Comments on: Guest Column: If the debt numbers don’t scare you, they should

By: Mike

Mike — Sat, 20 Aug 2011 21:44:16 +0000

What scares me is a politicians who will not do what needs to be done to fix the problem. What scares me is that these politicians created the problem to begin with…why do we reelect Dave and Don neither get it. What scares me is that you need several things in place to fix this and yes one is less spending and the other is to pay for things and the politicians decided not to pay for things with the Bush tax cuts and now we get the true cost of being penny wise and pound foolish. The Bush tax cuts and the two unfunded wars added 7-9 trillion dollars to the current debt. Add in deregulating wall street and we can add another 3-5 trillion. Does not take a math whiz to see if those things did not happen we would not be in the mess we are in. And a high school economics class would tell you that you need to not only cut spending but also raise revenues.

By: Richard Kanak

Richard Kanak — Fri, 19 Aug 2011 21:45:21 +0000

The GAO (Government Accountability Office) says that between 1996 and 2000, nearly 2/3 of corporations with assets of $250 million and sales of $50 million doing business in the US paid zero federal taxes. A favorite scheme is using offshore subsidiaries to launder profits.

It is troubling that someone faults others for a program which they will partake in fully. The workers are not the problem, the elected officials who were supposedly in charge are at fault.

When reviewing the news topics of the day regardless of the subject it becomes increasingly clear that our elected officials have exceeded the Peter Principle of advancement years ago. I am not certain how many have achieved the status of the Dilbert Principle but in light of our elected officials performance during the debt debate it appears the majority have achieved the highest level of both Peter and Dilbert status.

By: Scott

Scott — Sat, 13 Aug 2011 02:08:13 +0000

While I agree with most of Dave had to say I find him hard to listen to as a fellow conservative due to the fact that he supports collecting the big fat pension he is guaranteed now that he has served as a public servant. There was a time when elected officials would not have dreamed of even being paid let alone being paid a pension…..yet he would support greatly reducing teacher’s pensions because he and other politicians have not done their job for the last three decades.

By: Susan

Susan — Thu, 11 Aug 2011 11:58:08 +0000

The people who will recive pensions paid in their part. The state with its mismanagement failed to pay into the pension in bad times and good for the past 30 years. Gee we could beocme like WI and punish those who have done the right thing.

By: Paul

Paul — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 20:33:03 +0000

“not one penny went toward paying off bills…. Instead, the money went to cover… pension payments.”

Last time I heard, pension liabilities were bills. And this is a person that routinely gets re-elected? If he can’t get this simple information correct, what else is he getting wrong.

By: Kevin R.

Kevin R. — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 18:47:41 +0000

Watever Dave! The sad thing is your part of the problem. As long as you guys make your millions off the backs of the tax payers who cares right? I was making more money per hour twenty years ago, interesting huh? It’s the law to balance the state’s checkbook just like we have to do with ours. The corruption and overspending and greed in Il. has been going on for decades, you guys should be stripped of your pay and benefits and pensions and thrown in jail! Also you guys ( R’s & D’s ) should be ashamed of yourselve’s for allowing the U.S.A. to be in bed with a communist country! Be prepared for the Chinese invasion soon to come. Thanks for the spin.