How do we end Montgomery County socialism?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
I absolutely agree with this.

Basically since the financial crisis (and actually even a little bit before), this county has been horribly mismanaged. Run into the ground by people who seem to prefer posturing over the hard work of governing. People who think that subsidizing developers is economic development. People who love to talk about how rich we are as a reason why we can afford their pet cause, while we gradually get poorer and poorer. Adjusted for inflation, median household income in 2016 was lower than it was in 1989. That’s a real accomplishment.

What worries me the most is that after finally removing the ossified cadre of mediocre electeds who prioritized their own longevity in office over the county. We have only replaced them with what mostly seem to be unserious clowns (excepting Friedson) who have seemingly confused good governance with maximizing engagement on social media.

I find the politics of this county to be absolutely childish. Spending 100% of the time trying to figure out how to increase the number of poor residents while totally disinterested in trying to figure out how to improve the number of high wage jobs and make the county more attractive to high wage earners. There is a blasé attitude about wealth and economic growth that borders on arrogance.

The bond-rating agencies disagree with you.

It’s a nice line, indicative of the smugness and arrogance that is abundant in this county, but sadly you don’t know what you are talking about.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
I absolutely agree with this.

Basically since the financial crisis (and actually even a little bit before), this county has been horribly mismanaged. Run into the ground by people who seem to prefer posturing over the hard work of governing. People who think that subsidizing developers is economic development. People who love to talk about how rich we are as a reason why we can afford their pet cause, while we gradually get poorer and poorer. Adjusted for inflation, median household income in 2016 was lower than it was in 1989. That’s a real accomplishment.

What worries me the most is that after finally removing the ossified cadre of mediocre electeds who prioritized their own longevity in office over the county. We have only replaced them with what mostly seem to be unserious clowns (excepting Friedson) who have seemingly confused good governance with maximizing engagement on social media.

I find the politics of this county to be absolutely childish. Spending 100% of the time trying to figure out how to increase the number of poor residents while totally disinterested in trying to figure out how to improve the number of high wage jobs and make the county more attractive to high wage earners. There is a blasé attitude about wealth and economic growth that borders on arrogance.

The bond-rating agencies disagree with you.

It’s a nice line, indicative of the smugness and arrogance that is abundant in this county, but sadly you don’t know what you are talking about.

It's also a fact.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
I absolutely agree with this.

Basically since the financial crisis (and actually even a little bit before), this county has been horribly mismanaged. Run into the ground by people who seem to prefer posturing over the hard work of governing. People who think that subsidizing developers is economic development. People who love to talk about how rich we are as a reason why we can afford their pet cause, while we gradually get poorer and poorer. Adjusted for inflation, median household income in 2016 was lower than it was in 1989. That’s a real accomplishment.

What worries me the most is that after finally removing the ossified cadre of mediocre electeds who prioritized their own longevity in office over the county. We have only replaced them with what mostly seem to be unserious clowns (excepting Friedson) who have seemingly confused good governance with maximizing engagement on social media.

I find the politics of this county to be absolutely childish. Spending 100% of the time trying to figure out how to increase the number of poor residents while totally disinterested in trying to figure out how to improve the number of high wage jobs and make the county more attractive to high wage earners. There is a blasé attitude about wealth and economic growth that borders on arrogance.

The bond-rating agencies disagree with you.

It’s a nice line, indicative of the smugness and arrogance that is abundant in this county, but sadly you don’t know what you are talking about.

It's also a fact.

It’s a non-sequitor. You are out of your depth re: muni bonds.

What are important facts are that this county has seen stagnant job growth and stagnant wage growth over the past decade, while neighboring jurisdictions are outpacing us and leaving us behind.

[Anonymous]

Bond ratings aren't important facts about the management of a county? How about that.

[Anonymous]

Wait!

Montgomery county was socialist and I missed it?!?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
Wait!

Montgomery county was socialist and I missed it?!?

You really gotta start getting up out of bed earlier!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Bond ratings aren't important facts about the management of a county? How about that.

You don’t even know why the rating is AAA. When you stop talking from a place of ignorance I will then begin to take you seriously.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Bond ratings aren't important facts about the management of a county? How about that.

You don’t even know why the rating is AAA. When you stop talking from a place of ignorance I will then begin to take you seriously.

The bond-rating agencies know why the rating is AAA. You can argue with them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Wait!

Montgomery county was socialist and I missed it?!?

You really gotta start getting up out of bed earlier!

Darn, I missed it too!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Bond ratings aren't important facts about the management of a county? How about that.

You don’t even know why the rating is AAA. When you stop talking from a place of ignorance I will then begin to take you seriously.

The bond-rating agencies know why the rating is AAA. You can argue with them.

If I understand correctly, you think the bond rating is indicative of something important about the quality of governance of the current county government but you don’t know what are the determinative factors for, what the rating actually means. Did I get that right? As I have said, you are out of your depth on muni bonds.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Bag tax, tree tax, rain tax.

Or there's the left-wing list of every possible social support:
Increased unemployment benefits, increased earned income tax credit, rent support, eviction moratorium, $15 minimum wage. Taken on their own, each is fine, but altogether it becomes massive handouts -- too much -- when any one or two of those can address the issue they are aiming for.

The so-called rain tax is a state tax, and it requires property owners to pay for the stormwater that runs off their property. Sounds like personal responsibility to me!

