I think the recession's over

[Imran Siddiqui]

I do need to get the heck out of Jax, though. I need a more intellectually stimulating town. I'm looking at: Atlanta

Oh oh! Come here... it's really nice, you'd like it

[Sikander]

Originally posted by GePap


I more than clearly understand that..yes, NYC need outside resources to flourish..its vitality is built by immigrants, and it runs on water brought in form a wide watershed..but that is not the point. The point is that we live in a country were the biggest beneficiaries of the system, the poor states, are the ones that complain most about the system, and talk about the east places like NYC being a crutch on them, when in reality, they are, finacially, a crutch on us. And little by little we are getting sick of it. Both the Feds and the rest of NY State treat NYC as some trust fund to take money out of, all the while ignoring its needs. And on top of that they insult us...a classic example of looking a gift horse in the mouth.

As for the notion of benefits..the poor states, where the welfare system is weakest..remain the poor states. I don;t see Arkansas leaping by leaps and bounds in eonomic prosperity cause it's people have to fend for themselves..they remian down there in the socio-economic standings and will most likely remain there. So again, I am really waiting for someone to point out that conservative wodnerland of no welfare for anyone were everyone is richer for it.

IMO Arkansas has made a lot of progress over the years. While being blessed with little in the way of resources or location advantage they have nevertheless seen the growth of a lot of local businesses into national and international juggernauts. Walmart, Tyson and the trucking firms are all headquartered in NW Arkansas and are major economic entities, and none were more than medium sized companies when I was a kid. Not bad for a bunch of hillbillies in less than two generations. My dad recently re-visited the area (for the first time since 1969) and he was blown away by the general growth and the improvement in the general living conditions in the area.

As for fairness, I don't think that 11 billion dollars (from a population of 10 million iirc) is all that much money. Consider the fact that there is a lot of empty country between NYC and a lot of its resource base and hinterland, and that empty country has to have roads in order for anyone from the outside to be able to access it, and much of the advantage of these roads accrue to those large population concentrations. Cities have always paid more than their per capita share of the tax burden historically, in large part because per capita wealth has always been greater in cities than in the countryside.

As for people being unfair / ungrateful, sure some are. But don't think that these people necessarily consider the highway money (etc.) that they receive from the Feds as welfare. They tend to be conservative and don't approve of much of the spending done by the government, and they remember that much of that spending was supported by urban people who share very little of their agenda. This feeds a lot of the resentment that NYC (but even more Massachussettes) embodies for them. They may not have a clue about the actual bottom line, but they do realize which parts of the country regularly oppose them politically and tend to vote for expensive programs that they don't support.

[GePap]

Originally posted by TCO
And we know that you're the kind of snot-nosed kid who makes comments like "I bet your friends cut hair". Go tell Ming, I screwed with you. you ****ing mama's boy. Frigging civ worm. Go play your game.

Oh, the wit well runs so low down there by the sea. Really, you need and improvement to your material cause it is getting pathetic. Though you have moved from the sexual homoerotic suggestions you used to favor towards animal metaphors..nice jump, shows you head is only halfway down the gutter. Maybe in a few years, you might act like a teenager, and by the time you are 70, maybe you might just act like an adult...I look forwards to seeing your wonderful growth as a human being, from manchild to elderly coot.

[GePap]

Originally posted by Sikander
IMO Arkansas has made a lot of progress over the years. While being blessed with little in the way of resources or location advantage they have nevertheless seen the growth of a lot of local businesses into national and international juggernauts. Walmart, Tyson and the trucking firms are all headquartered in NW Arkansas and are major economic entities, and none were more than medium sized companies when I was a kid. Not bad for a bunch of hillbillies in less than two generations. My dad recently re-visited the area (for the first time since 1969) and he was blown away by the general growth and the improvement in the general living conditions in the area.

And where di much of this money for improvement come? Capital must come from somewhere, for it to be invested somewhere else. Yes, the poor areas of the south have made great strides, which is one of the benefits they get from being recipients of cash from the Feds, and not net exporters.

