Red alert, Red alert! CA govt is losing it... (Nice: credit card, quality of life)

[ryanst530]

^ lol, agreed

[MIKEETC]

RIP, Michael Jackson!! California will never be the same without Neverland...maybe that's why it's called Neverland...

[eagle7]

Lets not forget special intrests, state unions, teachers & prison unions OWN the horrid ca legislature. The illegal alians are costing the tax payers 13.1 billion dollars per yr.

[Shope]

[quote=sav858;9575513][quote=Shope;9574393]

Originally Posted by sav858

So you're just spouting off some random statistics now? Why? What does this have to do with what were discussing?

Also a source would be nice.

You wanted me to find some statistics, and I did because you refused to back up your opinions, all you say is "it's on the internet, go find it yourself." There it is, shall I spoon feed it to you?

[City Boy]

Originally Posted by ryanst530

I could care less who it is! Rush limbaugh, Sean hannity, I don't care. I haven't met them, why should it matter? You guys are missing my entire point... this MJ crap is placed above everything else in the news right now. Above national security, world news, and the economy. Its complete BS. They even had a larry king special last night detailing MJ's friends and family complaining about how his will was to be divided up.

Its unbelievable how irresponsible people in this country have become.

Why are conservatives so paranoid about national security? 9/11 really has you guys shaken up. The news is more than a few prime time channels on cable, if you're so worried about it go to other media outlets.

[sav858]

Originally Posted by Shope

You wanted me to find some statistics, and I did because you refused to back up your opinions, all you say is "it's on the internet, go find it yourself." There it is, shall I spoon feed it to you?

Find statics related to what I mentioned and was talking about. I was not talking about illegals compared to other states or the prison population. Are you seriously that dense? Go reread what the hell I wrote and actually attempt to comprehend it b/c you are just all over the place with your BS.

Since you seriously have no clue what I was saying and what you're talking about, I guess I do have to spoon feed it to you like a little child:

Fattest States

Most Dangerous States - WalletPop

The Most (and Least) Educated States - MSN Encarta

Texas: Highest Rate of Uninsured in U.S. - AARP Bulletin Today

And of course I expect you to come up with some excuses or go off on some unrelated tangent like you already have so let me repeat this for the THIRD TIME and maybe you will actually get it:

Originally Posted by sav858

I don't even buy into that crap that states are this or that b/c they are blue/democrat or red/republican. But I was just pointing out how BS it is to blame everything wrong with CA on democrats but conveniently ignore all of the glaring problems other states controlled by republicans or that are solidly red/conservative have b/c its fits your narrow point of view.

I'm done with you, I don't have the patience to deal with your simple minded BS. You just don't get it IMO.

[Kibby]

Originally Posted by ryanst530

ugh, another thing I hate about liberals... this stupid michael jackson thing.

99% of these people havent even met the guy, yet apparently 750000 people are going to his funeral. its headline news on almost every network, and has been for almost a week now. North Korea is on the brink of nuclear war with us, the california govt is collapsing and the liberal media finds that Michael Jackson is the most important piece of news... unbefreakinleavable...

It is "unbefreakinleavable" ... but it's also at it's core what is wrong with the entire country. Important issues are pushed aside for partisan rants and "entertainment" sound bites. The inmates are running the asylum, the press (that used to keep us grounded in reality) have become cheerleaders for whatever the goofy story of the minute is. It's all about distraction and denial.

A reality check here ... the owner of the Washington Post (a once responsible watchdog) is selling (until caught) dinner table seats to lobbyists to meet/greet/work out legislation/work out media reporting at her home.That's just one example ....

California is now printing their own money in the form of IOU's ..... worthless IOU's at that. Who gets those IOU's? Not the Unions, not the Welfare recipients, not the ginormous state worker pool, not the legislators or their staffs ......... small business gets the IOU's, taxpayers get the IOU's. Anyone of any intelligence must know that these people will leave the state - cash flow is a reality that cannot be ignored.

As bad as California is today ... it's a preview of what the entire country faces tomorrow.

