tax dollars at work

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I wish that was was the lamest waste of time and tax dollars, but to be honest I much prefer that they occupy themselves on similar, relatively inexpensive and therefore harmless endeavors. Instead they insert themselves into every aspect of our life, and wallets, wantonly spending our children's money like they have bottomless pockets.

If politicians focussed on the unfinished work that they are supposed to manage they wouldn't have time for such nonsense. Come on, Obama has an epiphany and makes a new years resolution to focus on jobs? Where has he been for the last two years? Certainly not listening to voters.

How about work items like passing an actual budget.

Stop ignoring fannie and freddie. Two rather large elephants in the room that they blatantly ignored while placing huge burdens on ("reforming"?) just about every other financial institution.

How about real work like dealing with illegal immigration and our borders (other than back door amnesty that just encourages more illegals to make the trip). Maybe lend a division of infantry to Mexico and a couple hundred drones, to help them clean up the drug cartels, threatening our southern neighbor, as if that doesn't impact us.

How about managing the deficit with something more creative than raising taxes on the job creators.

We all have to live within our means, government should too. We can't legislate ourselves a raise, they shouldn't either.

arghhhhhh [/rant]

JR

PS: Has anybody been paying attention to the travesty created by government being helpful to college education seekers. They have created a distortion in free market forces by making student loans so easy to get, that colleges have been free to raise their prices faster than the rate of inflation. Students, like the proverbial lobster in a pot of warm water don't realize how much debt they are being saddled with, until after the college party music stops and they still don't have a good job, but a huge pile of debt.  What a great way to equip them for life.

Thanks to the recent takeover of college lending by the government, when these loans go bad it will be us taxpayers who lose, not private lenders. A lose-lose-win... only the pukes running colleges win. Do the math on that. 

Another case of government helping gone haywire. They need to get back to their knitting, and stop "helping" us so much.

 
John, completely agree with you. Unfortunately, it will only continue to get worse. Going forward, it will be very difficult to find any optimism in life in the US as taxes continue to crush the only people who are still contributing anything to the economy.
 
Spiritworks said:
John, completely agree with you. Unfortunately, it will only continue to get worse. Going forward, it will be very difficult to find any optimism in life in the US as taxes continue to crush the only people who are still contributing anything to the economy.

I remain optimistic to a fault.

The newly elected tea party candidates are just now sitting down to work. Many were never in political office before so they have not become accustomed to the bad habits (yet). Unfortunately 2/3 rds of the congress were not even up for election last time so we will have to wait another two election cycles to completely clean house (and senate).  

It will require the public staying engaged in the process for another few (2 year) cycles at least. I am pleasantly surprised by the public's participation in this last mid-term election.  I expect 2012 to be very contentious so it will be another interesting vote, but we all know the saying,,, "fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me.".  It will be hard to ignore the inflation caused by Bernanke's monetary expansion, and unemployment will be slow to recover, with the new burdens lumped on business.

It is perhaps a useful distinction but IMO we don't need a congress that does more... Government invariably screws up most things they try. We need a congress that reduces their grand sweeping agenda, back down to taking care of the fundamentals that they are supposed to and leave the private sector mostly alone.  

It shouldn't be so hard for them to do less, but they are like a well established cancer with a powerful urge to grow. We need to stop their expansion, so the private sector can flourish again.

JR
 
JohnRoberts said:
How about real work like dealing with illegal immigration and our borders
Just don't make it too tight, you might wanna go the other direction soon enough. :)
 
eskimo said:
JohnRoberts said:
How about real work like dealing with illegal immigration and our borders
Just don't make it too tight, you might wanna go the other direction soon enough. :)

That's why I said "illegal" immigration.. and the borders should be "tight" independent of the number of legal immigrants we accept.

We are a nation who draws our strength from diversity, and growth and rule of law. I don't want to wake up one morning and find that we aren't having enough babies to replace ourselves (like some western countries), or that the government run ponzi schemes (like social security) don't have enough new marks coming in at the bottom to support the retirees at the top. (note: I am not endorsing this, just saying what is).

I won't even harp too loudly about the bit of a red herring (border security). The real issue is and always has been, how we deal with the illegals once they are here. Most are here precisely because they want to work, and can earn more money here than anywhere else they can go. Another fraction come here for the free stuff, like citizenship for popping a baby here.. Clearly not the original intent of those laws, but law is law.

We are horribly conflicted by both sides maneuvering for political gain to deal with this properly and fairly. This hurts the many who can't come here because of so many others cheating.

