Our Tax Dollars At Work

unless they work for me.

Money for school and cops - bad

Money for nice roads - good !

nice thought mason but the pig politicians will NEVER vote for anything that makes them accountable, never.

Yeah, I agree MM.

Accounting ability?

Accounting ability?

Great Article Mason!

The problem is, no one thinks the money coming to their state is "waste". It's all that money going to other states that is pork!

Personally, I'd like to see the same type of audit they did on Enron, done on Congress. ;~D

Government and large institution spending always swells to meet available funding. There's always something someone wants to do but is just waiting for the money to do it. Working for a University (partially state-funded) I saw this time and again. Funding would go up for a department, and the faculty and staff would immediately use it all up. In my sophomore year, the state actually asked for like half the money back it had given on the previous year. Problem was it had been spent already.

If only these places worked under the same financial rules they impose on everyone else...

Good thinking MasonM....understand no politican is going to bite the hand that feeds them.
There will be no relief from a two party system.The RNC?DNC has screwed the American people by eliminating oposition.They will wrangle back and forth making the voters believe there working in there best interest,when in fact there working in there own and big business interest.VOTERS BE DAMED.For an example:
When a President[and i voted for him] tells the American people that Social Security is in dire streights and yet wants to add twelve million illegals to the system that contribute nothing,with little or no opposition, then I think we must first start looking for alternative politicans .When politicans[either side] do not uphold the laws of the land,we can believe were on our way to loosing it.

Good thinking MasonM....understand no politican is going to bite the hand that feeds them.
There will be no relief from a two party system.The RNC?DNC has screwed the American people by eliminating oposition.They will wrangle back and forth making the voters believe there working in there best interest,when in fact there working in there own and big business interest.VOTERS BE DAMED.For an example:
When a President[and i voted for him] tells the American people that Social Security is in dire streights and yet wants to add twelve million illegals to the system that contribute nothing,with little or no opposition, then I think we must first start looking for alternative politicans .When politicans[either side] do not uphold the laws of the land,we can believe were on our way to loosing it.

There will be no relief from a two party system.The RNC?DNC has screwed the American people by eliminating oposition.

True, which is why the DNC/RNC Mafias need to be investigated for RICO violations!

A quote from Mason = The deficit problem could be well on it's way to being addressed if the BILLIONS of wasted tax dollars every year were spent responsibly.

I had just made a reply pretty close to this the other day but the problem seems to be now that we are SO FAR BEHIND the 8-ball now as far as the deficit goes that I really dont think there is any coming back anymore. Bush just added what ANOTHER 80 Billion for Iraq..these dudes spend money that is totally obscene. I am going to be posting the actual figures someday soon and what we would need to pay to cover the deficit and so please keep an eye out for it and you will see just how bad it is, you are gonna want to hang politicians after you read it.

It is very hard to understand the waste.... but I have alsways found it easier to spend someone elses money that ones own.

preacherman

Government spending to equal available revenue would be bad enough. Today we are spending 25% more then our tax revenue and borrowing that 25% on which we then pay interest! This has always been a problem but during the past four years it has exploded

Has it never occurred to any of you to compare the way our system of government works with other systems of government? Have none of you ever considered the possibility that this right here is about as efficient as government spending gets?

I mean, sure we could probably make some improvements here and there, but all that amounts to nothing more than tinkering and fine-tuning.

Politicians are humans, not angels. They're not devils, either, but they're no less corrupt, and no more competent, than you and me. We've got a pretty good system of holding them accountable, and pushing them to do good instead of evil, but it's not a perfect system. Mainly, it's not perfect because it's being implemented by people, and people aren't perfect.

Get rid of the bad politicians, okay. But replace them with what? Better politicians? Good luck finding any of those. A few righteous men and women? Dream on!

By all means, let us urge our politicians to be the best people they can be. But let's not get hung up on some laughably impossible utopia where the government is made up of nice people who do no wrong and have the best interests of the masses at heart. There is nobody like that, and the only people who come close aren't interested in politics (e.g., Ghandi, Mother Teresa).

True, which is why the DNC/RNC Mafias need to be investigated for RICO violations!

They made themselves exempt!  *sigh*

Has it never occurred to any of you to compare the way our system of government works with other systems of government? Have none of you ever considered the possibility that this right here is about as efficient as government spending gets?

Has it ever occurred to you that yes, we do know these things and we are not "pie in the sky" idealists? Has it ever occurred to you that some people recognize that one of the most effective tools of making elected officials accountable is citizens speaking out when they see them doing something wrong? Like wasting billions of dollars of OUR money?

If you're satisfied with the way our government spends your money fine, sit back and veg in front of the idiot box and don't worry about it. Some of us actually understand that citizens speaking up is what this country is really all about. Or didn't that occur to you?

Honestly, MasonM, I'd overlooked that. Thanks for reminding me. I got a little cranky yestreday, and I was unfair to you. My remarks were totally uncalled-for. I apologize. Please forgive me.

You make some very good points, and in fact I agree with the substance of your article. Again, thank you.

When I was active in local Republican politics in Pennsylvania, we would like to complain about the Democrats spending and taxing. The GOP has done the Dems two better. Pork is at an all time high and the GOP borrows rather then tax and then adds the interest to their spending!

The only way to stop the run away spending is to give them LESS to spend and make any new national debt ceilings be subject to a 3/4 vote of both houses!!

The only way to stop the run away spending is to give them LESS to spend and make any new national debt ceilings be subject to a 3/4 vote of both houses!!