SMART Bus system’s fate in hands of voters.

[scooter]

yeah it passed get to keep my job, so will others, Greaty Guy and all the idoiots that voted no , we have spoken , metro Detroit wil never get to be a great city again without transit, sure SMART has faults but every city has its own issues with buses, if they have them, n we dont have light rail like NYC or Chicago, but they also pasy much higher taxes to have those also
also thanks Danny i did not know Trainmkan was also Great Guy, also Cghicgos bses and trains are half empty during the day-people work you know

[trotwood]

...eventually there needs to be a four-county merged bus system. So far the political will doesn't exist.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^icam

[scooter]

Originally Posted by hypestyles...eventually there needs to be a four-county merged bus system. So far the political will doesn't exist


like the lions wimnning the super bowl, never happen in our life time, to many anti transit people

[motz]

Originally Posted by hypestyles...eventually there needs to be a four-county merged bus system. So far the political will doesn't exist


like the lions wimnning the super bowl, never happen in our life time, to many anti transit people

If the voting totals for the millage shows anything across the three counties, people are pretty strongly in favor of support transportation. Especially [[and I would never have imagined saying this) Oakland County with 74% of the vote.

[scooter]

way go Oakland County to bad th M-1 is nt going up to Pontaic, I think many people would park the cars and ride dowm, there is a m1 booth at captius martius today saying over 60,000 will ride it monthly, I dont think so, you haet to park your car down at the blvd that wont happen, maybe if it was comin ng all the way to Pontaic it would happen, Oakland County just prove they would support it

[That Great Guy]

Thank You voters for paying for my SMART bus ride today.

Unfortunately, the I ml tax will grossly underfund SMART again by not allowing them to provide even a small fraction of public transportation for people like me to get to my job.

So, I'm be writing to Mr. John Hertel of SMART to change the state constitution to raise countywide sales taxes, support the 3 mil tax which many of us want including me, raise both federal and state fuel taxes for safer roads and bridges, support a strong tax on car registration fees and other new taxes yet to be implemented to get non users of SMART, DDOT, Amtrak and community transit to pay more and a higher percentage of their pay which we should all do.

Mass transit is not a tax burden but an important investment that we can and all should support.

Thank You ALL for paying for my SMART bus.

[SyGolden48236]

Thank You voters for paying for my SMART bus ride today.

Unfortunately, the I ml tax will grossly underfund SMART again by not allowing them to provide even a small fraction of public transportation for people like me to get to my job.

So, I'm be writing to Mr. John Hertel of SMART to change the state constitution to raise countywide sales taxes.

Here is a news flash for you. Mr. John Hertel cannot change the constitution. He does not have the power.

[SyGolden48236]

Thank You voters for paying for my SMART bus ride today.

Unfortunately, the I ml tax will grossly underfund SMART again by not allowing them to provide even a small fraction of public transportation for people like me to get to my job.

So, I'm be writing to Mr. John Hertel of SMART to change the state constitution to raise countywide sales taxes, support the 3 mil tax which many of us want including me, raise both federal and state fuel taxes for safer roads and bridges, support a strong tax on car registration fees and other new taxes yet to be implemented to get non users of SMART, DDOT, Amtrak and community transit to pay more and a higher percentage of their pay which we should all do.

Mass transit is not a tax burden but an important investment that we can and all should support.

Thank You ALL for paying for my SMART bus.

More taxes! More taxes! More taxes! More taxes!

Tax! Tax! Tax! Tax! Tax!

That is not the answer. Do you want to drive even more people and business away from Michigan?

[lpg]

Why not just raise the tax rates to 100% ? You don't to eat anyway.

