Home > Jay Bookman > Archives > 2009 > January > 12 > Entry
DEL.ICIO.US‘09 Legislature has more tasks than money
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Politicians don’t make many friends by saying no.
However, faced with a budget deficit in the neighborhood of $2 billion —- a number more likely to grow than shrink as the true depth of this recession becomes apparent —- legislators are going to find themselves saying no to an awful lot of people in the 2009 Georgia General Assembly, which opens today.
No to spending on education, on health care. No to spending on the state’s mental-health system. No to business groups and transportation advocates demanding that the state finally begin to invest real money in its infrastructure, the key to future growth.
It’s a problem faced by every legislature in the country, but in some areas the looming cuts will hit Georgia harder because spending is already so inadequate.
For example, Georgia’s mental-health institutions are under federal investigation because shabby care has led in some cases to unnecessary patient deaths. And according to Transportation Commissioner Gena Evans, Georgia has the nation’s third-fastest-growing population, yet it ranks 49th in the amount of resources spent per capita on transportation. Over the long haul, numbers like that will inevitably produce a crisis, and it has done so here in Georgia right in the worst economic climate in generations.
The ‘09 session will also test the state’s political leadership, which even in good times hasn’t exactly inspired confidence in its vision or emotional maturity.
Halfway through his second and final term, Gov. Sonny Perdue has been a caretaker governor at best. He is by nature more of a manager than a leader, unwilling to risk the major initiative or change of direction. That approach has brought him strong approval ratings, but little real progress for Georgia.
In the Senate, Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle has hopes of moving up to Perdue’s job. So far, though, Cagle has proved to be a politician whose considerable ambitions exceed his abilities. He needs to reverse that perception this legislative session before it hardens into accepted wisdom. At a time when interest groups ought to be coalescing around him as the state’s next governor, his support seems lukewarm at best.
For Speaker of the House Glenn Richardson, of course, it may already be too late. His reputation as a hothead has been cemented by repeated outbursts of public anger, pique and pettiness. This year, like last year, he starts the General Assembly reportedly determined to show a better side of himself, but as the session drags on, tempers rise and the decisions get more difficult … well, let’s just say that Richardson is to anger management what Oprah Winfrey is to weight loss. Best intentions sometimes go awry.
However, while all three men have a lot at stake in the ‘09 session, success or failure could also have a broader political impact on the state.
In a column for InsiderAdvantage.com, University of Georgia professor Charles Bullock III points out that in the ‘08 election, the dominance of the Republican Party in Georgia began showing some pretty large cracks. The party’s success has been built on drawing overwhelming support among white voters, he says, but that demographic group is shrinking pretty quickly, at least in relative terms.
According to Bullock, “The consequences of whites constituting less and less of the electorate are obvious. Georgia will turn blue again.”
“Have Republican leaders begun to ponder how to frame issues either to attract a larger share of the black vote or to become the preferred option for the state’s growing numbers of Latino and Asian votes?” he asks. “They need not devise a strategy to succeed in 2010, but the clock is ticking.”
In another sign of state political trends, exit polls from November reported that among voters 39 and younger, Barack Obama actually beat John McCain in Georgia. I doubt that means the state will turn blue anytime soon, but it does mean it may at least become competitive, allowing the best candidates of both parties to come to the forefront.
That can’t be a bad thing.
Comments
By AJC/DNC Management
January 12, 2009 7:01 AM | Link to this
In a column for InsiderAdvantage.com, University of Georgia professor Charles Bullock III points out that in the ‘08 election, the dominance of the Republican Party in Georgia began showing some pretty large cracks. The party’s success has been built on drawing overwhelming support among white voters, he says, but that demographic group is shrinking pretty quickly, at least in relative terms.-Bookman
Huh, I must have missed that one.
Anybody want to bet that Republicans dominate Georgia in 2009, 2010 and 2012?
NoPopStar.Blah
By Hmmmmm
January 12, 2009 7:01 AM | Link to this
Just curious, In a time where there are GIANT budget shortfalls, why would or Georgia political leaders spend money on a giant party to kick off the 2009 session?
By AJC/DNC Management
January 12, 2009 7:08 AM | Link to this
By Hmmmmm January 12, 2009 7:01 AM Just curious, In a time where there are GIANT budget shortfalls, why would or Georgia political leaders spend money on a giant party to kick off the 2009 session?
Gee, I wonder what Oblahmi’s inauguration will cost?
duh
By ByteMe
January 12, 2009 7:34 AM | Link to this
Mgmt the welcher is still here?
By Bud Wiser
January 12, 2009 7:41 AM | Link to this
My wife wishes that she could go to the grocery store, fill her cart from the meat/vegetable/dairy products sections, then go to the register and tell them she needs some of the workers money to pay the bill.
That, in an analogous nutshell, is what government has degenerated into these days. Politicians are so used to throwing other people’s (ours, for simpletons like CH) money at their own cutesy little pet projects, that when suddenly times become tough, revenues fall far short of expenditures, they simply will not cut their own wild spending, but come up with some mumbling reason why all of these things are “important”, and that they simply must have more of our money to pay for it all.
Sounds like they have a good place to start.
By Booger
January 12, 2009 7:43 AM | Link to this
He’s still here, and still offering to bet people.
It’s like W offering to run for president again. After seeing what happened last time, I doubt he’ll have any takers.
By Redneck Convert
January 12, 2009 7:51 AM | Link to this
Well, that guy that says there’s cracks in Republican support is just dead wrong. There will always be plenty of good rednecks to vote Republican. And the schools in GA make sure of it. So it don’t matter how many of Those People or the ragheads or the slant eyes there is, there will be plenty of good White kids that come out of the schools just as redneck as when they went in.
I’m happy with what we got in GA. I don’t want good tax money being spent on crazy people or Those People or trains for city slickers or city highways and sewers. So my advise to GA legislaters is the same one Mrs. Reagan give to kids: just say No. And keep my taxes low. Cut taxes, don’t raise them.
Long as we do all that, us rednecks will keep right on voting Republican. And the schools will make sure we have more rednecks than all the others combined. Have a good day everybody.
By DB, Gwinnettian
January 12, 2009 8:07 AM | Link to this
Well Booger, it’s a pretty lame bet. It’s a little like saying “I bet the internal combustion engine will still be in use come January 2012.”
It also betrays Andy’s customary reading comprehension deficit, since neither Jay nor the professor being quoted in the column are asserting that conservatives will fall by the wayside as a political force in fewer than four years.
By ByteMe
January 12, 2009 8:19 AM | Link to this
Bud: if it takes $18 billion of a nearly $2 trillion budget to make things go smoother and get done… is it really that big of a deal? You think herding cats doesn’t require a little bit of incentive?
By DB, Gwinnettian
January 12, 2009 8:27 AM | Link to this
ByteMe, to put it in terms Bud might understand—18 bil out of the overall budget is a little like the Publix penny coupon.
Sure, they’re giving away an item worth about a buck or so, but they know you’re going to spend at least ten, and likely a lot more, to cash it in.
If it gets you in the store on a Sunday or Monday, it worked.
Oh, and it might get you to try a product you’d never have considered previously. (and the earmarked projects might well be something worthwhile… i can haz MARTA rail station in Norcross, perhaps?)
By ByteMe
January 12, 2009 8:35 AM | Link to this
You’re dreaming about MARTA in Norcross, DB.
Keep dreaming. Oh, and click those heals together three times…. You just never know when the Wizard will come along to make those dreams come true.
The Wizard was a Democrat.
By Bud Wiser
January 12, 2009 8:38 AM | Link to this
If you bother to read to the end, ByteMe, instead of nit picking (or nose picking) parts, you would have read that I said …they have a good place to start.
And DB, it is obvious that you and ByteMe suffer from the same mental impairment - reading comprehension.
Are you guys both grads of Ga Public Schools, or near grads at least? Is Chad in your class?
Geez.
By ByteMe
January 12, 2009 8:41 AM | Link to this
Bud, just because you can’t write clearly, you want to blame it on everyone else’s comprehension. Just like a conservative: it’s everyone else’s fault, never your own.
heh heh….
By DB, Gwinnettian
January 12, 2009 8:42 AM | Link to this
“Oh, and click those heals together three times…”
Time heels all heals?
