Quote from seauouch:
The pork that goes on at the state & local level is DISGUSTING. I live in MA ( Cali-northeast ) & in my hometown the highschool that used to service 3 towns now services just 1 town ( 60% less students than in the '70's ) & yet the voters recently passed a 16 mil proposal for a high school addition because of overcrowding??
The town hall just had a 2 mil renovation for granite steps/ handicap ramp. ( Town pop =15k )
The last mayor on his last day in office gave huge ( 35%+) pay raises to his friends in the local gov in their retirement year to juice up the pensions they will be recieving.
Cops here get a 8% annual bonus for passing a fitness test ( only one person has ever failed, that person was fired & ended up suiing the city & won for wrongful termination )
At the state level the big dig was the one of the biggest taxpayer rip offs in recent memory ( until the bank bailouts that is ) The original budget was 6 billion it came in at 17 billion. The 1st manager of the big dig was arrested for stealing & selling scrap metal & supplies while using truckers ( on the taxpayers tab ) to haul the stolen goods during working hours.
When the big dig was finally finished ( 5 years late & 300% over budget ) MASSPORT ( gov agency in charge ) decided it would be nice to hire the Boston Pops to perform at the grand opening @ an addition $500,000.00 of taxpayer $$$ ( public outcry nixed this thankfully )
3 months after the big dig is finished leaks are springing up all over place, a huge 10 ton support plate falls & crushes a car killing some poor woman. Repairs will top 500m to fix the shoddy work.
Toll takers in MA earn 45k+ per year yet are routinely arrested for stealing etc
Whenever their is a budget short fall though..OH NOS we are already CUT TO THE BONE, more taxes are the only answer.