Yup, that’s budget hawk Reagan Dunn, more than five and a half years into his tenure on the King County Council, showing that he still doesn’t know how to read a budget.
More snark from me, over on Slog.
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His mommy wants him in Congress!
Well, that one is pretty funny — not understanding that parentheses are used in accounting to indicate a negative amount.
@1 Dunn isn’t the only one who can’t read a budget. Republicans want voters to believe they can manage the economy and the federal budget better than Democrats, but they can’t even balance their own checkbook:
“The Republican National Committee, the GOP’s fundraising and organizational arm, is facing a ‘cashflow challenge’ and can’t pay all of its bills on time. In a memo Tuesday, RNC Chief Administrative Officer Boyd Rutherford wrote, ‘We will not be able to pay off the vendors this week. We will be slow in paying as we are having a cashflow challenge.'”
http://www.politicsdaily.com/2.....w-problem/
Roger Rabbit Commentary: Of course, the notion that Republicans are more fiscally responsible than Democrats has always been a myth, a mere figment of GOP propaganda writers’ overheated imaginations. After all, who was it that spent us into the current deficit in the first place? Bush and a GOP congress. In the longer view, over the last 80 years, ever Republican adminitration has, without exception, underperformed any Democratic administration in job creation and economic growth. Republicans simply don’t know what they’re doing when it comes to the economy, the budget, and handling money. Therefore it’s no surprise the GOP is broke and will help the nation celebrate the Christmas and New Year holidays by stiffing their creditors. Mark my words, the people who voted these asswipes back into control of the House are going to be very sorry they did.
GOP = Party of greed, selfishness, and idiocy
Good catch. What an idiot.
In fairness, I doubt he’s the only elected who doesn’t know that… but still pretty embarrassing.
I don’t expect everyone to be an accountant, but being able to read a budget is pretty important for the job.
@6:
It would be embarrassing if he didn’t know how to do it the first year. After five, it’s evidence that he just plain hasn’t been doing his job.
Someone should send Dunn this link:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G.....Principles
rollie seems to think rangel and waters are somehow accounting experts.
hey rollie, rangel’s head of ways & means that makes the damn tax laws. but he is playing ignorant.
wake up rollie pelletizer.
Hey Goldy–
Criticizing Dunn for having a brain-freeze on negative being bracketed…but nothing for Charlie Rangel??
Turn on TV. His buddy Zoe Lofgren (D-Ca) is Chair of the Ethics Committee and read the findings.
In the real world, Rangel would be in jail.
Rangel is whining about Censure!!
What an immoral, unethical pig he is.
But obviously Negative Brackets are much more important…right?
Now Jo Bonner (R-Al) is laying it out.
And then…apparently Charlie is going to try and defend himself.
That ought to be….priceless.
In the early 1980’s, I knew a fellow who had a job working in a retail store. The owner/manager had been given money by his parents to set up the store, stocked it for the Christmas holidays, and then didn’t pay any bills except his own salary (which was substantial). When a creditor came in to take his inventory back, the employee didn’t stop him, so the owner/manager fired the employee, the week before Christmas.
At first he wasn’t going to pay him his back wages, but then he gave the employee a check when the employee threatened to get the state involved, but then stopped payment on the check. The employee learned on Christmas eve that the deposit bounced, causing his rent, car payment, toys for his kids, utility bills, etc. to bounce.
He took the guy to court, and won a judgement, but the owner/manager kept avoiding paying the judgement because everything he owned was in his parent’s name, he had no income, etc., even though he was driving a new Mercedes Benz and living in a very nice house. Eventually he settled by paying half of what the employee was owed, which the employee accepted out of desperation (and hundreds of dollars of legal bills later).
I found out later that this guy moved to another state and was active in Republican politics, and one of his main themes was that Republicans know how to manage businesses better than Democrates, and public employees are lazy and overpaid and Republicans should be able to fire them all at a whim once they get into office.
Just one more reason why I’m not a Republican.
@ 10
Oh please. this is a LOCAL blog, concerned with LOCAL issues.
What is happening 800 miles away, in another State isn’t even a subject of this conversation. Your post, as so many others have been, is off topic and a strawman.
The very basic fact that a man of very low intelligence, repeatedly demonstrated for all to see, is a member of the LOCAL county council, and still does not understand the elementary basic practices, taught in every relevant school on the subject, after five goddamn years in office. And he claims to understand how a budget works?
HE CAN’T EVEN READ THE MOTHERFUCKING THING! He is totally ILLITERATE on the subject.
I wouldn’t trust a Mandinka Tribesman, having never seen written language in his life, to give me an analysis of Shakespeare’s Tempest, and I sure as hell don’t trust a Republican to analyze a local county, State, or Federal budget for the same reason. If they can’t read, don’t expect intelligent discourse or even a basic understanding of the concepts involved. It’s like trying to teach a chimpanzee the nuances of Chinese tonal linguistics and differentiating dialectics between regions.
