Trump

[SHOCKvalue]

If we can spend money in a better way than to waste it and it benefits people, let's use it but most republicans government workers would never do that.

Who are these "republican government workers" you speak of? Are they like the unicorn, the jackalope, and the chupacabra?

https://www.fedsmith.com/2016/12/21/tallying-political-donations-from-federal-employees-and-unions/

http://m.govexec.com/pay-benefits/2016/10/federal-employees-are-donating-almost-exclusively-hillary-clinton/132667/

[wufan]

If we can spend money in a better way than to waste it and it benefits people, let's use it but most republicans government workers would never do that.

We are unanimous in our support for you that it shouldn't be wasted. How should it be spent? Specifically? Why?

[Cdizzle]

Why does anyone feel entitled to spend it at all rather than letting me keep it?

[wufan]

These are questions I don't have the answers too. They are great questions we should be asking trumps team. Why does he feel entitled to spend our money on trips rather than looking at what could be done for America.

Did you ask the Obama team? Why or why not? If not, is it because Obama wasn't on pace to spend that amount? At what pace should Trump spend the money at? Less? How much less? Why? How much should have Obama spent on travel?

The reason I ask these questions is because your posts have an overtone that no matter what Trump does it is wrong. It seems from my point of view that you have a bone to pick. If that is not the case, then rather than complaining, please help me understand why X is wrong and Y is right. Thanks!

[wufan]

I think no one feels entitled to it but when we could help basic needs or people who are in a cycle of poverty, I dont know why someone wouldnt want their money spent on that.

How much of your money do you spend to end the cycle of poverty. I give a little less than $1000.00 to local charities that do this work. One of them is a Pre-K program oddly enough. Why must government do this work? Do they have a special knowledge that NFP orgs do not?

[wufan]

I did ask my representatives during obamas admin and trumps. The government is flawed and trump quite honestly is making it worse than obama. I dont talk about obama because he is irrelevant at the current time since he is not the president. I guess I question why more people arent questioning trump. You seem upset at all democratic representatives such as
Are you asking the same of trump as you did of them? Why are you not asking these questions to trump? For instance why are the whitehouse logs closed record when it is historic that they are open records? Are you concerned about how many special interest people are in the current adminstration rather like you were with obama.

I actually don't think you saw me post too many of those questions during the Obama admin. In 8 years, I'm doubtful that I posted anywhere close to what you have on the POTUS in 3 months. I had philosophical differences with Obama and I have philosophical differences with Trump, but not as many.

[wufan]

Because it is in my opinion that it is the governments responsibility to provide its citzens with the best access and resources for a great life. And once again we are talking aboiy my opinion rather than trump and his policies and what they mean. You turn it on to me rather than discussing trump.

Thanks! Now that I understand that we have philosophically different view points, I can understand where you are coming from.

I believe in opportunity. That what we achieve is largely guided by our own strengths and our own ambition. I believe that I have a better understanding of how to raise my family than the gov does. I believe that I have a better understanding of my community than the federal gov does. If we look to those near us to lead, I think we will find that we will reach our goals, and that by looking out for those that have different struggles in life, we can help them achieve their goals as well.

[SHOCKvalue]

The vast majority rep party runs on small government.

Is your beef with the small government branch of the republican party, or federal government employees who happen to be republican? You've now referenced both respectively, so I'm confused.

[SHOCKvalue]

I think no one feels entitled to it but when we could help basic needs or people who are in a cycle of poverty, I dont know why someone wouldnt want their money spent on that.

Basic needs like food stamps, WIC, EIC, section 8 housing, pell grants, and such?

[jdshock]

@seskridge: - this is what I was trying to say. You're making it harder on yourself because you're requiring yourself to win two arguments. If you just say Trump spends too much on vacations basically everybody is on board. If you want to increase funding for pre-k, that's fine too. We can get back to discussing the research you posted. But when you say funding should go from Trump's vacations to pre-k, you create a system where a million different arguments defeat that proposal.

[wufan]

@seskridge: - this is what I was trying to say. You're making it harder on yourself because you're requiring yourself to win two arguments. If you just say Trump spends too much on vacations basically everybody is on board. If you want to increase funding for pre-k, that's fine too. We can get back to discussing the research you posted. But when you say funding should go from Trump's vacations to pre-k, you create a system where a million different arguments defeat that proposal.

I'm actually really curious to read your take on Pre-K funding. I know we have philosophical differences, but I absolutely understand the basis for your reasoning and have much respect for you!

[MoValley John]

Because it is in my opinion that it is the governments responsibility to provide its citzens with the best access and resources for a great life. And once again we are talking aboiy my opinion rather than trump and his policies and what they mean. You turn it on to me rather than discussing trump.

