States That Can't Pay for Themselves

reply to post by asmeone2


Texas amigo country. This isn't about immigration. Government is costing us in many areas. You want to make it immigration. Go through your state budget and see how much your government is wasting. You will see that a select few are benefiting a whole lot off programs or projects that are not essential. Texas has an advantage over Cali. Our legislators only meet every 2 years and for only a certain numbers of days. Even with them meeting so little they still managed to throw in a few goodies for a selected few individuals to get rich off. I could imagine how much we would be in debt if they met year round. Funny how every time it is election year they bring up the immigration issue but then lay it to rest once election is over.

reply to post by jam321


Of course it's not only about immigration--but that's a HUGE part IMO.

Millions of people--most working under the table, thus not paying taxes, and many taking advantage of government programs, putting non or maginally English-speaking children in schools, thus taking more of that budget, and taking more of law enforcement's time and resources(read: money), and NOT paying taxes to compensate--

We can go back and forth about the exact toll of illeigal immigration but it IS having an effect.

It's impossible to measure how much and exactly where though. I can't give that to you in statistics.

But saying that illegals have no effect is as foolish as saying they are the only factor causing the crisis.

reply to post by asmeone2


I know a lot of gringos working under the table also. Your tax theory is false. Anybody who pays rents pay taxes. Anybody who lives in America pays taxes. Economics 101.

They do have an effect. But like you said it is hard to measure. Stats are written depending on your viewpoint. Like you say we can debate this till the cows come home and nobody wins. Which is my exact point. Politicians prefer we debate this issue rather than the fact that our government has failed not only in immigration but in many more areas as well.Now do you see why I say immigration is a scapegoat. Look how many posts we spent talking about that instead of the irresponsibility of our government.

reply to post by jam321


Well for the sake of the thread then... let's keep immigration off the table, not just under... there are plenty of other threads to talk about it.

Here in Ohio, we are taxed to the gills. I cannot imagine coughing up more blood to pay for any state budget shortfalls. One must examine the root causes for these shortfalls. Overspending, general mismanagement of funds, and revenue loss. I won't even get started on the illegal immigrant problem and strain it places on public funds. I think I'll quit my job, change my resident status and kick back and late the state take care of me and my 20 children.

Ohio has seen a mass exodus of residents leaving the state in search of greener pastures that are already turning brown. Unfortunately, the budgets don't reflect the decline in population/loss of revenue and those residents that stay are faced with an ever increasing tax burden to cover the shortfall. Cleveland is a prime example. The population is down to nearly 500k or less and the city council chambers are overstuffed with councilman that have virtually no constituents, just boarded up houses. Redraw the ward boundaries and lose the unnecessary councilmen and subsequent paychecks. The list goes on and on... Youngstown, Akron, Toledo

Basically, it is time to trim the fat and reel in the spending. Unless you are a socialist or a socialist in training much like Barry Obama. These folks just want to keep writing checks and raising taxes while the rest of us just watch as the money disappears down the proverbial black hole.

Of course the states are going to line up and plead loudly that htey need money.... THEY'VE BEEN DOING IT FOR YEARS! The states have been fighting with how to pay everything for at least a decade that I know about. Let's take education systems for example. How is it that the price of educaation can go up so steep every year? New computers? Books? What happen to using the old ones? State systems are striving to spend all the money in their budget so they'll get MORE than their allotment the next year.........WHAT!?!?

The states are incorprated. Every state is a money making business. Hmmm.... All the cities I have lived in are Incorperated. Making them businesses. Hmmm... And why shouldn't they ask the government for money? Wouldn't you if our business was lagging.

In conclusion, the states have been laying off for years and trying to find the magic way to balance their books. This is not something new because of the "recession". Only that, hey, if the government's gonna bail out businesses, why shouldn't incorperated cities and states (all cities and states) try and get a slice of the pie.