As for fairness, I don't think that 11 billion dollars (from a population of 10 million iirc) is all that much money. Consider the fact that there is a lot of empty country between NYC and a lot of its resource base and hinterland, and that empty country has to have roads in order for anyone from the outside to be able to access it, and much of the advantage of these roads accrue to those large population concentrations. Cities have always paid more than their per capita share of the tax burden historically, in large part because per capita wealth has always been greater in cities than in the countryside.

The city has 8 million inhabitants. It is surrounded by some of the wealthiest counties in the country. People in Westchester are NOT poor, neither people in Nassau. If anything, the per capita income of the counties around NYC are double that of the city, and I a sure they are all net exporters of wealth as well. Remenber there are 8 million people in the tristate are as well, so I don;t know what definition of empty you are using cause the area around NYC is far more densely populated than most states in this Union. As for 11 billion a year...that is a lot of money to export every year..that is the imbalance of taxes paid vs benefits recieved, I am sure many souther states have imbalances in their favor lower than 11 billion, so in fact it is a significant amount of money.

As for people being unfair / ungrateful, sure some are. But don't think that these people necessarily consider the highway money (etc.) that they receive from the Feds as welfare. They tend to be conservative and don't approve of much of the spending done by the government, and they remember that much of that spending was supported by urban people who share very little of their agenda. This feeds a lot of the resentment that NYC (but even more Massachussettes) embodies for them. They may not have a clue about the actual bottom line, but they do realize which parts of the country regularly oppose them politically and tend to vote for expensive programs that they don't support.

What business is it of the south what NYC pays out in welfare? States fund their own programs..and if anything, NYC gets screwed by federaly mandated programs..NYC is the ONLY city in the whole of the US is that is forced to pay a portion of it's medicaid bills out of municipal funds, costing the sity 3 billion a year. let me repeat, the ONLY city in the country. Add ot that that highway money is vital to many places in the south, as well as plenty of government pork, stuff that if they had to pay would mean much higger tax rates accross the south. And a place like NYC must contend with people leaving the city cause taxes are too high here an dlower there, when the reaosn for that is that the city send s protion of its tax revenue ver there, helping them keep their taxes lower.

[DinoDoc]

Originally posted by GePap
Oh, the wit well runs so low down there by the sea

In fairness to GP, the haircut comment was quite stupid.

[GePap]

"fairness to GP"? What fairness? Please, give me a ****ing break. As I said to Rah, I do not believe that saying "wel, my friends.." is proof of anything more than what was true for ones friends. I do not use the people I know as proof of anything becuase they represent a rathjer small sample, and unless someone here can tell us of the job looking travails of 1000 people, coming from diverse regions of the country, races, socio-economic models and so forth as to give us a statistcially valid sample, stick to statistics gathered, not 'my friends'. Was it my intention to offend Rah? No, but he was, so I have answered with what I meant.

What TCO replied to what a rather self-explanitory post showing the falseness of thinking age equals wisdom, or that if on has lived longer they have more pertinent experience.He chose to answer that with an insult, and for that he deserves NO fairness, or at least, no more than he has given. So I will continue to answer his post against me wth the utter contempt they deserve, given their general value.

[Garth Vader]

Originally posted by chegitz guevara
I do need to get the heck out of Jax, though. I need a more intellectually stimulating town. I'm looking at: Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Milwaukee, Minniapolis-St. Paul, NYC, Washington, Seattle, Portland, Vancouver, Toronto, etc. Wouldn't mind Austin, but BG vetos any move to Texas. A university town would also suffice. Wouldn't mind moving to Europe either.

You could move to Saskatchewan, the rest of Canada thinks we are a buch of Communists here so you'd fit right in. I suspect you'd have a few complaints about the winter though

[mindseye]

Originally posted by rah
Yeah, the only jobs are for people that get 50 dollar haircuts.

Shouldn't that mean that there are more jobs for hair stylists, too?