dox^2

I still laugh at the concept of a "new" politician because the game is still the same.

I guess we are really screwed for funds if the Dems are considering a national sales tax now!

John Taylor writing for the Financial Times had this to say about our government spending practices. 

Best line? 

Ask and your shall receive:

The debt was 41 per cent of GDP at the end of 1988, President Ronald Reagan’s last year in office, the same as at the end of 2008, President George W. Bush’s last year in office. If one thinks policies from Reagan to Bush were mistakes does it make any sense to double down on those mistakes, as with the 80 per cent debt-to-GDP level projected when Mr Obama leaves office?

I guess transparency is just another word used to help get elected.

I guess in the end politicians are just that... politicians.  And promises made during their campaign are just... rhetoric?

Wow.

I have nothing else to add.  I mean they got 14 sentences out of it.

Talk radio is interesting.

For what seems like years now, conservatives on the radio have been trying to "debunk" global warming claiming that the science is wrong and there are political agendas with climate change, etc.  They claim we don't know what is going to happen because we are talking about planetary climate models and these models possess assumptions.

Yet it what seems to be a very short period of time with regard to the emergence a new H1N1 flu strain that has jumped from pigs to humans and now from human to human -- there are all kinds of calls for government intervention, closing the Mexican border, and calling up the National Guard.

The irony in all of this is that we don't know how this new strain is going to pan out.  It could be a major pandemic that, at worst, kills many people or, at best, it could just be another mild flu strain that will have to evaluated every flu season during flu shot development.  There are many assumptions here, but no conclusive data either way yet.  That is why CDC is sort of in this - be prudent, but don't go Defcon 1 just yet.

So with global warming science -- there are years and years of data and evaluation on the subject and conservatives cry foul.

Now with swine flu -- there is a full court press to politically pile on to the Obama administration for not doing enough.

Ain't politics grand?

This just goes to show that the true purpose of taxes is now shifting away from roads, emergencies, etc. to whatever pet projects politicians find that will help them get re-elected.

...cash-per-crash ordinances tend to infuriate motorists, and they often generate bad press, but a lot of cities are finding them hard to resist. With the economy flailing and budgets strained, state and local governments are being creative about ways to raise money. And the go-to idea is to invent a fee — or simply raise one.

So when times get tough and government budgets are stretched thin because of the crazy amount of spending that is going on, this is what you get -- "out of the box" thinking.  And the basic elements of government suffer.  Not the exotic spending programs.

No offense... but the way I see things - my government should not have to think out of the box.  Because the box from the get go should be simple.

The solution is simple for government.  Have a pile of cash to tap into when economic slumps occur and replenish the pile when times are good.

But the true problem with that is politicians hate to see piles of cash sitting on the sideline.  Because they love to spend, spend, spend.

Looks pretty funny...

With all due respect, they do care.  And that is why those inside the beltway don't get it.

Thank you for reinforcing why I voted for McCain.