This is clearly a case where the congress has done something (perpetuated a broken system) by not doing something (following through on previous legislation). For example congress must not only pass legislation, but fund the prosecution of those new laws. The old legislation was never completely supported with funding, or else we wouldn't have millions of law breakers in our midst.

The elephant in the room is all these warm bodies who aren't going back, so the only issue to settle is what kind of amnesty (reward) will these lawbreakers get, and how do we rationalize this to stop the flow of more.  This will be one of the huge fights that both parties will try to win before 2012 for the huge swing vote they could create with these millions of brand new citizens. I would argue that no matter what, they probably shouldn't get to vote for several more years to cut down on the quid pro quo they are already getting from several politicians in anticipation of them getting the vote.

We need strong and legal immigration to continue to grow. "Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free...."  but we can't take in every single living soul who wants in.  We can only absorb so many into the economy at a time. Criminal disregard for our rules is not how to get started on the path to citizenship. We are a nation of laws and they count from day one. it is a poor lesson for new citizens that laws can be disregarded after the fact... The constitution speaks about that (in a different context, i.e. formerly legal behavior, that was legal when done, can't be prosecuted later by changing the rules.). 

Not simple but important..

JR





 
 
JohnRoberts said:
eskimo said:
JohnRoberts said:
How about real work like dealing with illegal immigration and our borders
Just don't make it too tight, you might wanna go the other direction soon enough. :)
That's why I said "illegal" immigration.. and the borders should be "tight" independent of the number of legal immigrants we accept.
Oh, I meant US citizens fleeing south.
 
While they're called illegals, I can't say I've ever seen them as criminals.
Rather, I admire the strength it takes to go through something like that.
 
eskimo said:
While they're called illegals, I can't say I've ever seen them as criminals.
Rather, I admire the strength it takes to go through something like that.
I admire anybody who wants to improve their condition by working hard. They surely know they are breaking the law when they come in. Perhaps a lesser evil to them in their situation, but something that in my judgement we shouldn't ignore.

We will make exceptions to the quota for people who are subjects of political persecution, but simple hardship means get in line with the very large number of others in the same situation.

We need to rationalize the current immigration dynamic to close this gaping hole that attracts more illegal immigration (and other bad behavior along for the ride). This is not a simple matter of punishing someone because they broke a law, but supporting the whole foundation of our rule of law by not telegraphing the opposite example with wide scale no-strings attached amnesty.

The rule of the jungle is to ignore laws when you feel like you can get away with it. This is the basis of most criminal behavior. Rule of law is what holds our society together. We don't need to weaken that important principle by openly ignoring it ourself. What we do matters more than what we say. 

This is precisely the kind of work that our legislators need do, and it is surely hard work... This what they should be doing instead of revisiting old Doors concert memorabilia (I actually attended a few Doors concerts back in the day.). Then was then and now is now.. deal with now. 

JR
 
lassoharp said:
And we're heading for $4+/gal gas prices this summer.   :mad:

We've been around $4/gal for a while here in Canada, mostly because of the repressive tax regime
along with greedy vendors who jack prices $.40-$.50 / gallon in a blink of an eye. We don't notice or
complain as much because gas is dispensed in liters here, another great coup for the man.

1 US Gallon = 3.79 Liters.

The irony is that we are one of the main sources for US oil.

Mark
 
eskimo said:
So, was he decent?  ;D

The Doors were a pretty good live show back in the 60's.. I even recall seeing a little known Brit act, the WHO, play as the opening act for the Doors. Sometimes it got a little rowdy with audience throwing folding chairs and stuff like that. Another time Linda Ronstadt (stoned ponies) was the opening act. For a little trivia, she dated Governor moonbeam out in CA back when he was governor the first time around.

=========
Current energy predictions are for $100 barrel oil which is still probably less than $4 pump gas here. I think China's growth is moderating a little, and we are still pretty soft, but any disruption to supply can bump it back up higher. If Bernanke keeps up his quantitative easing asset and commodity prices will increase. it is simple cause and effect. He is trying to walk a tightrope to pump up assets like housing and stocks (to create a wealth effect and promote consumer spending) without increasing commodities and production costs. 

I don't feel lucky...  Housing still has a little further to fall. IMO the government needs to get out of the way and let the market finally equalize at a fair level. It will be a little painful for some, but it will be over quickly and the recovery after that happens will be real, and not pumped up with funny money.

JR
 

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