My state like most others is going through tough times when it comes to budget shortfalls and making ends meet. We in Arizona just passed an emergency sales tax increase for the next three years to combat this shortfall in the budget, the yes's were out in force and this bill passed by the wides of margins. Good for us, now we can take care of all those things they warned would happen if we did not pass this bill, like not having to lay-off police, firemen, teachers, cut programs at schools and on and on and on............................
Sure there were other things we could do, like make some cuts in our local and state government. We could have cut some very important things like the 100's of thousands of dollars spent on middle management car allowances in our government.............NO not that, or just parking the cars management and middle management use to drive back and forth to work! Do these folks not own cars, so we pay for their cars, gas, parking and you and I both know most of these good folks don't dare us these vehicles for private use when not going to and from the work place! Anyway, enough of that because we all know there is plenty of waste much more than one could list in a short period of time.
But I will say there is one expense that has come to my attention that really bothers me a bit, an expense I feel is just another huge waste of taxpayer dollars. I'm driving home a few weeks back heading north on Cave Creek road and was looking at our new police station and new fire station being built within less that a block of each other. Now this is something we definitely need to spend tax dollars on, with more and more expansion we need added fire stations and police stations that's for sure! Here's the rub folks, these building as I watch them going up each time I drive by are just plain beautiful...............works of art, architects dreams and much more. Yes, these building look like multimillion dollar mansions up in hills of north Phoenix and Cave Creek. The bill to the tax payers for just the architects fees had to be in the millions, the construction did supply some jobs for a time and the beauty will be admired by passers by for years to come. I only have one question, if we are so close to cutting services like fire and police and schools etc. what the hell is wrong with the old red brick fire house with big red doors and barracks like sleeping the the firemen.................these mansions no doubt have private suite type rooms for these brave men and women and that's nice, but I thought we needed to cut back, cinch up the belt a bit! Holy cow what a waste of tax payer dollars for these show places when something practical and a lot more simple could have done the trick and still provided all the needed services we wanted!
Yes, we will pay one cent more in sales tax over the next three years (who thinks that won't end up being extended) but is it all necessary, could we have cut other expenses or at least trimmed them down a bit and still make ends meet................for sure!
Monday, May 24, 2010
Friday, May 14, 2010
Teacher's
I've come up with what I think is a novel idea, right............................anyway at least I think it might be but doable I'm not sure it would fly.
We've got a shortage of teachers in this country and we have teachers who feel they aren't paid enough and in most cases I'd agree with the pay issue. I'm no teacher or at least no teacher according to the requirements of our Federal, State and Local governments, that is to say they feel it necessary to have a college degree in something to teach something totally different than said degree in a lot of cases. Well try this on for size, we have a vast number of folks in this country with knowledge beyond imagine, untapped knowledge that could be used. We have literally hundreds of thousands of retired Americans that I'm sure would help out for at least a few years in fixing this problem. Yes, retired Americans that maybe have been retired for a few years and now would like to try something else. I would and could almost guarantee that we would end up with enough volunteers to fill or take some of these teaching jobs.
What about the requirements of a degree, well there's more to knowledge than a degree from a college. No not just street smarts, but years of knowledge in the work force, it's been said that this experience is worth far more than a college degree and the just plain common sense they would apply to these jobs would help considerably in my opinion. What does a teacher have today, a teaching guide to follow and schedules as to what to teach and what to say each day and then they themselves cram each night so they know what their teaching tomorrow!
Then there's the pay, a great number of these retired Americans would do this job for nothing, and others for half of what the teachers of today make and then some for even less that than just to be able to have summers off and every holiday known to mankind. Are you kidding me, summers off, and more holidays that you really know what to do with and get paid also....no matter how much I'll take it. Now if you remember I said earlier help out for a few years, some no doubt would take the jobs for longer and some for shorter periods of time, but it sure wouldn't cost as much for these teachers and you can bet they'd get the job done! Some day I'll tell you about the year I volunteered in a middle school and worked as a teachers aid for the entire school year, it was very rewarding and something a lot of retired Americans would tackle to help out this country.