By Bud Wiser
January 12, 2009 8:46 AM | Link to this
Just like a liberal, you simply cannot reason or understand.
BTW, that’s a ONE, not TWO trillion dollar budget.
You guys are so ignorant, you make me laugh.
Now I see why Obama won - ignorance rules.
I weep and laugh for the world at the same time.
By Gomer Piles
January 12, 2009 8:53 AM | Link to this
I used to think that paying Georgia’s Republican politicians to go and play at the Capitol was an absolute waste of good money. Then again, perhaps it’s a small price to pay to keep the low-life off the streets for a while, although giving each of them a loaded gun as they enter the Capitol might make for a more amusing session during their presentations of arguments on gun control. If we film their sessions and break them up into 30-minute segments, we could air them on cable TV as a replacement for The Biggest Losers. Actually, the Georgia voters are the biggest losers given what these Republicans are willing to do for a buck. Their concept of Family Values boils down to how much value they can extract from each and every Georgia family for themselves and their business masters (the ones that bought and paid for them such as Saxby and the sugar business — sweet!).
.
By ByteMe
January 12, 2009 8:56 AM | Link to this
Bud,
Just like a conservative: you think that facts are things you can ignore. I guess it worked for the past eight years, heckuva job, Buddy!
Current estimates for the 2009 budget are a $1.2 trillion deficit. No way is the budget $1 trillion with a deficit that’s bigger than that. Perhaps before Sept. it was a $1 trillion budget… guess you weren’t paying attention to what happened since.
By DB, Gwinnettian
January 12, 2009 8:56 AM | Link to this
Bud, just what what was it about my post that betrayed a lack of reading comprehension on my part?
You want to name-call and throw a fit, be my guest, but if you’re trying to make a point you’re going to have to work a little harder than that.
By The Corporal
January 12, 2009 9:13 AM | Link to this
I honestly think my AJC newspaper weighed less than my local community newspaper this morning.
By AmVet
January 12, 2009 9:19 AM | Link to this
Eight more days!
And the excitement is practically palpable.
For me, not so much because of Obama’s impending presidency, but because one of the most dangerous, inept and immoral American administrations ever is about to leave town for good.
And ironically, he ended up actually being The Uniter. Virtually the entire nation, as well as the rest of the planet, is united in its happiness to see him go back to being a faux rancher instead of a faux leader.
01-20-09 The End of an Error
By Gomer Piles
January 12, 2009 9:19 AM | Link to this
Georgia’s Republican politicians would ponder their navels if they did not have strict dress codes under their one-size-to-fit-them-all gold dome. That’s right. No shirt, No shoes, No Session. And, those jeans had better have creases stiff enough to slice butter, or else. You don’t know ridicule until you’ve had it administered on both sides by a South Georgia Republican butter churner.
By Midori
January 12, 2009 9:26 AM | Link to this
Chimpolini is on the tube, giving his last press conference.
8 years and the man still sounds like a bumbling idiot.
and the rabid right hangs onto his every word.
sigh
By Bosch
January 12, 2009 9:35 AM | Link to this
The only thing the legislature will say no too are things that matter to the masses like education, health care, and public education.
The spending that deals with all their pet projects will breeze right on through.
By Soothsayer
January 12, 2009 9:41 AM | Link to this
Welcome to the “new world order.” Brought to you by rampant illegal immigration, foreign oil dependence, outsourcing, the Chinese, the Indians, “free” trade, globalization and, of course, big box. All those “bargains” don’t seem like such bargains anymore, do they? Enjoy your time off from work.
By Gomer Piles
January 12, 2009 9:45 AM | Link to this
You women that support the GOP men just need to learn your proper place in life, much like women around the world in places like Afghanistan, Iran, etc., and you will be forgiven …But there was also a Georgia-specific incident last month that still has GOP women steamed. U.S. Sen. Saxby Chambliss had just won his run-off election, trouncing Democrat Jim Martin. But during the celebration, state GOP chairman Sue Everhart — the party’s first female leader — was barred from the stage where congratulations were being handed out. And Everhart had written the check for the stage. Tunis Campbell, a true Republican, had to learn his place in Georgia politics too but that’s a different story. Any way, the last thing this fine state needs is someone more educated than Casey Cagle. Or is that less educated. It’s hard to tell with these Georgia Republicans given their ideas about education. The Goobers.
By Bosch
January 12, 2009 9:49 AM | Link to this
Midori,
But, it’s his LAST press conference as the President. I say champagne is in order.
By Soothsayer
January 12, 2009 10:01 AM | Link to this
King DumbA$$ is once again flaunting his stupidity on national television live.
By gadem
January 12, 2009 10:01 AM | Link to this
I’ve always wondered out loud, why couldn’t the state just subsidize their revenue shortfall with profits from the Lottery, but that was until I realized that the Lottery was set up as a seperate business that only has to report to the State Auditors once a year. With that said, I was perusing their financial reports, and there seems to be money there to supplement some of the shortfall, because as we all know, a lot of the money that goes towards Hope is not used because most of the kids lose Hope within the first two years anyway.
By Gomer Piles
January 12, 2009 10:19 AM | Link to this
Georgia’s lottery proceeds are intended to give the people of this fine state Hope and Hope is what they will get. For an additional $19.95 plus shipping and handling, you can also have a wing and prayer. Be sure to specify mild or spicy when ordering. All major forms of US currency accepted.
By Midori
January 12, 2009 10:25 AM | Link to this
Bosch,
drinks all around!!
By Gomer Piles
January 12, 2009 10:36 AM | Link to this
I think the leader of the Republican party, that’s G.W. Bush for all you Republicans out there that seem to want to forget that little 8-year old fact, was getting a little uppity when he started talking about some elitists when questioned about the US’s loss of moral standing in the world. Then, he really got his back hairs standing up when some folks wanted to know when or if the Fed was going to ever finish dealing with Katrina — as if that’ll ever happen under Bush and the Republicans.
By Ima Crook
January 12, 2009 10:42 AM | Link to this
Personal money does not seem to be a problem with these gladhanding moneygrubbing crooks when they grab all those dollars from the crooked groups like Georgia Power, banks,and even the City of Savannah, BUYING influence!!!!
As for the “pork” dinner ,is lawmaker and pork an oxymoron? Look how the crooks gobbled up pork money from the crooks at Georgia Power, AGL,and then GP/AGL has the gall to up our utility bills!!! Birds (crooks)of feather flock together!
By AJC/DNC Management
January 12, 2009 10:57 AM | Link to this
No, Oblahmi’s not a socialist, of course not-
Until last week, Carol M. Browner, President-elect Barack Obama’s pick as global warming czar, was listed as one of 14 leaders of a socialist group’s Commission for a Sustainable World Society, which calls for “global governance” and says rich countries must shrink their economies to address climate change.-WashingtonTimes
They’re gonna have to destroy the country to save it.
By The Corporal
January 12, 2009 11:05 AM | Link to this
George W. Bush
A well meaning man who did a lot of things right and a lot of things wrong.
A man who put the office of the presidency above personal vindictiveness.
Mr. President, I wish some things had been different but I thank you for protecting this country.
Semper Fi Worthy of Trust and Confindence
By NRB
January 12, 2009 11:06 AM | Link to this
Jay, I just love how you’ve framed it a “problem” that the government has to finally spend less. You socialists can never just admit that you think government should spend every dime that we have.
Our state government should just fund police, fire, the roads, and education and that’s it. Everything else is crap and waste.
They could cut taxes by 90% and still be able to fund the above four things that I mentioned.
Everyone else needs to be fired and deported out of state. Go back to New England or California, which is already ruined by the mental disorder known as liberalism.
By RealityKing
January 12, 2009 11:07 AM | Link to this
Obama is getting ready to give billions and billions of tax dollars to California, New York and those other liberal states far more in debt than us. So why are we cutting? There is no Obama reward in conservative accounting practices. Therefore Gerogia’s state assembly should start spending like theres no tomorrow to catch up. Free health care to all! We do want to get our fair share of that Obama bailout don’t we?? I mean.., our grandchildren are being sold out anyways.
By Bosch
January 12, 2009 11:17 AM | Link to this
NRB,
Yeah, those mentally insane people are just losers, huh?
