News Talk

Jump to bottom

Spend or save?

Stimulus money?? This is a joke in itself. I am a retiree, UAW and a person does not have to be a rocket scientist to know that small business's need tax reductions to get things going, NOT giving a couple bucks to everyone which only pays the bills and a case of beer. Next........get rid of the Obama administration and things will take off. The rich are not going to put any big monies in the markets because this moron wants to raise the capital gains taxes. Not good!

Spend or save?

Since it is already a given that Michigan will be in even deeper financial difficulty next year, all of the stimulus money should be spent this year. That way the state will certainly go bankrupt next year and all the state's bloated labor contracts will be null and void; even our inefficient full time, term-limited, bicameral legislature and divisive and special interest beholden executive will be out of a job and the government can be totally revamped. We can, and must, rebuild an efficient and fiscally responsible Michigan from the bottom up without their interference.

Spend or save?

Education is very important and will always be important however state government must live within its means like its citizenry. Forget about the entitlements, our state will be suffering for the next two years and its gov bodies must start preparing for it. We need a better business climate that attracts new businesses and therefore creates more jobs. Government and unions don't create jobs and never will.

Spend or save?

Spend, spend spend, quick spend it all, Who cares what they spend it on, spend spend They can always get more from YOUR wallet!

Spend or save?

None of the money should be used to patch the budget- now or later. The legislors are just putting off their responsibility to make these tough decisions. Patching the budget just puts off the needed cuts and will make future cuts more severe and more difficult to pass.

Spend or save?

Stimulus money should be spent for its express purpose, to stimulate the economy. I think it is criminal that Granholm and the Legislature use stimulus money to patch their budgets.

This is robbing Peter to pay Paul. Peter is the future, Paul is the past. Michigan is stuck in the past with its primary agenda to keep fat and cushy paychecks rolling.

Spend or save?

The stimulus money serves as a temporarary boost to juice up the economy. It is not meant to address long term structural issues which need to be addressed assuming there would be no stimulus money available in the future. And the economy is not going to recover fast enough that no stimulus money would be needed next year.

Spend or save?

Get more Robert Bobb's out there to evaluate all contracts, suppliers, top heavy administrations...

AND GET THE LOTTERY MONEY TO THE SCHOOLS LIKE YOU ADVERTISE!

They won't-

and they won't.

Spend or save?

NO

Save the money

Everyone in the state is cutting back, except for the school systems. Make them cut back on expenses and redo all contracts like eveyrone else.

Shut down the pools, elminate non-educatinal activites as bands, sports, plays and all after schol so called activities.

Although against the union thinking, make teachers accountable

Spend or save?

America needs to be educated, that is for sure, especially when you have a bunch of people that don't know or understand what is going on in this country with our elected official's spending of our tax dollars. And, especially when they get suckered into believing what these social agenda focused and vote getting politicians are after. America needs to get smart on the budget process and how all this wild and uncontrolled spending is decimating our economy, our jobs, our livelihoods.

But taking stimulus money earmarked to create jobs to pay bills from wild and uncontrolled spending is not the answer. It certainly doesn't solve any problem. You'd really have to wonder what the 20% of responders that said we should take this money and rob Peter and pay Paul, just for the sake of education. Using that philosophy, why not take the money and spend it on Medicare or Social Security shortfalls (why? because that supports older people and our government would rather see us dead than to pay what we are entitled to). But that really isn't the issue either, with the stimulus. The issue is about paying uncontrolled and stupidly encountered debt, by spending outside our means, and taking the money to be applied for jobs and throwing it at an area that people like Granmole created (too much education debt resulting from lacking revenue).

Stay tuned for next year at this time, it will be twice as bad as today, which was twice as bad as a couple years ago, so where are we? Further in the hole with no end in sight. Ya, education is needed. Get smart of the business of business and government and how corrupt both are, brought to you by incompetent legislatures that are only out for themselves, and write the books on how people can literally get away with murder.

Spend or save?

America, has gone systemically INSANE. America is eating it's "Seed Corn". EVERY CENT of that money is BORROWED from Foreigners. It should be spent only on INVESTMENTS for the future. It should be buying MEANS OF PRODUCTION for future repaying of the debt. It is BORROWED money that must be repaid WITH INTEREST. Spending it on "Today's Groceries" will leave you with debt PLUS INTEREST to repay.

SLASH government PAY and SPENDING. We are in a hole, QUIT DIGGING it DEEPER.

