Things we cannot afford to pay for because of the deficit, according to Republicans:
Roads
Teachers
Police Officers
Firefighters
Cities in general
Unemployment benefits
Broadband internet infrastructure
Things we have to pay for even if it increases the deficit, according to Republicans:
Tax cuts for those making over $250,000 a year
Blowing things up in Iraq
Blowing things up in Afghanistan
"Accidentally" blowing stuff up in Pakistan
Apology/bribe money to Pakistan when we "accidentally" blow stuff up
Huge bloated Homeland Security apparatus
Gitmo
Class dismissed. I have a headache now.
No a lot of these are very similar to what we're facing in my city. Times are tough (duh) and money is tight (duh). Money is not flowing into Government because people are out of work and not spending. Pension plans, etc were unsustainable to begin with, the obligations the city is on the hook for was going to sink them one way or another down the road. On a much larger scale look at Greece, it was not the private sector workers rioting, it was the public sector who had benefits, etc cut because the state was unsustainable.
ReplyDeleteYes we should take care of people who protect us, but to what extent is debatable. If you need X amount of officers/emts/firefighters on Y budget then you have to make it work.
Well, that's the trick. There are some governmental services that still function, albeit in a degraded fashion, when you shrug and say, "sorry, do your best." As much as I am loathe to say, you could look at education as one of those services. Increase class sizes, and the kids will still receive something approximating an education, or at least something resembling the approximation they're already receiving. But that's not nearly universally true. Firefighters are the exact opposite case. You can determine how many firefighters that any built up urban area needs with hard math. Less than that, and the city is exposed to grave risk. Perfect example, my hometown. Richmond had a serious fire in the spring of last year. Three entire blocks of the city were gutted, and another three damaged, because the fire sparked on a very windy day. The reason no one was killed, and only three blocks were destroyed, was that 4 ladders of the RFD were on scene in 5 minutes from the report, and handled it like the no-nonsense operators they are. If just one ladder hadn't been a first responder, i.e., if they'd closed one station house, but kept the engines by spreading them around the rest of the stations, there would not have been enough ladders in time to strongpoint the burning blocks to buy time until the rest of the RFD showed. We would have lost, with no hyperbole, about 15-20% of downtown.
ReplyDeleteI'm a big libtard, so I regard teachers and nurses and civil servants losing their jobs as just more good people getting their teeth kicked in in this recession. If we lose too many firefighters, or cops, or engineers, or inspectors on the altar of "responsibility" (ptui), that is, in fact, massive irresponsibility, and I cannot see it framed otherwise honestly.
Some things you suck it up and put on the credit card, even if you're a fiscal conservative, because you simply must have them.
Oh don't get me wrong, I'm firmly behind needing these positions. where my main beef is with cities spending money on other frivolous things. We don't need to keep open city swimming pools, or add a rail car. They are nice but not necessary.
ReplyDeleteAlso union contracts need to be brought in alignment. Not all, but there are plenty of cities I'm sure that are underwater and still paying out on terribly written union contracts.