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School lunch should be free period.Surprised it is not in a nation as rich as the US. But we also know that even in boom times the fate of the poorer economic strata does not hold up with that of the richer ones. The same may be happening in our Phoenix boom(let) right now.
Nothing in life is "free". Someone else is always footing the bill.
As for the US being "rich", we are almost 20 trillion in the hole and growing which doesn't include greatly underfunded SSN and medicare. Not sure what logic you are using to call this a "rich" nation but I hope in your own life if you have 100k in debt on your credit card, student loans, a mortgage, etc yet live in a nice house/have nice cars/have lots of material things, you don't consider that being "rich". I call that being owned by someone else/in big time debt and one job loss away from perhaps a bankruptcy.
You know I ride my bicycle all the time but sometimes I get to drive the kids to school etc. I noticed a lot more construction trucks and trucks in general on the roads recently. Is this a sign that the economy here is finally taking off? Or just a coincidence? - I mean I have not noticed this many trucks in years. What do you guys think.
The economy is definitely better now than it was during the big downfall of 2008 & a few years thereafter. I'm hesitating to call it a seriously booming economy (at least not like it was prior to 2008). That might not be so bad, however, because the so called "boom" period before 2008 consisting of a large real estate bubble with overly inflated prices, and seemingly endless construction in far flung exurban areas. We all know what happened when the bubble burst: Phoenix was one of the areas hit the hardest during the downturn. I'm now seeing more emphasis on infill growth & technology, which is the direction we should be headed. I hope the days of rapid sprawl, and growth just for the sake of growing fast are over. We need to grow SMARTER and more globally competitive.
Quote:
Originally Posted by stevek64
Nothing in life is "free". Someone else is always footing the bill.
As for the US being "rich", we are almost 20 trillion in the hole and growing which doesn't include greatly underfunded SSN and medicare. Not sure what logic you are using to call this a "rich" nation but I hope in your own life if you have 100k in debt on your credit card, student loans, a mortgage, etc yet live in a nice house/have nice cars/have lots of material things, you don't consider that being "rich". I call that being owned by someone else/in big time debt and one job loss away from perhaps a bankruptcy.
Exactly! Isn't it funny that liberals expect many things in life to be free, and don't seem to mind taking the money for all those free items out of other people's pockets?! The problem is there is no accountability. Just keep throwing more money at these beasts of burden (public schools, government controlled health care, public assistance programs, etc., etc., etc.) and who cares about how much it costs? After all, it's all about "the children".
()
Nothing in life is "free". Someone else is always footing the bill.
As for the US being "rich", we are almost 20 trillion in the hole and growing which doesn't include greatly underfunded SSN and medicare. Not sure what logic you are using to call this a "rich" nation but I hope in your own life if you have 100k in debt on your credit card, student loans, a mortgage, etc yet live in a nice house/have nice cars/have lots of material things, you don't consider that being "rich". I call that being owned by someone else/in big time debt and one job loss away from perhaps a bankruptcy.
You're right nothing is free. What's most expensive for 99.9% of us is the de-facto 15% tax rate for the top 0.1%. That costs enormously for almost all Americans. Nothing is for free but that's the most expensive thing that has ever burdened Americans. So the choice is clear: you can only defend 15% for billionaires or free school lunches for all of us. The humane choice should have been obvious to begin with.
Ask towns and cities how they're doing financially now compared to 2006. I bet the answer you'll receive is a bleak one. Ask ADOT the same thing. They are $62 billion in the red when it comes to funding for transportation projects that are needed to accommodate Arizona's growth over the next 35 years. Things are slowly improving in some sectors, but as I repeatedly state, the 2004-2006 boom days are gone for good. There's more to the financial picture of this state than seeing construction trucks rolling down the road or wood frames to add to the endless stucco and tile sea.
Ask towns and cities how they're doing financially now compared to 2006. I bet the answer you'll receive is a bleak one. Ask ADOT the same thing. They are $62 billion in the red when it comes to funding for transportation projects that are needed to accommodate Arizona's growth over the next 35 years. Things are slowly improving in some sectors, but as I repeatedly state, the 2004-2006 boom days are gone for good. There's more to the financial picture of this state than seeing construction trucks rolling down the road or wood frames to add to the endless stucco and tile sea.
You sure do like being negative, economic growth moving forward is more sustainable than it was in 04-06, a lot of that monetary influx was drawn from thin air and real estate hustles i.e it was a short lived money grab for developers that crashed spectacularly.
