Wrong again Gene-o

I need a break from the tedious work that Friday is giving me. So let's talk about the paper. I find one writer for the Milwaukee Journal to be particularly interesting. Eugene Kane sometimes has some great insight. Other times he is simply silly. Yesterday we got the latter. He writes about the Pizza Man fire and has this interesting tidbit, one that he is completely wrong about.

The "tea party" movement, along with other tax revolt groups upset with increased government spending, advocates a new era in which most citizens don't have to depend on government for anything, including health care. When it comes to police and fire protection, however, that seems to fall in a different category.

What matters most depends mainly on your priorities: Would you prefer your tax dollars go to pay for more cops on the streets or filling potholes? What about keeping the county park system one of the best in the nation? Don't forget about public transportation, public schools and of course, whenever you need a firefighter, it's usually always a pretty pressing matter.

See, this is the stuff you get from liberals. They make it sound like it is a choice between one or the other. Like someone with city goverment would actually make a decision between cops or potholes. Like people would say we do not need either a police force or fire department. Stupid arguments there Mr. Kane.

I do like how he mentions 2 of the most wasteful, tax payer draining items in Milwaukee- public transportation and public schools- which leads me to my true point. What the tea party movement wants is efficency and accountability, something that is sorely lacking in Milwaukee's government and the federal government. If the schools were firing the crappy teachers and actually graduating kids with good grades instead of shuffling them through the system, people wouldn't complain. If we didn't spend a couple hundred grand for bike racks on buses that may get used 7 months out of the year, people wouldn't complain. It is the waste of money at many levels that gets people mad. The Obama administration is spending $800 billion but has lost more jobs that saved or created. The stimulus is the biggest boondoggle to come along in years. It did the exact opposite of what is was supposed to do. Or at least what we were told it would do.

If a corporation or any small business wasted money like the government does they would not be in business for long. The government needs to act like a business in areas where it can. If that mean a police or fire department being more efficient with fewer people- something that has been common in the business world for the last year- then so be it. If public workers need to take a furlough for a couple days because the money isn't there to pay them, then shut up and be happy to be employed. Many people in the private sector- those paying the public worker- have seen their pay cut across the board and have lost benefits. It is time the government do the same.