Someone in Rhode Island is Smart

The USA was once considered a top-notch educated society. Much had to do with the K-12 education system. For the past 40 years, the US has more than doubled real spending on each student while the quality of graduate has plummeted. Wonder why? Maybe this article can shed light on some of the problem. Hopefully, there will be more gutsy superintendents around the nation.

One of the Many Reasons the Government is Broke

Public Service Unions are notorious for budget-braking contracts in Europe. Just look at Greece. The notoriety comes from their extortionist tactics of general strikes witch scares the nickers off of politicians. So, the government caves with the hope that the good-times tax revenues in the future will cover the extravagance. The only problem is when the bad times roll around and those negotiated increases come due. California is broke. Michigan is broke. New Jersey is broke. New York is broke. Read this article and breathe in the left-wing union madness.

Greece Looming

One of the many left-wing countries of Europe, Greece faces massive debt, a burgeoning deficit, and potential collapse. The country has demanded of its productive sector more and more sacrifice while its non-productive sector refuses to stop demanding more and more benefit. There has been months of strikes which have slowed down an already recessive economy leading to more economic hardship all in the name of that famous left-wing abstraction "Fairness". The country teeters while the unions fiddle.

Greece is a case study of how a centrally-planned mixed-economy is not the Utopia that so many in the US seek. When the state guarantees your pension, you are beholden to the budgeting of fools and scholars alike. A centrally planned economy, by definition, does not care for the local community. The theoretical always outweighs the practical until reality sets in and ruin is upon everybody. The sad reality is, people will do as little as they can to get as much as they can.

A government benefit does not come from the government, it comes from your neighbor. When your neighbor stops being productive fewer people must become more productive in order to support government benefits. No one is willing to give up their government benefit, but those same people will force the producers to give up their time with family, their time in the garden, their pay, and their savings. There is never a 'thank you' only the demand for more.

Taxes and Spending

There are few things more political than government taxation and government spending. The great Pres O! has put forward the largest deficit in the history of the US building upon the already massive deficit from the prior year. With no $800 billion stimulus package, I am left to wonder what constitutes the increase in spending over last year. Sure the Dems pay lip service (as did the Repubs during the 2000's) about capping discretionary spending, but that is only a tiny portion of the budget.

Entitlement spending is the key, and it is untouchable. No one will try to reign in the political lunch wagon that is free money. Otherwise, you want old people to die or the poor to starve. Never mind that the elderly are the wealthiest people in the country or that if we really helped only the destitute, we would have plenty of funds to support mental health services for those who need it to turn their lives around and Medicaid would not be broke in every state.

All that said, my wife did not get a raise and she make well below the national average. Funny...our federal income tax went up by 20%. Another 20% coming from the productive and going to the non-productive side of society.