Don’t tax the workers. Don’t tax big business. Don’t tax the small businessman. Abolish the estate tax. Do away with corperate taxes.
You guys are killing me.

Justin,
Don’t worry, I’m surprised you are not here!
The RNC is having their national winter conference at the Hilton Hawaiian Village in Waikiki Beach this week with temperatures daily 82 daytime and 65 nighttime. Room service breakfast for two can range up to $125 delivered (I will not try to calculate lunch or dinner but that is what 1 RI director reported being charged during a previous conference stay) and minimum rooms with no view start at $180 a night outside of the about $800 RT coach airfare to get here and $100 a day rental car fee which cost around $25 to self park a night at the hotel.
But take heart, Hawaii has one of the lowest hotel, food and rental taxes in the nation about $5 a day lower than RI according to industry watch dogs!
Thank you GOP for added stimulus funding to Hawaii even though our sales tax is 4.5% compared to RI at 7%!!
What you say RI is about 9 degrees! You should have attended the National RNC Winter Conference and Blogged from here for the week because after all the GOP gives Obama a very hard time about visiting his birth city, mother’s, grandmother’s and grandfather’s grave site and family during Christmas every year to pay respects.
Keep warm because the GOP well connected are in Waikiki Beach, Hawaii partying right now!

Michael,
Context matters. In the context of Rhode Island, my statement is very far from “don’t tax anybody ever.” Taxation is among our problems, and now those who benefit from those high taxes (or think they do) are behaving as if it’s unreasonable ever to say “enough.”

I am a firm believer of lowering taxes from their historic highs. It just seems that the current taxpayer revolt movement, (Teaparty, 9-12 Project, RISC and others) run the risk of alienating their growing numbers by losing sight of reality. I strongly and vocally supported the Teaparty until the other night when the speakers, Laffey and Felkner, both vociferous opponents of fire departments were the main attraction. I simply will not stand behind people or their representive movements whose agenda directly affects public safety.
Mangeek, pension reform is underway, and will continue, albiet slowly, until it is more in line with current economic conditions. Understand the reticence from those who benefit from the current plans though, change is difficult and costly, though ineviatable. People will try to hang on to what they have earned, private sector included, until the end. Reality is a bitter pill, one swallowed only when forced upon us. Trust in elected officials, incidentally those in control of our economic future, is nonexistant. Making public employees and unions and their pensions the focus of the state’s budget crisis is misleading. It is a piece of a far larger puzzle that will never be fully understood.

Steve Laffey promotes privatizing ambulance services. Bill Felkner quoted the infamous and oft quoted RIPEC study while a guest on Mewsmakers undermining minimum staffing requirements. Both in my opinion would definately adversely affect public safety.
My belief is yours when it comes to government. The umbrella is too big. Education, public safety, national security, and public works are priority, the rest gravy, with some exceptions that I haven’t thought about.

–“pension reform is underway, and will continue, albiet slowly, until it is more in line with current economic conditions. Understand the reticence from those who benefit from the current plans” Aye, there’s the rub. What has been true with private sector unions for decades is now starting to emerge with public sector unions. That is that in essence, though it takes years if not decades to unfold, unions are giant Ponzi Schemes in which union bosses always benefit, and the early “rank and file” benefit, and the later “rank and file” get the shaft. The early UAW and Steelworkers made out like bandits. But unions never know when to stop demanding more — if for no other reason than the union boss-politicians have to keep bringing home the contract bacon and some in the rank and file swallow the Marxist Kool-Aid they’ve been fed about sticking it to greedy management — and eventually the host starts to die. Often it does die, taking the whole employer and all of the rank and file with it, though the “leaders” of the national union remain at union HQ in Washington, D.C., continuing to feed off of the remaining hosts. And even when the host doesn’t die (or in the years beforehand) it starts to shrink as it becomes increasingly uncompetitive. So then the less senior rank and file (e.g., new hires) start paying the price. Reduced benefits, different pay scales, and the first to be laid-off as the employer shrinks. Yet (at least before they are laid-off or terminated) they still get to pay the exact same dues to support the union bosses, and the more senior rank and file, in the lifestyle to which they’ve become accustomed. As Rhode Island continues to lose (and shrink) because it is uncompetitive with its… Read more »