And those abused children, well, they should just learn to suck it up, huh?
By JAY BOOKMAN
January 12, 2009 11:19 AM | Link to this
NRB, you are delusional.
“Our state government should just fund police, fire, the roads, and education and that’s it. Everything else is crap and waste.
They could cut taxes by 90% and still be able to fund the above four things that I mentioned.”
In other words, in your world, police, fire, roads and education amount to 10 percent of the state budget.
Meanwhile, here in MY world, education alone accounts for 50 percent of the state budget.
By DB, Gwinnettian
January 12, 2009 11:31 AM | Link to this
“NRB, you are delusional.”
Oh, I dunno. His deportation plan would send John Linder back to MN.
By Midori
January 12, 2009 11:31 AM | Link to this
Mr. President, I wish some things had been different but I thank you for protecting this country.
Bush wasn’t president on 9/11, or 8 months prior?
another delusional poster.
By RealityKing
January 12, 2009 11:33 AM | Link to this
On the way to work this morning a fire truck passed me in the neighborhood. Before I could get to the entrance, 4 other fire trucks, a fire saftey sqad, an ambulance and 2 police cars passed me too. No, there was no fire this morning…, only lots of government wasted tax dollars.
By DB, Gwinnettian
January 12, 2009 11:38 AM | Link to this
“On the way to work this morning a fire truck passed me in the neighborhood. Before I could get to the entrance, 4 other fire trucks, a fire saftey sqad, an ambulance and 2 police cars passed me too.”
They were all headed to Bud’s wife’s grocery store.
By Bosch
January 12, 2009 11:47 AM | Link to this
Jay,
Come on, in the wingnut world you know that public education is for loser stupid people who can’t afford to send their kids to private schools and we need vouchers, and the loser kids in public schools will just grow up to be loser delinquents who want government handouts because that’s all they learn in stupid public school. Maybe that’s what NRB was talking about.
By NRB
January 12, 2009 11:49 AM | Link to this
Bosch, private charities can take care of the mentally ill and abused far better than the government ever could hope to. And with a 90% tax cut, you would see a huge increase in donations.
Jay, who’s delusional? If education accounts for 50% of the state budget, that does not mean that they actually NEED 50% of the budget. They are wasting most of it, just like all sectors of government.
We could get rid of the unions and privatize the school system. Then we could fund it easily with a 10% flat tax.
But liberals like you could never see your precious incompetent government shrink in size like that.
BTW, Jay, I give the AJC another ten months to live. You should be bankrupt by then. Better sharpen those pencils up, you’ll be selling them out of a tin can over by city hall east.
By Bosch
January 12, 2009 11:50 AM | Link to this
But the GOOD news is, that maybe we’ll get to buy booze on Sundays - I guess ol’ Sonny’s changing his mind about our time management strategies.
By FrankLeeDarling
January 12, 2009 11:53 AM | Link to this
Lets fund some of this shortfall with sunday alcohol sales,at least in the metro area,and give a portion of the tax profit to public transport
By RW-(the original)
January 12, 2009 11:53 AM | Link to this
Ferreting out government waste can’t really be considered a bad thing in the real world.
If the government schools are 50% of the overall budget and do such a pathetic job that might be a darn good place to start, but one very easy thing to do would be to monitor the internet activity of government employees and immediately fire every single one that spends their day blogging.
By Bosch
January 12, 2009 11:54 AM | Link to this
NRB,
Really? We’d see a huge jump in donations and private charity help? It’s also just as plausible that…..we wouldn’t. And then what?
By NRB
January 12, 2009 12:02 PM | Link to this
Bosch, the point is to give people a choice in how they dole out their money instead of government thugs stealing it at the point of a gun like they do now.
Further, if you liberal whackos are so generous and so caring, I’m sure that you’d use your larger paychecks to set up private charities, no? Or are you only generous with everyone elses money, like Oblahma?
By ByteMe
January 12, 2009 12:03 PM | Link to this
RW, the reason Education is such a large part of the state government is because of all the counties out there around Bugf#ck, GA, where the tax base (i.e., property taxes) aren’t enough to provide an adequate education… regardless of whether the tax base was turned into vouchers or routed directly to the schools. So they use state revenues to augment to make up for how dirt poor those counties really are.
But they all have awesome high school football teams!
By FrankLeeDarling
January 12, 2009 12:03 PM | Link to this
Then we add sunday toll roads for all the people coming into town to buy beer for the game.Use the money raised for more trains
By ByteMe
January 12, 2009 12:06 PM | Link to this
NRB: You do have a choice: it’s called representational government and you had a chance to vote several times over the past 12 months, yes? Or did you forget your voter ID?
By The Corporal
January 12, 2009 12:10 PM | Link to this
When we have a terroist attack against the country under the Obama Administration I hope some of the liberal posters on this blog will be quick to condemn him for his lack of vigilance.
By RW-(the original)
January 12, 2009 12:11 PM | Link to this
ByteMe,
I have no problem with the percentage, just the return on investment.
Why do we have so many freaking counties in the first place?
By Chad Harris
January 12, 2009 12:15 PM | Link to this
46th in SATs, 49th in resources in education; never funds Marta and Chairman of Martoc large white woman Jill Chambers commutes to the Gold Dome in a Big Black SUV. #1 in prenatal wastage in the country. Legislator Bobby Franklin actually “crafted” a bill replete with medical stupidty arguing that embryonic stem cells caused “metasttic cancer.”
Franklin’s experience in medicine zero. Franklin’s days spent in internal medical residency zero. Franklin’s days spent as an oncology fellow zero.
The bill never got off the ground, but it was a biopsy into Mayetta Big Chicken stupidity that’s pandemic.
Georgia will not get a penny of Obama’s program for state transportation infrastructure becausae it will again ignore Marta.
Meanwhile back at the Maddoff Uncle Bernie has been given favorable status and instead of a 6X9 cell, he will be ensconced on Park Avenue, a neighbor to Caroline Kennedy.
AFter all, in your country da rich done gets treated like kings and you done get treated like trash. Welcome to Bush America.
Order of Magistrate Judge Ronald Ellis on Uncle Bernie Madoff’s Bail Status
Are there about one thousand ways for Bernie free to have personal meetings not on a cell to have the funds dispersed and further hidden?
YOU BETCHA; GOSHDARNIT BUT AND ALSO HELL YES!
[You would be in a 6X9 cell;
By Chad Harris
January 12, 2009 12:23 PM | Link to this
Senator Hooker Vitter say Cheetah 3 Good; Wife Wear Repulsive Leapord Skin Suit when Hooker Vitter do his “Ah Didn’t Mean to Get Ectopic wit all dem Hooker’s Mea Culpa.”
Roland Burris is being jiggled with but Hooker Vitter and Larry Craig dey be fine; and Uncle Ted Sweep up the BOP Hospital Room Soon—He get standing O.
Welcome to America da Bootiecallfull.
By Bosch
January 12, 2009 12:25 PM | Link to this
NRB,
Read ByteMe’s remarks - I second that.
And, wingnuts have been proposing that for at least 10 years that I know of, and nobody’s buying the bullsh!t. That’s why it ain’t happening. Kind of like the privatizing Social Security thing.
On to other things:
Corporal,
If we have a terrorist attack and Obama attacks the wrong country, or rather, the country that had nothing to do with it, then you’ll hear me b!tching just as loud as anybody else.
By Gomer Piles
January 12, 2009 12:25 PM | Link to this
Our little county got invaded by an implant from California eight years ago. He came in and ran on the Republican ticket and got elected. Taxes started going through the roof — a million more collected this year, a million more the next year and on and on. All the while, he just kept bragging about how he never had to raise the millage rate and that people could be proud of his work to keep taxes down. Property appraisals were redone every year and just kept going up and up and the worst of them all is going to show up on our 2009 tax bill because that’s when everything is going to peak out — our first millage rate increase in years along with yet another increase in property appraisals and most likely, more increases pushed down on us again from the state level. Yet, I look around in an effort to understand where all the money has gone over the years of Republican rule and all I can see is bigger government voting themselves more benefits and bigger raises and pensions and more helpers to help them find more ways to squeeze more out of the voters. I don’t need any more “help” from these stinking Republicans and their business masters.
By Dusty
January 12, 2009 12:26 PM | Link to this
Working yet?
