Politicians in DC fight for pork, attaching riders to legitimate bills, to get things that their constituents write them letters about. The end result is that the federal government ends up paying for the stoplight at the corner of an intersection that sees 40 cars a week go by in North Slobovia, Minnesota because some old lady with an aluminum foil hat with too much time on her hands almost had an accident there 16 years ago, and has been writing letters ever since... /run-on /rant Seriously, pork barrel spending is a major draw on the federal government. Programs that suffer are everything that isn't on the cover of Time magazine or any one of a number of rags (post, daily news, Fox). it aggrivates me to see some of the ridiculous projects (cnbc's "defend your pork" segments are pretty entertaining) that we are paying for. Remember the Big Dig in Boston? I think it's still going on, after going over it's budget by ~200% (estimation) in both time and money. Why should I have to pay for that with my federal taxes? I don't drive in Boston. Raise the money local taxes and tolls. Now, Ray Nagin, mayor of New Orleans, wants 200 BILLION (!) to rebuild? He's got some big brass ones even throwing out a number like that. where will that money come from? ok i'm done. and thanks for the offer, mrvizion, but i have a system that's working for me, and i'm on my way to being sucessful at this. i'm simply selling things for more than i paid. It's fantastic!
[/QUOTE] poor people with little assets have nothing to worry about. the government pays the entire bill. it is the middle class that suffers in the united states. [/B][/QUOTE] As much as I hate to agree with a statement that sounds overley Republican... Being that I know what it felt like to be middle class... And know that I actually had friends who had children that lived off of section 8 and the like in newly built apartments and homes just for them... I'd say I was getting the shaft the most considering I had to learn how to do something to get my money...Because there were no breaks for me!
vote for politicians that share yor views.. there's an entire party out there based on the concepts of small federal governtment, lower taxes, etc.
Good....Good...Good... I'm glad to know you're doing well... I'd hate to think I couldn't help anyone that might be ready to hang themselves over this stuff... I hope to be a helpful member of this community...Like I said people like the science_trader and nononsense sure did help me out just by their posts
of course. revolutions comes from the rich and very rarely from the poor. the middle class is to busy holding on to what they have and thinking about who they are. they have no time to make revolution
I do not know what to think about that. As we know, history shows that it's always some kind of 'middle class' who manages to use the poorest to run a revolution to get rid of the richest. But 'middle class' is quite a new concept. Perhaps should we see these revolutions as the richest of the middle class using the poorest of the middle class to get rid of the richest and take their place ?
I am self employed, and I pay $206 a month for my son and I combined. The exact same coverage, from the same imsurance company, through my previous employer was $700 when I went on COBRA. Funny, because if I had chosen to waive the insurance benefit, my paycheck would have been 200/month more! So how come they want 700/mo for COBRA? I can't figure it out... I just don't buy the "insurance costs" bullshit anymore. I think "Insurance costs" is just an excuse for companies to boost their profits some - particularly since it's a bit tougher for them to cook the books. YOU WILL PAY FOR YOUR INSURANCE ONE WAY OR ANOTHER. If the government covered all of it, you'd just pay for it in more taxes . Has ANYONE EVER been in a government office (renew yor plates lately?)?? Was it a model of efficiency? quality of service? If your employer pays ALL of it, he's just PAYING YOU LESS. I lived in a country with social medical benefits. They paid more in taxes, had a lower standard of living, lower quality and standards in their hospitals, etc. No thank you - I'll GLADLY pay my 206/mo!!
You ARE getting the shaft. We all are. The lower middle class has to be the absolute worst place to be. Too "rich" for the gov't to put food on your table, and too poor to do it yourself. I live in a new apt building, and the rent is pretty high. Every monday morning when I leave for work, there's trash in the elevator and lobby, and interesting statements literally carved into the wall of the elevator. I wonder who's doing that! Is it the cop on 7? The retired music teacher on 12? Nope! It's the section 8 people! Point is, if you have it handed to you, you won't value it. Why does the state allow the devaluation of my home so someone who doesn't want to work hard but wants to live like they do is able to? Following this logic, should we not pay workers less for working harder? The upper 2% don't have to deal with the lower third. We do, the marginalized middle class. But as zdreg said, we're too busy what we have to do anything about it. Eventually, we'll be forced to either deal with the problem, or become part of it. Get rid of the poor!!! er, end poverty, i mean
Jason, 206/mo!? I was paying $950 for Cobra, only for myself! Now I'm convinced that Cobra is a big scam. And I agree with you completely about socalized medicine. I'd rather pay for private personally (when I am able to afford it again), but i believe there should be a minimum standard so poor children with a cut or scrape don't have to go to the emergency room to be treated (as someone stated previously).