Didn't have much to say last week so I took it off. This deal with the city budget gets more bizarre every week. First they spend all that money on the indoor cement pond, and now they are talking about laying off a police officer, and look at the problem with financing the Fire Station. Why didn't these things get paid for first instead of committing so much money to the arc? There was a letter to editor this week in the paper that says it best, if they had allowed a vote on it would the arc have passed? At least mayor Messerly is innocent on this, he warned them not to jump into the arc project to begin with, and its coming home to roost now. Last time I knew it was the job of the city to provide police, and fire protection. Failing to prioritize this is very irresponsible, and shows no understanding of government to begin with.
The right to work issue in the state legislature is an interesting issue. I understand where the people against repealing the right to work are law coming from, they bring up good reasons not to. You should not have to join a union to work somewhere , but the people who want to repeal it are right too; it is not fair to receive the benefits that the union gets for you, and not pay your fair share of the dues. I think I need to study this further.
One thing is sure -- the minimum wage law is going to be a disaster, most businesses in Iowa start people off around $8.00 hr, at least that seems to be the market wage give or take a dollar. Are you telling me that these people who pay bills are only worth 75 cents more than a high school kid who has no bills? One thing is for sure, the resulting increase in the cost of goods and services will make the ability for families to buy homes even more difficult, and without the resulting property taxes does that bode well for the city budget problems?
Finally this week, I am curious: does Ted Kennedy collect Social Security and Medicare benefits even though he receives salary and benefits for being a senator, does anybody know? My understanding of it would be yes, lets see $200, 000 plus a year for salary, and health insurance that most people only wish they had and retirement benefits to boot. Awesome nice system, and the minute we talk about cutting taxes, he yells tax cuts for the rich, lets talk about subsidizing the rich, Ted.
-Timothy L Grover, the plain blunt guy
