Fun Facts

[godsshoeshine]

maybe the point is he wouldn't be able to afford all of these trips without the tax cut. life is tough when you make too much to contribute to an i.r.a..
 
 saw this today. here are some of the budget cuts the white house wants:
 â?¢ Advanced Technology Program, which supports high-risk technology development with the private sector. 2004: $171 million; 2005: 0.
 
 â?¢ School Alcohol Abuse Reduction. 2004: $30 million; 2005: 0.
 
 â?¢ Arts in Education grants. 2004: $35 million; 2005: 0.
 
 â?¢ Comprehensive School Reform grants for low-income schools. 2004: $234 million; 2005: 0.
 
 â?¢ Eisenhower Math and Science Education Programs. 2004: $20 million; 2005: 0.
 
 â?¢ Even Start family literacy. 2004:$247 million; 2005: 0.
 
 â?¢ Education Department Parental Information and Resource Centers. 2004: $42 million; 2005: 0.
 
 â?¢ Community Development Block Grants. 2004: $334 million; 2005: 0.
 
 â?¢ HOPE VI public housing revitalization. 2004: $149 million; 2005: 0.
 
 â?¢ Tax-favored Empowerment Zones. 2004: $15 million; 2005: 0.
 
 â?¢ Brownfields Redevelopment. 2004: $25 million; 2005: 0.
 
 â?¢ Rural Housing and Economic Development. 2004: $25 million; 2005: 0.
 
 â?¢ Local Law Enforcement Grants. 2004: $1.58 billion; 2005: 0.
 
 â?¢ Juvenile crime prevention block grants. 2004: $59 million; 2005: 0.
 
 â?¢ Migrant and Seasonal Farmworker Training. 2004: $77 million; 2005: 0.
 
 â?¢ Smaller Learning Communities to divide large high schools into smaller ones. 2004: $174 million; 2005: 0.
 
 â?¢ Health Professional Training Grants. 2004: $409 million; 2005: $126 million.
 
 â?¢ Rural Health Aid. 2004: $147 million; 2005: $56 million.
 
 â?¢ Homeland Security first responders. 2004: $4.37 billion; 2005: $3.56 billion.
 
 â?¢ Juvenile Justice Delinquency Prevention Program. 2004: $78 million; 2005: $44 million.
 
 â?¢ Election Reform. 2004: $1.49 billion; 2005: $65 million.
 
 SOURCE: White House's Office of Management and Budget
 
 who needs election reform homeland security first responders and local law enforcement anyway.

[sonickteam2]

Originally posted by ggwâ?¢:
   

Originally posted by Celeste:
  Who dictates what "the point" is? Seems to me he made his own point there...

What was his point?
 
 That I should shut up and be happy that all my money isn't taxed away?
 
 That I make more money than the cleaning person? [/b]

shutting up would be very UNamerican of you, ggw.

[Venerable Bede]

all of those zeroes are just budget ploys to make the numbers come out how the white house wants it.  none of those programs are gonna go unfunded, the white house knows this and the approprations committee knows this.  
 
 as bags cut and pasted yesterday from the national league of cities, the statement about no child left behind act is misleading. . .the act is gonna be funded, but not fully.  for this year, the act will be around 2/3% funded.  most legislation that is to be funded contains provisions that the allow congress to vary the amount of money that funds the program each year - very few programs are automatically fully funded each and every year.

[sonickteam2]

you know, if all of these things the government does are really good things, and nothing dishonest or unfair about them, they sure do make them look bad.
 
  it seems to me that the no child left behind thing is trying to give everybody an equal education.  which is really an impossibility isnt it?  
 
 this whole "equality" thing is a little ridiculous no?

[ggw]

Originally posted by sonickteam2:
  it seems to me that the no child left behind thing is trying to give everybody an equal education.  which is really an impossibility isnt it?  
 
 this whole "equality" thing is a little ridiculous no?

Amen.
 
 The problem with public schools is not underfunding.  It's this delusion that all students are equal, which leads schools to teach to the lowest common denominator, which, by definition, is low.
 
 Many of the other programs in that list of cuts deserve to be cut.
 
 Why is the government subsidizing high-risk technology research when venture capitalists are swimming in uncomitted capital?
 
 There are plenty of private organizations that work with the poor and with drunks and junkies.
 
 etc...

[godsshoeshine]

even fully funded the no child left behind act doesn't allocate enough funds to do what it really needs to do. and i understand all of those 0's won't be there at the end of the budgetary process, which begs the question, "where will the cuts come from?"

[keithstg]

Originally posted by god's shoeshine:
  maybe the point is he wouldn't be able to afford all of these trips without the tax cut. life is tough when you make too much to contribute to an i.r.a..
 

Life could still be tough if you make too much to contribute to a traditional IRA (granted, probably not nickel and dimed tough, but tough nontheless).
 
 The thresholds for contributing to a traditional IRA are absurdly low, and can be waived altogether if your employer has a retirement plan. One could of course contribute to a Roth IRA which has a ceiling of 5k a year, and is post-tax.