[scooter]

taxes arennt the people are leaving Michigan its because we dont have Mass Transit, look Grand Rapis is building lite rail, with what was our money for BRT, burt the tri-county disagreed, so the government gave our money to Grand Rapids, just like the 80's whentRegan was going to give us the money for the people mover which was oriinally to go way out into the suburbs, but since we didnt agree, it only goes around downtown

[bailey]

If the voting totals for the millage shows anything across the three counties, people are pretty strongly in favor of support transportation. Especially [[and I would never have imagined saying this) Oakland County with 74% of the vote.

.."people" meaning the 18% of registered voters that bothered to vote.

That's why they schedule millage like that for the august primaries....greater chance of passage through apathy.

[motz]

More taxes! More taxes! More taxes! More taxes!

Tax! Tax! Tax! Tax! Tax!

That is not the answer. Do you want to drive even more people and business away from Michigan?

Actually yeah, the solution is fixing the tax system so that companies that use the infrastructure of the various local, state and federal entities have to pay their taxes. Not sure if you saw the big headline, but Wall Street took a dump all of Walgreen's stock price for choosing to stay headquartered in the US instead of tax dodging like the already-wealthy-need-to-be-more-wealthy shadesters that run the financial sector. Your civic duty, as a company that primarily operates in the United States, is to pay as little taxes as possible, right?

Fix that first. And don't say "IT WILL KILL JOBS IF YOU HAVE TAXES AND EVERYTHING WILL BE OKAY". It is factually wrong. If you disagree, move to Kansas and then we can talk about low taxes and how great everything pans out.

[SyGolden48236]

^ You don't know what you're talking about. All you know are liberal talking points.

[motz]

^ You don't know what you're talking about. All you know are liberal talking points.

Yes, it is not like anti-tax Wall Street shadesters have ever been deceitful about the effects of low-to-no taxes. Knock it off with your anti-tax wanking and wake up: lowered corporate and personal tax rates have caused our nations infrastructure to crumble, our reinvestment in the very bones that make this country run drop to embarassing-for-the-best-the-world levels and do not spur "unlimited economic growth" like every Grover Norquist would want you to believe.

Edit - Also don't use the same old "Ur stewpid librul talking points" defense. Provide some facts here buddy!

[SyGolden48236]

And where are your facts? You want to raise taxes higher and higher. Feel free to cut a check to the local, state or Federal government if you feel your taxes are too low. They will cheerfully accept your donation.

How about cutting the grossly over-inflated social programs and entitlements? That would free up more funds for the nation's infrastructure.

[motz]

And where are your facts? You want to raise taxes higher and higher. Feel free to cut a check to the local, state or Federal government if you feel your taxes are too low. They will cheerfully accept your donation.

How about cutting the grossly over-inflated social programs and entitlements? That would free up more funds for the nation's infrastructure.

How about forcing companies who primarily do business in the USA, who primarily use the infrastructure you and I pay for, and more than gladly tax large tax breaks to promise jobs that never materialize, to pay their fair share of taxes instead of headquartering overseas? "Social programs and entitlements" are a drop in the bucket compared to the billions that companies dodge paying that could be used to fund, say, SMART instead of us, the taxpayers who are not millionaires and billionaires, paying for their almost sickening profit margins. Look at Marathon there, buddy. They have an absolutely massive tax subsidy that could've funded SMART for years upon years rather than us paying for it. And what did their profits look like last year? Massive quarterly profits while you and I pay for both them, and the SMART system. End this crap.

[dtowncitylover]

And where are your facts? You want to raise taxes higher and higher. Feel free to cut a check to the local, state or Federal government if you feel your taxes are too low. They will cheerfully accept your donation.

How about cutting the grossly over-inflated social programs and entitlements? That would free up more funds for the nation's infrastructure.

Or a grossly over-inflated military-industrial complex. Maybe if we stopped starting endless wars abroad, we could fix our infrastructure at home.

And motz has given you two articles already and yet you just yell "Lower taxes!".

I'm not saying taxes are the be-all, but if we want to live in a civilized and modern society, we need to pay for infrastructure, social welfare, and education. And since we the commons use them, we need to be the ones that pay for it.

