The Observation Deck

The more it costs the bigger it gets and the bigger it gets the less it gets done.

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/2814668c-7bb5 ... z3LGQZ1XDF

My own favorite example is the fact that in real terms it cost more and took longer to build the visitor center at the Hoover Dam than it cost to build the dam.

And then there is the defense department.

Closer to home there is the poor quality of the work on West 117th Street. Or $20,000 per student and students still need remedial education because the are not ready
college.

I'd criticize TRI-C but people turn purple when I criticize TRI-C so I won't.


Is Lakewood government broken? Is County government broken? Is it time to start over?

Interesting comment about W117. Several years ago people in the County Engineer's office were aware of the defective concrete work. Same problem on Rocky River Drive.

Or $20,000 per student and students still need remedial education because the are not ready
college.

Bill, do you have anything beside an opinion on this one? What research are you citing to say that Lakewood students aren't ready for college?

Or is this yet another phantom punch at your favorite punching bag?

Sean Wheeler wrote:

Or $20,000 per student and students still need remedial education because the are not ready
college.

Bill, do you have anything beside an opinion on this one? What research are you citing to say that Lakewood students aren't ready for college?

Or is this yet another phantom punch at your favorite punching bag?

I never mentioned Lakewood Schools.

There has been a lot of reporting on the amount spent on education and some of the disappointing results:

http://dailysignal.com/2012/07/25/d-c-p ... r-student/

http://wivb.com/2014/10/07/are-high-sch ... ege-ready/

Lakewood schools have set a goal to be one on the best districts in the State of Ohio. It's a noble goal. If you are going to set goals for your organization it helps to know where you are before you taking the first steps to where you want to be. Reality upsets a lot of people but sometimes people need to be upset before they accept the need for action.

http://education.ohio.gov/lists_and_rankings

The district has a long way to go but is actually much closer than you might think.

I suppose an alternative title could have been: Are Large Bureaucracies Broken?

In the private sector failure to adapt leads to bankruptcy and or dissolution. When government intervenes to protect the large bureaucracy the liabilities are wiped clean but the infrastructure and behavior that led to the bankruptcy are left in place. Think General Motors. In government failure is often rewarded with higher taxes which are then used to subsidize the very policies that lead to failure.

I'm just wondering if we have to break up our governmental institutions in order to reform them. I mentioned the pentagon because it spends $600 billion and it says it doesn't have enough money to replace 40 year old ships.

we are not smart enough to be Sweden.

There's no reason more than 20 percent of high school students should go on to college.

the rest should begin vocational training or go to work at 15 or 16.

but this will screw up the professional sports scene eventually.

P.J. O'Rourke describes the four ways to spend money:

1. You spend your money on yourself. You're motivated to get the thing you want most at the best price. This is the way middle-aged men haggle with Porsche dealers.
2. You spend your money on other people. You still want a bargain, but you're less interested in pleasing the recipient of your largesse. This is why children get underwear at Christmas.
3. You spend other people's money on yourself. You get what you want but price no longer matters. The second wives who ride around with the middle-aged men in the Porsches do this kind of spending at Neiman Marcus.
4. You spend other people's money on other people. And in this case, who gives a s**t?

Most government spending falls into category four. Which is why the government keeps buying us Hoover Dams, B-1 bombers, raids on Waco cults, and 1972 Federal Water Pollution Control Acts.

I doubt if the American people would ever out ...vote, outright for the nationalization of industry as we saw it take place in England a few years ago, but in spite of this, we find that the federal government owns and operates more than 19,000 businesses covering 47 different lines of activity. It ranges from the distilling of rum to the manufacture of surgical and dental equipment. 700 government corporations have an estimated book value of $260 billion. They operate tax-free, rent-free, dividend-free, in direct competition with our own citizens and each year lose billions of dollars in this operation.

My point being to reinforce Bill's comments about failure. Government operates in a fashion completely counter to the market system. When one can simply ignore losses because the taxpayer is the one on the hook, you lose touch with fiscal reality.

This takes away from the real argument of if the system is broken. It is not an R or D thing, and it all starts with accountability ON ALL LEVELS.

Take for example The War In Iraq, we were completely lied to and mislead. Where is the
accountability. Presidents as we know from Slick Willey are sworn to tell the truth. Lie
about an extramartial affair taken to a hearing.

Why should any politican be allowed to lie or mislead. Here on the state, county and local
levels we are misled daily if not hourly, yet no one calls for accountability.

Well unless it is an R, then the Ds call foul, or if it is a D, then Rs scream for impeachment.

Why are we fighting each other when it is the system, that needs the correction.

How it is fixed, I am not sure, but pretty sure it is not fixed taking corporate donations
from $32,400 to $324,000!

Right now in Lakewood businesses and things like RTA have far more power than the citizens.

WHY? They don't vote, we do.

We need a French Revolution moment in America.

FWIW

.

Jim O'Bryan wrote:This takes away from the real argument of if the system is broken. It is not an R or D thing, and it all starts with accountability ON ALL LEVELS.

I'm now certain that there is an individual or group at County government that wakes up every day determined to do something even more damaging than the things they have already done:


http://www.cleveland.com/cuyahoga-count ... rt_m-rpt-1

It's like a contest or something.

Jim O'Bryan wrote:We need a French Revolution moment in America.

You would advocate for a time period bathed in blood which eventually saw the rise of a dictator in less than 20 years?? You'll excuse me if I choose to pass. France has had 10 different governmental systems in the time since our Constitution was adopted.

"A government with the power to give you everything also has the power to take everything away."

No, we need to return to a time when governments were small. Small governments have little power and with little power, there is little influence, and with little influence, why would corporate donations and lobbyists give them gobs of money?

Roy Pitchford wrote:No, we need to return to a time when governments were small. Small governments have little power and with little power, there is little influence, and with little influence, why would corporate donations and lobbyists give them gobs of money?

The French Revolution was a violent rehearsal for the policies of National Socialism under Hitler and Communist socialism under Stalin. Hitler was a great admirer of Napoleon. Some say Hitler first got the idea of extermination camps from Napoleons sulphur ships.

The American Revolution was born in a world full of slaves and began the process of worldwide liberation and prosperity that we enjoy today. There is a new found contempt for that revolution among the liberal elite.

The irony of that is best summed up by Mark Twain in Puddin Head Wilson:

“If you pick up a starving dog and make him prosperous, he will not bite you. This is the principal difference between a dog and a man."

We are fighting a losing battle Roy. How do you expect an electorate that can be bribed to respond to the call of liberty?

"even in the future nothing works!"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EfkNvOOiZ_8

Bill Call wrote:We are fighting a losing battle Roy. How do you expect an electorate that can be bribed to respond to the call of liberty?

That is a very good question. The encroachment of the welfare state has been developing over the course of the last 100+ years. Sometimes it is slow, sometimes its fast (Wilson, Roosevelt, Johnson, Obama). I'd say three presidents in that time actually worked to reverse the growth of government: Harding, Coolidge and Reagan.

But to answer your question: Actually, yes, I think it can. I think you've seen, in the last 8 years, a great ground swell of people, including myself, who are like that. People who have no interest in government welfare and only want to live their lives as free from government intervention as is possible without sacrificing the core tenants of the Constitution.

Reagan drastically increased the size of government.
his specialty was going on tv and telling people he was reducing the size of government.
Even Reagan was a keynsian.
His speciality was going on television and telling people he was not a keynsian.