Your tax dollars at work

[halhiker]

According to the Desert Sun some trail work is going to be done near Idyllwild with funding from the stimulus plan based by Congress and signed by the President. They say they'll be working on a new trail but don't say where. Good to see some of that loot going to local trails!

http://www.mydesert.com/article/20090313/NEWS07/90313051

[FIGHT ON]

According to the Desert Sun some trail work is going to be done near Idyllwild with funding from the stimulus plan based by Congress and signed by the President. They say they'll be working on a new trail but don't say where.

New trail? Who do they think they are anyway? That's like trying to tell me which way to go, how to get from point a to point b, like a cairn, OR A WHOLE SERIES OF CAIRNS!!!

[phydeux]

The article doesn't directly mention new trails, but seems to be about working on some older trails that have been neglected over the years. With the way forest service budgets have been decimated over the last few decades, its nice to see some funds coming back into the system .

[halhiker]

The article doesn't directly mention new trails, but seems to be about working on some older trails that have been neglected over the years. With the way forest service budgets have been decimated over the last few decades, its nice to see some funds coming back into the system .

The article doesn't mention a new trail but the headline does.

[halhiker]

According to the Desert Sun some trail work is going to be done near Idyllwild with funding from the stimulus plan based by Congress and signed by the President. They say they'll be working on a new trail but don't say where.

New trail? Who do they think they are anyway? That's like trying to tell me which way to go, how to get from point a to point b, like a cairn, OR A WHOLE SERIES OF CAIRNS!!!

I figure that's the best way to keep the herds out of the real backcountry. There's no telling what they might wear.

[Norris]

The very first thing they should do is remove some of the dead trees that loom over the Devil's Slide trail. There is one particular tree that is poised to crash down over some poor unsuspecting hiker at any moment.

[Norris]

Oops! I found a picture of that tree, and its on the Vivian Creek trail on Gorgonio.. maybe they'll get over there next!

[hikehigh]

Just what we need, government creating more work for government. So far most of the stuff I have read about this "stimulus" bill, is just funding for government improvement projects.

All its going to do is keep the government bureaucracy busy shuffling paper around while companies in the real world have to make real cuts and decrease spending.

[halhiker]

Just what we need, government creating more work for government. So far most of the stuff I have read about this "stimulus" bill, is just funding for government improvement projects.

All its going to do is keep the government bureaucracy busy shuffling paper around while companies in the real world have to make real cuts and decrease spending.

The money being spent by the government is going to real people in real jobs in the real world to feed real families. And unlike companies in the "real world" none of the government workers are going to be getting MILLION DOLLAR BONUSES like those that are guaranteed to AIG managers that we now have to pay.

In case you've forgotten, it was companies in the "real world" that got us in this hellhole of a mess due to the deregulation espoused by previous administrations.

But so I don't get so off topic, I posted this because I'm grateful that some of this money is going to local trails. I would've hoped that regardless of one's politics we could all be happy about that. I guess I was wrong.

[hikehigh]

We could agree this a terrible economic crisis, though it doesn't apply to government workers. The states work force grew by 1% from June 2008 to February 2009. The private sector shrank by 3.3%.

It guess it would be nice to be on the government cheese and retire at 50 with 90% of your salary for the rest of your life.

Counting the total compensation costs (pensions, health care, etc.), state and local government workers average $34.13, while private sector employees receive only $23.41. Hence, on average, nationwide, state and local government employees receive 45.6 percent higher compensation than private sector employees. Those are national average figures, in California compensation levels are beyond anything even imagined in the other 49 states.

In short, the REAL "public servants" are the hard-working California people in the private sector who pay excessive taxes to provide our public employees with FAR more compensation than the free market says they deserve.

I would rather walk around a downed tree than have my taxes raised.

I guess the only thing we agree on is that this is off topic.