Seriously. Have you ever been to a country that doesn't manage storm water well? Roads flood like crazy whenever it rains. And we have to find it somehow if we're being fiscally responsible. So?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Bond ratings aren't important facts about the management of a county? How about that.

You don’t even know why the rating is AAA. When you stop talking from a place of ignorance I will then begin to take you seriously.

The bond-rating agencies know why the rating is AAA. You can argue with them.

If I understand correctly, you think the bond rating is indicative of something important about the quality of governance of the current county government but you don’t know what are the determinative factors for, what the rating actually means. Did I get that right? As I have said, you are out of your depth on muni bonds.

Go argue with the bond rating agencies.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The only way to end it is to vote out the county council and county executive. The county council is one giant echo chamber with one lemming idea after another. County executive just hasn't gotten anything done, which is part of why people elected him I think - a status quo candidate. It's been years of suboptimal growth, and I don't know why we keep voting for these losers to continue to suboptimal growth.

We also need to fix the primary system. Basically whoever wins the primary wins the general election, and you can win the primary with less than 30% of the vote...so stupid. They need to send the top two vote-getters to a run-off so you don't have candidates who never stood a chance siphoning votes away from the top candidates.

How can we end something that doesn't exist in the first place?

Again, semantics. I really wish people would stop calling it socialism because people start arguing how it is/is not socialism. Whatever it is, it's just ineffective government, inefficient government, irresponsible spending (yay we get two more people on the county council likely with nothing original to say), and not creating an environment that's competitive with DC or other surrounding jurisdictions. I don't understand the status quo folks. If you're not moving forward, then you're moving backwards, because everyone else is not content with standing pat.

I absolutely agree with this.

Basically since the financial crisis (and actually even a little bit before), this county has been horribly mismanaged. Run into the ground by people who seem to prefer posturing over the hard work of governing. People who think that subsidizing developers is economic development. People who love to talk about how rich we are as a reason why we can afford their pet cause, while we gradually get poorer and poorer. Adjusted for inflation, median household income in 2016 was lower than it was in 1989. That’s a real accomplishment.

What worries me the most is that after finally removing the ossified cadre of mediocre electeds who prioritized their own longevity in office over the county. We have only replaced them with what mostly seem to be unserious clowns (excepting Friedson) who have seemingly confused good governance with maximizing engagement on social media.

I find the politics of this county to be absolutely childish. Spending 100% of the time trying to figure out how to increase the number of poor residents while totally disinterested in trying to figure out how to improve the number of high wage jobs and make the county more attractive to high wage earners. There is a blasé attitude about wealth and economic growth that borders on arrogance.

Friedson is Development Boy. He's a different kind of clown.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Bond ratings aren't important facts about the management of a county? How about that.

You don’t even know why the rating is AAA. When you stop talking from a place of ignorance I will then begin to take you seriously.

The bond-rating agencies know why the rating is AAA. You can argue with them.

If I understand correctly, you think the bond rating is indicative of something important about the quality of governance of the current county government but you don’t know what are the determinative factors for, what the rating actually means. Did I get that right? As I have said, you are out of your depth on muni bonds.

Go argue with the bond rating agencies.

How childish from someone who doesn’t even know what a bond rating means or what it measures.

You’ve now successfully derailed the discussion with this, so I guess trolling and disrupting the thread was your goal and that was accomplished.

In the meantime, over the past decade, labor force growth has outpaced job creation. Our economy has been stagnant while our neighbors have been roaring ahead.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The only way to end it is to vote out the county council and county executive. The county council is one giant echo chamber with one lemming idea after another. County executive just hasn't gotten anything done, which is part of why people elected him I think - a status quo candidate. It's been years of suboptimal growth, and I don't know why we keep voting for these losers to continue to suboptimal growth.

We also need to fix the primary system. Basically whoever wins the primary wins the general election, and you can win the primary with less than 30% of the vote...so stupid. They need to send the top two vote-getters to a run-off so you don't have candidates who never stood a chance siphoning votes away from the top candidates.

How can we end something that doesn't exist in the first place?

Again, semantics. I really wish people would stop calling it socialism because people start arguing how it is/is not socialism. Whatever it is, it's just ineffective government, inefficient government, irresponsible spending (yay we get two more people on the county council likely with nothing original to say), and not creating an environment that's competitive with DC or other surrounding jurisdictions. I don't understand the status quo folks. If you're not moving forward, then you're moving backwards, because everyone else is not content with standing pat.

I absolutely agree with this.

Basically since the financial crisis (and actually even a little bit before), this county has been horribly mismanaged. Run into the ground by people who seem to prefer posturing over the hard work of governing. People who think that subsidizing developers is economic development. People who love to talk about how rich we are as a reason why we can afford their pet cause, while we gradually get poorer and poorer. Adjusted for inflation, median household income in 2016 was lower than it was in 1989. That’s a real accomplishment.

What worries me the most is that after finally removing the ossified cadre of mediocre electeds who prioritized their own longevity in office over the county. We have only replaced them with what mostly seem to be unserious clowns (excepting Friedson) who have seemingly confused good governance with maximizing engagement on social media.

I find the politics of this county to be absolutely childish. Spending 100% of the time trying to figure out how to increase the number of poor residents while totally disinterested in trying to figure out how to improve the number of high wage jobs and make the county more attractive to high wage earners. There is a blasé attitude about wealth and economic growth that borders on arrogance.

Friedson is Development Boy. He's a different kind of clown.

Friedson at least believes in fiscal responsibility. That puts him levels above most of his colleagues.