Local police and fire departments are all local services voluntarily paid for by local taxpayers. Welfare is "Federal" and funded by all those who are forced to pay federal taxes by the IRS, not the same thing. One is self-preservation and the other is robbery. I never agreed to pay for i******s or people who won't work. I only agree to pay federal taxes for the national defense and our infrastructure, not the defense of a foreign nation or it's infrastructure. Any social welfare here should be funded by churches and individuals who want to contribute. A lot of crime and insanity would vanish very quickly.

Police, fire = necessary infrastructure

Education = preparing the young to maintain our economy

Social Security (as intended) = government controlled retirement fund paid into throughout the working lives of the eventual recipients rather than simply given them as entitlements. Also, a shortchanging of sorts when you calculate four decades' worth of potential interest.

Not even on the same page as the kind of socialism today's Democrats endorse, that lame comparison you offer, and other lefties have offered up, is weaker than weak.

As it is, the education part has been used and abused by the Democrats these last few decades so that today, unlike previously, the taxpayer is doling out a lot more money for an increasingly lousy product that the Democrats continue advancing policies to make even worse.

Where Social Security is concerned, the Democrats, who don't believe in allowing money to go unspent, long ago bankrupted what should have been SocSec's escrow account, and their minions in liberal run states continue to award SSI to non-disabled parasites like it was Monopoly money so the recipients have cash to buy their alcohol and drugs on the back of the taxpayer. If you want to see that in practice, spend a week in Santa Monica or Venice, California and talk to some of the twenty-something government subsidized meth afficionados cramming the Boardwalks and nearby streets. They're not shy about bragging. I have no doubt that you'll meet the same parasites in any "liberal" controlled city.

Police, firemen, free public education and, if they had something like Social Security in Venezuela, didn't turn that once rich country into the cesspool of squalor and stark hopelessness it is today -- the same degree of socialism preached by the current array of Democratic primary candidates did.

Democrat v**ers may be simpletons and believers in Utopia, but we conservatives tend to be realists who know a bill of goods when it's presented to us.

Perhaps it is time for a little reality.. do you cultests truly think the trump knows any damn thing about business?? He lived high and bragged away as he spent daddys money and later ,,,,,Putins?

the rality is found in The Fiscal Times of a few days ago..


Economy Cools as Trade War Bites, Tax Cuts Fizzle
The economy grew at a 1.9% annual pace in the third quarter, according to preliminary data released by the Commerce Department Wednesday. Although the topline number was better than expected, the report confirms that growth is slowing, down slightly from a 2% annual rate in the second quarter.

Growth was driven largely by consumer spending, which increased at a 2.9% rate, exceeding expectations. Business spending, however, saw its biggest drop since 2015, with nonresidential investment falling at a 3% annual rate, following a 1% drop in the second quarter.

“It’s the same theme: Strong consumer, weak business,” Michelle Girard, chief U.S. economist at NatWest Markets, told Bloomberg News.


Tax cuts aren’t having much of an effect: The drop in business investment once again raises questions about the 2017 tax cuts. Washington Post columnist Catherine Rampell pointed out that business investment was a key selling point for the GOP tax cuts: “Mechanism by which the GOP tax cut was supposed to supercharge growth was by supercharging business investment,” she wrote Wednesday. “Business investment instead *fell* last quarter, by 3% annualized.”

Ian Shepherdson of Pantheon Macroeconomics emphasized the point, saying the “capital spending numbers were awful and a bit worse than we expected, with structures investment -- oil rigs, offices, factories, commercial premises -- plunging 15.3 percent.”

To be sure, there were many other factors in play, with uncertainty around the Trump administration’s trade war likely playing a big role in suppressing overall investment. But that suggests that one part of Trump economic policy — the trade war — is swamping wh**ever positive effects might have been generated by another key part of his agenda, tax cuts.

Ernie Tedeschi, a managing director at Evercore ISI who served as an economist at the Treasury Department, said that it looks like the “2017 tax cut didn’t juice investment enough to withstand the trade war.”

Defeat is never an option: President Trump seemed unfazed by the lackluster GDP report, tweeting Wednesday morning about “The Greatest Economy in American History!”

Numerous critics pointed out the fallacy of that claim.


Others noted that Trump had said the economy was “in deep trouble” when GDP growth was at the same level in 2012 during the Obama administration. Rampell dismissed Trump’s claim, tweeting, “You spent $2T in deficit-financed tax cuts to get us to exactly the rate of growth we had before you were president.”

