America is not broke

[firefighter-70 27]

The problem with foreign aid is that the US government has no mechanism or apparatus to ensure that the billions we dump into our "national interests" overseas actually makes a difference. The money rarely, if ever in the worst cases, gets to the people and programs who need it the most.....it often becomes bolus of cash for corrupt leaders and/or regimes.

Sadly NGOs (non-governmental organizations) tend to be far better about putting cash to work and making a difference on the ground. Look @ some of the work the Bill & Melinda Gates foundation has done in terms of AIDS/immunizations/hunger.

That might be true in some cases but mil to mil foreign aid I've seen is not in the form of money, it's in the form of equipment. NGOs back fire all the time. As an example I've been down range at vehicle check points checking in on Soldiers when they have pulled over NGO trucks which had drugs, weapons, and even young girls for sex slaves being trafficed for sale. The UN has the same problem if not worse. "USAID" is the agency that in most cases hands out US civilian aid in what ever form. I have seen some of their snafus, but in most cases the project was completed to standard.

[ny10570 745]

I've been to these job fairs and spent hours trudging to interviews with friends and I can assure you private schools pay better than public schools. The recent surge in charter schools has only served to substantially increase the divide. Where public school teachers come out is in pensions and benefits. No public school anywhere is posting 6 figure salaries for starting teachers, but two charters in NYC are. These are absolutely an extreme case and are experimenting to see if more money for teachers equals better education. The education system is hugely flawed and increasingly ineffective. Some of that is absolutely the fault of teachers and their unions, like the longer work day and longer school year. I don't know a single teacher who's opinion I respect that wouldn't agree to a massive overhaul of tenure. Their only concern is some form of protection to prevent arbitrary and capricious firing. You're grudge about DPW workers seems to be about your community's dept. In Pleasantville they guys work. Yeah, they absolutely have their easy days, just like everyone but I wouldn't accuse any of them of getting over on the taxpayer.

In many fields the public sector has absolutely caught up with the private, but thats not because of generous compensation packages. Its because the public sector wage and benefits have been gutted. The middle class has been decimated. Look at your teachers, nurses, cops, firefighters, public workers, and factory workers from 30 to 40 years ago and the quality of life they had. Some estimates say that it takes upwards of 80% more income to match what families had back then (these were a bit left leaning for my taste). I'll go with a slightly more moderate number of 40 - 50% that I've seen thrown around. Even one conservative think tank put it at 15%. (I know this is all hear say, but I'm not on my comp and to look this all up now is going to take too long). So do we blame the workers for fighting to keep their rights or the corporations who's bottom lines have never been better and executives who make proportionally more now than ever before??

[ONEEYEDMIC 68]

I hope nobody is counting Catholic School as a private school! I know for a fact that Catholic Teachers get paid crap! After tenure, public school teachers are making more than most cops in Westchester at top pay! I wish the Catholic school system paid like that!

[calhobs 110]

I hope nobody is counting Catholic School as a private school! I know for a fact that Catholic Teachers get paid crap! After tenure, public school teachers are making more than most cops in Westchester at top pay! I wish the Catholic school system paid like that!

In the city if you work Catholic School, kiss your chances of becoming a public school teacher good bye, The city wont hire you. At one Catholic School in Staten Island starting salary is 17G.

[Bnechis 3,961]

My point is that we have to regain the balance between private and public sector.

Right now the private sector is down, but when it was up, would you think its ok to deal with that level of "out of balance"?

[INIT915 1,119]

Right now the private sector is down, but when it was up, would you think its ok to deal with that level of "out of balance"?

Exactly. That's the argument no one wants to make when it inconveniently fails to support their point.

[wraftery 1,275]

One point which, unbelievably, has not been addressed in this thread.

Why are the medis and politicos targeting public sector salaries and pensios? Because they CAN! Our salary and pension plans are an open book thanks to FOIL. You can wrie a letter and find our packages from FF to Chief.

Try that in the private sector. The guy in the cubicle next to you won't even show you his pay stub. Higher up the private sector chain, it becomes top secret, not to mention expense accounts for execs.

Public sector ranks progress pretty evenly in salary from FF to Chief, with most Chiefs nationwide making about twice the salary of a FF. What's the salary gap in business between average worker and CEO?