Money for schools? Take it from UNNECESSARY sources. Why don't you value your CHILDREN more than fish?! Why is no one questioning the dispersal of PUBLIC money in this State? Every year TENS of MILLIONS of dollars from The PUBLIC natural resources, the irreplaceable oil and gas revenues, are quietly turned over to "sportsmen". WHY? Money from Oil and Gas should be going to educate and research NEW energy resources. An "ELITE FEW" who already can afford to take a vacation fishing, should NOT be getting Taxpayer subsidies ...... that is SOCIALISM! There are millions of acres already dedicated to hunting and fishing, these MILLIONS of STATE acres are easily doubled by farmland that is hunted and fished, if these "manly men" think they need more, THEY should PAY for it, THAT is CAPITALISM. Where is their "rugged individualism? Why are the State's School Children subsidizing SOCIALISTIC recreation for those who turn right around and claim that hunting and fishing teaches "responsibility" Return that oil and gas money where it BELONGS, educating Scientists and providing Grants to discover the ENERGY America and Michigan need. Oil and Gas revenues should be used to fund the REPLACEMENT RESEARCH for the energy that their depletion will necessitate. America is in competition with all of Asia for jobs, America needs EDUCATION!

Spend or save?

Our gov't in Michigan screwed up by not cutting the fat several years ago...they raised taxes to pay for their bloated budget. Now there's so much that needs to be cut to balance the budget, that they are opting to use stimulus funds instead, to ease the pain - for this year. Next year will see pain much worse than this year. Read what good gov't would get us in this state:

Indiana governor announces more spending cuts

Nov 6, 4:56 PM (ET)

By MIKE SMITH

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) - Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels announced on Friday a series of spending cuts and other steps to offset a continuing multimillion-dollar dive in state revenues.

Among other things, Daniels has ordered agencies to cut spending by 10 percent; reductions in reimbursement rates for some Medicaid providers; no pay raises for state employees next year; delays in some building projects; and state employees be allowed to take unpaid leave voluntarily.

October tax collections were $46 million less than forecast in May and $309 million, or 7.4 percent, less than expected during the first four months of the fiscal year. If the trend continues at that rate without cuts, Daniels said the state's surplus that stood at $1.3 billion in July would be wiped out by next August.

Spend or save?

I thought the idea of the stimulus money was to stimulate the economy, not use to bay bills.

This just doesn't sound right, to use stimulus cash as you would use the general fund.

Spend or save?

The government, and this includes schools, has to cut back on spending like every other private enterprise. It doesn't take a degree in advanced mathematics to tell you when income (revenue from every tax they can dream up) decreases, spending has to decrease correspondingly so. More taxes is not the answer, your cannot replace the taxes missing from the unemployed on the backs of those who still remain employed just as you can not balance the state's budget on the back of state employees. Cuts have to be made. We're down to bare essentials as individuals the government must also quit funding anything but necessary essential spending. Michigan can no longer afford to be the welfare state it has been for decades. Best thing you can do for an unemployed person at this point is give em a bus ticket to an area where there is a significantly lower rate of unemployment. They can collect their Michigan unemployement somewhere where there is hope of a job, I personally recommend a warmer climate. Scools and govt need to cut out all but essential funding. And if by some chance they have a dollar left over from the current years budget it needs to be saved, not spent in order to justify that allotment or more the next year. I'm dipping into savings at this point as I sure is not uncommon. It appears the difference between ordinary humans and government is we put money away for a "rainy day" as they say when we can. One of the dumbest things govt did in recent history was roll back the state income tax rate. That miniscule increase in my paycheck wasn't a lifesaver by any means. Had they not done that and banked the money we wouldn't be as in bad of a situation as we are. At this point though no one wants to see any "increase" in taxes which is what it would be. And get rid of this earned income tax credit, you don't have a job, but the govt is going to give you money. Where did that come from. My paycheck? Is that what they do with the taxes I pay on my income, give it to someone that didn't even work. What the heck am I going to work for every day.

Spend or save?

The answer is a flat out NO. Not one penny of the federal stimulus money should be used to pay off any old debt, whether it be for education or to support Granny's trumped up agenda, whatever. The money is to stimulate the Michigan economy by providing funds for jobs and road work, and the like. Creating jobs provides the state with added revenue (dohhhh), revenue to pay bills, fund projects within reason.

The solution to Michigan's budget woes, brought about solely by the governor's spending beyond her revenue means, is not to rob Peter to pay Paul. The end result will still be - out of revenue for next year - so you haven't solved anything. Under her mentality, the only way she sees out of this is to raise taxes, and we all know that didn't work last time and won't work this time and won't work next time. Until she does something to create jobs and lower spending, nothing she does is going to work.

What money will Michigan have for education if we pay for the shortfall with stimulus money this year? Same as this year, you won't have the money - so you don't accomplish anything other than delay the inevitable - and that is her game plan in order to raise taxes............which we MUST prevent under any and all circumstances.

Jump to top