The Seattle Times editorial board is starting to sound like a broken record:
There is still time to make structural spending changes and reduce the footprint of government, but the moment is passing.
And that is a lost opportunity.
Yeah, maybe, but the point the Times’ editors seem to miss is that voters didn’t elect Democrats to “reduce the footprint of government.” That’s the Republican platform, one which voters consistently reject. So, um, why exactly should the Democrats use this economic crisis as an opportunity to enact the Republican agenda when the majority of voters clearly prefer the Democratic platform?
Now if the Times wanted to dis Dems for failing to take the opportunity to enact structural revenue changes, that might be more in line with the will of the people, instead of just the will of the people who own newspapers.
goldy, when are you joining the politburo?
@2 When are you going to pull your head out of your ass?
Well, Goldy, I guess the Democrats holding the governor’s office and supermajorities in both houses of the legislature just don’t like the Seattle Times editorial board’s agenda of busting unions, cutting state workers’ pay and benefits, slashing public programs, and shifting tax burdens from the already-pampered rich to the already-overtaxed poor. Who wudda thunk when the voters elected these people?
HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR
Hey Frank! Hey Bruce! Hey Kate! Have you folks ever tasted rabbit dick? Just wonderin’ …
So I’m guessing the Times would like the state to do something similar to what the City of San Francisco is doing. Lay off all of the state employees and in two weeks hire them back for less pay and benefits. Yea that would do wonders for retention and morale. Besides public employees should pay the taxpayers for the privilege of doing their jobs shouldn’t they?
Is pot calling kettle black?
If the Times really is in favor of “reducing the footprint of government”, then they should get behind healthcare reform as their own reporting shows the biggest driver for many governments is medical benefits. Somehow, I don’t think this will be the case.
Goldy–
Do you know what “sustainability” is?
Seems like the favorite word of progressives…but when it comes to sustainable budgets, y’all get AMNESIA!
Why are you so anti-business Goldy?
Big Government===Anti-business.
Who is going to fund your Big Government??
Methinks you have a huge hole in your Union Run State plan.
Perhaps you don’t have a sustainability plan.
Or maybe Goldy, your plan is sooooooo secret, YOU don’t even know what it is!
The Seattle Times editorial board and Komical Klown both think government should be run like a hamburger stand. If the economy’s bad, they want the state to lay off people, and cut salaries and benefits. The problem is, government jobs often require specialized knowledge, and if you treat state employees like hamburger flippers, young people won’t invest in the education that government employers need, and a qualified workforce won’t exist. You can’t fix that by restoring pay and benefits when the economy gets better.
Hey, everyone knows that big corporations are much better than big government. Big banks, big insurance companies, big oil, you name it, they have our best interests at heart. Anyone have any other jokes?
HA is getting very hysterical lately.
you say “Big Government===Anti-business.”
How do you think we got out of the depression, thru smaller govt., lower taxes, no borrowing?
We got out of it thru a massive govt. expansion and jobs programs called ww2. Idiot.
Followed by big govt. benefits programs called the GI bill and building highways and VA benefits…govt. intrusion into the home marketplace letting all those vets buy homes. Man, you must have been aghast at that gumming program, it’s so communist, right?
Then tell me this.
Why do all the states with income tax have a higher per capita income?
Why do the nations of Western Europe with big govt. show some of the higher per cap income in the world?
Tell me this, idiot. Why is Canada now on a par with the USA in per cap income when 50 years ago it was some 40% lower?
Tell me this, moron. Why is it that every single nation that has had a national health care service, national health care finance or a super strict regulation of insurers has NEVER had a conservative party that said “hey this sucks, elect us, we’ll end the national health system!”
Not one, Mr. Cynical. Nope, instead EVERY SINGLE NATION that has done this has had dozens of elections in which voters have kept the big gummint health care plan.
And you don’t have any answers because your oppo to big gummint is an article of faith, much like people who believe in jins and eveil spirits. You’re a freaking heathen worshipping mumbo jumbo boogeymen.
Idiot.
Re 11
“How do you think we got out of the depression, thru smaller govt., lower taxes, no borrowing?” I see. Are you proposing WW3 to “get out of” the current recession? Overkill perhaps? Most economists say that while government spending is one way out of countrywide financial problems it takes something along the scale of WW2 to get that result. FDR got lucky, if you can call it that. Otherwise his inane policies would have been shown to be the dismal foolishness they were.
Fundamentally private money is productive money, public isn’t. Taxation is the reduction of that private and productive money and putting it into the non-productive public sector. We do this because we must for national defense, legal systems, fire and police protection and education.
We don’t do this for many other functions because everyone except liberals understands what happens when you do. If you’d like a graphic example please see the economic progress of the Soviet Union.
“EVERY SINGLE NATION that has done this has had dozens of elections in which voters have kept the big gummint health care plan.” Imagine that! A tiny minority pays for the health care of the vast majority, and the majority keeps voting for it! Who would ever have thought that would happen.
Bribing citizens with the stolen tax money is not ethical. It isn’t moral. More to the point it’s poor policy. But when you do it, as Democrats so love to do, you will get voting majorities through your corruption.
I won’t call you an idiot. You probably believe all the nonsense you write. You probably were taught at Berkely or some other communist cell that this was how economies work. You were wrong.
Re: 12 You wrote: “Fundamentally private money is productive money, public isn’t.”
I know you believe this in your heart of hearts, but it isn’t true. Just one example: $700 billion in TARP money was given to the big banks to increase liquidity in our economy when Main Street businesses were and are starved for credit. Instead, they hoarded it, cancelled lines of credit and bet it on more credit default swaps. The whole “financial services” industry is built on leverage and not on manufacturing or adding value to the economy. It’s a house of cards that, if not regulated, will bring us down.