– I hope you had a good Memorial Day.
– But the bigger lesson to learn from the Skagit River bridge collapse is that government matters.
– Adam Savage and Jamie Hyneman, you’ve got some explaining to do.
– It’s always a bit tough to tell from pictures, but it looks like a good turnout in Olympia for the day of action against Monsanto.
Structurally sound bridges matter.
Quality education matters.
Funding the court system matters.
But that doesn’t matter because we can’t find a way to pay for it.
On the bridge issue, the way we fund highways is antiquated, and puts transportation planning in a tight spot. The flat rate gas tax cannot adapt to market pressure, such as fuel efficient and electric vehicles. Problem is, nobody wants some of the alternatives. Mileage tax is to invasive, and tolls, nobody wants to pay for ongoing maintenance with them.
From 1 and 2,
Are you absolutely sure Washngton’s government is an efficient and careful user of the taxes already collected?
Open Thread…
spent the weekend in deep rual east central WA. Went to the local Memorial Day Parade. One of the classic cars was pasted all over with ‘Tea Party USA” and cut spending slogans.
now I get the urge to rail about waste, spending and deficit. I think its wrong, but I get it.
But if you live in a small farming community that relies on a HUGE government works program to supply electricity and divert the Columbia for crop irrigation and even if you’re not an actual farmer, your livelihood is directly effected by things like crop subsidies, farm bills and the generosity of the Western half of the state to upkeep your roads and highways, SHUT THE FUCK UP STUPID.
Probably some inefficiencies in there. Although the ferry system costs a lot, it recovers a lot through fares, but the boats are getting older, and there are no spares.
The two TALGO trains that the state of Wisconsin purchased, and then mothballed when Walker was sworn in, there is somebody that thinks Washington State should buy them. The moderator on a railfan board I post on, posted the latest newsletter for All Aboard Washington, and it mentioned that former Secretary of State Ralph Munro says that Washington should do just that. He was suggesting for the existing 5 sets, of the older model, be reconfigured as 4 longer trains. Despite being a fixed-consist train, the TALGO system is the best for the Pacific Northwest, with many sections of curved track.
One of the worthwhile things David Koch does with his money is sponsor Nova, which is one of the few remaining programs about science geared for adults, or for that matter children beyond approximately the fourth grade.
Unfortunately, the closest thing a lot of people ever see to “science” programming is watching Adam and Jamie play with explosives and run stuff over with bulldozers–which at least is a cut above the pure crap that fills most of the rest of The Discovery Channel’s schedule, like Sons of Guns. Even the fishermen on Deadliest Catch appear to be for the most part a bunch of rednecks.
@3 Garbage in, garbage out. Ask an irrelevant question and you’ll get an irrelevant answer.
The proper question is, “Is government as efficient as we can make it?”
Not: Is government as efficient as private businesses? That’s a false comparison because their functions, purposes, and goals are different. Government, for example, spends a lot of money on process — public hearings, etc. — which are appropriate and necessary expenses in a democracy where government is expected to be responsive to citizens.
There’s almost always room for improvement, and of course government managers should try to improve efficiency in delivering the services they’re responsible for. That’s part of their job.
We expect public managers to do that well in return for salaries of anywhere from $50,000 to $150,000 a year. Private-sector CEOs expect to be paid millions even if they do a shitty job.
So, if you want to make those government-vs.-business comparisons, taxpayers often are getting a much better deal than shareholders are.
RE: Memorial Day
I got up early to put my flag out at dawn, but it was raining – rained all day. My old Boy Scout training said that you didn’t fly the flag when it was raining, so I wasn’t able to fly it at all on Monday – the occasional breaks in the rain were just a diversion, after all.
@3. There is always room for improvement, but reducing inefficiencies is not sufficient to pay for the improvements to infrastructure and education that most everyone wants and sees as needful.
Also when I hear that argument, I usually wonder if the person is just too chicken to admit they want to call for cuts to expensive programs that don’t serve them.
The thought crossed my mind recently that at the rate we’re going, perhaps we should change our National Anthem from The Star-Spangled Banner to Everything Is Broken.
I’ve never understood their grinding need to privatize everything, that money conservatives have.
What’s the corporate equivalent to DSHS? How could a private corporation make a profit off of Foster kids? How can kids in crisis be a profit generator?
“Sorry 8 year old kid, the dad that was abusing you, let your Foster Care insurance lapse. Sucks to be you. Hope you know somebody else who will take you in. Now stop crying and get out of my office. “
# 12: The key is that they don’t really want to end taxpayer funding of these services. They simply see that money, and can’t help but keep their greedy hands off of it. They will spout their adage that “private businesses are always more efficient than government”, and get contracts to perform the services at a slight discount. Then the cut back on the level of services to the point where nobody gets anything – except the CEO’s who will make buckets of money.
If you think case workers are underpaid and overworked, just wait until it’s handled by private companies. Case workers will get minimum wage and caseloads doubled, emergency calls will get out-sourced to India, foster parents will have to pay for the priviledge (and find ways to make money by sending the kids out to work in poor houses), etc.
A big city mayor that allegedly smokes crack? This is not Marion Berry, but the Maayor of Toronto, Rob Ford. The only reason that gawker has not bought the video, is the people were asking for too much money! By the way, Mayor Ford is a Conservative.
http://gawker.com/for-sale-a-v.....-507736569
Gawker raised the money, and said that the people with the video broke off contact. If they can’t get the video, the$200,000 will go to a substance abuse programme.
http://www.nydailynews.com/new.....-1.1356514
Some more details on the controversy. Mayor Ford was tipped to the location of the video, but the alleged source claims that they have a backup copy, and it is outside of the Greater Toronto Area. Could be nothing, but who knows.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/.....ports.html
So lessee… this “booman” person claims:
Yet, from the NY Times:
Amazing stretch of the imagination even for this loony libtard…
I am still looking for details on the proposed temporary third train to Bellingham, but using SOUNDER coaches on such a long run, isn’t perfect, but it’s what is readily available. Although there is an example of commuter coaches in intercity services. Toronto’s GO Transit during the summer runs train services from Toronto Union Station to Niagara Falls, and the MBTA in Boston now runs a weekend service to Cape Cod.
http://www.masstransitmag.com/.....-rolls-out
I am going to ask this question. How in the world are schools, bridges, airports, power plants, etc etc going to be built if the government entities cannot sell their Muni bonds due to the rediculiosly low interest rates being offered now. Anyone who would purchase a long term muni bond at these rates would not only be stupid, they would be fiscally unsound. This is not just my opinion, ask anyone in the know what happens to muni bonds when interest rates increase. The low rate bond values will plummet.
@18 Especially with all the Wall St. “playa’s” who’ll be shorting them.