By Red
January 12, 2009 12:26 PM | Link to this
They should legalize all the sins this time around; casino gambling, Sunday alcohol sales, prosititution and soft drugs…then tax them through the nose. That’ll fix things for sure…
By Bosch
January 12, 2009 12:29 PM | Link to this
ByteMe,
I will add one more thing about the school vouchers thing. Notice the private schools aren’t screaming in favor of this? They don’t want it anymore than anyone else.
Private schools would raise the tuition cost to match the vouchers. It’s basically re-segretating the schools, but this time it would be along socio-economic lines.
By AmVet
January 12, 2009 12:30 PM | Link to this
I’ve got an idea.
Let’s cut back government spending by getting rid of all the oversight and regulations.
You know, take the federal cop off the beat and let the “free” markets police themselves.
Oh wait…
By The Corporal
January 12, 2009 12:31 PM | Link to this
If we are attacked then Aytch was NOT vigilant and it’s his fault regardless of what country he counter attacks (if he will even do that).
He had all the answers during the campagin so I expect zero attacks on this country.
By Bosch
January 12, 2009 12:34 PM | Link to this
Corporal,
Oh, have we moved on to the everything is Obama’s fault now? Just like everything was Clinton’s fault before?
Have you been in a coma for the past eight years?
By Chad Harris
January 12, 2009 12:36 PM | Link to this
@ Midori—
I was the only one that posted @ 12:15 (where my comment was hardly pro-Repu8lican—although the Dems in the Senate have been reprehensibly lacking in backgone with respect to Burris and more importantly for eight years in rubberstamping Bush and I can document that in detail). I am the furthest thing from Republican in any sense of the word.
The only issue I might agree with them ever local or national or international on is that Israel has every right to take down Hamas, Hezbollah, and Syria who are all Iranian puppet terrorists, but I strongly disagree with them that Bush or Condi has ever done anything constructive with respect to the Middle East or a panoply of foreign policy issues that they have run into the ground.
As far as Middle East Peace in general and Israel-Terrorist conflicts go, the only road to any stability will be to somehow create a paradigm shift change in Iran’s policies which are focused on creating instability with respect to Israel and are a very wide umbilical cord for money and weapons supply to continue terrorist actions against Israel by Syria, Hamas, and Hezbollah. They also work to make the Palestinian puppet government that Bush set up with Abass as head totally ineffectual and mock it daily. Abass has no control whatsoever over Hamas and Heabollah, or in reality Iran.
By tcoach
January 12, 2009 12:40 PM | Link to this
Regarding scores as a way of determining which states are more intelligent or have better education systems, there are some statistics one must take into account when looking at these.
Iowa # 1 in SAT scores= avg. 1807 Georgia # 47 in SAT scores= Avg. 1472
One thing all those calling your children and those in the rest of the state dumb and the teachers and educators who do put their heart and soul into thier work bad teachers. You may want to also acknowledge teh fact that many of these states do not have a high percentage of seniors taking the SAT.
See…
Iowa= 4% of seniors took the SAT Georgia= 69% of seniors took the SAT
Gee wonder what our average score would be if we only took our top 4% of scores. I am betting it would be near that 1807.
But I guess you all forgot to mention that lil’ tidbit when bashing our students so much huh.
By Midori
January 12, 2009 12:41 PM | Link to this
Oh come on Chad — you know better.
Someone namejacked me @ 12:15, and posted some dumb a** dribble, attributed to me.
It appears the comments have been erased.
By Bosch
January 12, 2009 12:45 PM | Link to this
tcoach,
Exactly, thanks for bringing that up.
And, if there are any teachers out there who’d like to comment, please, please do so.
But, gee, I wonder where all the teachers are? Oh, I know…..they are TEACHING.
By Bosch
January 12, 2009 12:46 PM | Link to this
Chad,
Midori is right, there was a comment there where someone had namejacked her- it was up until just a couple minutes ago.
By ByteMe
January 12, 2009 12:48 PM | Link to this
RW, you know that Georgia had a movement during the Depression to combine counties. The only counties that got combined were the nearly bankrupt Milton and Campbell counties into Fulton County. Which explains a lot, huh?
Interesting tidbit on Fulton County history at Wiki Link.
Dontcha know that having 172,000 counties puts more people on the government dole in all those faraway places where employment is non-existent?
With the State government in control of the charter for every city or county, it’ll never get changed easily, since it requires the vote of people with no real vested interest in changing things in another part of the state. Just like Jay’s op-ed piece yesterday about the way DOT funds are disbursed: there’s no natural constituency outside of Atlanta to change the way taxes are taken from Atlanta and disbursed to Bugf#ck.
By The Corporal
January 12, 2009 12:49 PM | Link to this
EQUALITY OF ERROR is a wonderful thing. I can’t wait. Only 8 more days until the world is a peaceful, wonderful place.
By ByteMe
January 12, 2009 12:50 PM | Link to this
tcoach: excellent info, thanks for bringing up one of my pet peeves on the way “scores” are used to bash teachers and states.
On the other hand, the Gators can whup Georgia, so all is still right in the universe… until next year.
By Midori
January 12, 2009 12:52 PM | Link to this
Bosch,
ferchrissake!!!
you’re talking to a person who would come on this blog every day to b*tch about Obama using the seal of the “president elect”, which really isn’t an office, a seal, a position, a right, a descretion, etc.
and what of the nefarious and controversial Obama kindergarten sandbox issue????? the plaqueless home in which Obama grew up???!!??
and you’re expecting some semblance of “fairness” from this guy? ‘
HAH!!
and you expect that person to
By tcoach
January 12, 2009 1:01 PM | Link to this
Bosch, some are but some are actually on a planning period right now. Also there are some teachers that have a planning period and a period off. While there are others who are in a commitee meeting, or leadership meeting. The actual in class teaching is a small portion of a teachers work day.
About 10-15% of every faculty is not teaching a class during any given period or block of the day.
By Taxpayer
January 12, 2009 1:02 PM | Link to this
The company that I worked for was monitoring employee use of the internet from the first time we were allowed outside the company firewall. I remember coming in to work one morning back in 1998 and seeing corporate security escorting an internet abuser, with all his personal belongings in hand, out the door. They didn’t fool around with violators. It all boils down to what the employer wishes to do — impose and enforce rules or not. The technology is there to handle the detection.
By Bosch
January 12, 2009 1:07 PM | Link to this
tcoach,
Um, not trying to be snarky, but yeah, I know — I’m married to one of those teachers — best 4th grade teacher on the planet!
By Bosch
January 12, 2009 1:08 PM | Link to this
tcoach,
Sorry, hit the post button too soon. That outburst earlier about teachers teaching was meant to be rhetorical.
By RW-(the original)
January 12, 2009 1:15 PM | Link to this
Taxpayer,
The employer has to be a little more vigilant than just having IT look at the traffic because technology also exists to make an individual work station appear invisible to the network, but in the case of government workers we’re the employer and should demand that our employees do their jobs or be gone.
This blog is a tiny blip in the blogosphere, but it has government employees on it all day every day. Imagine how many billions we could save with a complete crackdown across all levels of government.
By tcoach
January 12, 2009 1:19 PM | Link to this
Bosch, No offense taken. Didn’t think you were being “snarky”.
Just was making sure all knew that teachers are not in a classroom all day, especially high school teachers.
That teachers are even allowed breaks at work, I know.
Kudos for your spouse that is a tough age with children, not to mention they start to get that recess and P.E. stench. Must be a tough cookie.
By AJC/DNC Management
January 12, 2009 1:20 PM | Link to this
It’s time to bring out the bully pulpit. Obama needs to do with the bankers what JFK did with the steel executives. The bankers say they won’t lend, or are imposing extraordinarily tough terms on borrowers, because 2009 will be a tough year. Urge them, at a minimum, to help reduce mortgage rates and increase refinancing. How? By using their Troubled Asset Relief Program bailout funds to buy Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac debt. There is no excuse for not doing so. The debt is now explicitly federally guaranteed.-Washington Post
Yeah, just what we need, more failed, unpaid mortgages.
sigh
I pray for you America.
By Someone who thinks Midori needs some new material.
