus a lot more...nm
nm
I guess McCain's hairdos don't cost much. LOL
x
NYT ad alone cost $200,000 in taxpayer funds. Not a big deal?nm
z
If bridge builders cannot afford the cost........ sm
of a movie ticket, then what good does it do to provide/create more jobs in that genre?
Folks are hurting and they can't afford their own homes, much less movie tickets and popcorn. I say let the movie industry take a little pay cut here and there and bring their multimillion dollar projects down to a more reasonable figure and bring the films in under budget.
The health care plan cost so far
is about $1 Trillion, and yes, it will be covered by taxes again. I don't think it's 4 pages, either. It's more like another 1000 pages. I made a note to look it up, but can't today.
The cost of S-CHIP for an entire year equals
Iraq = $333 million per day. S-CHIP = $19 million per day. Hmm, if we can "find" money for one, don't you think we can find money for the other. Again, I ask, "What would Jesus do?" What would the leaders of any religion recommend? I think they would recommend taking care of our most innocent souls.
The cigarette tax would go a long way in covering the program, but I think our government could come up with money to fund the rest.
Correction: The cost to cover Montana kids.
.
voice mail doesn't cost anything - but I hate it
I cannot stand having to pick up my phone, hear a beep, beep, beep, then dial into the phone company, then dial my telephone number, then dial my password. Too much of a hassle for me. So it was free but what a waste of my time.
Voice mail doesn't cost anything? Crapola. My
phone company must be run by dems! I pay to have my phone company's voice mail, line item every month of my bundled services.
I'm not so lazy it bothers me to dial in and get my messages. Public mindset says, "give it to me without any effort, any cost to me, and let others pay for it." Private sector mindset says, "let me dial in, I'll pay for it, and when I can't, I'll discontinue the service."
No hassle to me says I can delete what I don't want to hear. Picking up a handset is better than picking up a welfare check.
How do you figure?
Don't see anything unraveling except more of W's disastrous economic fall-out. You must have been watchin Focks Noise non-stop replay of the guilt-by-association-to-nowhere mantra. Sooner or later, you are going to have to get over the election and move on.
How you figure that?
xx
Go figure.
x
I'm still trying to figure out what
"voted in the decider..." means. Anyone got a clue?
trying to figure this out...
If not for the war in Iraq where we spent billions of dollars, and I don't mean to open another can of worms here, we wouldn't have to print or borrow money!
I know we don't want to digress, but please stop blaming the fact that we have to resort to these measures on the current adminstration.
You should be able to figure out the
...I'm sure you know JTBB as well as she knows herself.
Still trying to figure out what
you would have had him do....stand there folding it like a doofus folding towels in a laundromat? I dunno, seems that might have reduced the dramatic impact somehow. He had the knife in one hand, which would have made folding a tricky thing to accomplish. Seriously, not sure how else he could have handled the flag, given the situation. Maybe throw it over one shoulder like a toga? One would assume those who had improperly hung the flag might have been nearby, maybe a little P.O.'d over his cutting it down. When ''exigent circumstances'' exist, you get the flag down as efficiently as possible and worry about the frills later. Tell us all, exactly what would Amanda do?
My take, go figure, is completely different...
and I am an independent, not a Republican. First of all, he questioned her like she is running for President. She isn't. I would like Bill Clinton to have had this kind of questioning when he first ran for President having only been a governor. He would have done no better than she has, but the left would have sung his praises. Such is politics.
Politics aside, she did well. She avoided the traps he laid, and there were many.
As to avoiding answering questions and only hitting the talking points...did you watch the Obama-O'Reilly interview? Danced all around subjects and would not commit to anything. I don't hear any on the left complaining that he tried to evade questions and threw out talking points.
Keeping the money from the bridge to nowhere...states do that every day. Lobbyists for Alaska...earmarks. Joe Biden's son was a professional lobbyist until yesterday and he and dad did a great many deals while Dad has been in Congress (I guess they finally decided they really could not dump on lobbyists when they had them in the family). Obama has worked with lobbyists as well, has some on his advisory staff. And as far as earmarks...he got elected, Michelle Obama's hospital doubled her salary, and Obama earmarked a million plus for them. Who benefitted from that? Fact is, all politicians have done that. What you don't say here is what Palin explained very well...the earmarks they seek to stop are the crooked under the table ones, attaching huge earmarks to bills to get them passed that would not otherwise pass. The earmarks that were asked for by Alaska were by the Fish and Game Commission in Alaska. It is perfectly fine for states to request funds from Washington. Some get them, some don't. But the practice of adding "pork" to a bill just to get it passed is the WRONG practice and that is the one they seek to stop. She was very succint in explaining that. Guess you missed that part of the interview.
As far as abuse of power in troopergate...maybe we should wait for the results? And I STILL say, any "trooper" who tasered an 11-year-old for ANY reason SHOULD be fired.
There is nothing wrong with having the ceremony for sending off those troops on 9/11 to commemorate the day. I do not believe she did it for publicity. It is a very meaningful date for many of the soliders who are being deployed. I think that is a cheap shot at them as well as her, implying she does not care about them (one of whom is her son) and just wanted publicity. I think she has PLENTY of publicity without that.
As as for disparaging things said about someone in the primary season...most of the other democrats in the primary focused on Obama's inexperience. Hillary did. His now running mate did...if I recall, said "The Presidency does not lend itself to on-the-job experience." You can't have it both ways either.
I can't figure out why she finds
the word Salmonella offensive.
How do you figure that those with mortgages
Decreasing the mortgage payment by 30% would only lengthen the repayment terms. Mortgage holders wouldn't get anything out of it, but probably would end up paying more over the course of time due to interest.
