When WAS America great?

Still no evidence to back up your wild claims I see. I can think of two explanations...either you have mistaken me for some other poster, but lack the courage to climb down from your slurs, OR (more likely) you are moulded in the image of your cult leader and are in the habit of spreading lies and baseless claims...

 

You are right...I have never made such statements. Problem is, our friend lacks the integrity and honour to admit to his error...

 

So, you double down on making stuff up and throw in a little lying ad hom to top it all off.

Such a waste.

 

I have not made incorrect opinions. I don't think I posted an opinion.
Stating the problem at the border needs to be fixed by congress is not an opinion. That's the only way the solution to the problem can be fixed. Period.

 

I believe, based on responses to me, the baseless claims are normal.

 

Here’s a few examples of opinions you’ve shared with me that conflict with evidence I provided.

No, congress doesn’t have to do ANYTHING. The laws we need are in place. There is funding in place to enforce the law. We are spending that money to reward lawbreaking instead of using it to enforce law against illegal border crossings.

 

Maybe we should, as the people intended to be protected from the federal power grab, demand that they stop doing it.

You know how much money the Department of Ed gets per year?

81.94 Billion dollars.

4,400 employees.


Do you think our kids are smarter as a result? Or would these dollars be better used, and more efficiently spent, at the state and preferably local level?

 

Many students took my history and economics courses and those students were given information about the impact of government on big sectors of the economy. We started with public education. They came to some interesting conclusions and wanted to investigate other situations. High university tuition.

Some are, but most are not. I'd go into why, but that's another discussion.

How about by individual families, too?

 

By default, reducing the tax burden and stop funding a ridiculously bloated federal government? Yes. Absolutley.

I would wager 75% of federal workers in DC are nothing more than leeches that offer little actual value or return on the investment into their politically connected offices.

A fat central government that exists, fed from actual GDP producers, to be directed, told, and mandated the best way for us to exist.

They are largely worthless leeches.

 

I went to San Diego State for one year, 1975. I lived on the beach, on the strand at 702 Monterey Court, Mission Beach. Two bedroom house, big picture window looking at the ocean, patio on the strand, place was fantastic. Three of us rented that house for 400 a month. One of my roomates is featured in the Pulitzer Prize winning book "Barbarian Days". I went back there recently, the house was torn down and condos replaced it.

 

The laws may be in place, but there's not enough funding.
Congress needs to pass the bill that the Senate has crafted.

There's no conflict.

 

We can spend current funding on enforcing existing law instead of on rewarding lawbreakers.

Funding is not the problem. It’s what the money is being spent on. Spending more to reward lawbreaking won’t decrease lawbreaking.

 

What would you like to eliminate? It's not enough to rail against the size and scope of government without saying what we should do.

https://www.usa.gov/agency-index

The 75% number is way too high unless you're prepared to identify functions of government we should eliminate.

IMO, the problem with government is not so much the size as the scope of its rules and regulations.

Talk like that about people doing a job we assigned them is borderline hate speech.

 

Wow. It bears an uncanny resemblance to Seal Beach housing.

5355 East La Pasada #26, Long Beach, CA. Our first apartment (second floor next to the alley) is still there! The picture on the left is a slide I took when we cruised by in the 1970s for a look and the second is the latest google street shot.





I'd still be in LA if it could be like it was in the 1950s. Alas, we started living part of the year in Vancouver, BC and part of the year in Napa, CA.

 

I already gave a great example. The Department of Education. Let's start with that as one prime example.

There are 55 million K-12 students in the United States. With an appropriation of $64B, they are pulling $1,236 per student out of education per year.

So, the un-adjusted cost for a student fund the Dept. of Ed. for 13 years of public education is $16,000.

Thats atrocious.

I am not an anarchist, but I am a business owner and a realist. My firm does work for many local and state governments. The amount of waste and inefficiency is absolutely astounding. Federally, it's worse.

Not only in the number of Departments and Agencies, like the Department of Ed but across every level of government in terms of the number of employees. With the high rate of pay for government workers, and the fact that they hire multiple people to do the job of the employees in the private sector, Im confident we could cut the number of wasted employees and agencies by 75%.


