It seems our tax dollars are plentiful for persistent private ventures and playgrounds, but not available for local service provision and sustaining a quality of life for all citizens.Full post by Brewtown Gumshoe is here.
Sunday, September 13, 2009
Man, I Wish I Had Written That
No, seriously, I really, really wish I had written this:
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Maybe if your side would quit taxing the snot out of job creators, it wouldn't cost as much in bribe money to make them stay.
ReplyDeleteIf public employee wages, benefits and pensions were more in-line with the private sector then we would have a better tax climate for both business and labor and we would have far less of a need to furlough public employees or to cut wages.
With a better jobs climate you will get more taxpayers and fewer people who need to depend on the government in the first place.
True: the Mercury subsidy is questionable and the GM offer is outrageous, but consider the job climate in this state. This is the only tool these small-minded politicians have left to use.
If the quote were brilliant or inspired, it would simply say:
We can't afford the public stuff we should be paying for because we have already abused the taxpayers to pay for things we never should have paid for in the first place.
It's a vicious downward cycle and we haven't even come close to hitting the bottom yet.
We cannot afford neglecting buses, parks, supportive housing for people with disabilities, pensions that were promised to loyal employees and continuous subsidies to businesses that don't pay decent wages. Public works, maintaining roads and bridges, ensuring that food and housing are safe, those things are needed by everyone.
ReplyDeletePerhaps if the money were spend more wisely, there would be enough to fund all of the unnecessary services.
ReplyDeleteIt is also worth noting that Milwaukee County, with Walker's "leadership" is doing worse than places like Madison or the state in general.
Perhaps if Mr. Walker and our other elected leaders looked for new sources of revenue, instead of just ways to cut, we wouldn't have this problem either.
Capper,
ReplyDeleteThere are no "new sources of revenue."
They are the same beleaguered taxpayers, you are just talking about putting your hand in a different pocket.
I would disagree. A lot of it is tax money, admittedly, from the state and the feds, but there are other things that can be done to save money and even earn it, if Walker wasn't too busy campaigning for the past seven years, he might have gotten some of them done.
ReplyDeleteHow can the county "earn" money?
ReplyDeleteLet's face it, that pension debacle has left Milwaukee County cash-strapped.
The choices are, go grab it from the taxpayers, or cut the budget to pay for those obligations.
Tough choices, but the county property taxes are already way too high.
The city will be finding this happening as well just to pay their pension obligations.
There are ways to help the budget crises without cutting services or nailing the property tax payers.
ReplyDeleteTake a look at the management/worker ratio. Management doesn't draw revenue, front line workers do, but they always cut the front line workers. That needs to be reversed.
Start utilizing county assets better. Why are we paying rent at the Reuss Federal Building and other places, when there are underused and unused county-owned buildings?
Sell some of the dozens of buildings and tracks of lands that are unused or underused. All it is is a loss of revenue by keeping them vacant.
The only real pension problem now is the one Walker created with the risky pension obligation bonds. Of course, that wouldn't have been necessary if he hadn't shorted the fund for seven years.
Stop giving tons of money to cronies. Do you realize how many Walker campaign workers are now county employees in high wage, made up jobs?
Okay,
ReplyDeleteUnload the properties, including the fish hatchery and by all means stop leasing property in the federal office building.
Cut management jobs - including cronies, although I suspect there are fewer true cronies now than under Ament.
Your assessment of the retirement system problems ignores the huge obligations.
The bond issue helped spread out the cost of the problem, but it really didn't extend it.
Barrett is using a few tricks to get through his own problems with pensions.
You can blame Walker - that's fine with me, but he didn't make the mess and pretending on the pensions isn't going to get anyone, anywhere.
Oh, I know that the pension disaster was all Ament's fault. I have no arguments there.
ReplyDeleteThe POB is now predicted of only having a 40% chance of working, and puts a hard cost into the budget for years, whether it is needed or not.
But your comment regarding the fish hatchery shows the same faulty logic Walker is using with his threats of layoffs and furloughs. You don't cut the things that are free or actually produce more than they take.
So if the county should run a fish hatchery, what should they sell?
ReplyDeleteThe county currently owns an uncounted number of buildings that are sitting vacant. They could also finish the job of emptying out the City Campus and selling that off.
ReplyDeleteThese facilities and assets are sitting around doing nothing. Why sell off the Farm and Fish Hatchery when it actually costs nothing, or next to nothing, and returns much more to the community than what is paid into it?