Now throw politicians into the mix. You would be amazed at what they are exempt from. Bill Clinton has never worked anyplace except the political world and is a multimillionaire. What made that happen...good investments?

I understand Mrs. Obama has a staff of 40 to pick out her clothes and get her dressed. I bet all 40 are going to get a pension after 4 yrs on the job. BTW Did you ever see the first lady getting off Marine 1 and say "Who dressed Her this morning?

That's enough to spew for one post..Goodnight Gracie

[joetnymedic 43]

How much US money is being sent overseas in foreign aid every year? BILLIONS.

I'm not suggesting we eliminate it but if we reduced it by half and applied that toward programs that are sorely needed within our borders and to reduce the national debt. While I wholeheartedly support our country's support of developing nations, we must protect our own first and that simply isn't happening any more.

The tax code should also be simplified so everyone pays their fair share including the poorest right up to the richest corporations. Tax breaks for special interests are out of control.

Consolidation of duplicate or redundant government agencies needs to become a law. There's a federal and state Education Department but there're also local school districts. Why all three? Why are there so many independent school districts? Almost every one has a superintendent making around 200,000 per year. Why?

America's not broke but the government thinks it can just continue spending without a care in the world.

A balanced budget bill has been introduced in the US Senate. We should all lobby for its passage. How many of us are allowed to run up big deficits without any repercussions?

well said i couldn't agree with you more and btw - here in ct school supers make around 200k a year. in new haven, it was just "discovered" their term not mine that 60% of school staff doesn't even step foot in a classroom. I'm not going to bash unions as they do have their place, what i dont like is in schools, and the pd at least here, we have a ton of management positions filled and less people at the "street" level then we should. my take is alot of these so called supervisors should be out there with the rank and file everyday not behind some desk. as far as pensions go, i think that if you put 20 years out there on the street putting your a** in harms way, then after 20 years you're entitled to that as a thank you for your service at the very least.

joe

Edited March 11, 2011 by joetnymedic

[ckroll 101]

How much US money is being sent overseas in foreign aid every year? BILLIONS.

I'm not suggesting we eliminate it but if we reduced it by half and applied that toward programs that are sorely needed within our borders and to reduce the national debt. While I wholeheartedly support our country's support of developing nations, we must protect our own first and that simply isn't happening any more.

A balanced budget bill has been introduced in the US Senate. We should all lobby for its passage. How many of us are allowed to run up big deficits without any repercussions?

1 percent of the federal budget goes to foreign aid, compared with 20% for social security and 20% for defense. Large parts of that go to 'developing nations' like Iraq, Afghanistan and Israel. Compared to other world powers, only Japan spends less as a percent of GDP.

Right now, our commitment to 'developing nations' is nothing short of embarrassing and in fact, a majority of AMERICANS

think foreign aid should be 'cut back' to 10% of our budget, which is about 10 times as much as we currently spend.

Out of pocket it's something like $50 per household. Am I willing to give up one dinner out a year so some third worlders can have clean water and a school for their kids? I wish I were giving up one dinner a month.

[antiquefirelt 994]

Out of pocket it's something like $50 per household. Am I willing to give up one dinner out a year so some third worlders can have clean water and a school for their kids? I wish I were giving up one dinner a month.

How many more hungry Americans could we feed for $50/year? Would this not help our situation nationwide. I'm not one to let people worldwide be deprived of basic necessities, but we're still not addressing them well enough here, which in my eyes needs to be the first place we fix. There are plenty of NGO's that can address worldwide issues far more efficiently than the US Government. This has been one of the hallmarks of the republican party that I've agreed with: keeping the money local and spending local will lead to far more efficiency, which equals smaller government. Of course now that's not even on their radar as much as repaying their debt to corporate sponsors.

[Stepjam 118]

At what point do you stop throwing good money after bad?

In the case of many inner-city public schools, it's not a lack of funding or incompetent teachers that result in a failing school system. Its often because the students themselves lack a supportive family structure or any kind of discipline at home. The parent (or grandparent) can't cope with what these students face outside of the home. The school system is accused by media demagogues of being inadequate, racist, or worse. But lack of funding is not really where the root of the problem lies. It's an almost total lack of accountability at every level: the students, the parents, and the school administration.

