Elected Officials Should Follow the Lead of the Big 3....

Why shouldn't Prs. Elect Obama take the lead in this? He was a big part in getting the government to force banks and other lending institutions to take on these high risk debts.

The only reason states have become so dependent on the federal dime is they choose to be. The federal coffers are dry, so why do we keep acting like the federal government is made of money?

Actually, unfunded mandates to the states ended years ago. The federal government is required to fund any mandated requirement to the states. So, the answer would be, cut the program that the federal government forces on the states (almost always against the constitution) and you will free the state of that expense. As far as passing expenses on to the people... isn't it interesting (and telling) that the states fought to do away with unfunded mandates from the federal government, but the hypocritical oafs have no problem with imposing them on the cities and the people.

Because it's the feds who imposed so many costs on the states such as medicare, no child left behind, road care.... Just wait until they raise the tax in where are you from, Wisconsin? It'll not only be your income tax but sales tax, and whatever other tax you have up there or not yet have. Just wait and see. The money has to come from somewhere. And it'll come from you, too.

Exactly! It's hard to take them seriously when they SAY they are concerned about the deficit... but they themselves refuse to give up a single dime. Every dime spent becomes several dollars of debt..

You make a good point with the "pork" thing. We all complain about it, but when it comes down to defining it, it often has more to do with our own pet peaves than anything real. How many of those roads and bridges are federal highways? To me, pork is when the federal government spends money on things that aren't their responsibility. Your bridges may be in disrepair, but if they are on state, county or city roads, the federal government shouldn't be doing anything about them at all. If a Senator or Congressmember can't afford to go without their pay, then they should at least volunteer to go without the perks that are unnecessary and cost money that the government doesn't have. Paul Wellstone would be a great example of this. He drove his own car, not one provided for him by the taxpayers. He paid for a parking pass instead of one provided by the taxpayers. He flew commercial airlines when he could.. he never expected a government jet to fly him from Minnesota to Washington. In other words, he was what should become the standard for separating his official expenses from purely personal ones.

Now THAT I agree with 100% - about the elected officials giving up all the extra perks. We have a state senator from my district who drives his own car back and forth to Harrisburg and gives back thousands from his expense fund every year. We sure could use more in the U.S. Senate like Wellstone. Annie

Nope, because as little integrity as the leaders of the Big 3 may have... Our president and Congress have less.

they are suing the states for requiring better cars? wtf? isnt a plan to start making greener cars part of this whole bailout thing? thats not right..im sure a judge wont uphold that..i hope.

kitten, acetone? As a gasoline additive? What is the ratio?

CinderInMySoul, It's already been done, in California. If you want to improve your own gas mileage, do some research on acetone (sold as nailpolish remover). It's cheap, easy and actually works! Just be very careful to only use the 100% acetone and not the nail-polish removers that have stuff added to them. Happy MyLotting!