I am a little pissed at everyone participating in this sham we
call Government (including the dumb-ass opposition; let's see what old dirt we
can dig up on the present leader, cause that will help the province, the people
- oh wait it won't! You're just wasting money on stupid reviews and commissions, just suck it up you lost, and lost bad, move
on let's get to work on the real issues: more money for Healthcare, and
Education, free Post-Secondary for all Albertan's, or something fun like that...).
More so because I wanted this post to be about drivers that either bought their
driver’s license from their "neighbour" also from some other country
(sorry I know that sounds racist, but I am sure white foreign people do it too –
kidding, of course all foreigners do it), or they shed so many tears the guy has
to give it to them (I know that sounds sexist, but I am sure guys cry too –
kidding, I know they don’t). There cannot possibly be another reason all these idiots
are on the road. (Tasteless jokes aside: I mean ALL idiots; there is no color,
no language, no religion, and no origin of birth that delineates one idiot from
the next). Just one thing I must share, before I go back to bitching about
politics; if there are two lanes (meaning 4 or more lanes of traffic), one on the
right and one on the left (this is like the ABCs of driving) the right lane is
for those drivers going the posted speed limit or sadly slower, the left lane
is for those needing to pass ONLY(or like me, going over the speed limit) – don’t
stay in that lane if you want to drive 60km/hr in a 60km/hr zone, stay in the
God forsaken right lane! People unable to go the speed limit, just get off the
road, blow up your car and look to mushroom farming in somewhere unimportant
like Eastern Canada or Edmonton (jokes, just jokes people – not the getting off
the road part that is a given). Scared to go the speed limited, you shouldn't
be on the road; of course this can be overlooked for new drivers – but to ALL
you would be teachers, keep them in the right lane and teach them the REAL
rules of the road… and don’t award them their license until they are really
ready…
Wow, what the hell – Who was so upset he didn't get to talk about
terrible drivers, and then couldn't stop…. that would be me! Driving makes me
so angry now, ugh… and by driving, I mean other drivers!!!!
So, Alberta politics – f#&k! (I will speak mainly about the Provincial
Government, but I also mean all levels, Municipal and Federal too). The joys of a province whose, basically, sole
income is based on petroleum revenues, great when the prices are up, for shit
when the prices are down. Right now, they are down – so the panic button has
been pressed! We need to cut, we need to increase taxes!!!!! Chickens with
their heads cut off, and why? Because of a little debt. Do you know when government
should panic about its debt? Never! Or when it reaches a trillion dollars,
whichever comes first. Obviously you do not want to be in the same fiscal shape
as the US is now, or many of the countries in Europe, but seriously a few to 10
billion is not something a Government should be sweating. Oh how can you say
that Dan? I will tell you how (James stop reading now – yous be very angry with
me if you continue J). Well first off, the only way for a Government
not to be in debt is to increase revenue and/or decrease spending. Do we all
agree on that basic principal? Well here is where many people may disagree with
me (and that is OK, you are wrong but that is ok)…
Let’s first look at increasing revenue (sans worrying about
spending). The Government has very limited options to generate income, all but
one in the province of Alberta directly effects the citizens of the province.
The one that doesn’t, (again for Alberta only – sorry I am not as familiar with
other places, so not sure how other governments generate their total income),
is the revenue from oil, gas, etc (royalties). Otherwise, we all contribute to
the revenue of the province, be it Income Tax, Fuel Tax, Property Tax, Alcohol
Tax, Fees for Services ie car registration, licenses, etc – not sure if you
noticed, but most of those things included the word “tax”, because people that
is how a government makes most of its income. Now knowing there are very
limited ways for the government to earn/generate income takes us to spending.
So the people say NO MORE TAXES, the royalties decrease because of
low commodity prices, what is next – cuts to spending. What do “cuts to
spending” equate to? That is right, “cuts to services”. So what are the most
expensive items on the list of expenses a government has? Yep, Healthcare and
Education. Who cares I have lots of money, I would rather pay less taxes and
pay for my child’s education. Bull SHIT! The tax system may not always be fair,
but you have to admit there are many of you that use GIANT loopholes to insure
you pay as little as possible, and there are some people that only pay taxes
when they fill up their car or buy a bottle of vodka or a pack of cigarettes –
however you look at it, we all pay taxes. I personally, like most people, hate
taxes – but I like services. I like the fact we have an amazing educational
system. I like the fact we have universal healthcare. If you don’t, and think
you would rather pay less taxes and look after your own education and healthcare,
then you my friend have too much money$$$... I guess a good question is, (I was
only going to ask Albertan’s who narrowly survived the days of Ralph Klein’s
cutbacks – but really people in the US of A have been suffering through tons of
cuts over the years, especially education and healthcare – oh wait of course
those two areas, cause governments always start cutting those areas first, as
mentioned above), who likes cuts – not me… Oh wait, this is where people say, “but
there are other places governments can make cuts, like government officials salaries,
money to the poor (who are probably just lazy people scamming the system), or
salaries for unionized workers, or benefits to government employees and
officials” – seriously people, the only way to make a large enough dent in the
expense column is via Education, Healthcare, and Roads and Infrastructure…
Those other things that piss you off about government spending, don’t equate to
shit when you look at the actual list of expenditures. Fine you can cut them,
for no other reason except so you can feel better, but there will still need to
be cuts to the aforementioned areas.
Well now armed with the knowledge that cuts SUCK ASS and income is
limited, how are we all feeling about government debt? Oh right, I forgot about
the group that think the government should be run like a business (again James
hopefully you stopped reading when I told you to earlier). So to that group,
who sadly have huge numbers supporting the idea (please note that the majority
are business owners, and people that hate paying taxes – cause they already pay
too much, etc, etc), government is government, it is not a business. A person I
know said to me, “if I ran my business the way the government runs this
province, I would be out of business”… that is true, which is why a government
cannot be run like a business. Let’s use some, to me, very obvious items that
governments have to spend money on that would not work for a business model.
The first example, roads. The government makes NO money on roads, they spend
zillions of dollars on and for roads, but there is no return on this expense/investment.
There is no BUSINESS owner that would put money into an area that they are
assured would not increase the bottom line, and in fact would eat up their
potential net profits. That would be like you, Joe business owner, deciding to
buy a plane for your business with no intention to use it, just pay for storing
it and its upkeep. Does that make any business sense? Nope. How about
hospitals? Again no income to government, but they offer loads of expenses.
Schools? No income. The list can go on for miles and I, like you, am already
bored with reading Dan’s blog…
The moral to this little story – government is not a business,
governmental debt is good and necessary, all cuts in services are bad, and
taxes suck!
I also missed in my RANT, governments need to spend money for a city, province, state, or country to grow and generate money for the people. Austerity measures are illogical, inappropriate, and downright stupid. In government, you really do need to spend money to make money!!!
I want my city, my province, my country to be ran like a
government, not a business! I want it to be for the people, by the people – not
big business. Not ran by some rich ass in a suit that has lost his
way/mind/ideals, and not by people that think fear mongering is part of
politics/life… Oh, and not by any stupid people either! I know I should be
running the damn government, but I am kind of busy this week, so maybe next.
Until next time Blogonians [blawg-awn-ee -uh n]s…
Dan
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