Projo Politics Blog

Now there's a surprise. Unions dont want to play ball. Imagine that.

The govenor loves to talk about the excessive union benefits and how we must cut these working peoples wages and benefit packages. WHEN is anyone going to start addressing the states liberal and excessice WELFARE spending. We enable people to sit on their buts and pump out children with no consequences, but we will attack workers who get up every day and put in their 8-10 hrs of work. I see first hand people on welfare in subsidized housing with their free heat set to 80 and the windows open. You drive through the projects and it is unusually quiet unitl around 11am when they wake up. They contribute nothing, use up the most resources (police,rescue,courts, prison, mental health services, medicaid) and are the most entitled. They usually have a higher numner of children than a responsible family and their children use up the most resources because they are usually "special needs" due to a lack of parenting. So Govenor take a look at this account in your budget for once and stop putting the states economic problems on the backs of working stiffs.

The govenor loves to talk about the excessive union benefits and how we must cut these working peoples wages and benefit packages. WHEN is anyone going to start addressing the states liberal and excessive WELFARE spending. We enable people to sit on their buts and pump out children with no consequences, but we will attack workers who get up every day and put in their 8-10 hrs of work. I see first hand people on welfare in subsidized housing with their free heat set to 80 and the windows open. You drive through the projects and it is unusually quiet unitl around 11am when they wake up. They contribute nothing, use up the most resources (police,rescue,courts, prison, mental health services, medicaid) and are the most entitled. They usually have a higher numner of children than a responsible family and their children use up the most resources because they are usually "special needs" due to a lack of parenting. So Govenor take a look at this account in your budget for once and stop putting the states economic problems on the backs of working stiffs.

There go the unions AGAIN! Only interested in themselves and unwilling to bear their fair share of the pain the rest of us are experiencing. When will they ever learn?

You all sound like you're playing cowboys and Indians.

The town is burning. Corporate tax cuts don't mean much to businesses with no customers. Give people money to spend, and the balance has a chance of being restored.

As a small business owner percariously perched on the edge of extinction...a tax cut would allow me to hire back the 2 people I had to let go, they would then spend the money I paid them in stores who could then hire back the people they had to let go, etc,etc,etc.....That's how it works in a free market system. If any stimulis money is used to plug holes in the budget this year...what are you going to plug them with next year? We need to rebuild RI and the country for the future. This debt we are taking on is unsustainable. It's a dangerous road we are heading down. For those who have forgotten, it was Hitler who brought us out of the depression, not Roosevelt.

As a small business owner percariously perched on the edge of extinction...a tax cut would allow me to hire back the 2 people I had to let go, they would then spend the money I paid them in stores who could then hire back the people they had to let go, etc,etc,etc.....That's how it works in a free market system. If any stimulis money is used to plug holes in the budget this year...what are you going to plug them with next year? We need to rebuild RI and the country for the future. This debt we are taking on is unsustainable. It's a dangerous road we are heading down. For those who have forgotten, it was Hitler who brought us out of the depression, not Roosevelt.

As a small business owner percariously perched on the edge of extinction...a tax cut would allow me to hire back the 2 people I had to let go, they would then spend the money I paid them in stores who could then hire back the people they had to let go, etc,etc,etc.....That's how it works in a free market system. If any stimulis money is used to plug holes in the budget this year...what are you going to plug them with next year? We need to rebuild RI and the country for the future. This debt we are taking on is unsustainable. It's a dangerous road we are heading down. For those who have forgotten, it was Hitler who brought us out of the depression, not Roosevelt.

As a small business owner percariously perched on the edge of extinction...a tax cut would allow me to hire back the 2 people I had to let go, they would then spend the money I paid them in stores who could then hire back the people they had to let go, etc,etc,etc.....That's how it works in a free market system. If any stimulis money is used to plug holes in the budget this year...what are you going to plug them with next year? We need to rebuild RI and the country for the future. This debt we are taking on is unsustainable. It's a dangerous road we are heading down. For those who have forgotten, it was Hitler who brought us out of the depression, not Roosevelt.

