Jackson Jambalaya

hypocrites they are

Not true. The Democrats are right about the Republicans and the Republicans are right about the Democrats. Until the stupid ass majority of American people start to understand that they are being played like a fiddle they will continue to be played like a fiddle.

They have to raise the debt ceiling to keep on funding the gov. When you start to study how this all works, you then begin to realize that they really can't do squat besides offer a tax break (bc no one really wants to pay for their actions).

The true financial rape started under W, accelerated massively under O, and here we are today. I think the only time in my life the budget was ever balanced was under Clinton and that was probably smoke and mirrors. The political realities have changed so much since then. I miss the 90's.

The Orwellian state, I mean the war on terror and subsequent war on everything else is quite expensive, but it makes the contractors happy.
We still have people that think that the invasion of Iraq was a smart move. Our friends died and it created a vacuum for real terrorists.

The project for the new American century (neo-con war plan) is going to do us in if not war with North Korea. They keep any healthy discussion on these matters at bay by decrying "liberal!"

Private central bank owners are reaping huge profits charging interest on their printed money and lobbyist are making a fortune grabbing their share of our tax dollars. No establishment politician wants a small government. They just want goverment to fund their crap. Nobody in power benefits from a small government or paying off the debt. It won't end well.

11--the 90's were the tech (internet) boom years-so much more than now. it was easier to balance a budget then.

as long as each and every member of congress has to bring something 'home' from DC, that budget is going to keep on ballooning. it really doesn't matter if there's a R or a D by the name...they all bring home 'something'

Comments 11:00 and 1:20 are intelligent.

"Comments 11:00 and 1:20 are intelligent."

The world I worked in for many years required that for anybody sitting at the big table to bring up a problem (and rattle on about it ad nauseum) required that it be accompanied by at least one possible solution. Two were better.

Neither 11:00 nor 1:20 do that, so they are NOT intelligent. And neither are you, 1:50.

@3:38 in addition to raising the debt ceiling, shave the non essentials off the budget off one year at a time. In addition, enact regulatory reform and remove the barriers of protectionism for cronies that prevent the actualization of a true free market.

As far as climate change goes, the free market also has solutions that don't require subsidies or funding from customers before they're built.

Finally, raise all hell with military contractors that deliver overpriced products that don't work as intended.

Also, quit letting them change the rules every year for the "improvement of America" when it does nothing of the sort, but rather increases the need for private contractors and consultants.

If it's all possible, I'd like my rights back as well that the governmnet is supposed to protect--not destroy.

Those solutions make too much sense though.

This is not a solution but something to ponder... for a government that can create money at any time, is controlling inflation more important than the national debt? The government could "print" (change numbers in the Federal Reserve system) $20 trillion right now to pay off the debt. Now they wouldn't do that, but it is possible. the national budget is just a political tool to give handouts / favors and fulfill campaign promises.

As long as all parties are of the same ilk...., oh, never mind.

at the state level, look at what mississippi did with the 2016 legislative "bond bill" --- house bill 1729. $308 million in additional debt burden --- your future tax dollars --- for a christmas-tree-collection of earmarked goodies. tate reeves and philip gunn passed the bill with the support of nearly every democrat and nearly every member of the republican supermajority. jim hood, phil bryant, and lynn fitch rubber stamped the bond bill even though the treasurer (vowed in an open letter to legislative leadership that the bond commission "will not rubber-stamp legislative bond bills."

republican and democrats alike showed no commitment to stop or curb a reckless, pork-laden bond package. at least four of the players partly responsible for this huge debt are top-of-the-ticket possibilities in 2019: the lt. gov. who used the bond bill as leverage to get house members to go along with his massive franchise tax cut; the atty gen who claimed he couldn't substitute his judgment for the judgment of the legislature on the expenditure of $308 million dollars (even though he refused to appeal a court ruling blocking the religious liberty accommodations bill the legislature passed because an appeal could cost "hundreds of thousands" in legal fees); the state treasurer who publicly railed against the bond bill before caving in and voting to authorize the projects once the bond commission finally met; or the freshman house democrat who couldnt get off of his facebook page long enough to figure out the taxpayer money the legislature will have to spend to service the debt for landscaping and ball fields could have been better used on public education or mental health.

whether in jackson or in washington, the debt wont be controlled as long as politicians are unwilling to put the general public's interest ahead of their fellow party members and special interests; and as long as the general public is unwilling to hold those same politicians accountable.