January 12, 2009 1:25 PM | Link to this
Tarzan say “Bush bad, Obama good. Umgowah”. Jane say “Bush bad, Obama good. Umgowah”. Cheetah say “Bush bad, Obama good. Umgowah”. Midori say “Bush bad, Obama good. Umgowah”.
By tcoach
January 12, 2009 1:25 PM | Link to this
RW, Many government workers also work many hours away from the office. Would you monitor their use of the web all day everyday then?
Also what about the mandated breaks one must take at work. Are computer’s off limits during breaks?
What about laptops, w/ wireless,or should all government employees be banned from all non-work related internet access?
By Chad Harris
January 12, 2009 1:31 PM | Link to this
T Coach @ 12:40P and following—
*You’re right, and you make very valid points. I’ll stop mentioning SAT scores because I probably am distorting them.
There are many “teachers and educators who do put their heart and soul into thier work” who are paid a fraction of what they’re worth and are invaluable. I was lucky enough to have them consistently when I was in high school. It had everything to do with the schools (public) I was lucky enough to go to in the area where I lived.
I’d be the first to argue that whether tests are 12K or grad school/med school/law school/board exams there is also the element that some people don’t test well or get jittery on test day, and many of these tests don’t test ability in the real world or predict competence or measure whether someone ignites later on in their educational path and does well.
It does frustrate me that the Georgia Department of Education doesn’t have control over who gets promoted when they shouldn’t, not because I want to see a child or their parents hurt in any way by being held back, but I’d like them to go from grade to grade with the skills they should be getting.
So much of it seems to depend on the background at home, and how parents can interface with schools and some of what Cosby and Dr. Alvin Poussaint were getting at on ABC This Week Yesterday.
I don’t have kids in school, so I’m pretty far from being able to draw good conclusions that would come from day to day contact. From time to time I’ll bump into kids in 12K (mostly high school)in my neighborhood and ask them what they’re reading from school and it doesn’t seem to be anything near the reading lists we had when we were in school.
I’ll make it a point to talk to some teachers and more parents and get their take.
@ Midori—
Sorry I didn’t see that. I have to do this on the fly much of the time.
By Taxpayer
January 12, 2009 1:34 PM | Link to this
RW,
You’re assuming that the individual actually has control over the workstation. In some businesses, you had to have permission to install a printer driver. I had my own local network in my lab at work that I was sole administrator over but it was not connected to the outside world. I had to give up administrative control if I wanted it connected to the Internet. As far as government employees are concerned, there are some with a need to be on the Internet and some without. There are also times when you are “working” but have free time and the Internet is, for many, more handy than a book. Just sayin’ that it’s hard to build a one-size-fits-all scenario for everyone out there in the land of bits and bytes.
By Hmmmmm
January 12, 2009 1:34 PM | Link to this
Tcoach,
It makes NO sense to try and talk logical to most dems. People like Midori and Bosch live in ignorance. One day, hopefully they will see the light! For know, they just like to point fingers in blame. I couldn’t have said it better concerning the SAT scores. Thanks for your rational, logical input.
By RW-(the original)
January 12, 2009 1:34 PM | Link to this
tcoach,
If it was up to me there would be no non work related internet access for any government worker at any time they were on the clock. No exceptions.
By Chad Harris
January 12, 2009 1:48 PM | Link to this
RW—
There are literally thousands of government workers for whom internet access is critical and a necessary part of their jobs. A quick example would be employees at CDC or NIH, many researchers or clinicians or both, and there are literarly hundreds of agencies who need it.
Nearly every agency for example in the Russell Building whether they’re DOJ or HHS, Agriculture. or you name it, has employees who need to hit the web to function on agency web sites. And as you know well, this trend is going to grow as government begins to adopt cloud computing, and you need only get the MSFT emails to government workers or hit the sites for government workers to see that’s happening. I’m not a government worker, but I get all those emails just to help keep track of what’s being offered and to context some of the server apps.
By RW-(the original)
January 12, 2009 1:49 PM | Link to this
Taxpayer,
Someone interested in getting around the workplace rules isn’t likely to ask permission before setting up masking.
A government employee that is on the clock should never have free time to do with what they wish. If there is that much time that they’re “working” but have free time we don’t need them. If we’re going to get serious about budgeting government spending then let’s actually get serious.
By tcoach
January 12, 2009 1:50 PM | Link to this
Hmmmmm, We should always try to communicate our points and opinions with those who do not share them, it is dangerous not to. However if they are not willing to talk about the issues instead want to make disrespectful childish comments, then the lines of communication should be severed, as it is more destructive than constructive at that point. This is not something Bosch is guilty of often if ever. The other you mentioned communication has long exhausted itself there.
RW: What about those that work 15-18 hour days, no breaks? You do not come off of the clock for a 15 min. break. So no breaks?
I understand your issue though. If anyone is neglecting their duties to surf the web or blog is doing a disservice to the community. However if they are not working at the moment they are free like everyone else to me.
By RW-(the original)
January 12, 2009 2:00 PM | Link to this
tcoach,
How do you twist no non work related internet access into “no breaks?”
What gives an employee of mine the right to abuse my equipment during their 15 minute break? If they have time to take their personal laptop to an off site network they can surf and blog all they want during their break as long as they get back to work in 15 minutes.
By Chad Harris
January 12, 2009 2:01 PM | Link to this
RW—
The people I’m talking about are much like the people tcoach is using for examples. I know many of them and these days, they aren’t confined to cubicles, soa grid wouldn’t work for them. A lot of them could double or quadruple their pay outside government if they wanted to, and they are geographically all over the place.
They are doing a lot of work at home at night as well.
They pretty much have to be trusted as to how they use the web, and their web use can be monitored in a myriad of different ways as can all the traffic by servers as you well know.
These people are too busy to be wasting time on the web. If they’re productive, and again their web use can be monitored on their work stations or hand helds that use the network while at work.
If someone needs to check a website to buy something or get something done for their family or whatever and they’re productive, it wouldn’t bother me a bit and that’s frequently the case.
The computers can be kept “safe” via AD and the many detailed tweaks available through a variety of servers as you understand better than I do.
By Taxpayer
January 12, 2009 2:08 PM | Link to this
RW,
I think you misunderstand what is needed to gain access to some computers. We were set up such that we were required to even change our passwords every few months and they had to be of a minimum length and contain a selection of alpha-numeric characters. You had a total of three attempts to log in and if you blew it, you had to call security to gain access. You could not load a program from disk, etc. Bootup was strictly from the internal hard drive. Anyone caught trying to bypass security was subject to termination. Those were the advertised rules and everyone knew them because everyone was required to acknowledge that they knew them. Some places just had stricter rules than others. Of course, where there’s a will to break the rules, there’s a way. I suppose that depends more on the person. As we all know, there are the more honest and the less honest out there.
By the way, the person that got escorted out for violation of Internet access rules was with the IT dept.
By Say no to pork
January 12, 2009 2:12 PM | Link to this
Saying no to pork barrel projects would be a start
By Chad Harris
January 12, 2009 2:14 PM | Link to this
RW—
There are all kinds of people whose productivity can be measured if the supervisor/IT admin is competent who can be trusted not to abuse internet access on their workstations.
They can be monitored as you know well with a wide variety of server setups, and each workstation can be tweaked infinitely to keep their computers “safe.”
Setups that are being done with Hyper-V, Win Server 2008, System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2008, and “MED-V” for example, can do this easily whether the biz is small or it is an enterprise. MSFT and Apple employees for example couldn’t function any other way.
By RW-(the original)
January 12, 2009 2:18 PM | Link to this
Taxpayer,
Your company was being vigilant and I don’t care a whit what a private entity does or doesn’t do. Most government operations aren’t vigilant in the least.
Chad,
You do understand what the phrase non work related means, don’t you?
By The Corporal
January 12, 2009 2:20 PM | Link to this
I know most of you “men” out there (and probably all of the women) never played football, but in just 8 days you liberals go on the defensive. It’s a whole different ballgame.