A case in point: Mark Zuckerberg, the Facebook wunderkind, announced that he was donating $100 million to Newark city schools. Now, we can all easily conjure up the popular images of life in one of America's worst cities. However, the City of Newark already spends $22,000 per student. The average per student spending in the State of New Jersey (including all of those "rich" districts) is only about $16,000. Zuckerberg's money could have done a lot more good to a lot more people if he had given it to the Salvation Army or even a local college, for example. In a corrupt, patronizing, inefficient system like the one in Newark, that money will just disappear without a ripple.

And yes, Catholic School teachers make a lot less than Public School teachers, so much less that I wonder why they take the jobs. But when you look at the Administrative level, it's usually one or two iron-fisted priests (or nuns) that run it all, rather than a plethora of "Education Professionals."

I am a proud product of the Yonkers Public School system. From the southwest side, I might add. That included attendance at PS-3 (gone), Hawthorne JHS, and Saunders and Yonkers High Schools. All "inner city" schools. I believe I got an excellent education. I was fortunate enough to complete my public education (and leave Yonkers) before the clueless do-gooder Federal judge Lenny Sands destroyed the entire system through mandated bussing and widespread low-income housing, and by appointing race-baiting hack lawyers "oversee" the Board of Education. This just spread the indifference through the entire city like a cancer, and put Yonkers real estate values in the toilet for a while. I'll give Zuckerberg credit. he undoubtedly believes that he's doing the right thing, and put his money where his mouth is. It's ashame that his generous gift will be squandered. So, to hairbag Michael Moore and the rest of the Hollywood Apparatchiks, I say you do the same. You spend YOUR money. Leave mine alone.

Take the last paragraph any way you want. But facts are facts.

Edited March 11, 2011 by Stepjam

[firemn23 8]

What is happening is that the mismanagement of government is finally coming to bite them in the butt. The Federal government and some states has not been saving for future payments (social security, medicare and pensions) and the public is angry at everyone because we are footing the bill. You can't blame the unions and the public servants they asked and the politicians gave them what they wanted. No one would say no to a pension after 20 years and free health care for life. But public servants need to start coming around to the real world, nobody but them get fixed payment pensions and free health care for life. My company had a pension plan that they recently got rid of. They gave us a really good 401k match and government should look at doing the same thing. Times are different you all always talk about breaking tradition well this might be one of them.

[antiquefirelt 994]

My company had a pension plan that they recently got rid of. They gave us a really good 401k match and government should look at doing the same thing. Times are different you all always talk about breaking tradition well this might be one of them.

The problem is that applying the private sector pension model to the public sector has at least one large distinct difference. When your private company had a pension plan, they paid for that (or whatever portion) and paid into Social Security. Changing to a 401K with a match may have saved them money on the pension plan side, allowing the ability to provide a nice match for your 401K, the Social Security payments did not change.

Now when you look at state pension plans, you find that the employer who offers the plan is exempted from paying Social Security and as a result, employees who collect state pensions are not entitled to Social Security without significant penalties which make it about a zero benefits. Of course these employees may have made significant SS contributions in previous or "off-duty" jobs. So if the employer was to move to a 401A (A for governmental type employees)they would be required to pay Social Security at 6.2% of wages first before any 401 match. In the case of many state plans this is more than they pay for the current pension systems before offering anything more than SS. And if they determine not to give any match or provide any pension at all, the employee is stuck with just Social Security, which often will lead to them needing other governmental programs after retirement just to live, adding to the tax burden. So the state pension systems generally save taxpayers money now and later by providing a decent retirement that keeps the retirees from adding to the tax burden by using heating assistance, rent assistance, and other programs designed to help people make ends meet.

[ckroll 101]

How many more hungry Americans could we feed for $50/year? Would this not help our situation nationwide.

.

1. Not many.

2.What the average person does not know about foreign is staggering. The US is a warrior culture. We don't do anything that is not of immediate benefit to us. There are 3 reasons why any country gets aid from us. 1. the country has geographical significance. 2. the country is sitting on vast natural resources we do not have and that we need, or need to control. 3. We want them to buy our stuff.

