Mt Whitney Zone Forums General Discussion Yosemite, Congress & Sequestering

Wagga

Grazie! Grazie!! That (and Hospital) is one of the great movie moments.

Jarvis' live comment was more interesting and better said than what seemed like a flack-written memo aimed less towards employees (which is who it went to) than the press. Part of the problem with this sequestration is that it's not a sudden loss of jobs, credit etc., it's a slow moving train wreck. So there's no dramatic "closed" sign for people to get upset and start writing their representatives.

Wbtravis is right that it's a circus. But how do you get people to realize that this is important and will have long-term consequences? Some years ago, FEMA was drastically cut and leadership turned over to patronage positions. This was not a problem until there was a disaster and the critical nature of federal emergency response and support was dramatically shown. To a certain extent, I'm sympathetic to tdz on a discussion of economics/budget in the outdoorsy pages of this forum, but you can't separate the future of our collective access and enjoyment of places like, say, Reflection Lake from what's going on in these endless budget crisis.

Everyone says to "cut government spending" but when asked about specifics, they actually support raising spending for almost every service that government offers. Everyone says cut waste and tax loopholes but seem unwilling to actually do it. Except for a small but determined band of tea party types, government is important (well until you try interfere with their medicare and SS...).

California went through this exact sequence over the last several years. (Yes, the "left coast" -- is that really helpful to a discussion?). After 2 years of shortened hours for government services, layoffs of teachers, police and fire, a stagnant economy etc., voters supported a temporary raise in taxes. In the process, the republican party -- who had uncompromisingly opposed any budget discussion that involved raising revenue -- saw their registration go down to 26%, lose both houses and have no representatives in higher office in the state. They were ultimately seen as the party of "no" and unhelpful to meaningful reform.

We see the exact same response at the federal level:
http://goo.gl/nifyh

So, absolutely correct that there is no free lunch, but people want government services and, as Bulldog and others here say, are willing to pay parks a little more to get them.

Wbtracis is again right that "Europe is the wake up call everyone wants to ignore" but the lesson is that ignoring the importance of government spending in the midst of a serious recession just makes things far worse. Arguably, you can and should find ways to eventually reduce some types of projected government spending (e.g. medicare & SS), but to cut services & jobs in a recession is disastrous:

www.businessinsider.com/european-economic-disaster-2013-3

Which is all to say that a discussion anywhere on the importance of government in our day to day lives -- and how to pay for it -- is, however boring or controversial, an important one to have.


George
Public Servant