AMERICAN CONSERVATISM IN 2008 AND BEYOND

More than a third of the streetlights in Colorado Springs will go dark Monday. The police helicopters are for sale on the Internet. The city is dumping firefighting jobs, a vice team, burglary investigators, beat cops " dozens of police and fire positions will go unfilled.

The parks department removed trash cans last week, replacing them with signs urging users to pack out their own litter.

Neighbors are encouraged to bring their own lawn mowers to local green spaces, because parks workers will mow them only once every two weeks. If that. Water cutbacks mean most parks will be dead, brown turf by July; the flower and fertilizer budget is zero.

Raising tax rates will not pay for reducing fed debt, because raising tax rates will further discourage purchasing and investing both by individuals and companies, and that in turn will reduce the magnitude of incomes taxed, thereby reducing fed receipts.

Lowering tax rates will encourage purchasing and investing both by individuals and companies, and that in turn will increase the magnitude of incomes taxed, thereby increasing fed receipts.

Reduce fed spending on unnecessary fed duplicate agencies, and reduce fed spending on surplu sfederal employees.

The deep recession bit into Colorado Springs sales-tax collections, while pension and health care costs for city employees continued to soar. Sales-tax updates have become a regular exercise in flinching for Mayor Lionel Rivera.

Voters in November said an emphatic no to a tripling of property tax that would have restored $27.6 million to the city's $212 million general fund budget. Fowler and many other residents say voters don't trust city government to wisely spend a general tax increase and don't believe the current cuts are the only way to balance a budget.

I agree 100%.
But that doesnt mean we cant do an agency by agency study of jobs and eliminate all of them that are redundant.

Then we eliminate all of the federal programs that are redundant.
That would save millions of dollars also.

Nowhere in that article did it say conservatives ran the city govt.
As a matter of fact, what it did say was

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The deep recession bit into Colorado Springs sales-tax collections, while pension and health care costs for city employees continued to soar. Sales-tax updates have become a regular exercise in flinching for Mayor Lionel Rivera.

But I notice that nobody mentioned cutting the pension and making city employees pay for their own healthcare.

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Voters in November said an emphatic no to a tripling of property tax that would have restored $27.6 million to the city's $212 million general fund budget. Fowler and many other residents say voters don't trust city government to wisely spend a general tax increase and don't believe the current cuts are the only way to balance a budget.

If the city cant spend wisely now, why should they be rewarded with more money?
Unless you think every person in that city is a conservative.

Colorado Springs is the most evangelical Christian city in one of the most Conservative counties in the nation. And has been for a long time.

Cycloptichorn

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Colorado Springs is the most evangelical Christian city in one of the most Conservative counties in the nation. And has been for a long time.

Cycloptichorn

That may be true, I dont know.
But that doesnt negate my point.
Why arent they talking about making city employees pay for their own healthcare or reducingg pensions?

Why is it the first thing the left goes for in any type of economic crisis raising taxes?

Probably because the employees of the city would revolt and quit. Can you imagine your workplace cutting your pension and healthcare all at the same time, and continuing to work there? I certainly wouldn't.

Conservatives argue that they would be replaced with people who are willing to work for less; but those are then shitty jobs that will not be taken by people who have self-respect and intelligence

I would think that a large part of it is the fact that Conservatives tend to slash the **** out of taxes whenever there is a shadow of a surplus

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Probably because the employees of the city would revolt and quit. Can you imagine your workplace cutting your pension and healthcare all at the same time, and continuing to work there? I certainly wouldn't.

I guess that depends.
If not agreeing to the cuts meant that I would not have a job, then I would probably agree to them.

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Conservatives argue that they would be replaced with people who are willing to work for less; but those are then shitty jobs that will not be taken by people who have self-respect and intelligence

I'm not sure what this sentence means.

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I would think that a large part of it is the fact that Conservatives tend to slash the **** out of taxes whenever there is a shadow of a surplus

If there is a budget surplus, that means the govt (city, county, state, or federal) that has the surplus didnt need all of the money they took in.
So what is wrong with giving that money back to the people that earned it?

The Conservatives on this thread seem to have been unable to articulate exactly how they would do these things without raising taxes...

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The Conservatives on this thread seem to have been unable to articulate exactly how they would do these things without raising taxes...

Allow me to step up to this challenge....

The answer is VERY simple...these things can be accomplished the EXACT same way that every average American household handles things when they hit tough times. They can't go to their boss and demand additional income so they cut back on the foolishness!

Tighten your belt until you're out of the hole!
No more private government jets for Mrs. Pelosi.
No bridges to nowhere.
No government funded studies of the breeding habits of tree frogs in Costa Rica.

You just say NO!

It's painfully obvious...unless you're a spendaholic.

No more private government jets for Mrs. Pelosi.

No government funded studies of the breeding habits of tree frogs in Costa Rica. No damn ejacation at all. I hate edjaction, have since I flunked third grade five times. After that, no more for me! I'd had my fill of that stuff.

Or perhaps you could detail where and what you would cut - not fictitious items like the ones you listed; actual programs that you would axe and the amounts they would save. I also wonder if you are willing to do the same with defense spending?

even you have to admit that $1.8 million to study why pigs smell is a waste of money.