Genocide in Rwanda..... barely makes the news because all they have is dirt and they weren't going to buy our stuff anyway. Iraq invades Kuwait..... now that's a humanitarian tragedy. We send foreign aid so that developing countries will develop in such a way as to buy the things we make. Foreign aid dollars come back many fold in the form of goods and services bought with the money we send.

It isn't bleeding hearts who want a TV in every hut in Pongo Pongo...it's US manufacturers.

[Stepjam 118]

It isn't bleeding hearts who want a TV in every hut in Pongo Pongo...it's US manufacturers.

Show me an American made TV. I'll buy it.

[Monty 35]

Very well done presentation on where our federal money goes is at http://www.wallstats.com/deathandtaxes/ - you can really drill down and see where money is going and how much of the pie - so to speak.

[JohnnyOV 2]

Not that I agree with anything that is going on with the way of stripping unions of their rights, or laying off of teachers, cops and firemen first, because I absolutely do not agree. But what are you supposed to do when there is zero money left to be spent anywhere, regardless of who's fault it is. Someone, whether its a teacher, city HR rep, secretary, janitor, garbage man, or firefighter, is going to get a pay reduction, lose their job, pay more into their benefits, change the way their pension/401K works or any combination of that. If the money is not there, it is not there. And I'm not blaming the unions at all, because I feel for the working class, as I'm in it as well, but how do you expect to get raise after raise, when the debt keeps growing in the community, state and federal budget? I haven't received a raise because my company cannot afford it. My dad lost almost all of his pension from IBM when they hit the crapper and changed to a 401K. His retirement was set back years, if not a decade or two. Was that fair to him? Absolutely not, but it was done so he could still have a job and provide for his family. He was one of the lucky ones who still maintained his job, when IBM was laying off hundreds and thousands of employees.

I know it is the politicians fault, but we also have to remember we, the people, elected them into office, even if we didn't vote for them. We are ultimately responsible for how our tax money is spent, and the debt that we put ourselves in. I'll take full responsibility for voting republican (not off party line, but for personal beliefs) in our last election. Do I agree with the WI law getting passed? Absolutely not, and I am actually ashamed at how it went through. But sometimes sacrifices have to be made in order to get a budget stabilized. I dont want to see anyone lose their job, especially in public service, but times are really tough guys. We're gonna have to make some sacrifices whether we like it or not, and trust me, no one likes it. Things will get better over time.

[calhobs 110]

Yes the times are tough, States and City's and the Federal Gov't wants give backs. People are going 2-3 years without a raise. I can understand that there is no money there, but has anyone notice the prices in the Super Markets lately. How are we suppose to live if prices keep going up and no more money is added to our pay checks. What happens when it comes to the point where people cant afford to put gas in there cars to go to work. Public transportion is not excatly the best here in Westchester. Who ever would of guessed that a gallon of milk would be more then a gallon of gas, or a cup of coffee is half the price of a gallon of gas.

Someone is getting richer and it sure the hell aint us.

[Bnechis 3,961]

You can't blame the unions and the public servants they asked and the politicians gave them what they wanted.

Your score is 50/50......You can't blame the unions for what we have is correct, but the reason you can't blame them is the unions did not ask for the current system. The conference of mayors asked the state legislature to force it on us so that each town would not need to run its own system. It was sold as a major cost savings to the community....... Same with disability pensions, the local governments asked the state government to set it up, because it was in the best interest of the public.

No one would say no to a pension after 20 years and free health care for life. But public servants need to start coming around to the real world, nobody but them get fixed payment pensions and free health care for life.

We had pensions long before the state pension system. Infact we still are paying out of our city pension to the last few widows who are left on the old system. Can you please tell me how I can get this free healthcare for life. For the last 27 or 28 years everyone hired on my job gets to pay into our healthcare for life.

They gave us a really good 401k match and government should look at doing the same thing. Times are different you all always talk about breaking tradition well this might be one of them.

I had a 401K in private industry and I traded that in for a 50% pay cut and a good pension. Now the politicians dont like the deal that they came up with and are convincing the public (including you) that we get to much and its all the unions fault. Yes lets break tradition, pay us from the start based on our risk. A ff with 2 years on the job has the same risk as one with 15 years but gets paid 1/2...Lets break that tradition.

