US 131 again
The Kalamazoo "Leftwing" Gazette has been consistent in pushing for that highway US-131 project in editorials and news articles.
I can't say I'm completely opposed to it, but I'm not really in favor of it. I have selfish reasons. It would despoil the countryside through Prairie Ronde and south to White Pigeon -- where there are scenes of some of the Black Hawk war scare history that I enjoy riding my bike to.
Today's lead article is headlined, "Funds for U.S. 131 project still a major sticking point." Well, duh. And at one point it says, "Reconstrucing or expanding the highway network would take hundreds of millions more -- money the state does not have and lawmakers are unwilling to raise."
What an amazing statement. And how revealing of the mindset of the writer, one Peter Luke who is identified as being in the "Gazette Lansing Bureau." Whether or not Mr. Luke realizes it, there is a lot more to keep the state government from getting that money than the un/willingness of lawmakers. There is the fact that voters might not be willing to have the money taxed out of them. And there is also the fact that the money may not be there, period. With Ford and GM laying off tens of thousands of workers, and Michigan bearing the brunt of it because business taxes are notoriously heavy here, it's strange that a human mind could think that more money could be had if only lawmakers were willing to go and get it.
I am thinking of the kid who says daddy is mean, selfish and keeping the family poor because he won't give him an allowance of $100/week.
I can't say I'm completely opposed to it, but I'm not really in favor of it. I have selfish reasons. It would despoil the countryside through Prairie Ronde and south to White Pigeon -- where there are scenes of some of the Black Hawk war scare history that I enjoy riding my bike to.
Today's lead article is headlined, "Funds for U.S. 131 project still a major sticking point." Well, duh. And at one point it says, "Reconstrucing or expanding the highway network would take hundreds of millions more -- money the state does not have and lawmakers are unwilling to raise."
What an amazing statement. And how revealing of the mindset of the writer, one Peter Luke who is identified as being in the "Gazette Lansing Bureau." Whether or not Mr. Luke realizes it, there is a lot more to keep the state government from getting that money than the un/willingness of lawmakers. There is the fact that voters might not be willing to have the money taxed out of them. And there is also the fact that the money may not be there, period. With Ford and GM laying off tens of thousands of workers, and Michigan bearing the brunt of it because business taxes are notoriously heavy here, it's strange that a human mind could think that more money could be had if only lawmakers were willing to go and get it.
I am thinking of the kid who says daddy is mean, selfish and keeping the family poor because he won't give him an allowance of $100/week.