Couple of things
- I've generated some good discussion after recapping Charlie Maddox's less-than-stellar week, including some pro-Maddox prose which, quite frankly, is refreshing to see since it hasn't visited my blog yet. I'm not necessarily swayed or anything ... particularly by our anonymous poster who answered my criticism of 'lack of substance in the new release' by ... re-posting said news release.
- By the way ... this may be something supported by all candidates, but it was only officially requested by one of them. It just seems to me all this (recent) criticism by the anti-Heidi crowd that she hasn't done anything for poverty (and, thus the implication that others have) isn't grounded in much reality. I keep checking off things she's implemented and folks respond 'oh ... that was already going on ... I think' or 'oh ... they all want that' or 'oh ... I'm a uniter not a divider' ... all of it lacking much real critique. Does this mean the other candidates wouldn't take a serious approach to poverty? Of course not. What it does mean is that you can't create some intangible in your opponent that doesn't exist, particularly when there is considerable evidence to suggest otherwise.
- One of our anonymous posters said that we need 'better jobs' (again, sure) and that we don't need them in neighboring counties. Fair enough as I definitely want to see a diverse selection of employment opportunities in Athens-Clarke County, but if a resident of this community gets a good-paying job in, say, Madison County and commutes to and fro ... and said resident improves his or her lot and invests that money in this community ... is it really that bad? If you want to bring jobs and employers to this community, that's great and I'm with you. But if you want to bring them specifically to Athens-Clarke County as a poverty-fighting tool, than the argument is a tad more lacking, you see?
- Speaking of elections, I try to be Carnac the Great and pick what's going to happen in Congress this Election Day.
- Shocking!
- I asked John Marsh a question and he was kind enough to find us and respond, followed by GP offering some of his thoughts. I had penned a comment, but Blogger ate it ... so there's that. Needless to say, that I still think that it's not 'taxation without representation' anymore than asking a visitor to pay sales tax is. Though, I'm not really that big of a fan of the hotel-motel tax and the real point of my criticism was that I think it's wrong of Rep. Bob Smith (who doesn't even live in this community) to determine what is and what isn't an issue this community should debate and decide on.
- So be sure to bring your bullet-proof vest to the victory parade.
- OK ... I agree with the Athens Banner-Herald in this criticism, however where has this same criticism been for most members of the Republican Party when they use similar language? And, for that matter, considering how Democrats have struggled to connect with those very voters Mark Taylor is targeting - of which numerous columnists on that paper's editorial pages have already noted - why the need to criticize his reaching out to said group? Granted, I'm not a huge Taylor fan anymore, but still ...
- By the way ... this may be something supported by all candidates, but it was only officially requested by one of them. It just seems to me all this (recent) criticism by the anti-Heidi crowd that she hasn't done anything for poverty (and, thus the implication that others have) isn't grounded in much reality. I keep checking off things she's implemented and folks respond 'oh ... that was already going on ... I think' or 'oh ... they all want that' or 'oh ... I'm a uniter not a divider' ... all of it lacking much real critique. Does this mean the other candidates wouldn't take a serious approach to poverty? Of course not. What it does mean is that you can't create some intangible in your opponent that doesn't exist, particularly when there is considerable evidence to suggest otherwise.
- One of our anonymous posters said that we need 'better jobs' (again, sure) and that we don't need them in neighboring counties. Fair enough as I definitely want to see a diverse selection of employment opportunities in Athens-Clarke County, but if a resident of this community gets a good-paying job in, say, Madison County and commutes to and fro ... and said resident improves his or her lot and invests that money in this community ... is it really that bad? If you want to bring jobs and employers to this community, that's great and I'm with you. But if you want to bring them specifically to Athens-Clarke County as a poverty-fighting tool, than the argument is a tad more lacking, you see?
- Speaking of elections, I try to be Carnac the Great and pick what's going to happen in Congress this Election Day.
- Shocking!
- I asked John Marsh a question and he was kind enough to find us and respond, followed by GP offering some of his thoughts. I had penned a comment, but Blogger ate it ... so there's that. Needless to say, that I still think that it's not 'taxation without representation' anymore than asking a visitor to pay sales tax is. Though, I'm not really that big of a fan of the hotel-motel tax and the real point of my criticism was that I think it's wrong of Rep. Bob Smith (who doesn't even live in this community) to determine what is and what isn't an issue this community should debate and decide on.
- So be sure to bring your bullet-proof vest to the victory parade.
- OK ... I agree with the Athens Banner-Herald in this criticism, however where has this same criticism been for most members of the Republican Party when they use similar language? And, for that matter, considering how Democrats have struggled to connect with those very voters Mark Taylor is targeting - of which numerous columnists on that paper's editorial pages have already noted - why the need to criticize his reaching out to said group? Granted, I'm not a huge Taylor fan anymore, but still ...
posted by Jmac at 7:09 AM
5 Comments:
Jobs in surrounding counties do help, and that should be exiting for us. We get the full tax and the investment benefit when companies locate here. Home Depot is more than a million a year in sales tax revenue, companies sponsor not for profits in their own backyard etc.
S
....also we can expect Madison County leaders to fight for jobs in their own community. We SHOULD expect our leaders to fight for jobs in our community. By the way, I guess it is the Heidi campaign that does not have specific answers to the "larger community support" issue.
S
Right 'S' ... I'm not disputing your claims. Additional sales tax revenue for local government is a good thing (and, to be fair, there has been businesses such as Lowe's on the eastside which have cropped up in the past year or so).
My point was that if you use this solely as a poverty-fighting tactic, as the Maddox campaign materials suggest, than it's important to also consider that some Athenians affected by poverty can improve their lot by working outside of the community, yet still living within our borders.
There are lots of reasons to support good economic growth in your own community, but using it solely as a way to alleviate poverty is a tad misleading. There are a lot of factors at work and a lot of ways to help those folks out.
Yes there are, but jobs eliminate poverty, and hand-outs perpetuate it. Why would we prefer jobs in the surrounding communities? We can't control their impact and we will have to supply the services for the folks who fall between the cracks without the tax benefits.
Yes there are, but jobs eliminate poverty, and hand-outs perpetuate it.
Well, not really. The right kind of jobs can help eliminate poverty. A person working for $6.50 an hour on two 30-hour-a-week shifts to support his family of four isn't going to do a heck of a lot to eliminate his poverty. What can are good-paying jobs, combined with proper education and job training, as those two things offer the best possibilities for career advancement.
As far as 'hand-outs' ... well, we could go around and around on this one. I could tell you how beneficial all of those 'hand-out' programs are to the families I see helped at IHN or at Sparrow's Nest or at Athens Homeless Shelter, but that's probably moot to you.
What I will say is that, again following our hypothetical situation of the Athenian who works in, say, Madison County is that he/she will still spend the majority of his/her money in this community. Thus his/her tax dollars are still flowing into our local economy.
Furthermore, and someone can correct me if I'm wrong on this, but it's my understanding that these programs you criticize are funded by state and federal dollars and not by local tax dollars. If that's the case, than I don't see how your criticism works.
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