HEAR! HEAR! @ 11:23!

The solution is not difficult in concept, just in implementation.
Revenues have to increase and spending has to decrease.
We need to raise more taxes with strategic tax reform and reduce spending with strategic cuts.
Not all spending in bad. It is good if it creates a future return on investment. ( If you add a bathroom to your house for $20000 and it adds $40000 to your home market value, that's good spending) . It's bad to postpone spending ( example: infrastructure) if the expenditure is necessary and will cost more in the future. If you don't repair the roof, water damages will add to repair costs.
These across the board tax cuts and spending cuts are ridiculous. It's cutting non essentials and essentials the same.
Budget reform is never mentioned, but it's key. No department of government should be looking to increase on decrease based on last year's budget alone. You have to evaluate whether or not your costs and spending last fiscal year was efficient or wasteful.
To do this requires actual work by our elected officials and their staffs. If they cooperated, they could divide the labor. And, unlike the past, it's not "mission impossible". The computer age has made it mission possible. It's just hard work.
Taxes and spending is math. It's not political philosophy but both parties had led you to believe it is. Math either adds up or it doesn't. It can be demonstrated that the formula works or it doesn't. It hasn't worked to believe in voodoo economics. I wish voodoo worked, but it hasn't. It increases debt and eventually one has to pay the creditors.
Our neighbors in South America should be our poster children. They have always done political philosophies in the extreme.
PS Clinton balanced the budget, he didn't erase the debt.He simply made it possible to reduce the debt and The Contract with America helped..
Please stop this absolutely dysfunctional blame game created by the political parties to keep you from looking at the facts. With the possible exception of George Washington, none of our Presidents were perfect and they made blunders as well as accomplished some good things. None of our Presidents accomplished anything without good help and support and advice and all had problems with bad advice and information.
We are as a country have become the bad neighbors who would rather scream and shout and throw things at each another than have a good marriage! Right fighters destroy themselves and make life miserable for those around them. Get a grip on your emotions!

We do not need to raise more revenue. Revenue continues to increase every year at record levels.

But sooner or later you will run out of a source for taxes. The half of our working age population that actually works will eventually tire of those who raise their taxes and those who suck at the public tit.

To simplify it, those pulling the wagon periodically look over their shoulders at the growing number riding in the wagon and get damned tired of it. A saturation point will be reached and your 'voodoo taxation' bullshit will be out the window.

Revenue increases or Federal contributions is more likely.

Either way it goes, there's a fundamental difference between both party's - that is there's no tax a Democrat doesn't like and there's no tax cut a Republican doesn't like.

That's how it should be, but where we are lost as a nation is how to maintain this country and the way of life we are used to in regards to: military, first responders, education, transportation, healthcare and our environment.

But instead of focusing on those issues year in and year out, our governments choose to focus on legislating morality.

In turn ignoring infrastructure issues, increasing breakdowns and functions in our infrastructure, meaning higher costs to improving and/or building new and improved parts.

All are easy fixes, but Americans are complicit in electing partisan tacticians instead of officials who want to get things done.

As far as Mississippi goes - there's a Republican Supermajority, so there are no excuses for them because they have the voting power, they passed the current fiscal legislation, we are now sitting back and watching the results from the fruits of their labor. And right now we can see that they did nothing to improve Mississippi's economic footing in the American economy. We are still last in education. We are still last in quality of life.

Welp, let's elect Tate Reeves and let him dig us down deeper in the rabbit hole.

High wind warning @ 8:08 AM.

