09-07-2005, 02:48 AM
Occhidiangela,Sep 5 2005, 07:09 PM Wrote:Ted Kennedy, a competent Senator, was able to spring loose 11 billion and counting in federal money, goodness know how much in State money, and counting, for a major traffic and metro upgrade to Boston. That is one example of how "taxes" get spent. There is not a bottomless pit...
Please, don't get me started on the BS that's been going on in Boston for years with that "major traffic and metro upgrade". You want to talk about flooding problems? THAT'S what all the money has gotten us - a giant underwater tube just waiting to cave in. The tunnel has been shut down numerous times for repairs (last high count I had heard was over 130 tiles, AT ONE TIME), and has been down (for repairs and construction) for YEARS longer than it has been operational.
Mass. has probably one of the WORST traffic budgets in the U.S.; not because of a lack of money, but because all that money just DISAPPEARS. BILLIONS of dollars spent, and for what? "The Big Dig". Yeah, that's exactly what it is - a big dig to find the motherload of money that we've lost over the last decade. Forget Jimmy Hoffa's body - give me back my taxes.
Unless you've lived in MA, especially during the time of the big dig, you wouldn't EVER refer to that as a good way of spending taxes. Christ, we've been paying tolls on the turnpike for decades longer than we were supposed to be. Those tolls, which have only INCREASED over the years, were supposed to have been abolished years ago because they had already payed for what they were originally implemented for. Oh, and there's also talk of a $4.00 (or some such number) toll for people who commute into / out of Boston, but don't actually live there. Believe me, you don't ever want to bring up traffic budgeting with someone from MA, especially from the Boston area. You have a better chance of living declaring you're a Yankees fan during the World Series. :P
Roland *The Gunslinger*