...you can't beat our state legislature! Without doubt AZ has the worst state legislature in the country. For the past 5 months our representatives have been working, almost exclusively, on producing a budget and have failed. They have until midnight tonight to do so or some gov't agencies will begin shutting down. I don't care what side of the fence you're on, dem/rep/ind, this is pathetic. We should just clean house and start over

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Russell Tribby

Hey Russell, not into national news?
Not keeping up with the CA or NY fiascoes?

Sorry, Russell, but I think we have you beat. Our budget in CA just failed, and they're beginning to issues IOU's next week. I can't remember the last time we actually had a budget. There is going to be a lot of people hurting for $$ in the next month. I'm expecting massive layoffs, and a lot of really good people leaving the state for somewhere (anywhere!) else.

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I don't have as many Festools as Fred

Talk to Lloyd Christmas about that I think he knows a thing or two about how those work.

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Russell Tribby

I do keep up with national news it's just more fascinating when it's close to home.

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Russell Tribby

Everything Poto says in the above post is true. It's been going on since at least the passage of Proposition 13 in 1978. Every tax, even those without a social engineering intent, distorts the society and the marketplace. We got a reduction in property taxes at the cost of making our homes more difficult to sell--this isn't so noticeable in boom times, but will become painfully apparent in the current economy.

When we the voters cut the revenue, did we reduce our expectations? We did not, and have been demanding that services not only not be reduced but that the state embark on costly projects of doubtful value. The politicians naturally are accomodating--after all, every new project means government growth.

If the people of California really want smaller government, we are obliged to cut not just the revenue but also the responsibilities we assign to government.

Ned

Interesting article in The Wall Street Journal:

The Albany-Trenton-Sacramento Disease

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John

1 Toolie, 2 XL Festool Polos

Good luck with that. Ours is a culture that wants it's cake and to eat it too. More for less is becoming our national motto. We expect it in every facet of our lives. Having lived in both Canada and the U.S. I've seen very different perspectives of the role and history of government. I find the love-hate relationship that many have with the gov't and the services it provides in this country to be fascinating.

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Russell Tribby

Didnt you know that the death of the King of Pop is way more important than the number of states in financial ruin or a Nuclear threat from North Korea? Or the fact that the House of Nonrepresentatives just passed the most economically destructive bill in our history? Or the fact that the EPA suppressed reports that were contradictory to the "science" behind carbon and its effects on climate in order to pass that bill?

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Fullerbuilt
Fine Carpentry for Custom Interiors
www.fullerbuilt.com

And then the Feds want to run our Health Care for us, too!

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Water separates the people of the world; wine unites them.