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Family Life & Relationships: Kerry and the big dig

600| Sat, 08 Dec 2007 14:17:00 GMT| itags.org Seeker| Comments (31)
Just curious as why anyone thinks that Kerry is going to be so great. He has been part of the most expensive government waste screw-ups in history. Kerry even stood in the way as McCain tried to stop this overspending. Kerry also received donations from people involved in the project.

The Big Dig project has become a symbol of government contracting gone awry, known for its huge cost overruns that now total several billion dollars and its admissions of mismanagement. During the 1990s, Sens. Kerry and Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., helped win new federal funding for the project as its costs skyrocketed and threatened to burden the states government. In 1998, Kerry was credited with winning $100 million in new federal funding. http://www.showmenews.com/2004/Feb/20040208News030.asp

John Kerry has no intention of preserving President Bushs tax cuts for working Americans, continued Norquist. Kerry intends to raise taxes on 94 millions Americans to pay for his bloated new government spending program Americans for tax relief (http://www.atr.org/pressreleases/2004/october/pr-Kerry_taxcuts-10-04-04.htm)

Kerry will spend, tax, and control!

Keywords & Tags: kerry, big, dig, family, life, relationships

URL: http://www.healthknowledge.org/family-life-relationships/39753/
 
«« Prev - Next »» 31 helpful answers below.
Well, since I live in the Boston area, I know that if Kerry and Kennedy hadn't gotten federal funds, we would have been stuck with road work, eternally. So had I been Kerry, I would certainly have tried to get more funding. Finally the furshliginer project is finished. Of course some of the cost overruns are because the contractors are...the same ones we are employing to work in Iraq. Uh oh.

Here's the flaw in your logic, Laura. Kerry will tax and spend. Bush has just...spent. That's why we have a huge federal deficit. Now, if you are a person on whom the money will be spent--for example, a veteran who will get services at a VA hospital, a teacher who will actually get the funds to implement Bush's No Child Left Behind program (instead of just the mandates of the program) or any number of other Americans--you gotta love Kerry.

If you prefer for your tax money to line the pockets of war profiteers, then certainly Bush is your man. I'd even prefer the feds to pay for the Big Dig over some of the shady deals going down in Iraq.

itags.org Seeker | Tue, 11 Dec 2007 03:12:00 GMT |

Well, no one else thought this was even interesting, but I've come back to post some links to substantiate what I'm saying.

The cost overruns on the Big Dig were the joint responsibility of the MA state gov't, specifically the Mass Turnpike Authority, and the contractors. The main contractor was Bechtel. (Wikipedia, a supposed-to-be neutral source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Dig)

Bechtel is also 1) a huge contributor to both political parties, and 2) a major contractor in the rebuilding of Iraq:
http://www.opensecrets.org/news/rebuilding_iraq/index.asp

If Bush is so great, and the Big Dig was so terrible, then why did the Bush Admministration hire Bechtel, who basically screwed up the Big Dig, to rebuild Iraq?

itags.org Seeker | Tue, 11 Dec 2007 03:13:00 GMT |

Hey - I thought this was interesring, CO - but I thought your response pretty much summed everything up, and I didn't have anything else to add. :thumb

itags.org Seeker | Tue, 11 Dec 2007 03:14:00 GMT |

And your answer is SQ.....

By the way do you know that Bush eliminated the tax write off to teachers?

Yup that's right.

For all his bru haha about education the measly $250 teachers were allowed to write off for expenses spent on classroom supplies is null and void....nice.

And in addition....how come it is okay that Bush just spends?

How are we going to get out of this debt? Do you mind your twins paying for it?

itags.org Seeker | Tue, 11 Dec 2007 03:15:00 GMT |

My answer is people have their heads in the sand if they think Kerry is going to do anything different that what he has in the past. He is a lifetime politician being financed by special interests. He'll turn a blind eye to government waste and the first thing he'll do is raise taxes how else is he going to fund his promises.

itags.org Seeker | Tue, 11 Dec 2007 03:16:00 GMT |

And how is Bush funding his?

My head is not in the sand and I hope very much that Kerry is not going to be different than he's been in the past. He's not interested in letting his rich oil buddies trash the environment for their private profit. I find that to be a goodthing.