What cracks me up is you asking "what's in it for me?" and then complaining about the greed of others. Hypocrits are everywhere.
Obama would figure some way to get
at least 8 syllables out of yes, 5 out of no!
How you figure? She WAS lying
@
Did she think they wouldn't figure it out????
http://kdka.com/local/attack.McCain.Bloomfield.2.847628.html
can mean either good or bad, you figure it out for yourself. nm
.
Fake? How do YOU know? You cant even figure
nm
I have another question...go figure..
So, just today there have been posts saying that Obama is a Muslim. There have also been posts regarding Reverend Wright on this board. If it's against christian beliefs to be a Muslim, why would he have been accepted into a christian church? Which one are you guys going to stick with?
how to figure out which jobs are on their way out
Anything that requires a loan: houses, cars, trade schools, university of Phoenix type schools, shopping malls, vacations and travel, elective surgeries or cosmetic dental lasik surgeries, etc.
Jobs that will increase:
Anything that helps America:
Teachers, nurses, geologists, scientists, infrastructure, power grids, alternative energy, solar.
...and yet....he's still unqualified...go figure....
Unfortunately, they let young, uninformed people vote that know no better.....ah well....c'est LA vie
I don't think Freud himself could figure her out!!
xx
Which figure would you have us accept?
the 38% (average) disapproval, the 60% somewhat approval or the 34% strong approval ratings, all with that wide, wide +/- 14% margin of error? Don't see a whole lot of difference there. Like I said, 76% overall approval (CNN)...not too shabby after the week from he!!.
Reply to ok, Trying to figure this out...
... I know we don't want to digress, but please stop blaming the fact that we have to resort to these measures on the current administration
Here’s what a lot of us believe: We don't 'have' to print or borrow money to buy our way out of this mess. That is the thing most people will not acknowledge. The mortgage crisis and the housing ‘bubble’ were caused by government meddling with Fannie/Freddie loan standards. That sent the whole house of cards tumbling and the cascade of threatened failures that resulted. More government meddling will not fix this. You cannot shore up a house of cards. It's still cards. It should have been allowed to fall and be rebuilt, even if that meant starting from the ground up. Sucks to be us.
Foolish people who bought too much house for their means must be allowed to lose them. Bad companies have to be allowed to fail. Bad politicians with worse ideas also should to be allowed to fail; I'm doing my part not to get in their way.
I don't think anyone can name three things government does as efficiently and/or cheaply as private industry. Now government will part owners in AIG, banks, and other failing concerns. Now government wants to control health care? And all of this - plus much more - was put in an 1100-page document nobody who voted on it could even read?
Even though this is all mostly a done deal, I still cannot go along with the can't-we-all-get-along; wait-and-see crowd. Of course we’ll all just have to ‘sweat it out’ now, what choice? This is so reminiscent of the FDR New Deal 70 years ago that I cannot believe we have learned nothing from history. What am I saying? Of course I can believe it. We’re still idiots!
Tell me if any of this sounds familiar:
‘We seldom know six weeks in advance, what we are going to do.’ ‘It is common sense, to take a method and try it: if it fails, admit it frankly and try another. But above all, try something.’ FDR
Some of the things he tried:
National Recovery Act (fixed prices and wages). Forced smaller companies out of business, since lower wages and prices where the only way they could compete with big companies.
A law in Washington, DC, mandating a minimum monthly wage for women (only), resulting in women losing their jobs to men who were willing to work for much less than that guaranteed wage.
Agricultural Adjustment Act (subsidized farms by taking acreage out of production and fixed prices). Designed to curb overproduction and support prices. In reality production rose because farmers used their cash subsidies to buy fertilizer, and they had taken their worst acreage out of production anyway. They switched to the crops whose prices were guaranteed, hence, even more overproduction.
Works Progress Administration (to provide employment and improve infrastructure). Turned into a giant political patronage system to reward supporters with ‘shovel-leaning’ jobs and to punish detractors. To get most such jobs, you had to declare your political party, ‘vote right’ and ‘tithe’ to the D party.
Emergency Relief Act (made available to governors to assist the needy in their states). Since it was supported by huge tax increases, it all but shut off voluntary charitable contributions that traditionally went to the needy.
Excise taxes arbitrarily levied on a few luxury items of the rich such as yachts, furs and jewelry, but also on cars, gasoline, radios, cosmetics, cameras, bank checks, long-distance phone calls and movie tickets used by lower-income groups.
Tariffs on imported goods, which caused other countries to retaliate by taxing or not buying our goods and damaged our export business.
Top income tax bracket for the too-rich (only) 79% and the IRS was used as a weapon to harass and punish the wealthy, as well as critics of New Deal policies. Roosevelt was incensed that the wealthy (though he was born to wealth) used tax loopholes such as charitable deductions and business losses to legally avoid taxes, so he instructed the IRS and Congress to close them. Meanwhile, FDR himself used such loopholes to deduct the value of materials he donated for his own future presidential library. He took business losses and farm losses on his personal tax returns.
Roosevelt was one of those silver-spoon guys, subsidized by someone else’s money (his mother’s) his entire life. He failed repeatedly in businesses financed by family money. He had a solid record of picking losers; he thought the airplane was a fad. He had a lackluster academic career. Never held a ‘real’ job. His only talents were his personality and charisma.
Yes, FDR inherited the beginnings of the Great Depression from Herbert Hoover in 1933, but Roosevelt’s repeated ‘try something’ efforts to fix it kept it going until World War II.
Any of this starting to sound familiar? We’ve been at this exact pivotal point before and we are blowing it again. Elected another snake oil salesman. Way to go.
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