And we all should thank President Obama for that solid economy..

While he is a man you h**e and never will you give any credit, this is all his doing.. because...

trump... has done what to affect the economy?

Tax cut.. huge mountain of cash used for buy back and bonus for the rich rather than investment and wage growth.. now this i pretty much used up.. investment never much, is falling like a rock..

trade war and tariff... cost to middle class has and will continue to outpace the positive effect of the, for the average american, temporary tax cuts,

Age off, the middle class tax cuts will age off in a few more years and write offs we used for decades if not generations are gone.. what will the average american do?

Pay for the govt now and future expenses.. in a time of a strong economy spending should be down, that would be the budget which is running a larger deficit now then when we were fighting the recession. the same is for the national debt, it should have seen a pay down, except it has gone up by near 3 trillion for the orange man..

The GDP dropped to 1.9 for the 3rd quarter, down from the 2% for the 1st... when President Obama ran those numbers, he was damned for ineptitude.. now the orange ding dong call it a wonderful economy..

While we all know that the trump base will v**e for him again even if Russia positioned on Syria/Turkey border should turn hot and deadly.. as is being warned of by our military brain trust..

but the Obama economy could indeed become trumps biggest bragging point and save his sorry a** in the e******n.. if he is still in office..

Have a good evening, I am having a cold pop and staring at my fire place.. more enjoyable then watching TV..

under the bimbocrats our so called education dept. has done every thing to indoctrinate our countries children into being socialist in philosophy . look at all of the people who are now or shortly will be of v****g age . so many of them think that socialism and some c*******m is the better form of governments . the education dept. is TRASH ! ,,,,,,,,,,,, that growing egg is a life. he or she is alive and growing . plus a pregnancy is NOT a health choice . ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, gun control? what a laugh . most EVERY one of the bimbo. candidates have mentioned ," confiscation of military look alikes - not renewing gun dealer license , banning certain fire arms " they have NO right or authority to do this . just so you know there is the second amendment and that at the time that it was written the only weapon at that time was the muzzle loader . WHICH was a military grade weapon of the time . it is called progress . how is the population suppose to be the under ground in support of our military if we were ever to be invaded? I do pray that this NEVER happens . ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, no repubs. want to have people who are legitimate v**ers to v**e . not like some of your bimbo. leaders who think that if you live in America you should be allowed to v**e . there is laws on the books that say you can v**e if you are 18 or older and a U.S. citizen . ,,,,,,,,, the bimbos. support indoctrination as education not education . I don't know what this 2 level thing is that you made comment about . ,,,,,,,,,,,, the bimbocrates are the ones who have pushed for the laws that allow for g****r identification to use the wash room or shower that is the identity of the person . "men " that say they are female can use the womens rest room or shower . this isn't the repubs. that's all yours and the bimbocrats . ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, bimbocrats want a free Venezuela? I would think that every one would like to see them freed from the state that their in . you make no sense here . ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, orange criminal? I don't know any orange people. I do know people who had to wear orange when they were incarcerated though . again you giber gabber at the mouth like a mad man . ,,,,,,,,,,,,,a right winger . well lets see . lowest unemployment sense the 60's , highest employment for B****s , Hispanics , Asians , more women entrepreneurs sense who knows when . did a deal with Canada and Mexico , that the bimbos. in the house will NOT allow to come to the floor for a v**e . ooohhhh no they can't do that , that would be a victory for President Trump , can not let that happen . got us out of a pansies ass deal with Iran , dealing with China for FAIR trade , and quit forcing co. to give up trade secrets to do busiess in China . dealing with N.Korea on the nuke missle situation . I would have to say that he has done QUIT abit for the American people . not like so many of the past presidents . who said that they would deal with China , N.Korea and did NOTHING , except tax businesses to death until they moved out of the country . now some of them have come back , putting people to work . he cut double and at times triple regulations that stunted growth . , putting people back to work . ,,,,,BUT your mainstreet bimbocratic propaganda news media , wont tell you anything that he has done to HELP the PEOPLE of our country . they just keep spewing out the lies that the bimbocrates want them to tell you . ,,,,,,,,,,,, same thing to you, how many times can a person lie to you before you tell them to go away and not come back ? this is what the bimbo. leaders have done for 3 years . yet you want to think that they are for the working people . NOT FOR A LONG TIME BUB . not for a long time.