We've got a shortage of teachers in this country and we have teachers who feel they aren't paid enough and in most cases I'd agree with the pay issue. I'm no teacher or at least no teacher according to the requirements of our Federal, State and Local governments, that is to say they feel it necessary to have a college degree in something to teach something totally different than said degree in a lot of cases. Well try this on for size, we have a vast number of folks in this country with knowledge beyond imagine, untapped knowledge that could be used. We have literally hundreds of thousands of retired Americans that I'm sure would help out for at least a few years in fixing this problem. Yes, retired Americans that maybe have been retired for a few years and now would like to try something else. I would and could almost guarantee that we would end up with enough volunteers to fill or take some of these teaching jobs.
What about the requirements of a degree, well there's more to knowledge than a degree from a college. No not just street smarts, but years of knowledge in the work force, it's been said that this experience is worth far more than a college degree and the just plain common sense they would apply to these jobs would help considerably in my opinion. What does a teacher have today, a teaching guide to follow and schedules as to what to teach and what to say each day and then they themselves cram each night so they know what their teaching tomorrow!
Then there's the pay, a great number of these retired Americans would do this job for nothing, and others for half of what the teachers of today make and then some for even less that than just to be able to have summers off and every holiday known to mankind. Are you kidding me, summers off, and more holidays that you really know what to do with and get paid also....no matter how much I'll take it. Now if you remember I said earlier help out for a few years, some no doubt would take the jobs for longer and some for shorter periods of time, but it sure wouldn't cost as much for these teachers and you can bet they'd get the job done! Some day I'll tell you about the year I volunteered in a middle school and worked as a teachers aid for the entire school year, it was very rewarding and something a lot of retired Americans would tackle to help out this country.
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
New Gas Tax
Today, Congress once again ignored what Americans want and introduced a new gasoline tax as part of a global warming bill that also contains a cap and trade energy tax on utilities. The section on the gas tax begins on p. 361 of the bill which you can find here:
http://kerry.senate.gov/americanpoweract/pdf/APAbill.pdf
This bill requires American oil companies to pay a fee to the government for their global warming emissions. Introduced my Senator Kerry and Lieberman who by the way are offended that anyone would call this a gas tax, but don't be fooled this is a government requirement and will most certainly be passed on to the American consumer. You don't think the oil and gas companies will take it in the shorts by the government and not pass that cost onto us do you? At present 71% of Americans oppose this bill but that don't seem to bother our elected officials, the same officials that work for us. In addition, this bill creates a cap and trade system that will dramatically increase the cost of residential and commercial electricity prices.
Even the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) says cap and trade will kill jobs and reduce American productivity, so why then do these fools in Washington do this on their own? It's funny how they us the CBO to their benefit when it suits them and ignore the CBO when it goes against their wishes.
With this one bill Congress will raise gas and electricity prices, raise the cost of energy, and kill jobs....................this is not what Americans are looking for right now! If this isn't another reason to get rid of all incumbents come November I don't know what is, we must put a stop to all this "change for Americans" before it's too late.
http://kerry.senate.gov/americanpoweract/pdf/APAbill.pdf
This bill requires American oil companies to pay a fee to the government for their global warming emissions. Introduced my Senator Kerry and Lieberman who by the way are offended that anyone would call this a gas tax, but don't be fooled this is a government requirement and will most certainly be passed on to the American consumer. You don't think the oil and gas companies will take it in the shorts by the government and not pass that cost onto us do you? At present 71% of Americans oppose this bill but that don't seem to bother our elected officials, the same officials that work for us. In addition, this bill creates a cap and trade system that will dramatically increase the cost of residential and commercial electricity prices.
Even the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) says cap and trade will kill jobs and reduce American productivity, so why then do these fools in Washington do this on their own? It's funny how they us the CBO to their benefit when it suits them and ignore the CBO when it goes against their wishes.
With this one bill Congress will raise gas and electricity prices, raise the cost of energy, and kill jobs....................this is not what Americans are looking for right now! If this isn't another reason to get rid of all incumbents come November I don't know what is, we must put a stop to all this "change for Americans" before it's too late.
