Myrtle Beach Bike Week 2009

Throughout 2009, while citizens of the country were faced with a terrible economy, foreign wars, extreme impartiality of Congress and sniping, no improvement in major issues of this country as the national debt soared, high unemployment, failing public schools, widespread drug addiction, higher health care costs, and other important issues, it is the politicians are concerned? Looking back on 2009, there appears to have been three distinct categories of American political behavior: The Good, The Bad, and the ugly.

The Good

By all accounts 2009 was a difficult year in America. The good news is that I could identify some areas where the political class does good things. The bad news is that I could come up with three examples where the actions of politicians and fellow taxpayers had in mind when performing their actions:

1) The first example is based on personal experience. I live in Pinellas County, Florida and over the last four years, my property taxes have decreased over one year to another. They have declined so much that I pay about 40% less in taxes now I paid four years ago with a large proportion of this decline occurring in 2009. There are probably a number of factors, both political and nonpolitical, have been devoted to this decline, but the point is they have dropped significantly. And here's the good news: I still have police protection, I still have protection against fires, schools remain open, the parks are still open, most libraries are still open and the roads and traffic movement are still in good condition. This proves that on a very local level, excess waste can be taken outside the government, without substantial reduction in the protection and essential services. The primary word in the preceding sentence is essential.

2) The second example comes from the United States Senate and was a suggestion and formal proposal to the Senate by Senator Lamar Alexander of Tennessee. His reasoning: because the federal government has paid about $ 60 billion American taxpayers' money to acquire a 60% share of General Motors and theoretically save it from bankruptcy, should not every American taxpayer to obtain share certificates and partial ownership of GM rather than bureaucrats in Washington? After all, since the government is able to function only because it takes money from taxpayers if the government acquires property in a private company, does not this mean that the taxpayers own the company because it was their money? Senator Alexander was the only politician of this year showed that he understood the relationship between paying taxes and public spending. Giving citizens the GM shares would provide more interest in how GM made in the future because each citizen would have been better survival, probably give GM a better chance of survival as he and government property. Unfortunately, the suggestion of the Senator has not been approved by the Senate.

3) The final example comes from a small town in southern Florida, Miami Gardens. In the last year, the Miami Gardens city government has taken the following measures:

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  The payroll has increased city. Almost everywhere else in the country unemployment has increased.
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  City employees still received the cost of living raises and merit raises. Almost everywhere else in the country salaries and wages have been frozen or reduced.
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  The city has increased its financial reserves of about $ 300,000. Almost everywhere else in the country, local governments and state plunged into their reserves to cover operating costs.
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  The city has 17 parks and modernized four schools. Most other government entities have been the reduction or elimination of maintenance projects.

How Miami Gardens able to do all these positive elements.