5 ms·
They've got no water in one of the largest cities, but those state officials are definitely on top of making sure that those uppity females have no access to re
by toss1 4y ago
They've got no water in one of the largest cities, but those state officials are definitely on top of making sure that those uppity females have no access to reproductive healthcare, and that city is mostly not white people -- they've got their priorities to take care of!
</sarc>
Meanwhile, it looks like some federal intervention, e.g., Army Corp of Engineers is likely needed.
More seriously, this is what we get when politicians chase "culture issues" and don't actually govern, and people care more about revenge on groups they don't like than electing people who will actually govern.
Seriously broken
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- bequanna 4y agoI think you’re confusing the responsibilities of states and local municipalities. It may surprise you to learn that Jackson is actually led by a quite liberal mayor: https://www.jacksonms.gov/departments/office-of-the-mayor/ https://www.jacksonms.gov/departments/office-of-the-mayor/
- davak 4y agoThe mayor has been begging* for funds from the state for a long time now to fix the problem though. That being said, I'm sure there is lots of local and state mismanagement that would go into causing such an embarrassment. * https://www.wlbt.com/2022/02/17/jackson-faces-uphill-battle-getting-state-help-fund-water-sewer-repairs/ https://www.wlbt.com/2022/02/17/jackson-faces-uphill-battle-...
- bequanna 4y agoSo, instead of an appropriate local bonding ballot initiative (or whatever) to fund this like every other city does, they just throw up their hands and ask for state handouts? Maybe they are worried about the political implications of rising property taxes or water bills? Seems like a HUGE failure by an inept local government.
- objectivetruth 4y ago
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- greenie_beans 4y agodo you know anything about jackson's local government, local tax base, the dynamics of power, the surrounding wealthy suburbs, or the extent of how much a repair like this would cost? here's a primer: - https://mississippitoday.org/2021/11/08/jackson-water-crisis-infrastructure-bill-federal/ https://mississippitoday.org/2021/11/08/jackson-water-crisis... - https://mississippitoday.org/2021/03/24/why-jacksons-water-system-is-broken/ https://mississippitoday.org/2021/03/24/why-jacksons-water-s... - https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/a-mississippi-citys-water-system-is-collapsing-the-federal-infrastructure-bill-could-help-save-it-but-only-if-the-state-cooperates/2021/11/06/db291b16-3669-11ec-9a5d-93a89c74e76d_story.html https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/a-mississippi-citys-...
- bequanna 4y agoI do know that funding and managing local services like water, sewer, schools, police, fire dept., etc. is the responsibility of the local municipalities. If you want to argue something else then please explain why local gov't even exists in the first place. This is a primarily a failure of local government likely due to weak/inept leadership. Just because something like fixing your water supply is politically difficult or expensive doesn't mean you can ignore it.
- greenie_beans 4y agonobody is ignoring it. please take the time to learn about this situation before making generalizations.
- bequanna 4y agoThe situation seems to be: inept local govt refused to pay for services they are responsible for providing because they didn’t want to raise taxes. So, they begged for outside money (again, for something that is their responsibility) and when that didn’t work stuck by their “do nothing and blame the state” strategy which ultimately created a humanitarian crisis that leaves federal taxpayers on the hook. Did I miss anything?
- moralestapia 4y agoFor @toss1 maybe, for me I was kind of expecting it.
- ars 4y agoAre you seriously saying that people in Jackson are not capable to taking care of themselves? And they need the state to do it for them?
- germinalphrase 4y agoI know nothing about Jackson, but municipalities all around the country are reliant on money flowing federal>state>local, urban>rural, etc. There can be good reasons to subsidize infrastructure - for example, urban residents help maintain a rural farming community because they desire the agricultural products. It’s not even clear the entire state of Mississippi is “capable of taking care of themselves” as over 40 percent of their general operating revenue is supplied by the federal government (2017 numbers) which is consistently in the top five states for receiving federal aid. I’m not an expert, but the defensiveness seems unwarranted.
- ars 4y agoAnd California is 30%, that's a difference obviously, but not such a big difference that you have to say they are unable to take care of themselves. Water supply is a local thing, and local leaders need to take responsibility, not blame the state.
- germinalphrase 4y agoFair enough. I live in neither Mississippi or California, but we really should be talking about Balance of Payments though as federal expenditures by state is only half of it. When you consider federal expenditures vs receipts, we find that California is a net per capita contributor (-$301) while Mississippi is a net per capita receiver (+$7938). https://rockinst.org/issue-areas/fiscal-analysis/balance-of-payments-portal/ https://rockinst.org/issue-areas/fiscal-analysis/balance-of-...
- vineyardmike 4y agoMississippi isn’t able to take care of themselves as a whole! https://mspolicy.org/mississippi-no-longer-the-state-most-reliant-on-federal-aid/ https://mspolicy.org/mississippi-no-longer-the-state-most-re...