I need to get in on some of that action!
Me tooâŠObviously it should be LOWEST bidder.
Mike, you feeling OK? You seem to have come down with a case of âloose vowelsâ (and consonants, too) tonight! 
CSA 
Actually I think it was Winston Churchill that said eventually you run out of other peoples money. Poor Winston must be churning in his grave at the current condition of the UK health system.
The devil is in the details: privatize roads? Most would say no, but what about road construction? I donât want the government owning blacktopping or concrete companies, do you?
I think that (generally) the government works best as âold schoolâ public-sector, and corporate-ish things ought to be done by the private sector. It seems when govât âstraddlesâ the definition and forms âquasi-private, government-owned enterprisesâ (like many state turnpike commissions), it tends to be a magnet for graft, feather bedding, and all-around incompetence.
Why should I care what Winston Churchill had to say? The man was a butcher who ordered his troops to subject civilians to summary executions in Africa. He was an alcoholic and a murderer. Whatâs next? Are you going to quote Che Guevara?
In the US it used to be how we defended ourselves instead of having an army. Offer the suppliers of materials the option of supplying materials for free instead of labor. In the Civil War one could pay another to serve in oneâs stead: same thing. If it would be theft of labor or supplies then taxes to pay for it would be theft too.
Are funds raised by means of bonds diverted to other purposes in NH?
Lots of high-tech jobs in NY, just not in most of upstate. Check out NYC and its suburbs and Rochester.
My friends in NY donât know about it. Can you cite examples?
Thereâs a lot more to be done than money raised: one could spend all money raised on programs at which it is aimed without getting everything everybody wants done.
Privatizing roads is happening as well as leasing toll roads to private firms, which may not privatize ownership but lets the private firm collect the tolls and maintain the road. Indiana did it because no legislator wanted to take the heat for raising the toll or for failing to maintain the turnpike.
Iâd never heard of a state building roads itself. Alaska is probably exceptional because of the difficult environment.
How would we do this? Volunteers from other states joining SDâs work crews? Or the Feds taxing fuel enough to pay for SDâs roads?
He also said he didnât become PM to preside over the liquidation of the British Empire. The British may be unhappy about the condition of their NHS but they all want to keep it.
Mr @bing: you never answered my request to cite an instance of the diversion of funds dedicated to infrastructure to other purposes in Minnesota.
As for some in government benefiting from misuse of funds, that happens in private firms too, when they give you 3 inches of pavement when contracted to provide 6.
Youâre probably right. Iâm not really taking the stand that privatization is bad. More like taking a stand against the ultra conservatives who want to privatize everything for perceived better and cheaper. Yet in many cases itâs not the case.
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If there were no federal highway system we would be dealing with the patch work of local roads with state roads making connections from town to town. And locally funded roads would be built to maximize traffic for local business. How long would it take to drive an 18 wheeler through Dallas-Ft worth on the old US 80 these days?
I began driving before there was a thru-way in Mississippi and the 100 mile drive from my home to downtown Memphis took two and one half hours because it included passing through several miles of small town traffic and about ten miles of city streets in Memphis. But those were the GOOD OLE DAYS. In 1964 I drove a Harley from the Memphis Colliseum to home in just over an hour late one night but I never stopped at a red light and rarely slowed below 60 and often exceeded 90. These days itâs a leasurely hour and fifteen minute drive on I-22 and Iâm lucky to have lived to enjoy the trip on the federally funded roadâŠ
Dream on Random. Iâm not taking this class for credit so Iâm not going to feed your quest. Youâre not one of those $12 an hour Soros hired organizers/agitators are your?
I find it both ironic and sad that the same party that decided to put two wars on the nationâs credit card while simultaneously passing two tax cuts thinks paying for infrastructure maintenance is unreasonable.
The sad fact is that the only time Republicans behave like fiscal conservatives is when Democrats are in control. When itâs the Republicansâ turn to govern, they forget how to balance a budget.
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It really took a little work to get to $20 trillion in debt over only 8 years. You would find me complaining about the Bush administration also, and the previous, and the previous. I liked Ike though and JFK would never pass muster in his own party today.
I think much of the âworkâ you speak of was done by compound interest on preexisting debt.
âŠand when you look at annual budget deficits, it paints an interesting picture.
Here is a chart that shows interest as an expenditure.
Actually the quote is from Margaret Thatcher.
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Bush took a $126 Billion surplus into a $1.6 Trillion Deficit.
Obama inherited a mess. The first two years were still in the great recession and the economy never got rolling until 2010.
There are a lot of factors why we have this debt. Donât blame it on one person or congress. Congress has more power effecting the debt then the president.
Now that itâs clear we have to pay for this multi Billion wall (which mexico was going to pay for) and with the tax cuts to the people who own most of the wealth in this countryâŠplus the jobs that weâre going to loose under this presidentâŠexpect to see the debt going even higher.
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Good to know you donât expect anyone to credit your opinions.
Oops! Mike, did you not realize that securing the border with a fence or wall was passed into law already in 2006?
It had the support of 26 Democratic Senators, including Obamba, Biden, and Mrs. Clinton.
Donât worry, Trump will get the dough back from Mexico, one way or another. If anybody can do it, Trump can do it.
CSA
You do know that thereâs a difference between passing a law and FUNDING a law. The wall was never funded because of the projected cost. Trumpâs campaign promise was that the wall paid for by MexicoâŠNow itâs going to cost tax payers BILLIONS. Just another Trump Lie. His latest lie about Obama wiretapping him is actually an impeachable offence. Maybe we can get rid of this fool before he causes more damage.
https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2017-03-06/trump-s-wiretap-tweets-raise-risk-of-impeachment
I hope in fairness you will consider the lies of the previous administration. They are very many but were hidden to secure re-election. Yeah and Bush had some secrets too. At any rate the fact of the matter is we now need to get this under control and it will not be necessarily pleasant so the sooner we can start acting like adults and deal with it instead of blaming Russians, pulling out old tax returns and videos and so on, the better. Attempting a coup is not helping matters.
Trumpâs lies are unparalleled.
Dismissing Trumpâs blatant lies because someone else may have liedâŠis just childish. Trump LiesâŠLive with it. And now hopefully his lies will get him impeached before his lies get innocent people killed.
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