Saturday, July 16, 2011

It's a SPENDING Problem . . .

Recent headlines from the Observer-Dispatch:

Schumer pushes for funds for worker training
Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., announced on Wednesday that he would push for a grant that would bring more than $3 million in job training money to area community colleges.
Gillibrand wants to boost high tech manufacturing
Among the top items on Gillibrand’s agenda is the creation of a block-grant program. This legislation would establish a competitive grant program so small- to medium-sized manufacturers in communities with high unemployment could retool operations and retrain staff.
DEC announces availability of clean-air grants
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency provided the DEC the funding for the grant program, which has $60,000 available
Housing authority to build homes, spruce up downtown businesses
Within the next month, Furman and Herbowy say they expect construction to begin on six handicapped-accessible homes, scattered between Neilson, Elm and Miller streets in Cornhill.
Total cost: $1.39 million, funded through the federal Section 811 program and the city’s HOME allocation.
$4.2M grant to be used for volunteer firefighting efforts
The Firemen’s Association of the State of New York announced that it was awarded a $4,270,570 grant from U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

The grant will help strengthen the response of fire departments throughout the state by promoting and maintaining adequate volunteer firefighter staffing.
Contractor chosen for Oneida Sq. roundabout
The city Board of Contract and Supply unanimously approved Barrett's bid of $1.6 million at its Thursday meeting . . .
The project will be funded 80 percent by the federal government...
New Hartford OKs shorter Rayhill Trail expansion
The town received a federal grant in 2006 to cover $841,600 of the trail extension costs.
Bridgewater meat processing plant set to expand
The company plans to expand, hiring 14 employees immediately and increasing the size of the building’s footprint by a third, using a $210,000 Community  Development Block grant
Grant for 8 Utica firefighters awarded
The Utica Fire Department has been awarded a federal grant for nearly $1 million to fund eight firefighters, U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., announced Wednesday.
Schumer, Hanna: Don’t take away Utica’s lead grant
Two federal legislators are lobbying the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to give the city another chance to meet the requirements of a $2.1 million lead abatement grant it is in danger of losing.
Area gets first local food policy council in state, $100,000 grant
Rust to Green Utica, Cornell Cooperative Extension, the Resource Center for Independent Living and the City of Utica have created the state’s first local Food Policy Council and have received a $100,000 grant via the United States Department of Agriculture’s “Hunger Free Communities” program.
County using grant funds to add 2 probation positions
Two positions created Wednesday by the Oneida County Board of Legislators are not a sign that the county’s fiscal constraints are loosening. Instead, the county is paying for the salaries of a probation assistant and probation officer using funds it received from a federal grant.
While the above are nice, the country can survive without them.  They are more appropriately the responsibility of local government, private business owners/shareholders, charities, and individuals who would be more careful with how money is spent if they had to raise the money themselves.   


These items all come from our local newspaper.  Now, just think of all the similar stories that can be found in newspapers in every city, town and village across the nation.

We don't have a taxing problem.  We have a SPENDING problem. Raising the Debt Ceiling will only allow for more.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

As citizens we pay taxes which are supposed to benefit support infrastructure and in otherways benefit our community. A nation of 300 million generates a great amount of revenue and one source indicates US individuals and corporations are not as highly taxed as many other nations (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Income_Taxes_By_Country.svg).

Regardless of where we fall on taxation rates relative to other places, we spend an extraordinary amount of $$ on national defense - more than 50% .

It's not the $3 million for job training that's sending us to the poor house, its the defense budget.

Our defense is coupled to oil; oil is coupled to the way we live - high energy and resource consumption and a way of life that is not sustainable.

I'd rather my taxes go to job training rather than foreign wars to support the unsustainable oil industry.

Strikeslip said...

People and/or their employers should be responsible for job training. Only the government, however, can handle national defense.

Let the nation fulfill its responsibilities and let the people take care of theirs.

RPP said...

Plus, the numbers quoted on national defense are misleading. As a % of spending to GNP, defense spending is historically low. But, the real flaw in the logic of the cut defense only arguement is founded on the incomprehenisble conclussion that you can't do both. A test never employed by government on any level is cost/benefit analysis. For example, government job training programs have been around in virtually all communities for decades. Where is the evidence that they have harvested the job expansions they promise? Certainly, there is no evidence here. There is plenty of evidence that corporate job training is extremely successful. We spend billions annually on Head Start despite evidence that there are no lasting educational benefits of the program. One could go on and on. As Strike implies, government spending is on auto pilot at a level even beyond past experience. Feeding it more will simply result in more nails in our fiscal coffin.