Posted on 04/20/2010 6:59:36 PM PDT by grace522
Let’s give credit where it’s due. Fast Eddie never gives up, no matter how short-sighted his ideas may be.
When we last left our lameduck leader during the 2009 fiscal debacle, which took 101 days to pass a budget, the Governor was doing what Democrats do best — transferring money from the people to government coffers. No surprise there.
At a time when Pennsylvania families are doing the responsible thing — tightening the belt and exercising fiscal restraint — the Governor does the polar opposite. Rendell has proposed a budget increase of 4 percent, in large part to pay for his pet projects, while incomprehensibly ignoring the fact that revenues are declining.
But given the fact that Rendell hasn’t signed an on-time budget since taking office, why not go eight for eight?
He pays no attention to the coming pension bomb, in which obligations to state pensions will increase eightfold over the next three years, from $550 million to over $4 billion.
The Governor has apparently ignored the recent court ruling that the $800 million raided from the MCARE fund — money specifically allocated to alleviating high medical malpractice premiums — must now be paid back.
And he conveniently forgets that there won’t be the $2.7 billion in federal stimulus money that we had last year, and that accounting gimmicks won’t work anymore — such as counting the anticipated tolling of Interstate 80 as “revenue.”
(Despite Ed’s vehement objections, the federal government shot down the I-80 tolling plan, so it’s back to the drawing board).
All of which means higher taxes and an expansion of gambling — government at its finest!
But because Rendell believes that government, rather than the people and their employers, knows best, his approach makes perfect sense — at least to him.
(Excerpt) Read more at blogs.phillymag.com ...
But PA people don’t know that.
Excellent article.
The author hits on many points I have been hammering away at for years. And I’m glad people are finally starting to attack “Fast” Eddy, the epitome of the scumbag politician.
From the article:
“Many seniors, who have paid off their houses decades ago, are forced to sell because they cannot afford the skyrocketing property taxes.”
This is a disgrace that any “empathetic” society should be ashamed of. And this is not happening just in Philadelphia. It is happening in any town where the elderly have lived for decades, building their town into an attractive place to live.
And this disgusting tactic of raising everyone’s property taxes to pay for new spending is part of the reason why the elderly cannot afford medical care and medicine.
What I have proposed for years is to eliminate property taxes on the primary residence of those who are retired. As long as yow owe property tax, you never fully own the land and your home, even after paying for it for 30 years, rather you rent it from the government.
Eliminating the property tax as I stated above not only gives people true ownership of their property, it enables them to pay for their own medical costs, a fiscal change that makes perfect sense and that is necessary.
Of course, none of this has a chance when the government is run by power-hungry Statists who pay the entitlement class for their votes and who collude with the unions to control business.
I could have saved the state $3 million a year. A long term project that I was in charge of could have been done in house for $1 million a year, but Rendell chose to give a no bid contract to one of his big campaign doners to the tune of $4 million a year.
Democrats get in, taxes go up. Always. The people know this and vote Dem anyway. Go figure.
Amen to that. You never hear libs and lefties crying about how inhumane it is for the elderly to be forced out of their homes by taxes. Anyone who ran on such a platform would likely carry any state.
Hopefully, Tom Corbett can fix it.
Rendell was a notorious crooked lawyer before he became a notorious crooked governor.
Hopefully, Tom Corbett can fix it?
Nobody can fix it. Nobody can fix California, nobody can fix New York, nobody can fix Pennsylvania, and nobody can fix America.
“The America of my time line is a laboratory example of what can happen to democracies, what has eventually happened to all perfect democracies throughout all histories. A perfect democracy, a “warm body” democracy in which every adult may vote and all votes count equally, has no internal feedback for self-correction.... [O]nce a state extends the franchise to every warm body, be he producer or parasite, that day marks the beginning of the end of the state. For when the plebs discover that they can vote themselves bread and circuses without limit and that the productive members of the body politic cannot stop them, they will do so, until the state bleeds to death, or in its weakened condition the state succumbs to an invader — the barbarians enter Rome.”
Robert A. Heinlein’s “To Sail Beyond the Sunset”
Democrats get in, taxes go up. Always. The people know this and vote Dem anyway. Go figure.
__________________________________________
The clowns that vote for the Democrats don’t pay the taxes, they harvest the spoils sent to the by the Democrats.
This year’s election has the potential to be 1994 on steroids. If that happens, we might be able to repair the damage, even though it won’t be fixed overnight.
We get what we deserve. They elected him. Just like Michigan; when they reelected Jenny Granholm, I said: “They’ll deserve what they get. Never tho’t it would be this bad however.
I think not.
We, as a society today, will not revert back to the correct manner that our Founders tried to establish — only those who contribute to our society can vote in it. Back then, it was landowners and businessowners, as they owned their properties. Today in many states, any transient or temporary resident (college kids) can register and vote, some on the same day.
The dumbing down of the American Electorate to the lowest common denominator is its destruction.
Ping
Thank you Rendell Republicans ping
For the last time, America is a REPUBLIC, not a DEMOCRACY.
And yes, America is broken. The only way to fix it is draconian. Take five people - a retired couple, a single parent and parents of a family. Lock them in a room and let them come up with a balanced budget. Guaranteed it will be done in less than a week. And a whole lot of government employees will be unemployed.
Outstanding remarks.
I want to retire HERE, not in Florida or other state. And this is a very expensive place to live. I hope the public mood for fiscal restraint and cost cutting (ala governor Christie in New Jersey) infects our state as well. The insane track we’re on will is doing us in.
The tolling issues I have objections with the Feds on in terms of states rights. If Pa can’t charge tolls, then they should tell the FED’s they can pay for all of I80’s maintenance and Pa will just concentrate on the state feeder roads from now on.
I 80 is the main east west road that cuts across towards NYC, Jersey, and the North East and is heavily pounded by trucks and heavy car traffic. Why Md, Jersey and points North can Charge tolls on I95 and Pa. can’t charge tolls on I 80 is a sore subject that ought to be revisted on constitutional grounds...Either all states can charge tolls or all states can’t!
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