There should be a basic literacy test for anyone who wants to run for office. If you can’t read, fuck off, I don’t give a damn about your political leaning. If you can’t read a budget, fuck off. You cannot expect to contribute anything rational to a budget crisis.
B-b-b-b-but, Charlie Rangel! *blubber*
For violating House rules? Yeah, I don’t think so.
Cny, it ain’t we’re all on here defending Rangel and I’ve all ready said they should kick the bum out.
Regardless of what Rangel has done, Dunn clearly hasn’t been doing his job for the last 5 years.
Lets keep the focus on Dunn.
I have served on many different boards and committees. It never ceases to amaze me the number of people who do not know how to read a simple balance sheet. Throw in accounts that have dedicated funding or expenditures and they have a complete meltdown.
“This report says we have 100k in the bank!”
“Yes, we do, but it’s dedicated to X!”
“We should use that for the budget!”
“Ah, we legally can’t, it was collected under a bond specifically for purpose of X.”
“Who says!”
“State and federal law.”
“Why don’t you show that on the report?”
“I did! Look under designated funds.”
The above then repeats for each designate account. You can’t explain liability to them accounts either!
OT but since the trolls brought it up. In a representative government if the constituents of Rangel choose to keep electing him to serve as their representative then I will give them the same latitude I give to those who choose to elect a dim bulb, with nice hair, in the 8th District.
You use a Mac, I use a Mac, so how come the message tells me I have to install Microsoft Silverlight to see the movie?
jewboy, what we really want to know is, what date this year are you going on oreilly to denounce christmas and create some more antisemites.
@ 19
Go away blackshirt. You’re just not intelligent enough to participate in this forum.
Don’t you have a cross-burning to attend somewhere? Maybe you’re too busy shaving your flat head.
Incidentally Goldy, I am NOT going to install silverlight on my computer. It seems that every new video codec that comes out also loads a whole slew of proprietary crap on my machine that takes up RAMspace and HD space and blocks other applications.
It was bad enough trying to get rid of all the crap from REALPlayer back a couple years ago.
I think we’ve identified where MOT lives – in Hayden, Idaho.
Snowman with noose appalls Idaho home’s neighbors
Whoever that staffer is, all I can say is Bravo.
He’d make a tremendous straight man. To calmly and soberly reply to such an outrageously ridiculous question without sneering, without sarcasm, and without so much as a raised eyebrow is a real gift. He’s a survivor, that one. I’m sure this wasn’t the first. And it won’t be the last.
If it was me, I don’t know if I could pull it off. Not without a bottle in my glove box.
Then they graduate to deal with the state budget. Funny ain’t it and they got college degrees to boot!
The big p’dumbski will be by in a minit to trell us all why those middle class tax cuts the tan-man was whining about are such a bad idea.
Maybe MISTER-Cynical-ASS-Klown can fill us in as well…
How ’bout it boiz???
The funny thing is, just about anybody who has worked with a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet should know that negative numbers can be expressed in several different ways, including the use of parentheses. I’m really surprised that this if the first time he’s seen this. Apparantly he’s never done any number-crunching, for budget purposes or otherwise.
It took him over five years to even ask the question?? Good grief!
@26
We’re talking about Regan Dunn here, the man’s never worked a day in his life.
@10 Dumbfuck KLOWN sez, “nothing for Charlie Rangel??”
Wouldn’t your time be better spent hyperventilating over the Republican embrace of earmarks? Not a word out of you fucktards. All that whining about earmarks was obviously just a bunch of teabagger horseshit.
“What an immoral”
Immoral, huh? Here, meditate on this, bitch.
http://www.republicanoffenders.com/Pedophiles.html
The KLOWN must overjoyed that those “constitutional conservatives” in the Tea Party caucus have fallen in love with earmarks!
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/201.....-earmarks/
Oh my! What kind of effect will this have on the DEFICIT???!!!???
@9 I still like our crooks better than your crooks. At least Charlie helps the poor. Republicans help themselves by helping themselves to whatever they feel like taking, which is everything that’s worth anything.
House Democrats voted today to extend middle-class tax cuts. House Republicans voted against it. Just thought I’d let ya know.
@30 Who would’ve thought Tea Partiers would turn out to be hypocrites just like all the other Republicans?
@33
Who would’ve thought Tea Partiers would turn out to be hypocrites just like all the other Republicans?
Almost everyone.
@17, kmq1, don’t go dissin’ other people’s representatives. Since we were finally able to elect our own council member here in the 8th district, we got who we should have had ever since Dow became executive, Joe McDermott. Hardly a dim bulb, even if he does have swell hair. Though he’s only been on the Council about a week now, he’s going to prove himself to be sharper than most of the sitting members. I think you meant 9th, where the dim bulb lives, if just barely.
