Tuesday, July 24, 2012

Senator Harry Reid Brings Home The Bacon

Socialist Senator Dirty Harry Reid, the US Senate Majority Leader consistently brings home the bacon and there are many in Nevada who love him for it; but not this Blogger because I know it is often borrowed money leading to the bankruptcy of the United States.   Pork Barrel spending means that each Member of Congress is often evaluated on their ability to bring home federal money to their districts, or states.  All fine and dandy, except that often we end up with bridges to no where.  In our case, there is a about an 8 mile freeway bypass connecting Reno and Carson City, Nevada that is unnecessary. 

This new freeway that must have cost $50 - $100 million and maybe more, is an engineering marvel built on the side of a mountain at about 6,000 feet above sea level.   This is a particularly expensive stretch of freeway because it contains three or four bridges, one of which really is an incredible structure.  The only problem with this picture is that there is a perfectly good four lane highway, already built, that connects Reno and Carson City so that this freeway by pass for about 8 miles of the 20 mile trip really was not needed.  Further, since it snows in Northern Nevada, there is a pretty good chance that this stretch of the journey will be unsafe and maybe even impassable during the winter because of its elevation.   

My concern is that these federal highway dollars are being spent in Nevada just because Reid could make it happen, not because it makes any sense, when we have complete grid lock in many other major cities of the country.  It is all about priorities.   Adding 8 miles of expensive freeway in Northern Nevada, that is unnecessary, will do absolutely nothing to create long term economic activity and badly needed jobs in our region since there was already a perfectly good four lane highway that could accommodate what little traffic we have in Northern Nevada.  If this money could only be spent on highway development, it would have been better spent on US 80, the major east west corridor connecting California with Nevada and all points east.  There is major renovation in progress on US 80 and adding even more to it would have been beneficial to speed that project along. 

And, if this sort of thing is happening in Northern Nevada, you can bet it is happening all over the country.   While these were federal highway dollars that may not have been interchangeable, this money if it was spent at all would have been better invested in the University of Nevada, Reno to make it a major high tech, or energy center of excellence to attract business to Nevada.  Or, since Tourism is still the number one industry in Nevada, we could have used a state of the art Performing Arts Center to stage all sorts of entertainment, built as a public private partnership.   Again, this investment would have created long term economic growth and jobs for the next 50 years.  

In addition, Senator Dirty Harry Reid brought home the bacon once again to support the compensation, benefits and pensions of firemen in Northern Nevada, for the next few years, because the city and county in Reno could not afford to pay them.   Again all fine and dandy, except that the reason the city and county cannot afford to pay our firemen is because their overall cost is unsustainable.   The average union fireman in the Reno area earns $120,000 - $180,000.   We have battalion chiefs earning about $300,000 a year.  Firemen in Reno, like many other parts of the country, get incredible pensions, far in excess of what is common in the private sector. 

And, while we all support our first responders and want them to earn a good living, often for risking their life's, the reality is that in many cases they earn far more than many other professionals in the private sector working and paying taxes to support public employees.   So when Senator Dirty Harry Reid brought home the bacon to support his PEEP's in the fire department, it prevented logical renegotiation of union contracts governing fireman.   This again is another case of Reid bringing home the bacon, at the expense of all American taxpayers, without really solving the problem.   This is happening all over America as a lot of Obama's SwindleUS Plan money was spent to do this very thing.

The reason this is all relevant is that Socialist President Obama and his pals in Congress, including Senator Dirty Harry Reid, want to raise taxes on the Makers in society that already pay 90% of the taxes in our country to give to the Takers; their PEEP's, those that pay no income taxes at all, those on the dole, public union employees, illegal aliens, radical environmentalist, trial lawyers and crony capitalist supporters.   This Blogger could support higher taxes if they were really needed to balance our budget and pay of our National Debt; but the reality is that there is so much waste, corruption and redundancy, at all levels of government, that the last thing we should do it give crooked bureacrats, politicians and public employee unions even more of our hard earned money to fund bridges to no where, exhorbitant pension to public employees, welfare to people that can work and more Solydra's. 

Every time I look at that freeway bypass between Reno and Carson City, I see why we must take back our country in 2012 and 2014 to prevent the bankruptcy of the United States.   To do so, we must sweep Socialists, at all levels of government, including President Obama out of office in the upcoming elections.   We must elect Conservatives that support free market capitalism, limited government, a balance budget, paying off the National Debt, Congressional Term Limits, a strong National Defense that includes securing our border and fighting Terrorism, the right to bear arms, the sanctity of life and family values that are the foundation of our nation.  For the most part, this is the Republican Party Platform supported by the majority of the American people.

We must elect Mitt Romney the next President of the United States and gain control of the Congress, as well as, state governments, to roll back 100 years of Socialist Creep.   We can do it.  We must do it to preserve our freedom, our nation and way of life for the sake of our children and grandchildren.   No doubt there are pork barrel boondoggles in your region and state.   Just look around and you will see them.   They have to stop.  

P.S.  To support Mitt Romney to make Obama a one term President, just go to mittromney.com and click on Donate.  Once on the page, look for the box that says, I know my Referrers number and click on that box.  Type in 8544, the National Freedom Forum Referral Number to make our voices heard.  Give as much as you can to help take back our country.    

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