Local Posts #2

2009-3-10 03:56:00

[Compiler's Note:  The "Local Posts" series of articles found here in "The Archives" are a collection of exchanges between JJ Dewey and others participating on a local online newspaper blog, and were subsequently re-posted by JJ Dewey on The Keys Of Knowledge discussion group.]

  

March 2, 2009 -- Post Number One

JJ:

Sam Nixon and Obama groupies are in love with change, but do not know what the change will be or the repercussions thereof.

If they knew they would be afraid.

Ignorance is bliss.

  

March 2, 2009 -- Post Number Two

JJ:

Jim has $100,000 credit card debt and is having difficulty making the money just to pay the interest. Amazingly he gets a new credit line for an additional $100,000. Now the question in Jim's mind is: Should he use it?

He thinks about it and comes up with a grand scheme: "I'll borrow the whole amount and spend it all. This will stimulate my financial situation and with luck things will work out."

His friend Bob heard about this and said: "Are you crazy! If you can't pay off $100,000 what makes you think you can pay off $200,000?" Sure, the extra $100,000 will help for a short time but you will suffer pain and distress for a long time in paying it off.

Our Idaho delegation should be proud of themselves. They are true sensible adults like Bob who know a problem when they see it. They voted against the stimulus.

Our delegation were given 12 hours to read the 1075 page bill. They smelled a rat.

"Blarney" wrote:

"Joseph, Congress had a lot more than 12 hours to read the bill. They stalled for days which gave them more time, they have several aides who no doubt read through it and provided input."

JJ:

Republicans may have had pieces of the bill in their possession for days, but the whole document of 1075 pages was only in their possession for hours before the vote. I couldn't find it on the web until after the vote was made. Democrats should be ashamed of this bulldozing. Bush could have never gotten away with it.

Obama promised to allow 5 days before the signature of a bill. What was he so afraid of that be broke his promise and ran the bill through? Amazingly, he then relaxed for a couple days before he signed it. If he wasn't going to sign it immediately then Democrats should have allowed more time to debate.

"TWall" wrote:

"You seem to forget, Bush did the same exact thing. He bulldozed his way to a bank bailout and the Dems didn't stop it. Remember back in 80, the Chrysler bailout took 3 months to put through for a paltry 300 million. We've had two bills go through worth over a trillion dollars. You need to quit blaming the dems and blame EVERYONE."

JJ:

I can't blame any Republicans in the House on the stimulus bill because none voted for it. I can blame three in the Senate though.

This stimulus is not like the Bush bailout because the Democrats were in charge of the stimulus and could have delayed the vote as long as they wanted. Both Democrats and Republicans panicked and none had any other idea except to spend money with the Bush bailout. Both parties were in agreement on that one and both voted for it.

  

March 4, 2009 -- Post Number Three

JJ:

Mr. Moffa has a good idea. Not only should we privatize the liquor stores but we should also privatize all public education. It would cut costs almost in half and improve the quality of education. Our property taxes could go down and life improved.

While we are at it we could eliminate the national Department of Education and save $59 billion a year.

"Twall" writes:

"Explain to me how privatizing education will cut costs in half?"

JJ:

In 2003, according to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, the average national cost of educating a high school student was $9590. This means that if a teacher has 30 kids in the class $287,700 is being spent for one teacher. Washington DC currently spends a whopping $24,600 per child or $738,000 per classroom of 30. How much of that does the teacher get? In this same year the average salary for an experienced teacher was around $40,000. Where does the rest of the money go?

The difference is in management and administration. Around this same time period, according to the Cato Institute you could get a higher quality private school for a median cost in the expensive city of Philadelphia for a mere $2,504 per year. (http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=3231)

Looks like we could save more than 50% through privatization.

"Brt929" wrote:

"Why do Republicans subscribe to the notion that the private sector can be more efficient? It is simply a canard."

JJ:

Republicans don't stand up for the private sector that much as do Libertarians as myself. Both major parties sell us out.

Compare the United States with the largest private sector in the world with:

Which was most successful? Where would you rather live?

Duh...

Is the answer obvious or what?