Is that a euphemism for this?
Posted on 08/07/2010 4:42:45 PM PDT by Clintonfatigued
It's probably also worth noting this Wall St. Journal article from last month -- with a subheadline warning: "Back to Stone Age" -- which describes how "paved roads, historical emblems of American achievement, are being torn up across rural America and replaced with gravel or other rough surfaces as counties struggle with tight budgets and dwindling state and federal revenue." Utah is seriously considering eliminating the 12th grade, or making it optional. And it was announced this week that "Camden [New Jersey] is preparing to permanently shut its library system by the end of the year, potentially leaving residents of the impoverished city among the few in the United States unable to borrow a library book free."
Does anyone doubt that once a society ceases to be able to afford schools, public transit, paved roads, libraries and street lights -- or once it chooses not to be able to afford those things in pursuit of imperial priorities and the maintenance of a vast Surveillance and National Security State -- that a very serious problem has arisen, that things have gone seriously awry, that imperial collapse, by definition, is an imminent inevitability? Anyway, I just wanted to leave everyone with some light and cheerful thoughts as we head into the weekend.
(Excerpt) Read more at salon.com ...
Well, DARPA did create the original Internet.
(Also, if you use GPS, that was also a creation of the federal government.)
Don’t get upset, all the library books would have to be replaced with Spanish ones anyway.
If they just printed more money wouldn’t that solve everything? </sarc>
I remember the incident. But . . . ( ^8 } blaming Bush (41) is kinda like blaming Petain for the Nazis.
Hope you aren't too close to town, or you're in for an annexation fight...
Is that a euphemism for this?
You are missing the point.
Politicians always cut police, fire, schools, libraries, etc first so that the public feels the squeeze. This is how they prepare the public to demand more taxes. Its pay more or else.
They can’t possibly cut back on union pay, union pensions, government jobs, illegal alien services, and the endless programs for welfare mommies.
All this ‘stimulus’ money was spent, yet MARTA is being drastically cut. More taxes and MUCH less service is the new American way.
I have a similar experience to yours. But there is some variation depending on which branch of the county system I go to. The one in my home town is more “urban”: lots of bi-lingual holdings and programming, no quiet rules observed, groups of utes hanging out like it was a high school cafeteria. I’ve come near fistfighting a number of times when I had the audacity to ask some of these fine patrons to keep it a little quieter.
“4Thine enemies roar in the midst of thy congregations; they set up their ensigns for signs.
[5] A man was famous according as he had lifted up axes upon the thick trees.
[6] But now they break down the carved work thereof at once with axes and hammers.”
Psalm 74: 4,5 & 6
What you see is the consequences of politicians building (more like over building) stuff they could not maintain. New roads are “sexy.” Maintaining existing roads are boring.
Happens to hospitals, too. All the rich benefactors want to build buildings with their names on ‘em - none of them seem to want to endow the hospital for their maintenance (or for parking lots...).
Now, there is no question many if not most of the material symbols of "greatness" are looking shabby: cities, roads, etc. But these are BY-PRODUCTS of greatness, where you have low taxes, energetic non-welfare-oriented people, entrepreneurs, and smaller government. This is all recoverable in a mere 8-10 years with the right people and right policies in place. Thatcher substantially turned Britain around in about that amount of time, and Britain was MUCH further down the road than we are. Since then, a lack of persistence has turned England back---but the point is, theses physical symbols are quickly and easily restored to grandeur NOT by govenrments investing in "infrastructure," but by individuals pursuing their dreams. Need education? Free people who have low taxes will be able to pay for their OWN damn kids' education. I teach at a university where the tuition could easily be 1/3 to 1/4 if you removed the layers of bureaucrats and the "recruiting," which then allows the school to raise tuitions.
Want to see how quickly the physical symbols can be restored? Look at Disneyland, which in 1980 was surrounded by slums and hovels, and now is sparkling with new Disney-built and improved roads; mostly new glistening hotels; and nary a drug addict to be seen. Disney's road system is terrific, both in CA and in FL. I'm not saying they do everything right, nor do I agree with their homosexual/PC agenda. I'm just saying that when you let the private sector do some of these things, they get done, and well. I'm betting Disney planted all those giant palm trees that I don't recall being along the streets when I was here last time.
Sure, governments in China, Korea, and Japan laid a lot of cable "infrastructure," but I'm pretty sure it was the demand caused by Nokia and other private phone companies that forced it.
Wow. Looks to me that we already are a socialist state.
Upon reading this line I immediately thought, "You must live in Denver." and then I clicked on your profile page.
Am I right?
My sister-in-law moved to Denver just a year or so ago.
It’s depressing to hear it’s that bad.
It’s depressing to hear it’s that bad.
From 1998-2002 I lived right in the heart of downtown. It was nice then, for the most part, as long as you knew which areas to avoid. I haven't been back for a while so I don't know what it is like now. I remember the multi-million dollar public library well. I spent a lot of time there. A beautiful building with lots of resources and, sadly, lots of bums.
That's exactly it.
I see exactly that plan in operation here where I am in Michigan in the suburbs around the Detroit area.
Property tax revenues fall, the voters do not approve a milliage, and they cut the library and senior center and some police.
My personal opinion is if that is what they are going to do, then after they make those first major and painful cuts in those areas, what reason is there is there to ever vote for a milliage again? Just keep cutting from there, as they have already done the worst they can do tio cut services...
One (or two) words of warning however: They do ramp up the enforcement of every law possible that they can write a citation for. Code enforcement (cut your grass, no cars being worked on in the driveway or back yard, etc.) and traffic enforcement (no talking on the cell phone or drinking or eating while driving, etc.).
In addition to cutting services, they also send the enforcers out to write as many tickets as they can to get additional revenue that way.
Just a heads up...
It's pretty simple,really.
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