PAYGO
Obama is proposing something that should have been done decades ago;
“The pay-as-you-go rule is very simple,” Obama said Tuesday. “Congress can only spend a dollar if it saves a dollar elsewhere. And this principle guides responsible families managing a budget.
But Ironic Johnny is having NO part of it;
“It’s like closing the barn door after the horse is out,” said Sen. John Thune, R-S.D. “Now all of a sudden, we’re going to become fiscally responsible after we spent (almost) $1 trillion on stimulus and increased the omnibus (budget) bill by 8.3 percent? Having spent like a drunken sailor for the past several months, now we’re going to reform?”
John? Do you think we are all a bunch of dumbasses? Apparently so. Past couples of months? How about the past seven years!!!! That horse is long gone.
COUNTY COMMISSION
The CC has a brilliant
idea on how to alleviate the lines at the vehicle registration office;
Minnehaha County Commissioner Anne Hajek says an independent study of long lines at the treasurer’s office might help to alleviate the problem –
Yes, because if something needs fixed in Sux Falls, throw a bunch of consultant money at it. I have a better idea; HIRE MORE WORKERS!!!!!!!
HAMBURGERS AND CAB FARES
Maybe the city council should price fix food to in our city;
The city regulates how much taxi companies can charge customers for mileage, drop fees and wait times. The last time the council approved an increase was in August 2007.
I think one of the cab company owners had the best anology as to why this is really stupid;
Kinsley noted the city doesn’t tell restaurants how much they can charge for a hamburger.
But of course Vernon BrownKnows is worried about the children and unicorns, or something like that;
Councilor Vernon Brown said the rate limits exist for a reason. Unlike customers of other businesses, Brown said taxi users are “captive audiences,” making them susceptible to unscrupulous operators.
You mean kind of like taxpayers being forced to pay and maintain city owned property or they will be fined? Is that what you mean by ‘captive audiences’? Maybe the citizens of Sioux Falls need to start ‘price fixing’ what this city spends on crap we don’t need.
Why does Thune always find a way of bitching about something that is obviously a good thing? He whines about spending bud had no problem signing the first stimulus package because it was sent to him by his party, but then he bitches about the second stimulus because it came from the other side.
Grow up John – this is a good thing. You can bitch and whine and cry like a little girl about past spending practices but what is past is past and we have the ability of controlling this type of behavior in the future. However, we all know the good little foot soldier Thune just likes to talk about spending reform… when given the chance to actually reform spending he is like most Republicans and isn’t interested.
Why does the GOP only have time to complain about spending from the Democrats? One might think a party that calls itself Conservative would jump at the chance to rein in spending no matter who suggested it, but we clearly see Johnny for who (and what) he is.
Sy should be along any minute defending this idiotic behavior, so maybe we will get another viewpoint. lol
Thune looks dumber by the day.
Nice call Cost,
It’s and invalid comparision of Bush Stimulus vs. Obama Stimulus because they are even remotely the same. Bush was a quick, timed rebate to all taxpayers that cost $150 billion, and as I posted before, it went to anyone whether they supported GWB or not.
Obama’s is a multi-year, trillion dollar laundry list of crap, mostly politcal payoffs to his various supporting groups/States. They’ve only doled out about $40 billion and they’ve set the table so that if we have some good Economic news, well that’s because of the Stimulus. If we have bad Economic news, well that’s because we haven’t spent the Stimulus fast enough.
Here’s my biggest problem, I think they actually know this isn’t going to work and the pace is intentional to allow for more crisis, which will naturally lead to Stimulus 2 or whatever the next round of massive spending will be called.
BTW, Thune is at least consitent, as he voted against Bush’s Stimulus of 2008 as well.
“Obama’s is a multi-year, trillion dollar laundry list of crap, mostly politcal payoffs”
Then how can you explain the extra $40 in my paycheck every month that isn’t coming from my employer? It’s the tax cut that Obama is giving to 90% of the taxpayers in this country. And it’s a good thing since the city is raising my water bill $80 next year to help pay for monkey crappers.
That horse is long gone.
That horse is already at the glue factory.
L3wis,
I didn’t say you getting your tax break wasn’t a good thing, I actually think it is.
What I’m sayin’ is Thune was against Bush’s Stimulus (despite what Cost posted) so he can understandably be against this one, especially since, as I contend, Obama’s isn’t Stimulus at all.
You have a problem with monkey crappers, why don’t have an issue with all the waste in this bill?
There goes Sy – ignore the horse and the cart to focus on the fly that landed on the pile of crap that horse left behind.
First of all Sy, this topic is about Thune’s flip-floppery when it comes to spending. You claim he was against Bush’s Stimulus but I think we have a miscommunication here because clearly you aren’t thinking about the same stimulus package I am referring to.
Don’t you recall Thune going on television and proclaiming that it pains him to support such a stimulus package when he is a “free market republican”… yet he voted for it anyway?
This was the same package that was intended to stimulate the economy via massive bailouts to banks and other financial institutions. It was far greater than $150 Billion and was in fact in the same range as the Obama stimulus package. Thune supported it, and that was my point. He supports almost all spending by his own party, and he even earned the porker of the month as I recall due to his ever-increasing demand for pork dollars, but when the Dems decide to pull a page from the same playbook he cries foul.