He's spent his life working FOR people, as opposed to running businesses into the ground and getting no consequences from the failures.

itags.org Seeker | Tue, 11 Dec 2007 03:17:00 GMT |

My answer is people have their heads in the sand if they think Kerry is going to do anything different that what he has in the past. He is a lifetime politician being financed by special interests. He'll turn a blind eye to government waste and the first thing he'll do is raise taxes how else is he going to fund his promises.

All of this is true. In fact, Kerry himself has been honest about his intention to reverse Bush's tax cuts on some wealthier taxpayers. That means he will raise taxes, because the status quo is that those taxes are down.

I don't think this is a bad thing. I prefer that if we are going to spend money that we actually take in some money, as a nation. That's how we do it at home. Don't you?

As far as the "special interest" thing--Bush has raised more money than any other politician, ever. Though Kerry has done pretty well! A lot of Kerry's donations have been from individuals giving amounts less than $200. Here's the breakdown of the top donors to each presidential candidate:

http://www.opensecrets.org/presidential/contriball.asp

It looks like some of the donors give to all the candidates.

Here's the chart by sectors, so you can see who is in the pockets of which special interests:

http://www.opensecrets.org/presidential/sectorall.asp?cycle=2004

It looks like Bush gets about the same, or a little more, money from "ideology/single issue" funders, and that Bush gets a lot of money from "energy" (well, I figure that means oil!) and from the financial industry. (Hmm, maybe banks like it when people run up a lot of credit card debt? One can only speculate. Though clearly the financial sector gives a lot of money to all the candidates.)

In short, Bush and Kerry are equally in the pockets of special interests.

I would like to mull over the government waste issue and come back.

itags.org Seeker | Tue, 11 Dec 2007 03:18:00 GMT |

:-).

first of all...Bush started out his presidency with a surplus, a HUGE surplus. Where is it now? Wasted on a war.

as someone who is, well, slightly familiar with the NEVERENDING HELL that is the Big Dig, I assure you, Republicans have screwed it up plenty.

Someone above said that you have to TAX people (and not just poor people, but rich people and corperations too!) to get money needed for huge assed projects like the Dig.

That was a good point that person made.

Listen to that person.

-K

itags.org Seeker | Tue, 11 Dec 2007 03:19:00 GMT |

Ah. Government waste. I found you a lovely link:

http://bodyandsoul.typepad.com/blog/2004/10/custer_and_the_.html

Custer Battles is a company with no experience whatsoever in the security industry and an owner who has contributed to Republican causes and is a former Republican congressional candidate. Can you think of anyone more deserving of a $16 million contract to provide security for the Baghdad Airport?...

The company hired Nepalese Gurkhas to fill out its limited staff and quickly expanded its presence. It won a contract in August 2003 to provide logistical support for a massive currency exchange in which Iraqis turned in trillions of old dinars for the nation's new currency.

That contract committed the Coalition Provisional Authority to paying for all the company's costs for setting up centers where the exchanges would take place, plus a 25% markup for overhead and profit, according to the Air Force memo signed by Deputy General Counsel Steven A. Shaw.

Custer Battles then purchased trucks, equipment and housing units to carry out the contract. It created a series of "sham companies" registered in the Cayman Islands and Lebanon, the memo said.

The companies were then used to create false invoices making it appear as though they were leasing the trucks and other equipment to Custer Battles. The scheme inflated the 25% markup allowed under the contract, the memo said.

When you worry about government waste, think about the way that the Bush administration has dealt with Iraq. Think Bechtel Corp, the folks who screwed up the Big Dig, and their major role in Iraq. Think of the infinitely less reputable Custer Battles.

Think Enron, for goshsakes!

Now let's talk about Kerry. Kerry is the guy who cracked the Bank of Credit and Commerce International, the bank that funded a lot of terror operations, in the 1980s.

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/features/2004/0409.sirota.html

Kerry's big schtick in the Senate was investigating corruption.

Kerry has a better record on the government waste and the government integrity issues than Bush.

Not to give you advice or anything, but I think you should try attacking Kerry on an area on which Bush is strong. Bush is very weak on the economy.

itags.org Seeker | Tue, 11 Dec 2007 03:20:00 GMT |

I've seen threads with SQ like this before. I don't think she understands the issues.

