Quote:
Originally posted by Superman
David, I guess I'd be an "outlying" data point. Although my company bills for only eight hours per day, and although my co-worker and I have been told repeatedly, that we are forbidden from working more than eight, we routinely work a bare minimum of 10, and more often 12 or 14. I'm about as liberal a poster as you'll find here, and my co-worker makes me look like Stalin.
As I've said before, I'd rather pay more taxes. Just like I do not fix broken cables on the 911 with duct tape, I also do not think that the underfunded, haphazard way we deal with infrastructure needs is either appropriate or effective. Rather than paying $10 per year to keep an office functioning poorly and see the problem continue, I'd rather pay the $50 now, get rid of the problem once and for all. But that's not the "American" way. So, we all get to ***** about how poorly things run. You might ***** about it costing too much. I ***** about the problems not getting fixed because we seem to be committed to mediocrity. Liberals believe that what works with Porsches and other car, and everything else for that matter, also works for government. That is the old addage "You get what you pay for." Apparently, at least one group thinks that government is not subject to this principle?
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The thing is that people who are in government aren't there as a benevolent gesture to support the country (for the most part). It's just a job that has great benefits and that is why they are so prized by lazy people. I see it every day and if you gave where I work an extra $40 for something that they originally had $10 for and really needed $20 - they would waste the extra including the $10 they really needed. I'm pretty liberal too but just throwing money at Governement isn't a solution it's a waste. We need genuine accountability for every $$ that is spent by the government at every level. Those checks and balances themselve cost money but I think that if they were properly implemented in the long run we'd save. I'm not saying "don't spend" I'm saying spend wisely. It doesn't seem to me that the folks in the middle know what that means.
I was just in a meeting where we were talking about our server needs to monitor some databases. We didn't need much of a server for this and originally the admin asked for a recycled server that was no longer in use. His superiors started looking to spend 10K on a new one that was much more than he needed or wanted. I just shook my head and pointed them to the paper I was holding and that article that described the trouble our teachers have paying for supplies and such for their classrooms. Things that really should be provided for them and NOT paid for out of their pockets - yet they are EXPECTED and even demanded at times to spend their own money in the classroom. How many times have you spent YOUR own money for your office supplies at work? I never have too and never have. I ended the question about the new server and they promptly gave him a recycled one. It really didn't matter though because the moneys for each come from totally different budgets. If you save money in one budget that means you won't get it next year - I've always thought this was completely and totally flawed. Each year should be evalutated independantly based on the needs and plans of that coming year for what ever department. A baseline is fine for normal operations and that baseline should be maintained in the general fund but outside of that special budgets for projects and needs should be established. Agency's should be rewarded for saving money from their general funds from year to year and lowering general operating costs. Again; The Republicans who claim to be Conservative have never said anything like this and the Democrats just seem to want to throw money at things.
I've always thought it would be great if the governement would give me an itemized receipt showing how my hard earned $$$ were spent. I don't mind paying more for good infrustructure and I know that if John Kerry is elected my tax bill will likely increase - I'm prepared for that but I'm not prepared to hand over more money without holding him accountable even it if means I vote against him in the next election.