Just goes to show Thune is a partisan hack. He chooses an issue like PAYGO to bitch about Obama’s spending instead of admitting that spending across the board (and across both parties) has been out of control for a long time.
Instead of just saying “hey this PAYGO idea is great, we’ve made mistakes but this is a good idea with merit that will be better for our nation” he just finds a way to bitch and moan about spending… but only the spending from the other side.
Just another case of ironic Johnny playing with his spin-doctor turntable – and somehow – some way, you find a way to excuse his behavior.
Cost, you are correct on the miscommunication. My apologies.
I believe Thune did vote for Bush’s Stimulus of 2008, which was the $150 bil in rebates. He also voted in Favor of the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 which was the $700 billion TARP bailout.
Thune did oppose Obama’s version of stimulus which came earlier this year.
So, sure Thune was late to arriving at his fiscal conservative stance, but he was still about 3 month ahead of Herseth/Obama and “Paygo”.
As somebody that use a cab at least once a week, I can’t afford to pay a lot more. I can see if there is no control over the fares they charge, where they might get out of control. There is a difference between eating in a restaurant and taking a cab. People don’t have to eat in a restaurant but people that don’t have a car for some reason or another don’t have any choice but to take a cab. Granted there are the buses, but a person can’t take a weeks worth of groceries on them, especially if you buy a 12 pkg. of pop or something along that line.
Red is right, the majority of people who use cabs are a captive market who couldn’t afford a rate hike every time Brent’s bar tab gets out of hand or when the price of coke goes up.
In my experience the city is pretty generous with the fare increases when they are asked but the regulations do exist to keep them in line with reality. This oversight is utilized in most every other city.
Other cities do different things. Like posting the rates on the side of the cab. When you call a cab company you can also ask what their rates are.
I guess I am of the opinion that private business should be able to charge what they want, since the cab companies don’t have a monopoly in the this town I think it would add a little competition.
“So, sure Thune was late to arriving at his fiscal conservative stance, but he was still about 3 month ahead of Herseth/Obama and “Paygoâ€.”
I have no problem with fiscal conservatism and I’d rather have them find it later than not at all, but honestly this is just par for the course with Thune.
A true conservative would praise PAYGO. It is fine to jab Obama over spending, but ignoring a good idea merely to take political pot shots doesn’t help the situation, and Thune is nothing more than the definition of hypocrite.
“…since the cab companies don’t have a monopoly in the this town I think it would add a little competition.”
That is a fairly recent development in this town. The board that oversees the cab companies and other vehicles for hire was started long before the other two bit, fly by night companies started up. When you add all the “competing” cab companies together they still don’t add up to any real completion for Yellow. Yellow’s contracts with the school district alone comprise more business than the rest of the cab companies put together.
Still don’t have a monopoly. I would understand the rate control if there was only two companies but I think there is like 12 now. I think they should just make them post the rates on there doors with a vehicle magnet and let them raise them when they want to.
There is an easy way to avoid using cabs. Just live next to a car dealership – in the morning you walk into their waiting room and ask for a ride in the courtesy shuttle. They take you whereever you want to go and if you call them they will come back and pick you up.
Of course doing this more than once or twice might raise suspicion with the driver if he starts to recognize you, but then you just need to find a new dealership. 😉
Good idea.
I just think it is strange that the city council has NO price control on any other business except the cab companies, like they are a bunch of money grubbing crooks. Competition helps keeps rates down, not regulation. Trust me, I have been in the Yellow Cab offices, if they are making money hand over fist, they are not spending it on office furniture.
“Still don’t have a monopoly. I would understand the rate control if there was only two companies but I think there is like 12 now.”
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For the vast majority of this city’s history there has only been one cab company unless you count the ghost companies that Yellow set up with no cars, they now have three listed in the phone book. Metro (now City Wide) came in and had maybe five cars on the road on a good day. Another former Yellow driver started Sioux Falls taxi with one car and is now up to three. It’s only been in the last few years that all these little cab companies have started up and most of them are one car operations. Yellow might not be a monopoly but only by a technicality.
The board that oversees the cab fares was set up when there was only one cab company, that’s why it exists. If you feel it should be done away with for competition’s sake I’m not sure how being able to jack fares up would help competition. The rate set is only the maximum fare allowed, there is nothing stopping them from charging less to try to lure business away from the others.
I too have been in the Yellow offices as well as the Metro offices. I worked for both of them and have known Brent for over twenty years. The money certainly isn’t spent on furniture or on the employees but that doesn’t mean that Brent isn’t living quite comfortably. I wouldn’t go as far as to say he’s getting rich but most of us could survive nicely on just the money he makes on the logistical services he runs. Brent is not hurting, he always makes that noise.
It sounds like Bent has had a change of heart on this issue.
“”I’m all for the city setting the rates. Like I said, they’ve never turned us down. We don’t go to them very often,” Yellow Cab owner Brent Kinsley said.
Yellow Cab says removing regulation from the taxi industry could lead to companies charging customers more for a ride on a Friday or Saturday night. It could also open the door for drivers to raise the rates on customers getting a ride home from the bar.
“There would be a chance for someone to be exploited if you could charge anything you wanted to,” Kinsley said. ”
http://www.keloland.com/NewsDetail6162.cfm?Id=85832
“Bent” was a typo, not a slam.
Someone must have put his balls in a vice.