Dear liberals, We told ya so!

[serpentracer]

Uh, captain obvious here, but California has been governed by liberals, moderates and idiots (three interchangeable terms) for a long time. That state's slide into financial decay isn't new or shocking to any conservative, in fact it's quite predictable.

High taxes, rampant government spending, and irresponsible accounting are the hallmarks of big bad government, be it Republican or Democrat. Conservatives, however, are not Republicans. Republicans are supposed to be conservatives, but sometimes fail to be.

Your Lincoln/Republican retort is infantile. Democrats largely fought the civil rights act, so are the present day Democrats racists? Lincoln was not by any definition a modern conservative, and he also imprisoned tens of thousands of people without trial, shut down presses, suspended habeus corpus. He believed in federal power that Bush could never dream of exercising. Choose a better example next time, no conservative claims him as a mantle of their principles.

yeah, and look at our current economy that the republicans had control over for more than 12 years. it went terrific didn't it?

ahem, you missed the most important part of my quote...I guess conveniently,

It is better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to open one's mouth and remove all doubt.

you should practice it.

Edited May 15, 2010 by serpentracer

[alienpi]

'Don't like the blue store? You want to go to the red store? Fine, I own both of them.' The party's were created to give us something to argue about. We need that. The most we can do is go into a voting booth and try to bat the ball the other way if it gets too far toward one side. It's all one piece. Peace.

This is a good example of the false left-right paradigm.

I know I'm not supposed to post anything from Infowars, but the Kool-Aid is already flowing, so here you go.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fTahZE4q90U

[gearman]

The best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter.

Winston Churchill

Do a little research on Proposition 13, that was the beginning of the end. Be careful what you ask for...you may get it.

[Rod38um]

yeah, and look at our current economy that the republicans had control over for more than 12 years. it went terrific didn't it?

When trying to drive a capitalist economy, if you weight it down with socialist spending, you cant say capitalism failed when it goes broke.

Thats like repairing your ford with schwin bicycle parts then bitching about the unreliabilty of the ford when the schwin parts break down and leave you sitting by the side of the road.

[Disclaimer]

When trying to drive a capitalist economy, if you weight it down with socialist spending, you cant say capitalism failed when it goes broke.

Thats like repairing your ford with schwin bicycle parts then bitching about the unreliabilty of the ford when the schwin parts break down and leave you sitting by the side of the road.

Sad thing is, the Republicans still haven't figured out it's a Ford and were continuing to buy Schwinn parts through lucrative 'no bid' gov't contracts - yea, that's capitalism at it's best. No bid contracts.

Ohh, and that whole Lincoln quote about sounding stupid - what specific "socialist" spending is "weighing" capitalism down? Most of our GDP is spent on military - those 'no bid' gov't contracts that I mentioned *cough*Halliburton*cough*cough*.

So, give me your list of the "socialist" expenses, how much they would save if they were eliminated that would bring the gov't back in black... and don't forget the cause-and-effect analysis for at LEAST the secondary and tertiary effects of what cutting that spending would do.

Thanks pumpkin.

[chevysoldier]

We should vote them all out and start from scratch.

[Bad324]

We should vote them all out and start from scratch.

agreed

[Rod38um]

You cant bitch about military spending. Now if you want to point out waste or fraud, I'm cool with that but before you can spend any money in your home, you have to be sure you can defend it and protect it...... I cant figure out liberals wanting to cut military and then create bunches of programs to keep people depenent. Any place you spend tons of government money on social programs, people dont get motivated and go to work...... all you get is more people flocking to the free hand out...... problem just gets worse.

[Disclaimer]

Wrong on all accounts. I don't see any information backup any of that. We spend more on our military than than the next 4 largest superpowers COMBINED. You really think that's a rational amount to spend? And where do you think a huge portion of the waste a fraud come from? The military.

I already mentioned no-bid contracts and Halliburton.... oh how soon you doth forget

Still waiting for my list of "the bunches of social programs to keep people dependent" and their respective analysis. You have no information to back up your claims - hot air.