You are right 5:08. And as long as we remain in 'The Bible Belt' and continue to admire our personal position on morality, we will languish. And we will continue to believe it's our responsibility to elect people who promise their morals resemble our own. That's all that matters.

So we continue to ignore everything other than personal morals and judgment of other people and we keep electing people who will screw us and enrich themselves. Stupid stuff like infrastructure, education and quality of life be damned.

9:48 am You seem not to have noticed that costs have increased as well. You seem not to have noticed that it's not just federal debt that increased but all debt including personal debt. You ignore the concentration of wealth and the decline of the middle class.
You haven't noticed apparently that a dollar today buys less than it did in the past.
And, you clearly don't understand that it's not the amount of money you have but whether or not you squander it and fail to invest it in the future so that wealth is increased.
And, you've missed that by not investing in education wisely with attention to curriculum, we have a non-competitive workforce and high tech jobs that unfilled.
I wish the world was as simple as your mind.

@ 1:36am

Let me add this. Not saying we shouldn't be moral and ethical citizens, but I look at those things as common sense. We should elect good citizens. But that shouldn't be the only focus and it seems in Mississippi that is usually the only focus.

That's why so many of them push on what church they are a member of and use their family's as props.

"And, you've missed that by not investing in education wisely with attention to curriculum, we have a non-competitive workforce and high tech jobs that unfilled."

yada yada from the woman who works at the State Ed Dept. Where are these unfilled 'high tech' jobs?

You must know that if we tinker too much with 'the curriculum', 80% of public school scholars will fail.

The literacy rate in Mississippi is abysmal especially in rural areas. One would think that being 'the buckle of the Bible belt' would help literacy in general as the Bible itself is quite a challenging read, but that's not the case.

On another note, financial literacy has been all but abandoned (something every child should be equipped with to tackle the real world), but that's not a goal either that I know of.

All we hear is "fund/ invest in education" when: A) save reading gate, the basics aren't being tackled in any meaningful way & B) most of the money per the status quo never sees the light of a classroom in most cases.

After so many years of compulsory attendance, these kids start to realize what they're truly up against and just drop out. It is an inconvenient truth, but it IS the truth. So, come back with a meaningful way to change the system from within that's not based on using children for the profit of administrators and consultants AND THEN we might be more apt to "invest".

Until then, your plight for funding is falling on deaf ears. Redirecting the focus to STEM is tantamount to asking us to build a bigger house on a really shaky foundation.

You seem not to have noticed

You seem not to have noticed

You ignore

You haven't noticed apparently

And, you clearly don't understand

And, you've missed that

I wish the world was as simple as your mind.

"The half of our working age population that actually works will eventually tire of those who raise their taxes and those who suck at the public tit." --10:01am

43% of American households pay no federal income taxes. This number varies from year to year, obviously. Still, many of those households pay Social Security and Medicare taxes. This drops the rate to around 14.4% of American households that pay no federal taxes. Again, this number varies from year to year. 9.7% of that 14.4% are elderly. Only 4.7% of the working age population pays no federal taxes. [1]

"We do not need to raise more revenue. Revenue continues to increase every year at record levels." --9:48 am

Correct, excepting during the Great Recession. [2] It is estimated that the U.S. Federal Government will collect $3.4 Trillion for FY2017. If we spent the same in 2017 as we did in 2013, we would have a balanced budget with zero deficit. We would still have $20 Trillion in Federal debt.

"You ignore the concentration of wealth..."

I have found it amazing that once you have no debts (either student loans, autos, mortgages, credit cards) by living a frugal life, that the power of compound interest makes one wealthy.

"Where are these unfilled 'high tech' jobs?" -- 11:40 pm

I am the hiring manager on the following two positions. I have five more high tech jobs available, but they are not listed (yet).

https://jobs.saic.com/search/?q=&q2=&title=&location=MS&date=

By the way, I am happy to sign my real name.

Fletcher Adams

[1] http://zfacts.com/47-percent
[2] https://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/budget/Historicals