–“Ragingrhodeislander, your commentary is frighteningly accurate.”
I make no bones about not being a union-friendly guy.
That said, my comments were based upon taking a long-term perspective of the union dynamic, not from an anti-union bias per se. Like companies, unions tend to have a lifecycle (at least within a particular company).
I say all that simply to point out that while we may disagree on many things, I do recognize and appreciate your ability to acknowledge reality and, when appropriate, acknowledge when the other side makes a valid point (just as you do with regularity).
Quite refreshing, and it gives you credibility. Unlike, say, Pat Crowley who merely regurgitates his spin — typically demonstrably false spin at that — and so who (I suspect even over at RI Future where they’re predisposed to be on his side) continues to erode his credibility.

Michael,
Why is that people who want affordable public safety are always described by your ilk as being “opponents” of fire departments?
We’d all love more police, fire and rescue personel. Hell, we’d like to have one of each for every man, woman and child in the state. But here is the news flash: WE CAN NOT AFFORD IT!
And the main reason we can not afford it is due to the union enabled pay & benefits that have been extorted from the taxpayers from spoiled, non-self-reliant union hacks who think they have “earned” the right to collect guaranteed pensions that grow by 3% per year for more years than they worked, to go along with their free or near-free healthcare for life.
They didn’t earn it …they extorted it with the assistance of a compliant & obediant General Assembly that was being lobbied by the likes of your union president who, rather than working the job he was paid to do by the taxpayers, was instead hanging around the statehouse heroically “attending to union business” while the rest of us were busy at work.
Lastly, since you and your fellow union members sat silent while your union president took 3+ years out of work (while being paid), thus creating a man shortage in the department, you and your fellow hacks have no credibilty when it comes to talking about public safety as it relates to minimum manning.
If minimum manning was so damn important, you should have been jumping up and down when your union president was incurring his inexcusable absence.

Michael, thanks for the thoughtful post. I’m a volunteer firefighter – I hope you won’t hate for not being in the union.
I have to believe that the vast majority of career firefighters see it as a calling and a profession, and knowing first-hand how tough and dangerous working in a structure fire can be, I admire them enormously for it.
But you know as well as I that there are some guys who “work the system” to get as much money as possible for as little work as possible. The true stories of guys who take phony disability pensions, call in sick to trade “recall” overtime, and pull other scams based on contract rules have really hurt the reputation of firefighters in this state. Unfortunately, people who don’t know enough of the facts read the headlines and tar everyone with the same broad brush. It may not seem fair, but unless the public can see the facts, what do you expect?
I’d like to see less tolerance in the force for those who view the union as their employer and the taxpayers as their enemy.
And what I’d really like to see is cutting off the able-bodied idlers, baby-mamas and illegal aliens from welfare, and de-fund the parasitical “social service” organizations that are paid our tax dollars to enable them. That action will save many times more than hard-lining .gov employees ever could.

Michael, I urge you to give the Tea Party another look. Check out their discussion site at riteaparty.ning.com .
The only thing carved in stone so far is the Tea Party’s mission statement. As a grassroots citizens’ movement, the Tea Party is searching for the best solutions to our state’s problems. There are no doctrinaire positions opposing firefighters, or teachers or cops for that matter.
Since positions on specific issues are still being formulated and debated, you can help guide the Tea Party by joining up and educating your fellow members. Lots of us need it. Or you can not be involved, abdicate your opportunity to shape the debate, and be like the average do-nothing, whining voter. It’s your choice.

Michael, I just read your link. It looked like Cody Reed and the Asian drug spammers were your only antagonists. Reed seems like a typical Marxist union stooge. Probably drinks at Local 121 with Pat Crowley.
I wouldn’t worry about him.
And as I said above, public safety employees are not the problem. Sure, there are abusive terms baked into some contracts but they aren’t the problem and they aren’t the solution. The big problems are found where the government is spending huge dollars doing things that are not legitimate functions of government.