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
Appointments..............
If your like me you've often wondered why and how your Doctor, Dentist, or the like schedules appointments. Does one ever get in to see the Doctor at the scheduled appointment time? You have a 10:00 am appointment and if your like me (very punctual) you arrive at least by 9:45 with the hopes of maybe getting in a bit early. No you never get in a bit early and usually quite a bit later, oh some time back it seemed they'd call you into a room close to your appointment time and you felt you were being seen on time. We all now know this was a ploy just to make you feel your appointment time was being kept, but in reality you ended up sitting in that room upwards to 20 to 30 minutes waiting for the Doctor. Yes, now you know why a Doctor's office needs 5 or 6 examining rooms for one Doctor..............yep to keep us lined up and feeling our appointment is being kept.
It seems now days they try less to worry about getting you into a "inner waiting room" on or near your appointment time and might leave you sit in the main waiting room up to 20 or 30 minutes past your appointment time. But the real kicker is the sign at the front desk and the message left on your phone when they call to remind of your appointment and the importance of being on time and keeping the appointment. Yes the words "There will be a $25 missed appointment charge if you miss your appointment or fail to cancel in a 48 hour period". I show up early, have all my ducks in a row and ready for the Doctor and end up being seen by that Doctor usually right at 30 minutes later than my appointment and they want to charge me $25 is I fail to cancel in 48 hours or arrive late or miss the appointment.........wait a minute!
Now the receptionist (who at my Doctor's office should get another job) has a sign in sheet you must fill out and then take a seat and be called up usually no sooner that your ass hits the chair! She will be sitting their looking at her computer not taking care of a soul and I'm looking at her while I'm filling out this sheet with first name, last name, appointment time (who gives a shit anyway) what time I arrived ( usually very early) and if I have all my insurance cards etc. I keep looking at her waiting for her to say don't both I'll take care of you but know...............I no sooner sit down when she take the sign in sheet blackens out my name and info and calls out "Mike" and maybe two or three of us stand up, what was the sense in that?
Your time is money just like theirs, and I know there are emergencies and the like but you and I both no this is not the norm and that they schedule us too close together and at the end of the day someone may be pushed back until tomorrow. Oh well just another pet peeve, but I love my Doctor and don't mind waiting for him. As we grow older I believe our patience grows with us and I'm just glad I have a doctor to go see.
It seems now days they try less to worry about getting you into a "inner waiting room" on or near your appointment time and might leave you sit in the main waiting room up to 20 or 30 minutes past your appointment time. But the real kicker is the sign at the front desk and the message left on your phone when they call to remind of your appointment and the importance of being on time and keeping the appointment. Yes the words "There will be a $25 missed appointment charge if you miss your appointment or fail to cancel in a 48 hour period". I show up early, have all my ducks in a row and ready for the Doctor and end up being seen by that Doctor usually right at 30 minutes later than my appointment and they want to charge me $25 is I fail to cancel in 48 hours or arrive late or miss the appointment.........wait a minute!
Now the receptionist (who at my Doctor's office should get another job) has a sign in sheet you must fill out and then take a seat and be called up usually no sooner that your ass hits the chair! She will be sitting their looking at her computer not taking care of a soul and I'm looking at her while I'm filling out this sheet with first name, last name, appointment time (who gives a shit anyway) what time I arrived ( usually very early) and if I have all my insurance cards etc. I keep looking at her waiting for her to say don't both I'll take care of you but know...............I no sooner sit down when she take the sign in sheet blackens out my name and info and calls out "Mike" and maybe two or three of us stand up, what was the sense in that?
Your time is money just like theirs, and I know there are emergencies and the like but you and I both no this is not the norm and that they schedule us too close together and at the end of the day someone may be pushed back until tomorrow. Oh well just another pet peeve, but I love my Doctor and don't mind waiting for him. As we grow older I believe our patience grows with us and I'm just glad I have a doctor to go see.