You really think the role of the government is to provide everyone with the best access and resources for a great life? That is a really broad and far reaching goal. If you believe that, then maybe you support Trump taking these vacations. Afterall, the government is merely providing him the best access and resources to have a great life.

[wufan]

I did ask my representatives during obamas admin and trumps. The government is flawed and trump quite honestly is making it worse than obama. I dont talk about obama because he is irrelevant at the current time since he is not the president. I guess I question why more people arent questioning trump. You seem upset at all democratic representatives such as obama
Are you asking the same of trump as you did of them? Why are you not asking these questions to trump? For instance why are the whitehouse logs closed record when it is historic that they are open records? Are you concerned about how many special interest people are in the current adminstration rather like you were with obama.

What did the representatives say about the vacation travel for each POTUS?

[jdshock]

I'm actually really curious to read your take on Pre-K funding. I know we have philosophical differences, but I absolutely understand the basis for your reasoning and have much respect for you!

Conservatives like to point out that bad parenting can cause a child many problems even if the kid has access to great schools, and that's a really sad fact that's true in tons of situations. My biggest interests regarding education tend to be related to really practical aspects of education. For example, multiple meals should be available for the kids. Plus, I think funding via property taxes needs to change. One problem cities run into is that cities tend to have fewer residential properties to tax. Businesses in cities are regularly given tax cuts to locate to the city, so they're not raising any funds for the community. The city then has worse schools because they have less money, which lowers property values, which reduces the pool of property taxes even further. And in St. Louis in particular, I know there's a cap on property tax rates, so even if you wanted to go above a certain rate, you couldn't. Compare that to a suburb with high property values and only residential neighborhoods, they can raise significantly more funds even if they have lower rates.

Because of the local funding issues in question, I do believe there needs to be some level of federal funding for schools. I just don't know enough about pre-k to know what that looks like. I guess my questions would be (a) does the evidence show parents are more likely to work if their kid is in a free pre-k program? (b) how important is it that the program actually be a pre-k program? i.e., would daycare be a cheaper alternative that benefits families the same way? (c) how much does pre-k impact educational performance later in life? I imagine there is probably some crime statistics that are compelling, but those kinds of things are always really tough to measure. One of the most famous studies on this topic suggests the legalization of abortion has had the biggest impact on decreased crime stats. I imagine, but don't know, the data about educational performance is a lot less messy than crime stats.

The easiest way I can make an argument about increasing government funding of education has to do with ROI, like you mentioned. I just don't know enough about that for pre-k to make a compelling argument, though.

[wufan]

Conservatives like to point out that bad parenting can cause a child many problems even if the kid has access to great schools, and that's a really sad fact that's true in tons of situations. My biggest interests regarding education tend to be related to really practical aspects of education. For example, multiple meals should be available for the kids. Plus, I think funding via property taxes needs to change. One problem cities run into is that cities tend to have fewer residential properties to tax. Businesses in cities are regularly given tax cuts to locate to the city, so they're not raising any funds for the community. The city then has worse schools because they have less money, which lowers property values, which reduces the pool of property taxes even further. And in St. Louis in particular, I know there's a cap on property tax rates, so even if you wanted to go above a certain rate, you couldn't. Compare that to a suburb with high property values and only residential neighborhoods, they can raise significantly more funds even if they have lower rates.

Because of the local funding issues in question, I do believe there needs to be some level of federal funding for schools. I just don't know enough about pre-k to know what that looks like. I guess my questions would be (a) does the evidence show parents are more likely to work if their kid is in a free pre-k program? (b) how important is it that the program actually be a pre-k program? i.e., would daycare be a cheaper alternative that benefits families the same way? (c) how much does pre-k impact educational performance later in life? I imagine there is probably some crime statistics that are compelling, but those kinds of things are always really tough to measure. One of the most famous studies on this topic suggests the legalization of abortion has had the biggest impact on decreased crime stats. I imagine, but don't know, the data about educational performance is a lot less messy than crime stats.

The easiest way I can make an argument about increasing government funding of education has to do with ROI, like you mentioned. I just don't know enough about that for pre-k to make a compelling argument, though.

I haven't given a lot of thought to the multiple meals per day, but on the surface I hate it. If someone is in a financial state such that they can't afford the bare minimum food for their child, there is social welfare that pays for that. Why also give free meals at school? Kinda double-dipping. If your idea is to transition the money from welfare/food stamps from the parents pocket to the schools, that would make some sense, but what parent that won't provide food to their kid at home is going to get them to school for two meals?

I had never considered the property tax issues for inner cities. Very interesting! Certainly, highly populated and affluent suburban areas are going to see more financial benefit from property taxes. I'm a small gov guy, but education, being garunteed by the federal gov, is something that I am okay with the fed funding.