Don’t let those conservative receivers get behind you ……….. :o)
By Hillbilly Deluxe
January 12, 2009 2:23 PM | Link to this
The fact that Georgia has 159 counties dates to the 19th century. Counties were set up where no one would be more than a days ride from the county seat. This is why counties in South Georgia are larger than counties in North Georgia. It’s because of geography and terrain. I can remember my Grandpa talking about people serving on jury duty having to get a room and stay in town for a week because they lived to far to travel home every day. (A few had horses or mules, most traveled by foot.) This is also why court was held 4 terms a year. Usually Winter, Spring, Summer, & Fall. This continued in some rural counties until just a few years ago when court dockets grew past that capacity.
That’s a historical overview for anyone who might be interested.
By Paul
January 12, 2009 2:29 PM | Link to this
Hey Bosch
Hamas rejected the French-Egyptian cease-fire proposal.
BTW - Rep Jefferson, Rep Rangel, Sen Dodd, Gov Spitzer, Mayor Kilpatrick, Gov Blago, Mayor Dixon…. help me out here, Bosch, I thought that Culture of Corruption thing Democrats pounded on and the media dutifully reported had to do with Republicans and Democrats were going to clean things up?
(Kinda like with all that oversight we have on TARP, phase 1?)
Enquiring minds want to know!
By tcoach
January 12, 2009 2:31 PM | Link to this
RW, I am not advocating the use of the internet during times when they are actually working.
However there are many times when they are not in an office setting or are waiting on a meeting that has ran late. They may even be riding from point a to point b. Would it be okay for them to use the internet in these circumstances? If not do you also want to limit the use of the radio, or reading the newspaper?
I was not saying no breaks, I was asking, in inproper grammer if the answer was no to the internet on their break. Sorry about that, I see how that was confusing.
By RW-(the original)
January 12, 2009 2:34 PM | Link to this
Hilbilly D,
Thanks for the history lesson and that truly made sense for back then. It might be time for a little progress though.
By RealityKing
January 12, 2009 2:39 PM | Link to this
DOW 126.16-1.47% 8,473.02
When is Obama and his drunken band of merry liberals going to stop talking down the economy? We are in a crisis of confidence, REMEMBER!
Or is this some kind of a sick liberal tactic for staying elected? Talk everything down until any sign of a bump, at any price, makes Libamania look like the saviour?? Funny that.., liberals talking America into a depression then looking for the credit of keeping America out of a non-existing one. Wouldn’t surprise me..
By Paul
January 12, 2009 2:41 PM | Link to this
tcoach
If I may butt in (on my self-appointed break) - if one substitutes “surf the internet” with, as you pointed out, read the newspaper, or read a novel, catch up on a soap opera downloaded to an iPod, go to the store…. one can more easily see the point. I think the general rule is, taxpayers pay taxes to have government employees perform certain tasks. During the time period they are getting paid, they should be engaged with those tasks. If we have so many workers that they have idle periods, we should adjust staffing levels.
BTW - I went to my local tax office well before closing on Dec 31. They were closed. I was not pleased - nowhere on the city calendar did I see holiday observance begin the day before the holiday.
It’s the same with email. I know private employees, as well as many in gov’t, who do not give out their work email. Rule of thumb: if it doesn’t have to do with work, don’t send it and ask your friends to use your home account.
By Disgusted
January 12, 2009 2:50 PM | Link to this
So there they are, tcoach and RW, no doubt drawing salaries as they treat us to their drivel, discussing the best ways to enslave government employees who might access the Internet. I would judge, by their writing and thinking skills, that neither is able to cheat their employers out of very much salary, and it is almost certain that neither would qualify to assume a government post. But they are certainly entertaining. Mindless, but entertaining.
By Chad Harris
January 12, 2009 2:50 PM | Link to this
Questions like whether I understand non work related are wasting your life RW.
I’m saying that you can give employees the freedom they absolutely nbeed to hit the web when they need to and monitor it and assess whether they’re being productive easily without the rigid old school “let ‘em hit it for non-work related activity within the confines of their scheduled break.”
A lot of very productive employees don’t have scheduled breaks who work for all kinds of companies. I know a Verizon employee who can live anywhere in the country he wants, who does his work entirely from his notebook. He can be anywhere he wants, with a minimum of meetings at some HQ. Someone in my family has worked for Accenture for years and the last few she works at home with steady promotions.
Telecommuting is increasing rapidly.
But you know all this well.
And as far as being “non-vigilant” the past 8 years has exponentially added a new dimention to the concept of non-vigilence, elevating it to an art form in the Bush administration.
However, again via Active Directory, AD to you, and the string of servers I mentioned you can monitor an employee at work, (even when their workplace is all over metro Atlanta or the country or the world)tweak them infinitely using the server setup I briefly mentioned, and keep their networks safe and monitor the traffic.
Thousands of jobs could not be done in the rigid milieu you reference and many of them are government jobs.
You would expect Tony Fauci to be off the web except for 15 minute breaks on his own pc right?
And he’s just one extreme example. During the last 3 Presidents Fauci could get a meeting with POTUS and whomever on his staff he felt was necessary quickly and he’s been one of the major pointguards for this country for HIV issues and H5N1 issues. He disburses funds for NIH and he lives on the web at work whether work is in Bethesda at NIH or wherever on the glove it takes him. That’d be just one example of a government employee who could work anywhere he wanted but chooses to work at NIH.
MSFT IT at Redmond runs all their employees now on a Hyper V setup I just mentioned. Many of them are day to day in the field by car or by plane helping clients at small biz sites or mid level or large enterprises. The Hyper V setup I mentioned, and Unified Communications Server have made many things easier to do and to administer without near as much travel.
MSDN, Technet and www.microsoft.com are all run on them now.
By Taxpayer
January 12, 2009 2:51 PM | Link to this
Well, RW, why didn’t you just not give a whit sooner and I would not have bothered.
By RW-(the original)
January 12, 2009 2:53 PM | Link to this
tcoach,
Again I said non work related internet access, not no internet access and I’m generally talking about the hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of government workers that are sitting in a taxpayer funded building, using taxpayer funded equipment, collecting a check from the taxpayers supposedly to be doing essential work the taxpayer has deemed necessary. For them I would also cut out radios, TVs, newspapers, magazines, gaming devices, etc., at their desks.
By tcoach
January 12, 2009 2:59 PM | Link to this
Disgusted thanks for the input.
When did I say anything about enslaving anyone though. From a person who puts down others in an attempt to elevate your own IQ please show me at which point I stated anything near to that.
I am actually off right now though, my day usually ends around 12:00 or 12:30 then restarts about 4:00 or 5:00 depending on the day.
Sorry for dumbing down your day and in the future I will try to make a point to ensure that my post are as eloquent and informal as yours was.
By CommunistAJC
January 12, 2009 3:04 PM | Link to this
Bookman, Why did you pull my post on Atlas Shrugged? Did it offend you?
By CommunistAJC
January 12, 2009 3:06 PM | Link to this
‘Atlas Shrugged’: From Fiction to Fact in 52 Years.
By STEPHEN MOORE WSJ
Some years ago when I worked at the libertarian Cato Institute, we used to label any new hire who had not yet read “Atlas Shrugged” a “virgin.” Being conversant in Ayn Rand’s classic novel about the economic carnage caused by big government run amok was practically a job requirement. If only “Atlas” were required reading for every member of Congress and political appointee in the Obama administration. I’m confident that we’d get out of the current financial mess a lot faster.
Many of us who know Rand’s work have noticed that with each passing week, and with each successive bailout plan and economic-stimulus scheme out of Washington, our current politicians are committing the very acts of economic lunacy that “Atlas Shrugged” parodied in 1957, when this 1,000-page novel was first published and became an instant hit.
Rand, who had come to America from Soviet Russia with striking insights into totalitarianism and the destructiveness of socialism, was already a celebrity. The left, naturally, hated her. But as recently as 1991, a survey by the Library of Congress and the Book of the Month Club found that readers rated “Atlas” as the second-most influential book in their lives, behind only the Bible.
For the uninitiated, the moral of the story is simply this: Politicians invariably respond to crises — that in most cases they themselves created — by spawning new government programs, laws and regulations. These, in turn, generate more havoc and poverty, which inspires the politicians to create more programs … and the downward spiral repeats itself until the productive sectors of the economy collapse under the collective weight of taxes and other burdens imposed in the name of fairness, equality and do-goodism.
