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I'm not sure how useful those figures are. Mississippi seems low, but you can't take nuthin' from nuthin and have it amount to much. Alabama has the ability to shift school funding to the local level, so a budget item may not translate to an actual shortfall.
In some ways, these budget shortfalls are not a disaster, as the media would spin, but a real way of stopping the ever-increasing encroachment of government bureaucracy into the lives of the citizens.
Government is supposed to protect us from enemies. If that takes a few billion or trillion, I'm all for it. However, when segments of the government have been infiltrated by special interest groups, and they get funding from tax revenues, I hope those groups are the first on the chopping block, and that the enforcement of over-reaching laws is next.
Example: Thousands of work-at-home crafters are up in arms because a new law will effectively prevent them from making clothes for children. Instead of the law protecting kids from lead in Chinese products, it was written to mandate extensive testing even on U.S. home made products using approved materials. What granny has the wherewithal to pay for shipping a sample of her knit scarves off to a lab for an expensive test before selling them?
Example: To be certified, all teachers have to pay for and attend a never-ending series of courses that supposedly keep them "up-to-date." The government will take away their licenses if they fail to comply. Now think about it, just how much has changed in first or second grade that a teacher would be unfit to teach if they didn't take those courses? Back when I was in school, we all ended up not only being able to read "Dick and Jane" by the end of first grade, but being able to write and do addition and subtraction as well. Ever present a cashier with $20.10 for a $19.07 purchase and have them stand there and stutter in panic? Fat lotta help those courses were for that education.
Example: In the green-living forum, someone wants to cut down a cottonwood tree that is a danger to their home. The municipality won't allow it. Yeah, a budget shortfall could be a problem for that municipality. GOOD!
Government has gone blooming crazy and it needs to be reigned in by whatever means possible. If government can't afford to hire more people that have the job of interfering with our lives, then Hallelujah!
Last edited by harry chickpea; 01-18-2009 at 11:52 AM..
New York state's economy is in the toilet. The can't even finish a bridge project they stated on exit 13 of the palisades parkway two years ago. The company which was contracted to do the work left when the state stopped paying. You should see it.
New York state's economy is in the toilet. The can't even finish a bridge project they stated on exit 13 of the palisades parkway two years ago. The company which was contracted to do the work left when the state stopped paying. You should see it.
Can you take pictures of it? It would be interesting to see. I grew up on the other side in Yorktown.
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