Of course Kerry will raise taxes. Bush's tax cuts to the wealthiest are some of what put us in this awful bind. They need to be raised - back to where they were when we had the best budget surplus in history!

All politicians are funded by special interests of one kind or another. But I'd rather have one funded by labor unions than by the oil industry!

itags.org Seeker | Tue, 11 Dec 2007 03:21:00 GMT |

My answer is people have their heads in the sand if they think Kerry is going to do anything different that what he has in the past. He is a lifetime politician being financed by special interests. He'll turn a blind eye to government waste and the first thing he'll do is raise taxes how else is he going to fund his promises.

And how exactly is Bush going to continue to fund the war? You do realize, don't you, that Bush took the biggest surplus ever and turned it into the biggest deficit ever, don't you? How do you fund tax cuts, pass every spending bill that comes through, and spend $100 billion plus on a war? Who exactly is going to pay for that?

itags.org Seeker | Tue, 11 Dec 2007 03:22:00 GMT |

:LOL
Senator Kerry received less in special interest money during his *entire 19 year career* as a senator than Bush received from one donor, Enron, in one campaign.

I sure hope he continues as he has always done. Kerry mortgaged his own house to run a pac free senatorial campaign. How many senators in the GOP would rather sleep on the floor at a friends' house than take pac money?

:thumb

itags.org Seeker | Tue, 11 Dec 2007 03:23:00 GMT |

Table 1 shows that even these lower-end projections reveal a 2008 budget deficit of $443 billion--which is $232 billion higher than the Kerry campaign's $211 billion target. Far from being a deficit reduction plan, Kerry's plan actually increases the 2008 budget deficit above the CBO baseline. Unless he scales back his ambitious spending plans, Senator Kerry would need to raise taxes by an additional $232 billion--or $2,090 per household--on top of his current proposed tax increases in order to fulfill his deficit reduction pledge. Kerry's budget (http://www.heritage.org/Research/Budget/bg1797.cfm)

You can scroll to the bottom of the page for the resources used for the article.

itags.org Seeker | Tue, 11 Dec 2007 03:24:00 GMT |

SQ - please enlighten me as to how Bush plans on continuing to pay for this war.

Please enlighten me as to wether or not you think it is okay for your twins to take on a tax burden that should be equally split, meaning among the RICH and the BUSINESSES!!!

Please enlighten me as to wether or not you think Halliburton, in their no bid contract, overcharging the American people (think support our troops here) is an example of pork spending?

itags.org Seeker | Tue, 11 Dec 2007 03:25:00 GMT |

So I went to read this Heritage Foundation article on Kerry's budget, and noticed this key paragraph:

Campaigns typically understate the cost of their spending proposals. In addition, tax rate increases, such as those proposed by Senator Kerry, reduce incentives to work, save, and invest, thereby reducing economic growth and leaving less income to tax. Consequently, it is likely that Senator Kerry's spending proposals will cost more than advertised and that his proposed tax increases will produce less revenue than projected.

In other words, Kerry's budget will result in a deficit if you believe that cutting taxes actually works to promote economic growth. But Bush has already slashed taxes, and I see that he is presiding over a job LOSS economy, with a record budget DEFICIT. Before he took office there was a budget SURPLUS and close to full employment.

what I wonder is, who is this Brian Riedl guy and where does he get his enormous chutzpah?

itags.org Seeker | Tue, 11 Dec 2007 03:26:00 GMT |

tax rate increases, such as those proposed by Senator Kerry, reduce incentives to work, save, and invest,

?? Says who? People still have to work, save and invest to get by.

itags.org Seeker | Tue, 11 Dec 2007 03:27:00 GMT |

I've yet to meet a person at any level of income say "oh, if I make more my taxes will go up, better back off."

Fact is if you've got more money to begin with, you still have more money after taxes, even at a higher percentage.