What do you want to cut first? Medicare? Head Start? Social Security? Great, now we have uneducated poor children, sick old people, and poor retirees living like it's 1890. HOORAY!

[motz]

Or a grossly over-inflated military-industrial complex. Maybe if we stopped starting endless wars abroad, we could fix our infrastructure at home.

And motz has given you two articles already and yet you just yell "Lower taxes!".

I'm not saying taxes are the be-all, but if we want to live in a civilized and modern society, we need to pay for infrastructure, social welfare, and education. And since we the commons use them, we need to be the ones that pay for it.

What do you want to cut first? Medicare? Head Start? Social Security? Great, now we have uneducated poor children, sick old people, and poor retirees living like it's 1890. HOORAY!

While the wonderful and ever generous Rockafel- I mean Koch Brothers shower us with gifts and pay us low wages and pollute the world around them while enjoy their beautiful manor estates far away from any of the problems of "those other people"

Here ya go, SyGolden! An article from Standard and Poor's about how these massive tax breaks for large companies and wealthy individuals are creating an income and wealth gap and may ruin the economy

[SyGolden48236]

Look at Marathon there, buddy. They have an absolutely massive tax subsidy that could've funded SMART for years upon years rather than us paying for it. And what did their profits look like last year? Massive quarterly profits while you and I pay for both them, and the SMART system. End this crap.

Of course. A big evil corporation [[Marathon) should pay for your beloved SMART bus so you don't have to. Somebody else should always pay for what you want.

Let me get this straight:

Corporations are evil.
Successful corporations that make large profits are even more evil.
Millionaires are evil.
Billionaires are the devil incarnate.
Tax breaks to corporations are evil.
Corporations that employ hundreds if not thousands of local residents are even more evil.
Everybody else needs to pay for what you want to have.
Water should be free.
Healthcare should be free.
There should be no freeways, ever, because they lead out to those evil suburbs..
Everyone should ride a choo choo train to get where they want to go.
Matty Moroun is Satan himself.
Dan Glibert is the Messiah even though he is a billionaire, he is OK because he put some cool street art downtown.
Working at Quicken Loans for 70 hours per week for $30,000 a year is a dream job.
Just merely living downtown in a rented loft is "doing something" progressive and positive.

There I basically just gave you the condensed version of a 4 year degree from Wayne State.

[SyGolden48236]

While the wonderful and ever generous Rockafel- I mean Koch Brothers shower us with gifts and pay us low wages and pollute the world around them while enjoy their beautiful manor estates far away from any of the problems of "those other people"

Here ya go, SyGolden! An article from Standard and Poor's about how these massive tax breaks for large companies and wealthy individuals are creating an income and wealth gap and may ruin the economy

Do they offer classes in class envy in college these days? I know they didn't when I was in school.

Income inequality happens everywhere. It should make you want to work harder, take some risk, be innovative so you can have a higher income.

There are always going to be people with more money than you and there are plenty of folks with less than you. Suck it up buttercup!

[dtowncitylover]

Of course. A big evil corporation [[Marathon) should pay for your beloved SMART bus so you don't have to. Somebody else should always pay for what you want.

Let me get this straight:

Corporations are evil.
Successful corporations that make large profits are even more evil.
Millionaires are evil.
Billionaires are the devil incarnate.
Tax breaks to corporations are evil.
Corporations that employ hundreds if not thousands of local residents are even more evil.
Everybody else needs to pay for what you want to have.
Water should be free.
Healthcare should be free.
There should be no freeways, ever, because they lead out to those evil suburbs..
Everyone should ride a choo choo train to get where they want to go.
Matty Moroun is Satan himself.
Dan Glibert is the Messiah even though he is a billionaire, he is OK because he put some cool street art downtown.
Working at Quicken Loans for 70 hours per week for $30,000 a year is a dream job.
Just merely living downtown in a rented loft is "doing something" progressive and positive.

