General Massachusetts Politics Discussion

Equilibria said:
CPAs and their ultra-rich clients have a vested incentive to want lower taxes and this survey is from a trade group - it's not objective evidence. Reducing the state income tax would take funding away from critical services as a cruelty-is-the-point regime in Washington is cutting state aid. It definitely does not "benefit everyone". In fact, it probably hurts most people who aren't these CPAs' clients (which is the vast majority of us).

(not to be pedantic, but income taxes are progressive taxes - reducing them definitionally benefits you more the higher your income)
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Only the ultra-rich hire CPAs? That’s amusing.

And regarding harm to the poor …

It could if that’s how the state decided to do it but before going right for the throat I’d hope for consolidation of state agencies and elimination of redundant positions, perhaps a reduction in force for the state police and the elimination of defined benefit pensions across the board.
 
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Equilibria said:
Reducing the state income tax would take funding away from critical services as a cruelty-is-the-point regime in Washington is cutting state aid. It definitely does not "benefit everyone".
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Was cruelty also the point when our state spent a solid billion dollars every year since 2021 on taking care of illegal immigrants, and now claims it can't afford to fund necessary programs for needy Massachusetts/American citizens? I feel like we'd be fine if we had actually prioritized taking care of our own FIRST instead of last (or not at all). We flushed away billions of state dollars with zero return on investment, and if the "cruel" regime in Washington had lost the election that number would be even higher. The people who are still here will be wardens of the state pretty much forever. The Homebase program is the latest way where we are literally giving illegals $30k to help them afford housing, while normal Americans are completely priced out of the area!!! So we can't afford things like SNAP payments for poor Americans living in Mass, but we can give $30k to illegals instead?

So is it "cruel" to want to take care of our own first, or is it only "cruel" when it's somebody you don't like making the decisions? We had plenty of money, but spent it in all the wrong places and that's not the fault of the people (currently) in Washington!
 
DZH22 said:
Was cruelty also the point when our state spent a solid billion dollars every year since 2021 on taking care of illegal immigrants, and now claims it can't afford to fund necessary programs for needy Massachusetts/American citizens? I feel like we'd be fine if we had actually prioritized taking care of our own FIRST instead of last (or not at all). We flushed away billions of state dollars with zero return on investment, and if the "cruel" regime in Washington had lost the election that number would be even higher. The people who are still here will be wardens of the state pretty much forever. The Homebase program is the latest way where we are literally giving illegals $30k to help them afford housing, while normal Americans are completely priced out of the area!!! So we can't afford things like SNAP payments for poor Americans living in Mass, but we can give $30k to illegals instead?

So is it "cruel" to want to take care of our own first, or is it only "cruel" when it's somebody you don't like making the decisions? We had plenty of money, but spent it in all the wrong places and that's not the fault of the people (currently) in Washington!
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These people aren't illegal, they are Americans and it's sad that you've read so many facebook posts that you now support putting them in camps. Is the idea here that we have a bunch of lazy im"migrants" living large off the dole, and that we let them do this for basically no reason? Were you ever mad in the last few years about the price of construction? Eggs? Going out to eat? They do all this work for you and more and pay taxes (including your social security check). How's the weather in Tampa? I hear it's beautiful this time of year. Glad your Wifi connection is good.
 
Longfellow said:
These people aren't illegal, they are Americans and it's sad that you've read so many facebook posts that you now support putting them in camps. Is the idea here that we have a bunch of lazy im"migrants" living large off the dole, and that we let them do this for basically no reason? Were you ever mad in the last few years about the price of construction? Eggs? Going out to eat? They do all this work for you and more and pay taxes (including your social security check). How's the weather in Tampa? I hear it's beautiful this time of year. Glad your Wifi connection is good.
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Somewhere in the vicinity of 10 million people walked in between 2021-2024 and our state paid the equivalent of over $100k per person annually to help "resettle" some of them here. What the hell are you talking about? Seriously, what? This is maybe the most misinformed post I have ever read over the internet. They were NOT American. This is literally the number one reason why Donald Trump won an otherwise "shocking" reelection. Struggling Americans were tired of seeing their money spent on illegals. One party promised more of the same (ie an escalating downward spiral situation) while the other vowed to slam the door shut.

For the record I live in the area because my whole family is here. Haven't been to Florida in 25 years and never been to Tampa. How's your ivory tower working for you?

I get bent over the barrel and couldn't afford to stay without family help, despite 2 degrees and a six figure salary. (to be fair, child support is brutal, but dutifully paying parents get zero tax help here so I'm basically paying the equivalent of 2 sets of housing, plus my kids drain my bank account far above and beyond the child support payments) I can't make ends meet without my family's help but we can "welcome" tons of unskilled people and pay for them indefinitely, while our own poor suffer that much further. We should be helping American Massachusetts citizens first. There shouldn't be homeless vets or American families who can't afford to feed their kids. We should be taking care of our own, and only if there's some leftover help others. Instead we put non-Americans first and the state reaps what it sows. "Come to our state, here's a bunch of free stuff, oh and Donald Trump is why we suddenly don't have the money for our own citizens." Make it make sense.

I also haven't been on facebook for over 5 years. It seems that YOU are reading too many insane posts from... somewhere? I just don't understand how a functioning adult could possibly believe your premise....