Sunday, May 2, 2010
What's happening to our houses.....and cheap tomatoes
These are bad times, bad times for a lot of people I know. This housing thing is becoming a real nightmare to so many friends and family members I know it's scary! You see ad's and interviews with bankers from banks like Chase saying on local and national news, "we don't want your house, we will do anything to keep families in their homes"............."if you come in we'll find a way to modify or help in some way." This is a crock of bullshiit let me tell you, we still have our home and for some reason we got a modification...........why, I don't know. Maybe we talked to the right person at the right time I can't say but we got a bit of help, not much but a token amount anyway. I know friends who have lost their homes, others on the verge of losing theirs and other friends and family members being told they can get modifications.
In one breath the mortgage holder will say we're tying to see if we can modify your loan and the next thing you hear is "we've got your house on a short sale list"............what, I did not ask for my house to be put up for short sale, I'm still trying to make the payments! In another case a friend is told they are working on his modification and out of the blue get a notice to vacate in 7 days the house is sold, no other warning, no other questions or comments. I know of another that is making $400 less than the total of his families bills each month and was declined for a "obama modification" because he made too much money.
I live in Arizona and yes we are one of the states with a declining housing market, and in a lot of case I know folks who's homes are worth 37% to 50% less than they owe on them and being told the market is not coming back for a few more years! Hell I've contemplated picking up and leaving my beautiful home for the same reasons but just can't get myself to do it. I have a number of friends and family that have up and left their homes, sacrifice the credit problems for a few years rather than pay through the nose for something just not worth it.
Our President and Congress worry more about getting illegal immigrants taken care of in so many ways rather that providing jobs for our legal citizens. It is a damn shame when we as American citizens have to pay for illegal immigrants to live here, provide them with free medical, free lunch in our schools for their children, let them wave the flags of their home land which they so desperately wanted to leave and pay their taxes for them so they can receive refunds too boot!
Do you realize in order for us to have cheap tomatoes we need to keep this illegal cheap help in our country................well the illegal that makes $5 to $6 an hour also gets the above benefits and many, many more. As a matter of fact with all the freebees the illegal making $5 an hour gets they are in reality making more on the lines of $25 to $30 an hour! Screw the cheap tomatoes, let me pay through the nose for the tomatoes and not have to pay for hundreds of thousands of illegals benefits for living in our country illegally.
I believe all are welcome in America, but like for years and years before they must get legal and learn our language, no excuses, if you want to live here wave our flag and pay your own way!
In one breath the mortgage holder will say we're tying to see if we can modify your loan and the next thing you hear is "we've got your house on a short sale list"............what, I did not ask for my house to be put up for short sale, I'm still trying to make the payments! In another case a friend is told they are working on his modification and out of the blue get a notice to vacate in 7 days the house is sold, no other warning, no other questions or comments. I know of another that is making $400 less than the total of his families bills each month and was declined for a "obama modification" because he made too much money.
I live in Arizona and yes we are one of the states with a declining housing market, and in a lot of case I know folks who's homes are worth 37% to 50% less than they owe on them and being told the market is not coming back for a few more years! Hell I've contemplated picking up and leaving my beautiful home for the same reasons but just can't get myself to do it. I have a number of friends and family that have up and left their homes, sacrifice the credit problems for a few years rather than pay through the nose for something just not worth it.
Our President and Congress worry more about getting illegal immigrants taken care of in so many ways rather that providing jobs for our legal citizens. It is a damn shame when we as American citizens have to pay for illegal immigrants to live here, provide them with free medical, free lunch in our schools for their children, let them wave the flags of their home land which they so desperately wanted to leave and pay their taxes for them so they can receive refunds too boot!
Do you realize in order for us to have cheap tomatoes we need to keep this illegal cheap help in our country................well the illegal that makes $5 to $6 an hour also gets the above benefits and many, many more. As a matter of fact with all the freebees the illegal making $5 an hour gets they are in reality making more on the lines of $25 to $30 an hour! Screw the cheap tomatoes, let me pay through the nose for the tomatoes and not have to pay for hundreds of thousands of illegals benefits for living in our country illegally.
I believe all are welcome in America, but like for years and years before they must get legal and learn our language, no excuses, if you want to live here wave our flag and pay your own way!
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