In the book, these relentless wealth redistributionists and their programs are disparaged as “the looters and their laws.” Every new act of government futility and stupidity carries with it a benevolent-sounding title. These include the “Anti-Greed Act” to redistribute income (sounds like Charlie Rangel’s promises soak-the-rich tax bill) and the “Equalization of Opportunity Act” to prevent people from starting more than one business (to give other people a chance). My personal favorite, the “Anti Dog-Eat-Dog Act,” aims to restrict cut-throat competition between firms and thus slow the wave of business bankruptcies. Why didn’t Hank Paulson think of that?
These acts and edicts sound farcical, yes, but no more so than the actual events in Washington, circa 2008. We already have been served up the $700 billion “Emergency Economic Stabilization Act” and the “Auto Industry Financing and Restructuring Act.” Now that Barack Obama is in town, he will soon sign into law with great urgency the “American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan.” This latest Hail Mary pass will increase the federal budget (which has already expanded by $1.5 trillion in eight years under George Bush) by an additional $1 trillion — in roughly his first 100 days in office.
The current economic strategy is right out of “Atlas Shrugged”: The more incompetent you are in business, the more handouts the politicians will bestow on you. That’s the justification for the $2 trillion of subsidies doled out already to keep afloat distressed insurance companies, banks, Wall Street investment houses, and auto companies — while standing next in line for their share of the booty are real-estate developers, the steel industry, chemical companies, airlines, ethanol producers, construction firms and even catfish farmers. With each successive bailout to “calm the markets,” another trillion of national wealth is subsequently lost. Yet, as “Atlas” grimly foretold, we now treat the incompetent who wreck their companies as victims, while those resourceful business owners who manage to make a profit are portrayed as recipients of illegitimate “windfalls.”
When Rand was writing in the 1950s, one of the pillars of American industrial might was the railroads. In her novel the railroad owner, Dagny Taggart, an enterprising industrialist, has a FedEx-like vision for expansion and first-rate service by rail. But she is continuously badgered, cajoled, taxed, ruled and regulated — always in the public interest — into bankruptcy. Sound far-fetched? On the day I sat down to write this ode to “Atlas,” a Wall Street Journal headline blared: “Rail Shippers Ask Congress to Regulate Freight Prices.”
In one chapter of the book, an entrepreneur invents a new miracle metal — stronger but lighter than steel. The government immediately appropriates the invention in “the public good.” The politicians demand that the metal inventor come to Washington and sign over ownership of his invention or lose everything.
The scene is eerily similar to an event late last year when six bank presidents were summoned by Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson to Washington, and then shuttled into a conference room and told, in effect, that they could not leave until they collectively signed a document handing over percentages of their future profits to the government. The Treasury folks insisted that this shakedown, too, was all in “the public interest.”
Ultimately, “Atlas Shrugged” is a celebration of the entrepreneur, the risk taker and the cultivator of wealth through human intellect. Critics dismissed the novel as simple-minded, and even some of Rand’s political admirers complained that she lacked compassion. Yet one pertinent warning resounds throughout the book: When profits and wealth and creativity are denigrated in society, they start to disappear — leaving everyone the poorer.
One memorable moment in “Atlas” occurs near the very end, when the economy has been rendered comatose by all the great economic minds in Washington. Finally, and out of desperation, the politicians come to the heroic businessman John Galt (who has resisted their assault on capitalism) and beg him to help them get the economy back on track. The discussion sounds much like what would happen today:
Galt: “You want me to be Economic Dictator?”
Mr. Thompson: “Yes!”
“And you’ll obey any order I give?”
“Implicitly!”
“Then start by abolishing all income taxes.”
“Oh no!” screamed Mr. Thompson, leaping to his feet. “We couldn’t do that … How would we pay government employees?”
“Fire your government employees.”
“Oh, no!”
Abolishing the income tax. Now that really would be a genuine economic stimulus. But Mr. Obama and the Democrats in Washington want to do the opposite: to raise the income tax “for purposes of fairness” as Barack Obama puts it.
David Kelley, the president of the Atlas Society, which is dedicated to promoting Rand’s ideas, explains that “the older the book gets, the more timely its message.” He tells me that there are plans to make “Atlas Shrugged” into a major motion picture — it is the only classic novel of recent decades that was never made into a movie. “We don’t need to make a movie out of the book,” Mr. Kelley jokes. “We are living it right now.”
By RW-(the original)
January 12, 2009 3:06 PM | Link to this
Taxpayer,
I wasn’t saying a didn’t give a whit about your story, just that I don’t care what a private entity does because it’s none of my business. It’s a completely different story when we’re talking about government.
Chad,
Again, I’m talking about government employees that sit at desks, spending the time we’re paying them to work, hanging out at blogs.
By Bosch
January 12, 2009 3:14 PM | Link to this
Hi ya’ Paul!
Well Paul, I’m not a Democrat, so I can’t help you dude.
But, have you heard?
BATTLESTAR GALACTICA STARTS THIS FRIDAY!!!!!
The other Bosch and I were watching House (which, btw, I have discovered over the past couple weeks is an awesome show) last Friday and they showed a preview, and we BOTH squealed like little girls with pure joy and glee.
tcoach,
Thanks for noticing that. I try to keep it clean - I do slip sometimes as we all do. I am guilty of what my mother refers to as “creative language” or what Sponge Bob calls “sentence enhancers.”
You have a two-year-old right? Ya’ gotta love the Sponge Bob. My kids are older now, three teenagers. I’m a pretty confident person and I’m not afraid to admit this: I sometimes find myself watching Sponge Bob…even when my kids aren’t home.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
And off topic, but:
Mickey Rourke? What the hell?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Corporal,
I play the non-American kind of football. Totally different game than the American counterpart.
By RW-(the original)
January 12, 2009 3:15 PM | Link to this
CommunistAJC,
I suspect Jay pulled your WSJ article for copyright violations more than offense and I’m sure he’ll pull your reprint too.
Here’s a link to your article. ‘Atlas Shrugged’ : From Fiction to Fact in 52 Years
By david wayne osedach, san diego/ U.S.A.
January 12, 2009 3:33 PM | Link to this
At some point the bailout money will run out. No more printing paper money. In the meantime most States and many cities want their share. There simply is not enough to go around.
By Chad Harris
January 12, 2009 3:34 PM | Link to this
RW—
I appreciate your points. This stupid thing apparently balks at letting you post if you use certain words that are not off color or for some posters even when others post far more lenthy posts won’t post at all. Wow is the AJC IT stup here primitive and frankly stupid. I also don’t understand for a nano second the rationale for a five minute delay.
I have to leave this but two not very well related instances amuse me so I’ll run them by you.
I don’t have time to properly link one of them now.
The first was a story told by Mark Minassi told when he spoke here a couple years ago at an IT meeting.
He writes many of the large 1500 page or so MSFT server and security texts and consults heavily with DHS, DOJ, NSA, nuclear agencies, and many many government agencies on how to better secure their networks and servers.
He made the point that until he consulted with them, Homeland Security was putting their backup servers directly on top of their server setups. One fire or explosion or whatever and there they went.. There was literally no offsight backup for a while in many of the government agencies he consulted including a number with sensitive national security material like DHS, and DOJ.
Not too brightand he ended this quickly.
The second was a story of a grandfather at Ohio who worked for one of the nuclear power plants as a government employee. He downloaded a bunch of games onto his work laptop, somehow took it home to play the games with his grandson, and was hacked within 26 minutes of getting outside his firewall.
The nuclear facilities were off line and down at the time. How this was allowed to happen is a good question.
There are more ways to monitor employees and ensure they are being honest and productive and still allow a woman the freedom to check on something on line for her kid (just an example) than ever.
By Chad Harris
January 12, 2009 3:35 PM | Link to this
RW—
Another situation that makes me smile, and later I can link you to accounts in NYT and WSJ (AJC never covered it not surprising) was a game of chicken that took place between AOC (Administrative Office of the Courts) and judges in the Ninth Circuit including the Chief Judge of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals (the largest in the country) and Leonidas Meacham who is the former autocratic Administrator of the federal court system at AOC—a bureaucrat and not a lawyer of course.
Meacham decided around 2001 or 2002 he was going to monitor all the computers in the federal court system in Judges’ chambers—secretaries, law clerks,and the judges themselves.