Location: Live:Downtown Phoenix, AZ/Work:Greater Los Angeles, CA
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Valley Native
The economy is definitely better now than it was during the big downfall of 2008 & a few years thereafter. I'm hesitating to call it a seriously booming economy (at least not like it was prior to 2008). That might not be so bad, however, because the so called "boom" period before 2008 consisting of a large real estate bubble with overly inflated prices, and seemingly endless construction in far flung exurban areas. We all know what happened when the bubble burst: Phoenix was one of the areas hit the hardest during the downturn. I'm now seeing more emphasis on infill growth & technology, which is the direction we should be headed. I hope the days of rapid sprawl, and growth just for the sake of growing fast are over. We need to grow SMARTER and more globally competitive.
Exactly! Isn't it funny that liberals expect many things in life to be free, and don't seem to mind taking the money for all those free items out of other people's pockets?! The problem is there is no accountability. Just keep throwing more money at these beasts of burden (public schools, government controlled health care, public assistance programs, etc., etc., etc.) and who cares about how much it costs? After all, it's all about "the children".
()
You know, you keep going on about how public schools should be replaced with private schools, how is a family that brings in $20k/year even supposed to be able to afford to send one kid to private school at $5k/pop? I'd rather have that kid educated so he/she has a chance at being productive when grown, rather than be uneducated due to parents not being able to afford private school tuition and said child becoming a criminal or vagrant in adult life!
I'm starting to see communities have that insane growth we saw in the early 2000's in places like Queen Creek and San Tan Valley. This reminds me more of the mid 1990's. We are having growth, but it's quality growth. It's not just construction but companies moving here and people getting real jobs. I also think recreational marijuana will be legalized and the state will vote for Hiliary Clinton and achieve blue status. Even if you detest Hillary, the "blue status" will make companies and others from blue states consider moving here particularly from California. I think these two factors will also improve the economy.
Ask ADOT the same thing. They are $62 billion in the red when it comes to funding for transportation projects that are needed to accommodate Arizona's growth over the next 35 years.
And this, after we voted to extend the half cent sales tax in order to build more freeways & improve existing ones. We continuously give ADOT more money, and they squander it on foolish endeavors like rubberized asphalt ... so if they are indeed short on funds (which I find hard to believe), it's really their own fault.
Quote:
Originally Posted by FirebirdCamaro1220
You know, you keep going on about how public schools should be replaced with private schools, how is a family that brings in $20k/year even supposed to be able to afford to send one kid to private school at $5k/pop? I'd rather have that kid educated so he/she has a chance at being productive when grown, rather than be uneducated due to parents not being able to afford private school tuition and said child becoming a criminal or vagrant in adult life!
Why is a family with an income of only $20K per year even having kids in the first place? Procreation is not a right ... and as you know, it takes plenty of money to raise children in a good home. Those who are in the lower income bracket & decide to take on a huge responsibility like having kids when they can't afford it are not being responsible. Their attitude is much the same as yours: make the public pay for it. Also, to your other point: we have enough kids becoming criminals & vagrants in their adult lives even with all the funding we currently put into education, so your argument isn't very convincing.
I agree with the current boom being much more sustainable. Better banking and RE funding regulations have prevented the excesses of the early 2000s to repeat. This also means we have to develop our non-RE economy and that our population is not growing at the same rate. Not that that's a bad thing anyways. I wonder how the ongoing Boomer retirement wave, which IMO has only started in 2010 and increasing to 2025 will affect us?
Why is a family with an income of only $20K per year even having kids in the first place? Procreation is not a right ... and as you know, it takes plenty of money to raise children in a good home. Those who are in the lower income bracket & decide to take on a huge responsibility like having kids when they can't afford it are not being responsible. Their attitude is much the same as yours: make the public pay for it. Also, to your other point: we have enough kids becoming criminals & vagrants in their adult lives even with all the funding we currently put into education, so your argument isn't very convincing.
Also, why do they have to move here? If I was making 20K per year, first I would probably relocate to another part of the country where I could earn more money and have a lower cost of living. Just because you like a place, it doesn't mean you are entitled to live there. You may have to move. There are a lot of nice places with a lower cost of living and easier access to higher paying jobs.
That was part of our failed economic strategy in the past: GROWTH. We created a bunch of cheap housing and lured people from all over the country to move here. The problem is a lot of the people we attracted were low skilled poorly educated people who could not contribute to our economy. When the economy tanked, those people could not find work nor could they start companies or create jobs. They were reliant upon low skilled jobs like retail and construction. A lot of those people moved but a lot of them remained and defaulted on their homes. We need to start thinking about quality and less about quantity. Growth should not be an industry here. We need to attract educated professionals and companies. I like what I'm seeing thus far. Yeah, a lot more people moved here pre-2008, but it wasn't the right type of growth. Now, I'm seeing a slower more deliberate approach. We are not going gangbusters and recruiting companies the way Denver is but we are making strides.
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but sometimes I get to drive the kids to school etc. I noticed a lot more construction trucks and trucks in general on the roads recently. Is this a sign that the economy here is finally taking off? Or just a coincidence? - I mean I have not noticed this many trucks in years. What do you guys think.
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