Mississippi Politics - Discussion

[Deltamud77]

Let's get some chatter going about thoughts on various issues that are before the legislature currently and your thoughts on our current leadership.

- What are your thoughts on public school funding, Common Core, etc?

- What are your thoughts on Governor Bryant and the job he is doing as he heads into a reelection year?

- What are your thoughts on Tate Reeves as the Lt. Governor (in MS the most powerful politician in the state)?

- What are your thoughts on Tate's Tax Cut Proposal?

I will address the last question as I heard discussion about it this morning on the radio. Reeves has proposed a large tax cut for Mississippians and small businesses in MS. At first glance it sounds great - who isn't for tax cuts that votes Republican, right? Then I am reminded that HWY 6 from Batesville to Clarksdale is impassable for large trucks because the bridges are so bad and the state says it does have the money to fix them. Or, I am reminded that large, critical agencies are struggling due to being underfunded. Then I wonder why he was waited until an election year to propose the tax cut idea. I think an appropriate question is whether he is attempting to fund his reelection at the expense of Mississippians.

[lilham]

My two cents

-Common Core is nothing but standards. I don't have an issue with having State or even Federal education standards. It would be great for a student and for teachers if a student in say 5th grade could transfer to another school and not be behind in their new class. I do have an issue with the State taking Federal money just to participle. When money is involved...most people's interest get over shadowed. Common Core is nothing new. The same program has been around since the 70's...just with different names. My biggest issue with Common Core is that it seems to do a lot to bring the bottom students up(or the average up), but it does little to push the top students. Stats show that the increase in the average rises quickly, but it levels off quick and stays level. We need all our students to excel. I also feel that a steady climb over a long period of time is better than a quick climb that plateaus. Texas started this program almost 8 years ago. Same results, so they have went to a different system.

-Governor Bryant has done his job. Nothing more....Nothing less.

-Tate Reeves is a politician, not an elected official. An elected official works for the people with their best interest in mind. A politician only cares about their position and what the next position could be. I hate politicians. He has been put, pushed, and elected into positions that I believe he did not deserve. His success has made him arrogate and self centered.

-Stats show tax cuts produce more tax money. The more money Bubba has in his pocket, the more money he will spend. 9 out of 10 Bubba's, if you give them a thousand back, they will go by thousand worth of guns/boats/tires/vacations/etc and pay tax on that. The seller thus makes more money. He will pay his workers and spend his profits which are all taxes...creating/keeping jobs. It keeps compounding, thus overall more tax revenue.

[kb7722]

You should take a deeper look into Common Core. It may "just" be a standard, but when it dictates sub-par curriculum its a bad standard that will lead to a dumber general population courtesy of uncle Obama. Imagine that politicians pushing for a poorly educated voting population...

[JDgator]

Jobs. Nearly two thirds of all new tech jobs go to foreign-born workers. We wonder why we aren't getting raises or moving ahead in our careers, and it is because companies can find third world workers and bring them here. Even here in Mississippi, they bring in HB-1 workers. Chamber of Commerce/big business says there is a lack of qualified applicants for tech positions, but that simply isn't true. Article. We aren't talking about harvesting crops in fields. This is high level service work. Mississippi congressmen and senators are getting paid to look the other while our quality of life suffers. We are dying from a thousand cuts. We see it when we get replaced with contractors, when our benefits are cut, and when we don't get raises. Its because big businesses are suppressing the value of US labor.

[deltadukman]

What about the dems sacrificial lamb they are running, Vicky Slater? Wow, hope she doesnt mess up and get it.

[JDgator]

Also, I think the role of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms should be to make sure we Americans have enough booze, smokes, and guns. Right now, all they do is crash parties.

[Rfjeff9]

Education.

What a disaster the schools are here. I moved the family here from Georgia 4 years ago and when we got here, my second grade boy was going through the curriculum that was on the level that MY AUTISTIC CHILD WAS DOING IN SPECIAL ED FOR SECOND GRADE IN GEORGIA!!!!!!!

Multiple choice spelling tests? WTF??????????

[the doctor]

Gubment is surreal. I quit caring or listening to any of em a while back.

"Blow up your tv, throw away your papers..."

the doc

[mlj300]

[skywalker]

PBS had a show a few months ago about Columbus, MS that discussed how horrible the public school system is. Their reasoning: that white people were putting their kids in private schools and due to this the public school system was broke.......what? While I live in Bama, and the public schools are not the greatest in the U.S. the small town school they attend has serious pride and very good leadership, I work in MS and can say this without a doubt........my children would attend private school as well if I lived in Lowndes County MS.......

[sab316]

Legalize weed, make profits, everyone gets a tax return. Fixes education deficit.

[hillhunter]

I think the schools are a major issue for me. While there are still many great public and private educators I feel often times there are too many administrative costs. There are too many school districts with one school which requires a superintendent and an assistant superintendent and a curriculum advisor and a principle, and a vice principle...... Really? Consolidation really needs to happen in more than one case. I know that this is not the case for everyone's county, but I do believe there could be some work done here.

As far as taxes go, no income tax, higher sales tax would be great if we could make it work, but not sure it's feasible.

Jobs. Need More. Competent workers. Need more. While from the outside looking in, in particular areas of the state with high unemployment rates it seems as if industry could find workers, but in many of these places, I feel that while many of these are unemployed, that's the way the want it. Even if you could get a big industry to move to the Delta for example, where unemployment is high, who would they hire? Yokohama, Nissan, and Yokahama settled where they did because of the potential of the workforce, schools, and proximity to airports... As well as money I'm sure.

The paragraph above goes back to the income tax. You get all the people who are pulling in govt checks to pay their share in the form of sales tax, then the States income should increase rather rapidly.

[jacksbuddy]

[Deltamud77]

Interesting turn of events...Reeves "tax cut" has passed the Senate and is headed for the House. Also, Gunn's elimination of State Income Tax altogether passed the House this morning with the support of 18 democrat votes and his headed to the Senate. It will be interesting to see who "wins"...Reeves or Gunn. Could be a first showdown between likely opponents in the 2019 GOP Governor's primary as well.

[peewee]