This outraged Judge Kozinsky who is now Chief Judge of the Ninth Circuit. Kozinsky is a fairly sophisticated geek who has been building pcs and writing code since far back in the day. He has his own private web sites, and when his son posted some scatalogical on the private sites a few months ago it caused a small but not huge problem for Judge Kozinski although he did have to recuse himself froma porn case at the request of one of the parties.
Anyway, the Judges of the Ninth Circuit decided to immediately shut down every work station pc not only at the Court of Appeals but in the entire Ninth Circuit gaggle of district courts, including California, Oregon, Arizona, Idaho, Hawaii, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Washington, and you betcha you betcha mavericky mavericky Alaska.
This ticked off Meacham royally and it brought court business except for what was immediately scheduled to a screeching hault in the largest federal court area in the country. Mary Schroeder who was chief judge at the time—Kozinski is now—decided to make a huge point which was to get the hell off the federal judges’ computers.
Kozinski threatened to initiate an immediate and well publicized federal prosecution of Meacham and a lot of judges backed him. They could have gotten that done.
This came to a head at the annual Judicial Conference and the judges voted to order Meacham to back off and to stop monitoring computers in federal judges chambers.
Meacham argued to no avail that he had the stats to proove that 6% of the downloads from the workstations in the judges chambers (who presided at that time over a large number of illegal downloading cases involving the RIAA) were free off color or illegal music and movie downloads which are the staple of most Georgia Tech and college students in Georgia and everywhere else—and not confined to them of course.
This may not be on point but I mentioned these stories to let you know I understand the issues involved but still fully know that workstations can be monitored easily and made safe without losing employee produtivity in the work place for non-private employees or private industry employees alike.
By Paul
January 12, 2009 3:36 PM | Link to this
Hey there, Bosch.
You’re not a Democrat?!!? Wait a minute while I pull myself up from the floor… dang, just when you think you have the universe figured out…
I usually don’t wish my life away, but I cannot wait for Friday. This is gonna be so great. Hey, do you see an Obama parallel here? *The fifth Cylon, someone we don’t suspect, someone who isn’t who we think he is…” Naw, that was Bush before his first term.
Hugh Laurie is cool. Does “Blackadder” mean anything to you? Gotta Netflix the first seasons. Oh, and Hospital Administrator Dr. Cuddy (Lisa Edelstein)? First season, West Wing, Rob Lowe, playing the White House deputy speech writer, having a liason with a law student, who, it turns out, is working part time as a hooker to pay the bills? Yup - the very same Cuddy.
You know I was just having fun with that whole “Culture of Corruption” thing. It’s now Party-specific, it’s human nature specific. Gotta give the Dems credit, though, for dreaming it up before an election. Quite effective. And also give them credit for counting on the voters’ short attention span.
By CommunistAJC
January 12, 2009 3:38 PM | Link to this
RW-(the original), I provided the writer and publication. How is that copyright infringement? Jay copies and pastes articles all the time.
By Opus X
January 12, 2009 3:46 PM | Link to this
There will be no budget shortfalls. Obama will be in place soon and his economic stimulas package will lead us to a period or record growth and prosperity. Due to this prosperity we will also see peace throughout the world as all will see the benefit in ending partisanship. All states (and foreign countries) will turn blue once they witness first hand the success of Obama. After all, it is what has been promised.
By RW-(the original)
January 12, 2009 3:50 PM | Link to this
CommunistAJC,
Everybody has different fair use standards and I suspect, but I’m not necessarily right, that you can’t post an entire article from the WSJ.
Chad,
I know I’m taking a hard line position here, but the fact remains that are thousands of government employees posting at blogs all day, every day. Go to any popular blog with an open site meter and you can see for yourself.
By Bosch
January 12, 2009 3:57 PM | Link to this
Paul,
I’m not a member of no political party. Corruption knows know political party either.
Blackadder? Nope. I seem to remember a Blackadder on Luckovich’s blog many moons ago before I participated - only read.
YOUR RIGHT about Dr. Cuddy on the West Wing - wow, good call - AND she was also the transexual client on Ally McBeal. I’m kind of embarrassed I know that, but hey, I admitted to watching Sponge Bob.
By RW-(the original)
January 12, 2009 4:07 PM | Link to this
Paul,
There is no party registration in Georgia and if somebody tracked my primary election participation they would come away thinking I must be a Democrat.
By Paul
January 12, 2009 4:09 PM | Link to this
Bosch
My earlier should have read “You know I was just having fun with that whole “Culture of Corruption” thing. It’s not Party-specific”
Blackadder - Brit comedy - with Rowan Atkinson - Mr Bean. Laurie’s versatile. You knew Dr Cuddy was a transexual on Ally McBeal? I’ll stick with Battlestar, thank you. Trish Helfer, Luch Lawless and Lisa Edelstein - let the Cylons win!
Back to politics - I do think this transition - spearheaded by the Bush White House - will serve as a model for years to come. I also pointed out while you were out the other day that Pres-elect Obama is hosting dinners honoring three people who’ve done the most to foster bipartisanship - one of whom is Sen McCain. House and Senate leadership can choke all they want, the man has class.
By Paul
January 12, 2009 4:18 PM | Link to this
Bosch 4:07
You get the “Most Amazing Post of the Day” award.
My understanding of the grand scheme of the universe has been shattered. Twice, in one day.
Bosch
Tonight would be a good night to start watching ‘24.’ They’ll do a recap of last night’s events.
By Bosch
January 12, 2009 4:27 PM | Link to this
Paul,
Oh Yeah! I’ve had a friend of mine tell me about that show - but I couldn’t remember the name. Thanks for reminding me.
Like I said, I am embarrassed I know that, but I watched that a few times with the other Bosch.
and, um, 4:07? How could you possibly confuse RW and myself?
Obama has done some rather shocking things during the transition, well, not shocking, but surprising - kind of blows the whole “Obama is a Marxist” theory of some.
By Paul
January 12, 2009 4:29 PM | Link to this
RW-(the original)
Trying to do too many things at once, here. That was you, not Bosch, at 4:07 as my nomination for the “Most Amazing Post of the Day” award -
Hi AmVet
That two years thing? Again, the answer is found in Hitchhiker’s Guide: “Time is an illusion, lunchtime doubly so” -
By Pogo
January 12, 2009 5:38 PM | Link to this
Well, Jay, it would be wonderful and nice if we knew how and where our money was going to be spent. The only thing we have to go by is history. History tells us that our money will be thrown away by our inept state and federal governments. Mass transit? Mass transit to where? Georgia is a rural state. Where is all this mass transit supposed to go, Hoboken (not knocking on Hoboken)?. Why don’t you check out the roads and bridges in almost every other state in the union and see what the condition of their transportation systems are. By and large they are much worse than ours. Exactly where is all that money supposed to go? Mental health. How much are we supposed to spend? Who knows what a good number is and who is supposed to oversee distribution of that money to see that it is not abused? Education; the answer to education is not to throw money at it but to ensure that the money that is spent is well spent. How do our teachers, our schools and our universities rank in the amount of money spent on them and what is the return? We rank low year after year after year. It isn’t the amount of money we spend on education in this state, it is that education has become another welfare state wherein its workers get more than adequate compensation no matter if they are competent at their jobs or not. Education, and I speak on this from personal experience, basically suffers from the same ailment as the auto industry. It has become impossible to deal with those that don’t perform. What government program, other than mandatory vaccination to irradicate small pox, has ever worked? Every one of them has been abused and everyone of them has by and large failed. The government of this United States has a miserable record of oversight of the expenditure of public (our) money. Greed, corruption and laziness prevails within it and the answer is always, “throw more money at it”. If anyone here thinks that Obama or anyone else in the democratic or republican parties are going to remedy this, then they are sorely mistaken. Obama is the product of one of the most corrupt political machines in the country which has made itself fat on the abuse of public funds. So, beat up on Bush. I say he deserves it. Beat up on Purdue, he is detestable. Beat up on anyone you like, but as long as you drones continue to vote along party lines, and to hate members of other parties because they are in a certain party and you don’t elect decent individuals for political office, nothing will ever change. And this country will fail.
By Chad Harris
January 12, 2009 9:01 PM | Link to this
Mr. Pogo—
How ‘bout the mass transit goin’ to rural metro Atlanta?