[Charlie Nakatestes, Japanese Golfer]

When I think of the problems with public schools, I start by thinking of ugly black ladies stealing millions from the teachers union funds.
 
    But seriously, when I taught, my salary was 28K per year, and if I took a sick day, I had to pay for the substitute teachers compensation out of my own pocket. My math classroom had one computer with no software. My requests for purchase of teaching materials beyond textbooks were denied, and if I used more than a certain amount of paper (for making worksheets, etc) I had to pay for it out of my own pocket.
 
    Tell me my school wasn't underfunded.
 
 

Originally posted by ggwâ?¢:
   

Originally posted by sonickteam2:
  it seems to me that the no child left behind thing is trying to give everybody an equal education.  which is really an impossibility isnt it?  
 
 this whole "equality" thing is a little ridiculous no?

Amen.
 
 The problem with public schools is not underfunding.  It's this delusion that all students are equal, which leads schools to teach to the lowest common denominator, which, by definition, is low.
 
 Many of the other programs in that list of cuts deserve to be cut.
 
 Why is the government subsidizing high-risk technology research when venture capitalists are swimming in uncomitted capital?
 
 There are plenty of private organizations that work with the poor and with drunks and junkies.
 
 etc... [/b]

[sonickteam2]

oh forget it. i forgot what i was going to say

[godsshoeshine]

Originally posted by keithstg:
   

Originally posted by god's shoeshine:
  maybe the point is he wouldn't be able to afford all of these trips without the tax cut. life is tough when you make too much to contribute to an i.r.a..
 

Life could still be tough if you make too much to contribute to a traditional IRA (granted, probably not nickel and dimed tough, but tough nontheless).
 
 The thresholds for contributing to a traditional IRA are absurdly low, and can be waived altogether if your employer has a retirement plan. One could of course contribute to a Roth IRA which has a ceiling of 5k a year, and is post-tax. [/b]

not that it has anything to do with anything, but i always was partial to the roth anyway from back in the mutual fund company employment days. that's what i use in addition to a 401k.

[ggw]

Originally posted by keithstg:
  The thresholds for contributing to a traditional IRA are absurdly low, and can be waived altogether if your employer has a retirement plan. One could of course contribute to a Roth IRA which has a ceiling of 5k a year, and is post-tax.

Roth IRAs are limited to incomes under $110,000.
 
 You only get a waiver for traditional IRAs if your employer doesn't have a retirement plan (or your income is less than $40,000).

[mankie]

Originally posted by Rutherford J. Balls:
 [QB] When I think of the problems with public schools, I start by thinking of ugly black ladies stealing millions from the teachers union funds.
 
    But seriously, when I taught, my salary was 28K per year, and if I took a sick day, I had to pay for the substitute teachers compensation out of my own pocket. My math classroom had one computer with no software. My requests for purchase of teaching materials beyond textbooks were denied, and if I used more than a certain amount of paper (for making worksheets, etc) I had to pay for it out of my own pocket.
 
    Tell me my school wasn't underfunded.
 
 

 Cry me a river.... teachers only work 9 months of the year for crying out loud.

[ggw]

Originally posted by Rutherford J. Balls:
  When I think of the problems with public schools, I start by thinking of ugly black ladies stealing millions from the teachers union funds.
 
    But seriously, when I taught, my salary was 28K per year, and if I took a sick day, I had to pay for the substitute teachers compensation out of my own pocket. My math classroom had one computer with no software. My requests for purchase of teaching materials beyond textbooks were denied, and if I used more than a certain amount of paper (for making worksheets, etc) I had to pay for it out of my own pocket.
 
    Tell me my school wasn't underfunded.
 
 

Cry me a fucking river.
 
 You were still able to go to all those Whiskeytown shows.  And I bet you made a lot more than the janitor who had to clean up your shit.

[Charlie Nakatestes, Japanese Golfer]

True, but they put in 60 hours a week during those nine months. Given that my free periods were taken up by team meetings and meetings with parents, and my lunch consisted of being a lunch monitor five days a week, it was expected of me that I use my evenings for lesson planning and correcting homework, tests, and quizzes.
 
    And my paycheck was always so small I was forced to take The same was usually true for other teachers who didn't happen to have wealthy spouses.
 
   

Originally posted by mankie:
 

Originally posted by Rutherford J. Balls:
 [QB] When I think of the problems with public schools, I start by thinking of ugly black ladies stealing millions from the teachers union funds.
 
    But seriously, when I taught, my salary was 28K per year, and if I took a sick day, I had to pay for the substitute teachers compensation out of my own pocket. My math classroom had one computer with no software. My requests for purchase of teaching materials beyond textbooks were denied, and if I used more than a certain amount of paper (for making worksheets, etc) I had to pay for it out of my own pocket.
 
    Tell me my school wasn't underfunded.
 
 

 Cry me a river.... teachers only work 9 months of the year for crying out loud. [/b]

[keithstg]

Originally posted by ggwâ?¢:
 
 You only get a waiver for traditional IRAs if your employer doesn't have a retirement plan (or your income is less than $40,000).

Yeah, exactly.