Department of Ed - Minimally needed. 95% reduction

Department of Trans - Minimally needed (air traffic control about it) - 90% reduction

Department of Energy - Minimally needed - 90% reduction

Health and Human Services - Should be state and local - 100% reduction

Housing and Urban Development - Should be state and local - 100% reduction

Department of Labor - 95% reduction

LOL. Borderline hate speech? Really?

"We" didn't authorize all this growth and waste. Those who desire a centralized collectivist version of government did.

 

Nice spots to retire in...I live in Solvang, grew up in Santa Barbara. California is still a great place to live but its not cheap anymore.

 

A lot of this money is grants to states, school districts and individuals.

I'm not advocating for this approach. I refused to participate in a government grants quest because of how much of my time it would have wasted.

I worked for government, saw the waste and I'm a fan of school vouchers.

Government regulations ... we should have fewer and those few should have teeth.

We should change the way the system operates so workers can earn enough money to take care of themselves and their families.

You're attacking employees for the decisions of management.

 

I haven't been to Solvang for a few years, but we used to head there when we were going up and down the state. Buellton was a stop for Pea Soup Andersen's. Seems as though Solvang is just far enough up the coast from LA not to feel like I did in Long Beach.

Napa was a great place to live, but it's getting overrun, too. "Up valley" in Napa is better than Napa itself. Brother-in-law and his family live in and near Santa Rosa. Also crowded.

California (on the coast) has a great climate. I don't think I'll ever live too far from the West Coast--San Diego to Vancouver, BC, Canada. Surviving the Big One might make me move East.

 

You're right.

Its designed by the fed to mandate taxes and then hold those over state and local governemnts to force agendas with money citizens of those entities paid.

Just leave the money in the schools and knock out the inefficiencies all governments create, which ultimatley is best for the students.

I'm not advocating for this approach. I refused to participate in a government grants quest because of how much of my time it would have wasted.

Me too.

We need competition for student vouchers in our education.

Those schools unable to compete, close.

Maybe, the tax burden put fully on private sector workers might be some of the cause of the tightness?

You can only have so many people riding on the wagon, rather than pulling before it's impossible to move.

Because there is little concept of management in government institutions, because they aren't motivated by things like efficiency, profit, or service.

When customers are forced to buy a product, what happens to the quality?

And many of the people I know that work in government went there knowing it was an easier job at more pay.

I dont blame the worker, but they are usually the ones that advocate and vote in favor of a government that serves their personal interests.

Like public sector unions, who vote to perpetuate the problem.

 

My brother and sister live in Healdsburg. Its a shame california turned into a rich mans paradise.

 

Leave the money in parents' hands.

They should be private in urban areas.

Stagnant and declining real wages are the problem.

I could tell you stories about public schools wasting money.

Ever thus, public and private. Autoworkers do the same thing.

Teachers' unions are best kept quiet by allowing them to bargain. Preventing bargaining will see them try to take over local school boards.

 

Ultimatley, yes. Levy taxes at the local level for education and leave it their. A voucher model with a set value per student makes the calculation easy.

They should be private everywhere in my opinion.

Wages are directly proportional to cost of living. The cost of living is also increasing. A factor in that is also taxes.

We also have lost much of our manufacturing base to countries with lower labor standards.

We are doing it to ourselves both in who we elect, and the tax and business policies they put forth.

very little of the wage disparity has to do with accumulated wealth.

Which is a very different circumstances.

If politicians were constantly bailing out or propping up private sector entities with tax dollars, i would oppose these unions too. It happens, but no where near the degree public sector workers have a direct stake in politicians being bought and personally benefiting.

It would mean little in a voucher system where the schools are private and student enrollment determines funding.

 

Privatizing K-12 education in rural areas has problems because there may not be enough school choice.

Real wages (adjusting for inflation) are stagnant.

Lower wage costs.

I'm not talking about wage disparity.

Au contraire. Unions will organize private schools.