Posted on 01/12/2015 1:13:43 PM PST by reaganaut1
Roughly one-sixth of the federal budget goes for nothing that’s a matter of national concern, but for grants to state and local governments. Those grants fund a vast array of programs and projects, such as:
$65 million so New York and New Jersey can promote themselves as “good places to do business.”
$3.9 million for the airport in St. Cloud, MN, which has no daily commuter flights.
$532,000 to beautify one block on Main Street in Rossville, KS (pop. 1,150).
As Senator Everett Dirksen used to say, “A million here, a million there and pretty soon we’re talking real money.” Since Dirksen’s day, federal giveaways for state/local “needs” has grown tremendously.
The mushrooming cost of these constitutionally illegitimate outlays is the subject of Saving Congress from Itself by James L. Buckley, just published by Encounter. Buckley observes that the U.S. “is spending itself into bankruptcy and its legislative branch appears incapable of focusing on critical problems long enough to resolve them.” A large portion of that spending should never have been permitted because giving money to state and local governments is not among the powers granted to Congress.
(Excerpt) Read more at forbes.com ...
No thank you.
In 2004, McCain versus Obama, a slight majority of donating CEO’s gave money to Obama!
I don't know how Obama did in 2008, but I know he held CEO fund raising events in Los Angeles (Entertainment and Media), Silicon Valley and Seattle (High Tech), New York City (Wall Street), and Washington D.C. (Medical and Pharmaceutical).
Whoops!
Election year brain freeze in my Comment #41.
Meant to say 2008 and 2012.
Wouldn't take much lessening of Obama to be an improvement. Romney had opinions that I disagreed with but he also stated that it wasn't the federal government's job to force such decisions on the States and that the Constitution restricted such things. He wouldn't have been lawless.
Hoover, OTOH, was a big time exec. And he was a disaster. FDR lived, politically, off of the disaster which was Hoover for the rest of FDR’s life - i.e., the entirety of his 12+ year presidency. Notwithstanding that what FDR was doing - at least until the Fall of France, which scared FDR (somewhat) straight - was different only in degree from what Hoover had done.
Yeah, and Thomas Edison was an engineer too - but you never hear about engineers who aren’t executives. Edison founded companies (Consolidated Edison and GE) to generate electricity and make the light bulbs to use that electricity. Hoover was known, primarily, because of his organization of relief efforts for civilians during and after WWI.
Yes, Hoover was POS progressive RINO who started the new deal, not that anyone will admit that. Worst GOP President ever. If Coolidge had still been President, the depression would have been known as the panic of 1929.
In ‘32 FDR claimed he would cut Hoover’s high spending, lololololololololol
Dirksen had a political news conference on a pretty regular basis, called "The Ev and Charlie Show", with iirc Rep. Charlie Hallock of Indiana (?). Both were on appropriations committees, so what they said, counted.
“Halleck” not “Hallock”, the latter courtesy of Android Spell**cker/Autodistract.
We actually need a small business owner. Someone who makes and manages money themselves.
And feels the tax pain every quarter.
No thank you.
I look forward to her splashing as much water as possible out of the Yacht Club end of the political-contribution pool.
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