[Magdalen] Precip.

[Jim Guthrie]

Snark is right . . .

>Well, of course. Lynn, *Washington* is supposed to handle the
>infrastructure, you know. /snark/  Which, of course, they won't, being more
>embroiled in things like trying to regulate lady parts and suchlike.

A very minor part of infrastructure investment comes out of Washington. But we 
don’t see how much towns and municipalities and counties and states pay, because 
the aggregate totals are not counted.

Complicating the matter is that some larger infrastructure items locally --  
sewers, bridges and other projects, are paid for by selling debt which puts them 
"off line" in budgeting.

The smarmiest politicos of course claim that local and state governments have to 
"balance their budget" -- true to a point, while incurring billions in off-line 
debt to pay for ranging from University Dorms and Classroom Buildings to 
Turnpikes and Sewer Systems and Libraries and public buildings and a myriad of 
other things. They even sell revenue anticipation notes, -- borrowing against 
future tax increases.

In the federal budget -- everything is on a cash basis and the difference 
between income and outgo thus is counted as "deficit" and contributes to the 
National Debt.

The saddest thing is that millions of ignoramus Americans believe the 
politicians canard comparing the federal budget to the state and local budgets 
thinking the latter are somehow "balanced."

Cheers,
Jim


On Mon, Nov 2, 2015 at 2:34 PM, Lynn Ronkainen <houstonklr at gmail.com> wrote:

> Major rains here again over the weekend (here being Houston and the burbs
> - my abode) and for the first time, possibly because we've had so much rain
> in the last 4 weeks, TONS of sewage ended up in local bayous and on the
> roads : P  as the waters receded. Really bad news and on the heels of
> divisive issues of infrastructure neglect and budget shortfalls.
>
> Our spunky 3 term mayor has sunk billions in to enlarging and enhancing
> our green space, but in her last term (3 term limit here) she has been
> especially bold in her creativity. What has gone wanting during her tenure
> is any attention to infrastructure - our roads are s**t, private and
> interstate, 2+ of which cross here, not to mention other 6-8 lane non
> interstate roads. Sidewalks in the city (except for downtown) - abysmal!!!
> and the underground water system (many, many pipes burst two summers ago
> during huge drought, and only patch-patch attempt to solve immediate
> problems). Me thinks her legacy will not be positive. AND tomorrow the city
> votes on the famous 'bathroom measure' that has been getting national press
> time, for one of several angles for the last 18  months (subpoenaed pastor
> sermons!!, raising the hackles of religious groups, championing the GLBTetc
> forces, creation of sick negative ads... creating questionable positive
> ads, and 'Gidget' even made an appearance last week on the 'for' side ...
> you know, Sally Fields) all for a 'law' that common sense says is already
> covered by federal law. As I said... what a legacy. I doubt that she will
> be remembered for more than being our first gay woman mayor and championing
> this bathroom issue...  I think it may very well be voted down and who
> knows what that will do with Houston as a venue with the current rage of
> withdrawing conventions and such from cities that become controversial in
> this vein?  sigh.
>
> Lynn
>
> website: www.ichthysdesigns.com
>
> When I stand before God at the end of my life I would hope that I have not
> a single bit of talent left and could say, "I used everything You gave me."
> attributed to Erma Bombeck
> "Either Freedom for all or stop talking about Freedom at all" from a talk
> by Richard Rohr
>
> --------------------------------------------------
> From: "M J _Mike_ Logsdon" <mjl at ix.netcom.com>
> Sent: Monday, November 02, 2015 1:13 PM
> To: <magdalen at herberthouse.org>
> Subject: [Magdalen] Precip.
>
>
> It's been raining somewhat steadily since at least the middle of the night
>> sometime.  This is good.
>>
>> What's bad is that I think a clear and obvious sign of a city's economic
>> woes is that there isn't even enough money laying around to clean out the
>> stormdrains in anticipation of even light rain as we're currently getting,
>> so as to prevent "localised flooding".  I heard sirens all night resulting
>> no doubt from how many people there are in the world who forget that when
>> rain (particularly light rain) first starts an oil slick is created on the
>> roads.
>>
>
>