Ltrain, i think we are in some degree of alignment. i am not going to get argumentative with you, as you should be a professional...lol.

i think the assumption is that i am against ANY gov't funding. that is not true, and i have stated it a couple of times. w/o some assistance you are right...we would have no way to keep food, shelter, or warmth. police, fire, teachers, processors, public defenders for that matter, are all public servants paid for by gov't dollars. and, true, if i dont like the level of service, i can hire my own posse, tutor, nurse, etc, even though these things are provided at a basic level.

but, i dont believe that we need to continue shipping money into these places as a whole. i dont agree that more money will make them better.

have you ever played an old computer game called Civilization? the farther your cities from your capital, the more corruption consumes your resources. to me, that exemplifies an inflection point in gov't finance. there comes a point where it takes too much money to move the program at all. therefore, it becomes wasteful, or at least less beneficial, to continue tossing money in that direction. as i said, the gov't is inefficient. i believe we should fix that instead of continually asking for more money.

off topic, but psuedo related: tax rebates are not spurring the economy. neither are interest rate cuts. nor would be an influx of newly printed money. sometimes you cannot force a wound to heal by applying a bigger bandage. you actually have to dig in and fix the fundamental problem, provided you can even find it. i believe it is worth searching for before asking for new money.

and, dont sell yourself short. it isnt because you moved, got loans, and educated yourself that you have become rather successful. if you had stayed in wisconsin, you would have risen to the top there, too. maybe in some other field, but to the top nonetheless.

the cream always does. i just wish more people had the desire to be cream...and gov't funding doesnt fix that.