I C Rider We spend more money on sport venues, entertainment, athletes, ways to kill people (DoD) and other crap than we spend on education, crumbling infrastructure. updating transportation, and social reforms. Who suffers? The 99% who actually work and pay for the 1% who do not contribute because they are independantly wealthy and have no clue of the reality of working at a real job and living on a budget. Congress for the most part are part of this problem. Some of our congessional leaders hve been there so long that they only go to their home districts during election times or to visit relatives. By the way. There should be term limits for Congress just like for the presidency.. We have to realize that when something is broke we must fix it. Congress is broken and needs fixing.
We spend more money on sport venues, entertainment, athletes, ways to kill people (DoD) and other crap than we spend on education, crumbling infrastructure. updating transportation, and social reforms. Who suffers? The 99% who actually work and pay for the 1% who do not contribute because they are independantly wealthy and have no clue of the reality of working at a real job and living on a budget. Congress for the most part are part of this problem. Some of our congessional leaders hve been there so long that they only go to their home districts during election times or to visit relatives. By the way. There should be term limits for Congress just like for the presidency.. We have to realize that when something is broke we must fix it. Congress is broken and needs fixing.
I'm a bigger fan of a mandatory "critical thinking" course at the high school level that gives Americans the tools to think through slick sales programs and campaigns. Such a mandate would also reduce the rates of fraud in this country as well as improving our elected lot of representatives.
I would favor that more than a "stop us before we vote for the same person again" legislation........which hits more at the symptom than the root cause.
schlimm CMStPnP The priority in the last stimulus was chosen to be social programs and transfer payments because the political party in power at that time thought that would inject money into the economy faster than infrastructure programs... An injection of facts: http://www.recovery.gov/arra/Transparency/fundingoverview/Pages/fundingbreakdown.aspx $73 bil. on transportation and infrastructure; $61.3 bil. on unemployment insurance programs.
CMStPnP The priority in the last stimulus was chosen to be social programs and transfer payments because the political party in power at that time thought that would inject money into the economy faster than infrastructure programs...
An injection of facts:
http://www.recovery.gov/arra/Transparency/fundingoverview/Pages/fundingbreakdown.aspx
$73 bil. on transportation and infrastructure; $61.3 bil. on unemployment insurance programs.
There you go, we could have doubled our Infrastructure and Transportation spending without the needless extending of Unemployment funds. It still would have remained only a very small fraction of the overall $800 Billion......most of the $800 billion in additional spending was wasted in areas we may never see a return on.
CMStPnPThe priority in the last stimulus was chosen to be social programs and transfer payments because the political party in power at that time thought that would inject money into the economy faster than infrastructure programs.
C&NW, CA&E, MILW, CGW and IC fan
I C Rider I would like some comment on whats happening in our world of transportation. Japan has trains that can get you where you are gong faster than we can go even if we fly. Are we becoming like a third world country? Our roads and bridges are crowded and crumbling. Our airports cannot expand. Our fastest pasenger trains the Acelas are limited to 150 mph, and our other trains are old and outdated. to me all other discussions are moot we lag behind most other industrialized nation in transportation developement. Is it because those who provide the funding for ifrastructure do not use them? Imagine a train at 375 mphand no tsa or congestion.
I would like some comment on whats happening in our world of transportation. Japan has trains that can get you where you are gong faster than we can go even if we fly. Are we becoming like a third world country? Our roads and bridges are crowded and crumbling. Our airports cannot expand. Our fastest pasenger trains the Acelas are limited to 150 mph, and our other trains are old and outdated. to me all other discussions are moot we lag behind most other industrialized nation in transportation developement. Is it because those who provide the funding for ifrastructure do not use them? Imagine a train at 375 mphand no tsa or congestion.
Fundamentally at the root of the dicussion is where do we spend our money.
The priority in the last stimulus was chosen to be social programs and transfer payments because the political party in power at that time thought that would inject money into the economy faster than infrastructure programs. While it did inject money into the Economy fast the effects were gone once the money ran out and because of that we have had a slower bounce back. Hands down though and repeatedly proven historically..........it is infrastructure programs that grow the economy beyond one or two quarters of the economic cycle and have a much more lasting effect on GDP than transfer payments and social benefit programs.
As an example, was it really necessary to repeatedly extend unemployment benefits 52 weeks at a time without any provision for fraud auditing or protection, my feeling is that was almost pure government waste and partially led to a lower labor participation rate.......hurting more than helping our economy. That money could have been more effectively spent on infrastructure programs in my opinion.
As a former employer I am handling unemployment claims now. My good employees found new jobs immediately after shut down of my business. 33-40% of my employees have attempted overt fraud in one way or another with their claim and had they made a real effort with the job search would not have needed the unemployment money (they just want to ride the honey wagon).....thats just my personal experience. Can't imagine what the figures are on a larger scale.
So what it comes down to here is how you vote and what you vote for.
You get what you pay for. The Japanese have paid for their HSR routes and in the US we haven't. Simple!
Never too old to have a happy childhood!
I C Rider I would like some comment on whats happening in our world of transportation. Japan has trains that can get you where you are gong faster than we can go even if we fly. Are we becoming like a third world country? Our roads and bridges are crowded and crumbling. Our airports cannot expand. Our fastest pasenger trains the Acelas are limited to 150 mph, and our other trains are old and outdated. to me all other discussions are moot we lag behind most other industrialized nation in transportation developement. Is it because those who provide the funding for ifrastructure do not use them? Imagine a train at 375 mphand no tsa or congestion. Didn't we spend $7 trillion in the Middle East? Oh well, we need to worry more about Amtrak's food losses.
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