How dependency on federal dollars is killing local control — and our future. Suddenly the idea of budget cuts becomes very personal. How big of a sacrifice are you willing to make to help cut the federal budget deficit? How big of a sacrifice will the local community have to make?
The founders recognized the risks of a strong central administration, so they limited what government could own and what rules it could make. For a long time, Congress pushed back against laws that benefited individuals. Now we have made "progress", so the US can own lots of property and send cash to any needy person. Soft tyranny indeed.
Regarding supporting the local economy after a large employer leaves, I lived in Moses Lake at the time Larson Air Base closed in 1966. People predicted the sky would fall. Yes there was a short-term impact, but people got busy and developed other economic activity. Potato processing comes to mind. They developed more agriculture based business, even after U & I sugar closed their plant. The Moses Lake area survived and thrived. I wish the same for Ferry County.
The problem is not strictly securing freedoms by foregoing grants from the federal government, particularly for those living in 'blue' democrat controlled states. I find our freedoms are being taken away more at state level than federal level here in WA. Under the new Trump administration this has become especially true considering the added restrictions and higher taxes under WA state's current legislature and governorship!
Off topic of the 'Freedom/Cost' issue. WIthout knowing of any abuses in the state's Job Corps program an informed decision cannot be made whether the state program is worthy of retaining and run at state level; should Trump eliminate Job Corps nationwide!
I agree with you that our problems in WA are at the state level. We'll need the feds help to right this sinking ship!
Regarding the value of the Job Corps program, I talked to so many people locally about the value of the Curlew Job Corps, and the answers were all over the map, ranging from "It's awesome" to "Kill it Now" and everything in between. A current, long term employee agreed that the GAO report cited uncovered real problems nationwide, but claimed that real changes had been made to make improvements.
That may be true. The report used data from 2017, so it would be interesting to have a follow up study done to see if improvements have happened.
Furthermore, it might be possible to retain some facilities, and not others... Again, that would take time to gather data and make more nuanced choices.
But. The country needs to cut the budget. We need to make significant cuts in all government programs. This is where the MAGA rubber meets the road. I think we might be able to agree that private industry is always better than a federal program. I suspect that Job Corps is one of those programs.
The founders recognized the risks of a strong central administration, so they limited what government could own and what rules it could make. For a long time, Congress pushed back against laws that benefited individuals. Now we have made "progress", so the US can own lots of property and send cash to any needy person. Soft tyranny indeed.
Regarding supporting the local economy after a large employer leaves, I lived in Moses Lake at the time Larson Air Base closed in 1966. People predicted the sky would fall. Yes there was a short-term impact, but people got busy and developed other economic activity. Potato processing comes to mind. They developed more agriculture based business, even after U & I sugar closed their plant. The Moses Lake area survived and thrived. I wish the same for Ferry County.
The problem is not strictly securing freedoms by foregoing grants from the federal government, particularly for those living in 'blue' democrat controlled states. I find our freedoms are being taken away more at state level than federal level here in WA. Under the new Trump administration this has become especially true considering the added restrictions and higher taxes under WA state's current legislature and governorship!
Off topic of the 'Freedom/Cost' issue. WIthout knowing of any abuses in the state's Job Corps program an informed decision cannot be made whether the state program is worthy of retaining and run at state level; should Trump eliminate Job Corps nationwide!
I agree with you that our problems in WA are at the state level. We'll need the feds help to right this sinking ship!
Regarding the value of the Job Corps program, I talked to so many people locally about the value of the Curlew Job Corps, and the answers were all over the map, ranging from "It's awesome" to "Kill it Now" and everything in between. A current, long term employee agreed that the GAO report cited uncovered real problems nationwide, but claimed that real changes had been made to make improvements.
That may be true. The report used data from 2017, so it would be interesting to have a follow up study done to see if improvements have happened.
Furthermore, it might be possible to retain some facilities, and not others... Again, that would take time to gather data and make more nuanced choices.
But. The country needs to cut the budget. We need to make significant cuts in all government programs. This is where the MAGA rubber meets the road. I think we might be able to agree that private industry is always better than a federal program. I suspect that Job Corps is one of those programs.