There I basically just gave you the condensed version of a 4 year degree from Wayne State.

LOLZ. No, not quite. But thanks for playing with your talking points and believing that's it.

Personally, I grew up in the suburbs, went to college in the suburbs, still live in the suburbs, work for a company in the suburbs whose clients include those "evil" corporations. I sometimes take the freeway to work. Pay for my own healthcare. I love my car.

Yet I still believe in a modern, healthy, civilized society. And taxes are a part of that.

And yeah, taxing Marathon more to run a transit system is kinda like taxing cigarettes to pay for health education.

And no class envy was not taught me. Love was though. And love beats greed, envy, and gluttony every single time.

[SyGolden48236]

I never said taxes were not a part of it, In fact they are essential. But excessive taxes are not the answer. Please go back and read post # 81 on this thread, it is lunacy!

[motz]

Do they offer classes in class envy in college these days? I know they didn't when I was in school.

Income inequality happens everywhere. It should make you want to work harder, take some risk, be innovative so you can have a higher income.

There are always going to be people with more money than you and there are plenty of folks with less than you. Suck it up buttercup!

You can't take risks you can't afford. I mean really, that's reality 101. Part of the reason why the gap has expanded is because the middle and lower classes make less money [[paying taxes on their earnings while others use tax loopholes, deductions and other accounting tricks not available to those people to avoid doing so) which means they can't take as much risk without possibly putting not just their livelihood, but their entire existence in jeopardy.

And please note, you're way way overgeneralizing with the stereotypical, GOP-inflated caricature of a "Tax-and-spend Liberal". I believe that corporations and wealthy individuals should pay taxes just as you and I do. I don't make an amazing sum of money, but I pay my taxes because I believe in paying for services rendered to me by the government. They fix my roads, they educated me, they allowed for me to continue to afford food while I was unemployed, you catch the drift. The inability for a corporate entity that is making massive amounts of profits to pay back into a system from which they benefit through the construction and maintenance of infrastucture [[which they use quite frequently) as well as the trade treaties arranged by our government, the protections of a legal system, the protections of the patent system, I could go on and on. The point remains - people [[which includes corporations now, thanks to your Corporatist sect) who benefit from the system should pay into the system just as you and I do.

I know it is over your head that people should pay for services rendered, but that's what it boils down to. Major corporations have allowed for this country to become an amazingly strong world power, but now they seem to feel that because they helped build the palace, they shouldn't have to do any maintenance work because they are above it.

[SyGolden48236]

LOLZ. No, not quite. But thanks for playing with your talking points and believing that's it.

Personally, I grew up in the suburbs, went to college in the suburbs, still live in the suburbs, work for a company in the suburbs whose clients include those "evil" corporations. I sometimes take the freeway to work. Pay for my own healthcare. I love my car.

Yet I still believe in a modern, healthy, civilized society. And taxes are a part of that.

And yeah, taxing Marathon more to run a transit system is kinda like taxing cigarettes to pay for health education.

And no class envy was not taught me. Love was though. And love beats greed, envy, and gluttony every single time.

It seems as though these newly minted so called "young professionals", especially the ones coming out of WSU are on a crusade to protest as many "causes" as they can find. Class envy seems to be a major at that school. Some people on this forum think that anybody who has more than they do is greedy and gluttonous and that they must be knocked down a peg or two and that their money should be re-distributed.

[dtowncitylover]

Sy, I don't want to be rich. It may be nice and wouldn't bother me if it did happen. I just want to be middle class. However that is eroding. And quickly. Why? Because the wealthier are getting wealthier and the middle class and working classes are getting poorer. We are not investing in our social programs and our infrastructure like we used to because we are not taxing like we used to. The wealthiest of Americans took over our government and implemented policies that benefited them.

We are living in a second Gilded Age. The wealthy have the power. Not the commons. Of course there is a reason why it was called "gilded" and not "gold".

But I digress, back to SMART...