The very idea that people will stop trying to earn and save more because *gasp* they'll have to pay taxes on it is bullshit. And it's not even fit-for-fertilizer bs too.

itags.org Seeker | Tue, 11 Dec 2007 03:28:00 GMT |

Hmmm. And how IS Bush going to pay for his war? Where's Ross Perot to say "voodoo economics" when you need him?

itags.org Seeker | Tue, 11 Dec 2007 03:29:00 GMT |

Moving this to War and Politics. Please post in Activism only those topics that encourage or direct one to specific activism.

itags.org Seeker | Tue, 11 Dec 2007 03:30:00 GMT |

Sleeping Queen, would you mind giving a reference for the quote in your sig line?

No longer innocently oppressed, America has become a nation of belligerent beggars, demanding with insufferable arrogance an endless cornucopia of government handouts, subsidies, and "entitlements," deferring the multi-trillion dollar tab upon our children and grandchildren.

I have to say that every time I read it, it seems obvious that the person who wrote those words, and by extention, the person quoting them, really has a tenuous grasp at best on how our federal budget works. I would like to investigate the source of the quote to see by what strange logic one arrives at the conclusion stated.

itags.org Seeker | Tue, 11 Dec 2007 03:31:00 GMT |

In addition, tax rate increases, such as those proposed by Senator Kerry, reduce incentives to work, save, and invest, thereby reducing economic growth and leaving less income to tax.

One would have thought that this variant of the Laffer curve theory would have been totally discredited by now, since we have not seen any results in the 30 years that it has been peddled by the right.

One could argue just as well that tax rate increases increase incentives to work, save and invest, since that is the way one would have to increase one's income.

But in the fantasy world of neo-con faith based economics, if an investor does not get it the way he want, he just falls down in a dead faint.

itags.org Seeker | Tue, 11 Dec 2007 03:32:00 GMT |

SQ, I see you suddenly changed your sig line, but I'd still like to know the source of the quote, if you don't mind.

Edited to add: Ew. Never mind, I found him. It's rather an out-dated quote, don't you think? No wonder it didn't make sense.

I won't link to your source because it would violate MDC's rules.

itags.org Seeker | Tue, 11 Dec 2007 03:33:00 GMT |

SQ,

We ,Canadians, though we cannot vote...would also like the source of your original sig line...thank you...

:hippie...ps:does this smilie infigurate your kind?

itags.org Seeker | Tue, 11 Dec 2007 03:34:00 GMT |

MamaSoleil, I don't think you really want to know, after all. I feel slimy just for having read his racist, homophobic, sexist, anti-American garbage. Better to save yourself the trip into the gutters.

itags.org Seeker | Tue, 11 Dec 2007 03:35:00 GMT |

I can't find it. I would have to go through all the history on my computer for last week. Any fast way to find something off your computer?

itags.org Seeker | Tue, 11 Dec 2007 03:36:00 GMT |

Ummm, SQ, you might want to go back and read the last couple of posts before your most recent one. 'Cause, ummm, I already found him.



:Puke

itags.org Seeker | Tue, 11 Dec 2007 03:37:00 GMT |

http://www.freerepublic.com/forum/a3a8eeaab6555.htm

itags.org Seeker | Tue, 11 Dec 2007 03:38:00 GMT |

Oh, abimommy.

Am I free to let loose now that you've opened the CanOWorms? Because just reading the article posted by the freepers doesn't exactly give a whole picture of the man who wrote those words...

Sadly, I think I still can't say anything, nor even link to his other articles, because they contain disgusting and blatent racist, homophobic and sexist material...and that would violate MDC's rules. I guess anyone who wants to read more could PM me for the link.

I'm going to give SQ the benefit of the doubt and assume she just didn't know any better. Perhaps she only read this one article as well, and never had time between episodes of gently disciplining her twins to look further at the man she chose to quote.

itags.org Seeker | Tue, 11 Dec 2007 03:39:00 GMT |

Bumping for SQ...I want to make sure you don't waste time looking on your computer for the source, since I already found him. Read the last few posts if you want to refresh your own memory.

itags.org Seeker | Tue, 11 Dec 2007 03:40:00 GMT |

How in the heck did you find it? Is there a way to search quotes?

itags.org Seeker | Tue, 11 Dec 2007 03:41:00 GMT |

Simple. Google knows all.

itags.org Seeker | Tue, 11 Dec 2007 03:42:00 GMT |

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