Posted on 01/17/2008 7:44:38 AM PST by NewMediaJournal
Here's a perfect example of the destructive power of government. It's also a representative example of why it's a canard that government ever gives anything away for "free" as that so-called free gift inflicts pain on everyone under that government. In this tale Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich has pulled a fast one on the people of Illinois. He's agreed to a plan that hikes a tax that few people even know the existence of and he's added his own layer of cost just to get old people in the city of Chicago to like him. In pandering to this tiny minority he's skewered the entire state in general and the people of the six counties surrounding the people's republic of Chicago in particular.
At issue is the bail out of Chicago's mass transit system. Naturally, being a normal government program, it is a money losing, disorganized, union bloated, den of corruption and waste, but the leaders in the state capitol of Springfield (no better name for the comedy going on there than "Springfield," just like the town in the cartoon "The Simpsons") felt it necessary to infuse state funds into the backwards and failing transit system in Chicago. So, the state legislature came up with a bailout plan and sent it to the Governor to sign.
Upon reaching his desk, Governor Blagojevich decided to add his own tragiocomic aspect to this government fiasco through an amendatory veto. He decreed that henceforth all old folks will ride the CTA in Chicago for "free." The great white Father has waved his magic wand and now all the old folk in the city have a new perk merely for having reached their golden years without becoming bedridden. No bus and train fares for grandma from here on out. Hoorah for the nanny state.
(Excerpt) Read more at newmediajournal.us ...
Well... how else you gonna keep Grandpa in viagra, hookers and whiskey???? Get to work all you young whippersnappers.
I dont mind them helping an American Grandma...
But they steal from Grandma and give it to illegal aliens...
I do!! Grandma does not need this help. She (and every CTA rider) already pays low fares sunsidized by all of us.
The boy governor did this to build support for his upcoming corruption trial. Just like Lyin’ Ryan treid to do by commuting/pardoning all the killers on death row.
Hey, if it keeps them from driving 45mph in the left lane with their blinker on it is not such a bad idea.
While it is true that while the first generation on SS got a “free ride”, so to speak because they hadn’t paid into the system for their whole working lives, it’s not true of the second generation of SS recipients,
I’ve paid in the maximum for 40 years. That comes to almost $200,000 over my working life. Including both my share and my employee’s share.
If that money had not been pissed away and stolen by the government, and instead invested for the future, my fund would be worth just under 3 million today.
The SS payments I will get when I retire will not even equal the interest on that amount, and of course I will never get the principal back to leave to my kids some day.
This is true of the majority of other baby boomers as well. The government took their money and, to the extent they spend any of the money they collect wisely, they spent it to support your programs and bridges to nowhere.
The government need to sell some assets and give the people back what they stole. Period. They own 80% of some states. (Idaho for instance)
What could the Illinois constitution writers have been thinking when they inserted this gem? Surely it was to address something different than what it has morphed into.
We also pay her a hefty amount of Social Security benefits. Surely that should cover the fare for the bus.
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