From a quick scan of the posts and being that i live in cali, most people really have no clue.
I'll clue you in,

A good deal of californias budget is consumed by federally mandated programs, that the state does not get reimbursed for, but are forced to participatge in.

Another probelm is the well intentioned but miss guided "Three strikes Laws", that were championed in the nineties .
People are being locked up for petty crimes for a long time, and in most cases for non violent crimes.

reply to post by jam321


It's not a scapegoat, its the truth. The money that goes to multilingual schools and hospital bills for illegals really adds up.

It's funny, just a mere 6 months ago I'd have read that $53.4 Billion figure and my jaw would have dropped and I'd have said "Not just no, but HELL no!" Now, after the "stimulus" bribe, after the trillions and trillions of tax dollars injected into the system via auctions and absorptions and bail outs and buy outs, after the original $700 Billion bail out, after a disgracefull $150 Billion in pork tag alongs added into the bill, and after another $150 Bill+ "stimulus" hush money idea being floated about, after all that and more... $53.4 Billion doesn't seem like that much money. I'm not advocating giving them this money, I'm merely relaying a sad, tragic really, commentary on what these bastards have done to us and to our overall concept of the value of our money.

reply to post by ghaleon12


multilingual schools are an asset to America. The more languages people know increase one's ability to find jobs now that we are becoming more of a global market. Hospital bills for illegals run up..Let's see government says there are about 12 million illegals here. I would say they have no insurance. Government says there are about 47 million Americans without insurance. And you have the audacity to say illegals are running up the hospital bills.

The mere fact that we are once again talking about immigration not government shows it is a scapegoat. I am not saying that immigration isn't part of the problem. I am saying government is using it to keep taxpayers off their ass.

The government has failed us and uses BS excuses to get the pressure off themselves. All focus should be on every politician and demanding that they take responsibility for where we are today. No more excuses......

reply to post by jam321


There are so many things wrong with this post I can't even get started. Multilingal schools are good for America

My buddy just called he wants to take the spanish we learned and go to Mexico to get jobs.

reply to post by adrenochrome


This is rediculous.. are these people really allowed to exist? I don't understand why we let people exist who just ruin the world. What's so hard about finding a solution? It's just money. Governments should be forcing companies to forgive debts. Print money non-stop.. whatever.

what's more important than everyone's well being? Paper currency? I can burn that. I can't burn my feelings of depression and anger.

oh please, its california.. they probably sank millions into hippie liberal crap like 'hug the aardvarks' and puttign sweaters on trees in case it gets cold at night. my state is on there as well, and I wouldn't be surprised if it was for some of the same garbage.

at the same time, I see how bloated and overpaid these govt agencies are as well. slash down the size of the govt and you'll be amazed at what happens.

I would imagine that list will need to be updated regularly......my state is already there.....( which, by the by,is a 'red' state, with a Republican gov.....who has just spent a nice long vacation in Europe.....on his own bankroll, do you imagine?? )

With the price of gas going out of sight, just think of all of those state and local government vehicles that employees get to drive around.....Usually one person to a new, huge 6 or 8 passenger truck or SUV....no economy cars for those guys!

Add to that the padded salaries of multiple layers of redundant gov employees.....(not the firemen or police, but clerks and secretaries and assistants for the assistants.)...If you have to go to some gov. facility, you can see with your own eyes, one person out of 10 doing any actual work, while the others stand around, and all drawing a better paycheck that mine!

reply to post by Jkd Up


One of my high schools, (I went to a few), but one had an extremely low budget for the amount of students that attended. It was over crowded and they had to cut many programs just to cover things like printer paper. Along with that they had some pretty bad teachers, who didn't give a flip about whether students even showed up. A lot of the computers had problems constant internet problems and bad techs at the school in general that could never "fix" them.

I remember one of the teachers tried to explain that it was because the people who owned homes etc in the county didn't want their property tax raised. I haven't thought about all of this in years but I do remember that school really slacking and I don't think it was because of crazy spending as much as just not having the funds for the growing number of students.