[Kibby]

Originally Posted by ryanst530

I do not have a problem supporting the school system. That is one sector of government I DO want my tax dollars going into. I know that investing in a good education only helps out the entire nation. Education is needed, and it should be invested into as one of our primary expenditures. This may be my more liberal side... However! it needs to be done in a way that holds everyone accountable and operates efficiently.

The problem here in CA, and you are avoiding it well, is that too much money is thrown at the school system, especially K-12, and yet California is STILL producing poor results. Where is this money going?!?! Why do the schools keep asking for more? If the teachers aren't getting paid, who is? The adminstrators and the bureaucracy associated with all of it, thats where its going. How about how California devotes a fair percentage of tax dollars to programs designed to help out the illegals? What a waste!

Its corruption on all accounts. And THAT is what happens when government gets too large. Government starts to think money is free and then more ridiculous programs are created. It keeps getting bigger, and bigger, and becomes increasingly vague over time. Eventually productivity goes down due to complacency, and laziness sets in. At this point, it starts becoming a union. People demand more money thinking their job is too hard for their pay. So we feed them more money and the chain reaction sets in... Little productivity and quality in exchange for god loads of money. ... e.g. Look at the GM and Boeing unions... quality has gone to the dumper over the years and yet the union thugs are getting paid exorbitant wages that are not sustainable over the long run.

So again, throwing more money at the system is not going to fix anything, as the democrats have hoped. California's government needs a major overhaul... We need to trim government down and get things to the bare essentials as it should be.

One of the major problems our country faces today (this is also true of individual states) is the whole "partisan" thing. CongressCritters care about power, money and re-election. It's a rare one that honestly wants to serve the people.

I remember back in the 70's when California led the nation in education - everyone wanted to follow and look now ... near the bottom of the pile. That's not a partisan thing ... that's pure laziness on the part of the electorate to turn over control to politicians and special interest groups.

I watch what happens in California for two reasons. I'm a native Texan born in the 1940's - I've seen the rise and fall of California. No other state in the union is any closer than Texas to the demographics (including illegal aliens) to California. California is close (if not already there) to a totally failed state - Texas is at the top of the heap in many ways. It behooves us all as a country to figure out why this is the case.

Some of my earlier posts on this matter ...

Soak the rich, lose the rich ... how to destroy a tax base

How Texas government works and why it has nothing to do with "red state" vs "blue state".

Texas is pretty close to purple - one thing is accepted by both the Dems and the Republicans - no state income tax, Texas remains a right to work state, the state of Texas remains independent from the Feds and never forget the "throw the bums out mentality". The real key is that we keep our CongressCritters out of the State Capitol as much as possible ... make them go home and face the voters. We only allow the jerks (whom none of us really trust) to meet every other year for 45 days ... tends to keeps them from doing too much harm AND forces them to work together to get some results. Lack of results = no re-election.

It may seem crude and is certainly not perfect but it's worked pretty well over the years. We've gone through some serious hard times in Texas (the 1980's) but we tend to learn from those hard times. Our legislature is almost evenly divided but just votes unanimously (one decenter) to lower the business taxes on any business with a gross income up to a million dollars. It's all about saving jobs to preserve the tax base - it's all about what is good for the State of Texas and not what is good for the special interest groups. When the tax base is driven away - there is no real recovery. Everyone has to look at the big picture and not the prism viewpoint.

[ihynes]

Originally Posted by Shope

Republicans at least understand the basic tenants of freedom.

"tenants" of freedom, ha ha! good one - BTW, Repubs don't respect the U.S. Constitution at ALL

[SoCalTwinkie]

Originally Posted by Havasu

You are correct about enough blame to go around but the Dems would rather raise taxes and the Repubs would rather spend less. The Taxe increases must stop and the State has to spend less if the State keeps up with the Tax increases there will not be anyone left to pay them.There comes a breaking point and its not to far away

Oh, I think that dem vs repub; taxes vs spending is just nonsense. They BOTH have their special interest groups that they pander to and their "pet projects" they want funded. The whole group needs to have their pay suspended indefinitely until they can come up with a budget. Why should the taxpayer suffer and not their paychecks. Remember not to vote for any of them next time around. You can't spend what you don't have. They obviously are all indebted or afraid of those special interests groups that they will sink the whole state of California instead of living within their means. What a pity!