Comments on: Here’s What I Cut from WI State Gov’t

By: John Smart

John Smart — Sun, 09 Jul 2006 18:38:06 +0000

Oh, I know that this is silly, trying to reason this out with the “too young and spoiled and privileged.” I should just leave it alone.

However, I just returned from a meeting of the Governor’s Commission on the UN, and I am still exhilarated!

For your information, there already is a United Nations Association in the U.S.A., an NGO [non-governmental organization], one of many such throughout the world. We have active chapters in Wisconsin, and they participate in our deliberations. Clearly you were unaware of this, which is one of the elements of the Commission’s charge, to spread the word to Wisconsites of UN activities.

You say that it isn’t the state’s business to do this, but I submit that it most assuredly is. Conquering ignorance was long ago determined to be the state’s responsibility. The Governor’s Commission has a certain clout because of our genesis and assocation with the government, and we can bring attention to issues that independant organizations have difficulty promoting.

I’d also like to explain a bit about what the UN does, as you seem a bit callow and uncomprehending. The UN is far more than the ideological stuff you read in your daily conservative digests or hear on right-wing talk-radio. I spent three years as a Peace Corps volunteer in Uzbekistan [1995 - 1998, just prior to my official retirement], and I worked closely with UN people in the field. I can only repeat what “Milwaukee Guy” said about what the hard-working UN does for us, and for humanity. May I suggest that you get out in the world some, and then, when you’re more seasoned, re-examine this issue.

Again I say, cutting government expenditures is not a bad thing at all, as long as you use common sense. And the GOP majorities in both the congress and the legislature could use some help in that regard. They are the ones responsible for appropriating, after all, despite your efforts to blame the Governor.

By: Brandon Henak

Brandon Henak — Wed, 28 Jun 2006 15:51:13 +0000

I would even go as far as to classify it as a triple tax. As a I said before:
“When it comes down to it, the estate tax is a triple tax, not only is the income taxed when earned, but it is tax when assets are sold and again when someone dies. This is hardly fair or decent.”

By: Daniel

Daniel — Wed, 28 Jun 2006 13:22:19 +0000

Milwaukee Guy:
The question here is not whether the United Nations ought to exist, whether the US should pull out (which I oppose for the record), etc.
Rather, it is whether it is the proper role of state government to spend our tax dollars on a Governor’s Commission on the UN to educate Wisconsinites about the importance of the UN in world affairs. I answer that it is not.
You and Mr. Smart are more than welcome to band together, start an association or foundation, and advertise to the people of Wisconsin the various worthy endeavors of the UN if that is what you want to do. But it is not the proper role of state government to create and fund such a group.

By: SPET3R

SPET3R — Wed, 28 Jun 2006 05:09:51 +0000

ZC have you thought that just maybe Governor Doyle increased spending beyond the means the state can handle? If the state increases revenue say by 3-4% every year, why did he increase it by 10%? ANd why did he decide to use a line itme frankenstein veto to actually increase spending? Doesn’t make much sense… If you want a fiscal conservative, it isn’t Doyle. NO WAY.

Pick leaders with solutions to fix it otherwise we are in serious trouble. That includes all levels of Government.

By: Milwaukee Guy

Milwaukee Guy — Wed, 28 Jun 2006 05:02:25 +0000

You kids aren’t old enough to even understand why we have a UN, or the good it does in poor nations, or the value of diplomacy and negotiations that help keep you, yes you, safe.

You’re too young and spoiled and privileged, attending an elite private University, with way too much time on your hands. While you’re blogging, people working for the UN are putting their lives on the line, serving as peacekeepers, working in clinics in disease-ridden nations, clearing landmines left behind in farm fields in places like Cambodia, and so forth.

You brats should be ashamed of yourselves.

By: ZC

ZC — Wed, 28 Jun 2006 04:52:04 +0000

Gov. Doyle inherited a 3.5 billion dollar deficit from Tommy/Scott. He’s still working on fixing the structural deficit they left him. Republican’s failure on the state/federal level to manage a budget is one of my biggest disappointments in the allegedly fiscally conservative party and Green has been involved in both. I think Green’s terrible fiscal record in the state and federal legislature will be his downfall this cycle.

By: Daniel

Daniel — Wed, 28 Jun 2006 03:56:56 +0000

Yes, ZC, you can blame Gov. Doyle for the deficit. In Wisconsin, unlike on the federal level, the state budget must be balanced when it is made law. So there is no budgeted gap between expected revenue and expenditures. HOWEVER, what we in Wisconsin call a deficit is really more technically a structural deficit. Gov. Doyle built his budget withalmost $900 million in one-time funds, usually borrowed from designated funds like transportation or environmental clean-up. That means next year we have a structural deficit for all those one-time uses and borrows that the Governor did.