said by TexasRebel:your taxes aren't being used to bail out people who lost their homes because they made bad decisions in getting loans. your taxes are used to bail out the banks that made bad bets with packaging mortgages as securities and then using AIG as insurance on those bad bets.
as for nationalizing the carriers. you use public utilities don't you?? are they in massive disarray?? I didn't say have the current government take over the carriers.. I said nationalize them. Mainly to provide them as a necessity and not just some profit driven technology that only 4-5 major corporations have control over.
As for getting another job or asking for a raise or moving to greener pastures. You sir are obviously out of touch with reality and probably work in a job sector that pays it's people far too much to sit on their asses doing nothing..
Our taxes were and are being used to bail out errant homebuyers, directly and indirectly, by the hundreds of billions.
I won't go into 100 pages of detail, but just for instance - consider the effects of a short sale. The bank is paid with our tax money to take a loss, relieving the homebuyer of his obligation, and the home "owner" gets debt relief, which is normally considered TAXABLE INCOME, but the government now waives the tax. Given that we're not running a surplus, that means another taxpayer is making up the difference, or we're borrowing it from our kids.
Public utilities are a mixed lot. At best, if they provide a competively priced product while paying public union wages, they're shorting maintenance and long-term investment while using public subsidy. At their worst, they're just another tax mechanism, as they are in Los Angeles. At least with [rofit-driven publicly-traded utilities, they have incentive to be efficient, and a fidiciary responsibility to their shareholders; you can choose to buy the stock and share in the dividends, rather than just being forced to pay homage to the government.
As for getting another job - trust me, I know how hard it is. We closed our payroll several years ago, as have ALL of my peers, thanks to California state regulation, workers compensation, and tax policy.
Thats where greener pastures come in. Half of the aforementioned group migrated to Texas, Florida, offshored or moved overseas to more business-friendly climes. Sometimes you have to physically move. THAT is "reality". We've done it several times before, and most likely, we'll be forced to again.