[Rod38um]

A public employee in California with 30 years of service can already retire at 55 with more than half of his salary as pension, and public-safety workers can get 90 percent of their salary at age 50. Another budget buster is California’s spending on social services, clocking in at about 70 percent more per capita than the national average. Leading the way is state spending on cash assistance programs (that is, welfare), where the state expends nearly three times more per resident than other states. There’s a good reason for this rich budget. California’s legislature has only reluctantly embraced federal welfare reform, and for years the state has had one of the worst records in moving people from welfare to work because state law limits the ability of welfare administrators to sanction those who refuse to participate in work programs.

California politicians have been expert at avoiding dealing with these problems. In 2003, enraged citizens recalled Gov. Gray Davis after he announced an impending $38 billion budget deficit. Arnold Schwarzenegger promised reform but delivered only a year of it. When tax revenues spiked in the national economic recovery that started in 2004, California politicians went on another spending spree, increasing expenditures by $34 billion, or 32 percent, in just four years before revenues slumped again.

http://www.realclearmarkets.com/articles/2009/02/should_we_let_california_go_ba.html

[Rod38um]

The Government Deception

The pie chart below is the government view of the budget. This is a distortion of how our income tax dollars are spent because it includes Trust Funds (e.g., Social Security), and the expenses of past military spending are not distinguished from nonmilitary spending. For a more accurate representation of how your Federal income tax dollar is really spent, see the large chart (top).

HOW THESE FIGURES WERE DETERMINED

urrent military” includes Dept. of Defense ($653 billion), the military portion from other departments ($150 billion), and an additional $162 billion to supplement the Budget’s misleading and vast underestimate of only $38 billion for the “war on terror.” “Past military” represents veterans’ benefits plus 80% of the interest on the debt.*

[Rod38um]

And back on topic......... California doesn't even have a military or an ongoing war to fight. I'm not going to argue with anyones attempt to cut budgets of waste or fraud whether its military or otherwise. Fraud is fraud. However I see social programs as an enslavement of people. I've seen too much personally. Speaking from my own observations in life; Everyone has a certain comfort level that they need to maintain. I worked to better myself till I reached a level I could be comfortable at........ Some peoples comfort level is way above mine and they generally have worked harder or longer to get there, some peoples comfort level is way below mine and the handout programs they receive more than provide that comfort level. They have no reason to be motivated. I've seen it with friends, with my rental houses, I've seen it in project housing that my friend manages. These handouts are a social cancer that needs cut to the bone for the good of the people who currently receive it.

It is the stupidest thing in the world for the tax payer to support all these people and then allow illegals to come in to do the jobs that we pay our citizens "not" to do. So the welfare people are a burden for the tax payer and the illegals are a burden to the taxpayer and neither one contribute............ that is stupid!!!......... as a tax payer, I protest!!! I want to put people to work in the private sector, I want everyone who can to help contribute and those arent supposed to benefit, shouldnt!!!!

[timotheus]

the liberals have been running wild in california, they deserve everything they get

[magley64]

numbers look a little off rod.

[Rod38um]

Yea....... it all depends how you label stuff, you can pretty much get a chart to read the way you want it.

What it boils down to for me is:

Earning your own way= Good

Mooching from others= Bad

Charitable giving = Good

Forced redistribution= unforgiveable

[Likwid]

Yea....... it all depends how you label stuff, you can pretty much get a chart to read the way you want it.

What it boils down to for me is:

Earning your own way= Good

Mooching from others= Bad

Charitable giving = Good

Forced redistribution= unforgiveable

Does unemployment count as mooching?

[gearman]

Does unemployment count as mooching?

Ronald Reagan thought so.

[shittygsxr]

Does FUNemployment count as mooching?

JRMIII you live in the lorain / elyria area, home of the least motivated shitty people in the world you are not allowed to pretend that they are doing their best.

I bet a significant portion of that "military spending" goes to paying a bunch of yourng guys to run around the desert. Military guys are by far the most fiscally irresponsible people in the entire world. Every dollar they earn is immediately pissed away on consumable goods theirby stimulating the economy. If you have not seen it first hand please visit any military town during a war.

California is full of tons of hippies that love giving everyone elses money away. Without a doubt there are more homeless in california than any where else in the country. Why? Because they give them more than other places.

You guys are arguing about very specific details when the obvious problems slap you in the face the moment you set foot into the state.

Edited May 17, 2010 by shittygsxr