Can You Spot the Disconnect?

Friday 6 August 2010 - Filed under Dumbassery + Economy + Government + Journalism

The terminally libertarded and their press hacks have a serious disconnect with reality. They see the lack of tax revenue as a great injustice, and write about the poor souls who are suffering due to our unwillingness to pay their way through life.

The length of the downturn means that many places have used up all their budget gimmicks, cut services, raised taxes, spent their stimulus money — and remained in the hole. Even with Congress set to approve extra stimulus aid, some analysts say states are still facing huge shortfalls.

Yeah. I’m sure that governments everywhere tried really hard to cut the fat. Or something. Remember, the meme here is not that governments local, state, and federal have a massive spending problem, it’s that they don’t tax us enough, and for that everyone suffers. They have tried everything but actually consider genuine spending cuts in worker compensation or unnecessary services, departments, etc.

But it gets worse. They actually print their disconnect with reality, and either fail to recognize it or purposefully obfuscate it. Probably both.

Concerning Hawaii’s school furloughs in order to try and meet their woefully unbalanced budget:

But Hawaii is an extreme case. It shut schools not only in rural areas but also in high-rise neighborhoods in Honolulu. Suffering from steep declines in tourism and construction, and owing billions of dollars to a pension system that has only 68.8 percent of the money it needs to cover its promises to state workers, Hawaii instituted the furloughs even after getting $110 million in stimulus money for schools.

So, due to union strong-arming and officials simply giving in by promising stupid high compensation and benefits for their workers, the tax payers should take the burden on to their shoulders? Right. I gotcha. It can’t be that you’ve overextended the already strained taxpayer by promising the world to government workers (to be paid for by the private sector), it’s that they don’t coerce enough money from the private sector and rather than legitimately try and figure out their spending problems, they call foul and cut school services as a means to strong-arm more funds. Since it’s For the Children™ and all, taxpayers can’t say no, right?

I find extremely hard to believe that the only place they could cut from a multiple-billion dollar budget was school. But since that’s what pulls at the heartstrings, they’ll go with what works, and blame the private sector if they fail to raise taxes in order to fill public pockets.

On Atlanta’s cut bus services:

Around the country, public transportation has taken a beating during the downturn. Fares typically cover less than half the cost of each ride, and the state and local taxes that most systems depend on have been plummeting.

[. . .]

Jennifer McDaniel, a hostess at a Chili’s in the airport, was forced to spend her tax refund, and take out a big loan, to buy a car. Jaime Tejada, 36, a Delta flight attendant, wondered why transit was so much better in the countries he flies to.

And Tierra Clark, 19, who studies dental hygiene and works five nights a week at the Au Bon Pain at the airport, was left with an unwanted new expense. “I’ll have to call a taxi from now on — $13.75 every night,” Ms. Clark said, as she rode the very last C-Tran bus home.

Wait, what? So what you’re telling me is that we need to raise taxes so that some can avoid doing what responsible people do in order to transport themselves from one place to the next, spend their own money and buy their own fucking car or incur “unwanted expenses”? Does this look like a fucking gravy train to you? Have you perhaps thought that taxes to pay for people who want to avoid spending their own goddamn money are an “unwanted expense” for me? It’s not okay to “force” people to spend their tax refund to pay for their own transportation, but it is okay to coerce taxpayers to pay for someone else’s transportation?

Fuck off you fucking IRS cum bag.

On Colorado Springs cutting off 1/3 of their street lights in order to save on electricity costs:

It is impossible to say whether the darkness had contributed to any of the events that frightened the Cunninghams. But ever since Colorado Springs shut off a third of its 24,512 streetlights this winter to save $1.2 million on electricity — while reducing the size of its police force — many resident have said that they feel less safe.

[. . .]

The police, who arrested several suspects, said that there was no indication that the doused light had played a role in the crime — or, indeed, in any crimes in Colorado Springs, which remains safer than most cities of its size. But this might be a case, they said, where perception is as important as reality.

“All the sociologists have said this for years: what matters to people isn’t really the number of reported crimes, it’s their perception of safety,” said the city’s police chief, Richard W. Myers. “And let’s say we don’t see any bump in crime — that would be a good thing. But people don’t feel as safe. They’re already telling us that, even if the numbers don’t bear that out. So do we have a problem? I think so.”

So crime rates do not rise, yet we’re supposed to break the bank by incurring higher taxes so that some can “feel better?” What the fuck? How about buying some of your own fucking security lights? Why the fuck is it my responsibility to light up your neighborhood or your business?

We should expect for government workers and their lackeys to tow this “tax revenue is the problem, not government spending” line from now on. Because government is never the problem; it’s our unwillingness to give them a blank check.

2010-08-06  »  madlibertarianguy