Hmmm....come to think about it, I've never seen the two together in the same room.   

O come on research into wooden arrows is always money well spent!@

you know, this entire discussion made me think of this:

http://www.bigheadpress.com/eft?page=1

This is where we are headed.

Yes I have, on several occasions.

uh oh, he is on to me... i better get a hologram!

I have been blogging here for over four years and constantly complaining "America needs to stop sending money to countries that hate us and start fixing our infrastructure" Our dams and bridges are in terrible shape, our roadways stink, our elictrical grids are over worked and out of date, we have homeless combat vets in the richest country on the planet, this is criminal in my opinion.

Need I go on?

In my mind it boils down to this. 

The gov has enough of our money.  It needs to learn to budget what it has.

Anything above necessity (to keep the country united and safe) is robbery imo.

the answer is deceptively obvious. a percentage of that 2 mil will go to useless wasteful stuff, a percentage will go to paying for good government programs.

^ we have a winner. Ive been called so many names for opposing taxes, when it boils down to the fact, im not agenst taxes , just the way its spent. There is so much garbage a waisted spending that its not really fair to take MORE money and spend it foolishly. Anything with GOVERNMENT attached to it pretty much means that it will cost 2x as much to get done than it should.

Government waste of taxpayers money has become an art form for both parties, it's like some kind of game where they both get to stick "earmarks" on important bills at the last second so almost no one knows about it. Billions are wasted on Earmarks for bullshit to make politicians more electable. When all is said and done politicians look out for themselves first and foremost with an eye on continued suckling at the public tit, then looking out for their allies, then they if they have time they look out for their constituents which make up a very small percentage of the population.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gravina_Island_Bridge

A business is one form of investment. 

Like anyone else, if my available capital is limited more than I anticipate, I will cut my spending in various areas like discretionary spending, long-term investment, etc.

When a business owner hires employees or builds out their building, that is part of a long-term investment. It isn't charity.  I'm not going to sell my house or liquidate my assets in order to invest in long-term investments anymore than someone else is going to sell their house to purchase a CD (bank CD).

In fact, from the taxes, I liquidated a few of my investments early to help pay for them even though those investments would generate a long-term profit.

So no, it has nothing to do with charity. It has to do with managing capital, timing, and investments.

This whole debate reminds me of Atlas Shrugged.  It's not what I would call a great piece of literature, and Ayn Rand's objectivism isn't what I would call a sound philosophy, but it does amply demonstrate what socialism in the US would look like.

I still keep thinking about how after Obama got elected, people were shown on the news talking about how they "wouldn't have to worry about their mortgages anymore" and how they "wouldn't have to worry about filling their gas tank anymore."  It makes me sick, honestly.  People clearly have no idea how the economy works.

As Brad has been saying, when the business owners are hit, it isn't the business owners who suffer.  When some idiot sues McDonalds because she (and it was a she, I'm not being sexist) spilled coffee on herself, McDonalds isn't paying for it.

Then there is the matter of incentive, which was brought up earlier:

This is exactly why anyone who voted for Obama made an unwise decision, to say the least.  This is why socialism has never worked before, and why it will never work.  Hopefully Obama won't actually be able to fulfill all of his promises, but considering that the Democrats have a majority in both the House and Senate now...

At least if he does fulfill all of his promises, the roads in Michigan will be better.

For the first year, then the money will run out cause the economy collapsed, and they will be left to deteriorate to dust.

Hey, try to see a silver lining, hmm? 

California is the Fifth largest economy in the world, and it's highways system is the crappiest I have ever seen, pot holes abound, every year there is a fight over the budget for the state, I keep wondering where all the tax money goes as there is always a shortage when it comes to schools, levees and highway repair. But the state legislature never has a problem voting themselves raises, and Caltrans which does most of the government work looks like this, one guy working, one guy sitting in a piece of heavy machinery, and 4 guys scratching their balls doing nothing.

Yeah thankfully the WI roads are good but we are one of the higer taxed states too... and in fact this state too is suffering from from a budget shortfall too... because of the homes that are being forclosed and there is now less people to pay those types of taxes.... there is never a surplus in this state and they send every last red cent they can get.

I do find you saying what you did about City/county workers.... is so true