As a small business owner percariously perched on the edge of extinction...a tax cut would allow me to hire back the 2 people I had to let go, they would then spend the money I paid them in stores who could then hire back the people they had to let go, etc,etc,etc.....That's how it works in a free market system. If any stimulis money is used to plug holes in the budget this year...what are you going to plug them with next year? We need to rebuild RI and the country for the future. This debt we are taking on is unsustainable. It's a dangerous road we are heading down. For those who have forgotten, it was Hitler who brought us out of the depression, not Roosevelt.

How about spending a good chunk of the money on fixing the roads and bridges around here? Put people to work doing maintenance and rebuilding that is badly needed. People get jobs, we all get safer roads and bridges. Or does that make too much sense to work in RI?

The governor's suggestion that the money go to corporate tax cuts is the usual "let them eat cake" approach this guy has had since he took office. He can't leave office fast enough for me. Supposedly, there is a provision in the stimulus bill that requires state legislators to decide where the money goes, not the governors. I can't say I'm much more optimistic about the folks there to do the right thing, but one can hope.

the unions in this state are a joke.its no big shock they want all the money.and the ga answers to the unions anyway.lets feed the poor with that money.find shelter for the people of tent city and the homeless.have some left to get a little cash to the unemployed who are not union protected.this economy can fixed from the ground up.but the unions want it all.the politicans in the ga are totally gutless

Wow, the unions want it their own way? What a shocker. They probably figure that there will be a stimulus every year, so they, and all the other wanting handouts, can just keep coming back every year to get what they want/demand. This is what happened with the tobacco settlement money a few years ago, remember? The GA used it to plug holes in the budget from their out of control spending instead of fixing the whole state budget structure. I guess they'll just never learn. It's very disappointing that they can't take advantage of the stimulus to fix the system, not just continue with business as usual.

I am a Driver for a major food distribution company. I deliver in Downtown boston Roxbury section. Almost everybody has welfare cards It is so disgusting to me Even strong young men in this area have a welfare card. They get almost free rent food stamps and a certain amount of cash they can spend anyway they wish every month.(Lottery, cigarette's, and i have even seen them get up to 200 dollars cash back to go buy drugs an alcohol)I have asked several of these young men How do you qualify for these benefits. they all say the go to the welfare office and act crazy and that is all it takes. It is killing this country I bet the inner cities in RI are the same way They should be forced to work and investigated monthly

One note to most previous posters: the 1960's are over, stop repeating those old tired class-warfare refrains about how the unions and people on welfare are responsible for our nation's economic mismanagement. When was the last time you heard of a union shipping jobs overseas? Ask yourself if you could maintain any sort of an acceptable lifestyle on public assistance. To keep repeating these tired lies is a disservice to the discussion.

Now on to the topic at hand, I am both baffled and shocked that RI's government is planning to reduce more taxes on the rich. The 'flat tax' (that exclusively benefits the ultra-wealthy) that was passed a few years ago here in RI apparently wasn't enough of a special treat for the upper-class, they are going to get more. The reason why our economy is being devastated today has its roots in the conservative "Reagan Revolution" that began back in the 1980's. The dictatorship of the market, deficit spending, cutting taxes on the rich, crushing unions, and eliminating the social safety net are all hallmarks of this type of "trickle-down economics".

We are feeling the direct effects of 30 years of wrong-headed leadership and now the government of RI wants to further cut taxes on the rich. I don't believe that RI's government fully grasps the seriousness of the economic situation and the consequences of their actions. Our society is quite literally in serious danger of an impending collapse.

Mark Wrote: "How about spending a good chunk of the money on fixing the roads and bridges around here? Put people to work doing maintenance and rebuilding that is badly needed. People get jobs, we all get safer roads and bridges. Or does that make too much sense to work in RI?"

Mark, that's already been approved in November's election. We're already getting relief for roads and infrastructure and this reconstruction should start soon (hopefully).

I think it's ridiculous that, while the state is at a 10% unemployment rate and the budget is a mess, the unions have the gall to demand they don't get the chopping block or even compromise some of their wages. We can't keep going the way we're going now and expect things to change.