I think it’s time somebody got Reagan Dunn OUT of there… remember this is the guy who was the fullback for the Marummy Attack on “Governor Dean” Logan.
Can you say Attorney General Reagan Dunn, the Mini-Me of Rob “RMK” McKenna?
The only thing the democarats nationwide have to show (if they even had a budget) are negative numbers, and very very negative numbers. 4 Trillion in new debt in 2 years, -20 million unemployed, etc etc…
And great job on the latest unemployment numbers now 9.8% and a measly 39,000 jobs added. Lets cheer for the Libs! Great Economy!
@ 38
And who was it that wrecked it in the first place and continues to block any real efforts to unfuck it?
Yeppers, the GOP/National Socialist American Bankers party/Corporatists/Greedy fascist thugs who think to only punish Americans for straying away from Biblical values. The only thing that teabag is covering is a swastika.
Greedy Old Perverts
Gnashing Obstructionist Philanderers
Gamey Obnoxious Pretenders
etc etc etc
Start practicing that goosestep people. That snappy forearm salute. While you idiots wring your hands about the deficit and whether the gay folks are coming to steal your childrens souls, The DHS is shutting down websites all over the country on the pretext of filesharing and piracy of materials.
Deathfrogg-
You can blame R’s all you want but it’s impact is dwindling.
Obama made promises.
He cranked up the National Debt by TRILLIONS…and he failed. In fact, things got worse.
Broken Record–
There are TRILLIONS on the sidelines of investable cash. Folks are waiting for certainty about Taxes, Health Care & Regulations.
You idiots are so addicted to government, you simply cannot understand how the private sector works.
Umm, actually Obama has succeeded – he prevented the worst economic depression since the great depression according to most economists. Only an idiot like Klynical who only thinks in terms of instant gratification and simplistic ideas can’t see what all the major economists have said.
Yes, the economy still is lousy – but it would have been much worse after what Bush did.
Again, where are the realistic proposals by republicans to reduce the debt…..
Republicans voted AGAINST a middle class tax cut…now republicans prove once again that they are truely just shills for the rich.
@40…
MISTER Cynical-ASS-Klown didn’t get the message that the 44th President of the United States of America and Commander-In-Chief of the Armed Forces, Barack Hussein Obama actually SHRUNK the deficit a little. Not much but it’s uhhhhh better than the last guy did.
But the MISTER Cynical-ASS-Klown and his cabana boy the big p’dumbski could care less about facts.
LIke the “subliminable” messaging there?
Rujax–
As usual, the FACTS contradict your reality.
Barack Obama’s First “Year” = $1.573 trillion increase. The largest increse during a single year occurred during Barack Obama’s first year.
Current Obama administration projections indicate that the National Debt will increase by approximately $6.5 trillion during President Obama’s first term. Far more than Bush’s 2-terms combined!
http://www.ustreas.gov/press/releases/tg911.htm
Read it and weep shithead.
You and facts don’t get along well when the facts conflict with your Arayan teahadi talking points.
http://tpmlivewire.talkingpoin.....?ref=fpblg
Jeepers-creepers look at this…hmmmmmm that private sector! And how ABOUT that genius Jackie Welch? Wowsers!!!
Another one of MISTER Cynical-ASS-Klown’s icons sucking at the public tit.
If only there were a REAL Democrat in the White House. This all could hav been so much fun.
Sigh.
Funny how Cynical’s not talking about Ireland’s economy right now. It followed the same strategy of the Republicans in the U.S., with business tax cuts and deregulation. It worked for a while, as businesses relocated from Britain and the U.S. to Ireland as a “tax haven”. But Irelan’ds own banking crisis (due to lax regulation and oversight) has now left them requesting a bailout from the E.U., which is extracting severe belt-tightening by Ireland in return.
Of course, if we were to engage in such sacrificial belt-tightening here, it would require not only cuts in virtually ever federal program, including defense, but also higher tax rates by everyone in order to reduce the deficit. But Cynical doesn’t want to do that, he only wants to take away from benefits recieved by the poor and middle class, so they can try to bribe the millionaires to do what they should be doing in the first place.
I love how he uses the phrase, “Oh, is that how you’re doing it?” in reference to using parentheses to note a negative entry. As though there are a million other bookkeeping options for expressing a negative. I guess all that time, sacrifice, and hard work Dunn spent building his political credibility didn’t leave much time for learning simple arithmetic.
@50 It took Dunn over five years of reviewing and approving budgets to even ask the damned question. It may seem a dumb question moment, but just how seriously stupid is it to take him over five years to even bother to ask? And this guy is the gooper’s shining star? Good grief!