[ny10570 745]

What is happening is that the mismanagement of government is finally coming to bite them in the butt. The Federal government and some states has not been saving for future payments (social security, medicare and pensions) and the public is angry at everyone because we are footing the bill. You can't blame the unions and the public servants they asked and the politicians gave them what they wanted. No one would say no to a pension after 20 years and free health care for life. But public servants need to start coming around to the real world, nobody but them get fixed payment pensions and free health care for life. My company had a pension plan that they recently got rid of. They gave us a really good 401k match and government should look at doing the same thing. Times are different you all always talk about breaking tradition well this might be one of them.

Not that I agree with anything that is going on with the way of stripping unions of their rights, or laying off of teachers, cops and firemen first, because I absolutely do not agree. But what are you supposed to do when there is zero money left to be spent anywhere, regardless of who's fault it is. Someone, whether its a teacher, city HR rep, secretary, janitor, garbage man, or firefighter, is going to get a pay reduction, lose their job, pay more into their benefits, change the way their pension/401K works or any combination of that. If the money is not there, it is not there. And I'm not blaming the unions at all, because I feel for the working class, as I'm in it as well, but how do you expect to get raise after raise, when the debt keeps growing in the community, state and federal budget? I haven't received a raise because my company cannot afford it. My dad lost almost all of his pension from IBM when they hit the crapper and changed to a 401K. His retirement was set back years, if not a decade or two. Was that fair to him? Absolutely not, but it was done so he could still have a job and provide for his family. He was one of the lucky ones who still maintained his job, when IBM was laying off hundreds and thousands of employees.

I know it is the politicians fault, but we also have to remember we, the people, elected them into office, even if we didn't vote for them. We are ultimately responsible for how our tax money is spent, and the debt that we put ourselves in. I'll take full responsibility for voting republican (not off party line, but for personal beliefs) in our last election. Do I agree with the WI law getting passed? Absolutely not, and I am actually ashamed at how it went through. But sometimes sacrifices have to be made in order to get a budget stabilized. I dont want to see anyone lose their job, especially in public service, but times are really tough guys. We're gonna have to make some sacrifices whether we like it or not, and trust me, no one likes it. Things will get better over time.

Unions have not been burying their head in the sand and saying too bad, you agreed to it, now go screw. All around they've agreed to pay reductions, furloughs, reduced benefits and increased contributions. In Wisconsin for example, a balanced budget proposal without the collective bargaining changes was available, but the governor wanted collective bargaining rights stripped. The budget was just an excuse. In Newburgh the union came up with an alternative to staffing cuts and the city said no. In Yonkers the union pushed the city into the SAFER grant. These are not greedy unions acting without regard to reality. This is politicians pushing a political agenda.

Show me an American made TV. I'll buy it.

Vizio is headquartered in the US but is essentially a Taiwanese company (king of like Anheuser Bush but in reverse). Then there's Olevia, an American company assembling TV's here with foreign components. Thats about as good as it gets. Costco sells or sold some TVs that were assembled in the US.

[SRS131EMTFF 471]

.

1. Not many.

2.What the average person does not know about foreign is staggering. The US is a warrior culture. We don't do anything that is not of immediate benefit to us. There are 3 reasons why any country gets aid from us. 1. the country has geographical significance. 2. the country is sitting on vast natural resources we do not have and that we need, or need to control. 3. We want them to buy our stuff.

Genocide in Rwanda..... barely makes the news because all they have is dirt and they weren't going to buy our stuff anyway. Iraq invades Kuwait..... now that's a humanitarian tragedy. We send foreign aid so that developing countries will develop in such a way as to buy the things we make. Foreign aid dollars come back many fold in the form of goods and services bought with the money we send.

It isn't bleeding hearts who want a TV in every hut in Pongo Pongo...it's US manufacturers.

One thing I would like to add is part of our foreign aid budget is used to try to win the "hearts and minds" of those people who would originally see us as a threat/challenge. American government investments in infrastructure, education, health care and the environment in foreign countries has been used to portray America in a good light as opposed to a bad light. That way maybe we can avoid radicalism/extremism from abroad directed at the US. Indoneisa is a good example of foreign aid being used to moderate the temperament of a potentially radical country in favor of US interests and security.