Longfellow said:
These people aren't illegal, they are Americans.......
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I have to put this one more time. According to this link Massachusetts has 388,000 "unauthorized" immigrants living in the state. Not Americans. So does that mean you just lied 388,000 times?
(EDIT - This is 2023 data so it's actually missing the final influx across 2023-2024)
 
I know what the law, which changes every 4 years, says. In my book, anyone who comes here to come build a life for themself and their families and contribute to our culture and economy is an American. Don't really care what color someone is or where they were born. Just like my dad, your family as well at some point, my friends, lots of the people I went to school with, and like much of the people who live around here who are not on government assistance but were once immigrants. I'm sorry that the money didn't go to your child support payments. That blows. I guess if anything I would caution you to think about what would cause you to think and write this way about a problem that's been well-managed for about 250 years by presidents of various political leanings--you seem pretty upset. Could it be the media you consume? Could it have to do with you feeling permission from the president to feel this way about your neighbors? I think that might have something to do with it.
 
Longfellow said:
I know what the law, which changes every 4 years, says. In my book, anyone who comes here to come build a life for themself and their families and contribute to our culture and economy is an American.
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The boat can't hold the entire world before sinking. Walking in asking for a handout doesn't make somebody an American. There's a right and a wrong way to do it, and we allow more people to come in the "right" way than anywhere else in the world. Your view here is radicalized (maybe too much facebook or tik tok for you?). The law hasn't exactly changed either, except some people in government chose not to follow it for a recent 4 year stretch.

I believe that anybody who wants to come here AND TAKE CARE OF THEMSELVES should at least have a claim to be heard. That's how it used to be. That's how it was when my ancestors showed up. You needed sponsors and to not become immediate wards of the state. We put people up in hotels, paid $64/day per person just for food, hand out $30k for Home Base, give free debit cards, and more. That's not "being an American" it's draining our resources and collapsing us from the inside. Frankly, Maura Healey flat out stole a billion dollars a year from this state to pay for this racket and she belongs in jail. Yet a poor American stealing to survive would actually go to jail, while the governor siphoning off a billion a year to pay for a crisis of her own making (inviting them here created the crisis) doesn't even get a slap on the wrist.

Americans first, do it the right way and I will have compassion for those who need it. Anybody coming here just looking for a handout can go eff themselves and should be sent packing. Too late for our state's current finances but maybe it will preserve our future.
 
Has anyone else been getting these ads lately for a guy running for senate where his pitch is that we need to build this orbital light rail ring he drew?




Its nice to see that some people have told him that he should be working with local transit leaders on existing proposals that are well researched and just need funding/support vs creating your own version of a previous proposal. Its nice to see the enthusiasm for transit from someone running for senate though, but I dont think this is the way.

If he swapped this for NSRL that would be a better pitch and a more transformational project imo.
 
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stick n move said:
Has anyone else been getting these ads lately for a guy running for senate where his pitch is that we need to build this orbital light rail ring he drew?




Its nice to see that some people in the comments have told him that he should be working with local transit leaders and trying to build coalitions around existing proposals that are well researched and just need funding/support vs creating a pie in the sky idea out of nowhere and going full speed ahead on it. Its nice to see the enthusiasm for transit from someone running for senate, but I dont think this is the way.

If you swapped this for NSRL that would be a much better pitch and a muuuuch more transformational project. Thats why he should be talking to transit leaders first and then crafting a pitch afterwards vs crayoning a light rail line first and then just running with it.
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That's pretty much Urban Ring Phase III except for the curious avoidance of Cambridge for the Back Bay. UR III is the highest-ridership project that's ever been studied in Boston, slightly more than NSRL.
 
F-Line to Dudley said:
That's pretty much Urban Ring Phase III except for the curious avoidance of Cambridge for the Back Bay. UR III is the highest-ridership project that's ever been studied in Boston, slightly more than NSRL.
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Yea except skipping cambridge, somerville, charlestown, everett, chelsea, east boston and instead sending yet another line down the central subway.
 
stick n move said:
Yea except skipping cambridge, somerville, charlestown, everett, chelsea, east boston and instead sending yet another line down the central subway.
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So many exhausted marathon runners would eat it on the tracks on Boylston (unless he means trackless). Making the turns on Chestnut Hill Ave after 22 miles is hairy enough.
 
Yea I guess he actually does mean for it to be at grade down boylston st directly above the central subway, thats… interesting. Especially around the common and downtown, thatd be a pretty tight squeeze. I dont see how that could be ever double tracked, unless its just in the travel lanes, but then at that point it might as well be a bus.
 
stick n move said:
Yea I guess he actually does mean for it to be at grade down boylston st directly above the central subway, thats… interesting. Especially around the common and downtown, thatd be a pretty tight squeeze. I dont see how that could be ever double tracked, unless its just in the travel lanes, but then at that point it might as well be a bus.
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If he crayoned this without so much as knowing about the well-publicized Urban Ring Major Investment Study that pretty much duplicates the purpose-and-need on a much better overall alignment, it's safe to assume he wasn't knee-deep in the details of such things like how you're going to quad-track the Central Subway through maximum Back Bay landfill. 🤷‍♂️
 
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