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Keys to prosperity
Russell Allen
While Democrats talk about providing Band Aid solutions that take Las Cruces and El Paso taxpayer money to provide transportation to rural Doña Ana County, Republicans want to give you the keys of opportunity.
I recently attended a Democratic candidate’s forum in the south valley hosted by the Anthony Chamber of Commerce. Fortunately there was time for a question-and-answer period where a woman, in Spanish, asked the candidates what they would do to provide public transportation for her.
Each candidate responded by telling her that they would work with both the cities of Las Cruces and El Paso to provide public transportation services to those areas that were in need. This solution sounds easy enough, plausible right? Ask an existing government entity to do more for the citizens of rural Doña Ana County.
There is one significant problem with this Band Aid solution — not enough money.
If you give us a chance
If the funds were there and if it were a priority for the existing legislative and county representatives, transportation would already be provided in the south valley. In a Democrat perfect world, the government will provide transportation at a bus stop that might only come two or three times a day, controlling how often and where you can travel.
Republicans, however, if you give us the chance, would provide a dynamic economic climate where small and large businesses alike will set up shop in and throughout the south valley and New Mexico. This climate will usher in a period of prosperity because business will be able to expand, hiring and providing more jobs for our family, friends and neighbors; it would also be the time for some of us to pursue our own small-business ventures.
If our fellow citizens who are able to work had more choices for a better source of income, they would be able to purchase their very own vehicles, drive their vehicles wherever they want and as often as they want.
Choose wisely
While Democrats talk about providing Band Aid solutions that take Las Cruces and El Paso taxpayer money to provide transportation to rural Doña Ana County, Republicans want to give you the keys of opportunity and, yes, maybe your very own transportation by providing better employment opportunities for all!
We all know someone who is hurting from the bad economy, underemployment or unemployment that has been caused by the very same Democratic leaders who time and time again support an anti-opportunity environment with higher taxes, more regulations and more government control over your life. Our families, our neighbors, OUR New Mexico deserves better.
Do you want to continue to wait at the bus stop, or do you want to jump in your very own vehicle? The choice is yours. I recommend you choose wisely.
Russell Allen is chairman of the Doña Ana County Republican Party and a candidate for the District 35 seat in the N.M. Senate.
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The video of Tony Soprano and Henry Hill from ‘Goodfellas’ (1990) explaining how Bain Capital works is right on target. Thanks – Qofdiskes.
Here it is in other words.
How Did Mitt Romney Get So Obscenely Rich? Robert Reich Explains
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rodifJlis2c&feature=related
Tony Soprano Explains Bain Capital
Warning for tender ears.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=reiq4lEvnEw&feature=player_embedded
IP, I am not the least bit concerned with the level of my intellect. I am also certain that that it cannot be judged by the use of complete sentences on a blog comment.
Taking from the poor and giving to the rich; that’s the policy which the original column is advocating. That’s the policy I think is bad.
Instead of talking about this specific policy and its effects, some of want to talk about personalities or vague generalizations. Things like who is smarter than whom, or whether Democrats are all perfect (1).
Those are noise, distractions, things that won’t help us understand how to make this a better country.
(1) oddly, I vaguely recollect Dr.J claiming to be a democrat him/herself. But I can’t find it with my poor searching skills.
stever:
You know, I’ve never actually specifically referenced my own intellect here; indeed, it is you who seem to obsess over it with alarming frequency, so I’m just going to have to assume that you have some personal concerns on that front that I’m sorry to say I am unable to alleviate for you. That being said, if you’re going to make a commentary on intellect, I submit to you that it would come across more eloquently if you use complete sentences.
IP You’re smarter than that. As you frequently remind us. I’m smarter than that as you frequently seem to doubt.
stever:
Aren’t you the very same person who openly refused to actually read Mr. Schneider’s links in the first place? This is to say nothing of the fact that you’re asking for citations for an opinion.
Dr. J:
Not everyone’s positions are as absolute as your own. There is such a thing as “nuance”.
No, stever, if you don’t believe that Republicans want to eliminate the minimum wage I’m not going to try to help you learn.
Citation please Mr Link
You’ve told me before that “Its quite a pleasure to create a need in you to respond, some times I’m serious, sometimes not, but you can’t resist because you are always right.”(1) I can’t believe you’re serious in this case.
Republicans are all evil, greedy, rich and for only the rich, determined to destroy the poor and middle class, while Democrats are all perfect, loving, feeling, and sensitive people intent of providing the means for the poor and middle class to exist and thrive in America
You’ve had an epiphany! You’ve seen reality, and the scales have fallen from your eyes! I must mark this day’s name with a red letter! I would have said that myself except that I didn’t think it’d pass the comments policy enforcer. (the preceding was snark)
(1) http://www.nmpolitics.net/index/2012/05/wall-street-bankers-who-broke-the-law-belong-in-jail/
Now, now stever, you know some people need no links, citations, or evidence to assert than Republicans are all evil, greedy, rich and for only the rich, determined to destroy the poor and middle class, while Democrats are all perfect, loving, feeling, and sensitive people intent of providing the means for the poor and middle class to exist and thrive in America.
I bet, like most Republicans, he’s in favor of eliminating the minimum wage and busting unions and eliminating OSHA and doing away with all the other things that help (a bit) to make the labor market more efficient by making the parties (slightly) less unequal in their bargaining power.
Citation please Mr Link
Subsidies for rich white guys; self-reliance for poor Spanish speaking women.
A better title: Keys to Prosperity for the Ruthless
Or: that government by the rich white guys, for the rich white guys, and of the rich white guys shall not perish from the earth.
He probably doesn’t even think about all the taxpayer funded subsidies he gets from the government. He probably thinks ‘well, of course the government should spent millions on courts and prisons to lock of DWI offenders so I can drive safely on the roads” and doesn’t realize that even poor people pay the taxes that make him safe.
I can’t imagine why he mentions both that the questioner was a woman, and that she spoke Spanish, except to invoke racist stereotypes. What other relevance is there? It’s like he wants people to think “there’s another one of those poor brown folks trying to get OUR tax money.
And qofdisks makes a good point. I bet, like most Republicans, he’s in favor of eliminating the minimum wage and busting unions and eliminating OSHA and doing away with all the other things that help (a bit) to make the labor market more efficient by making the parties (slightly) less unequal in their bargaining power.
Does the state already subsidize his business or give him tax breaks since his is such a great Republican with the resources to buy off politicians? Would the state likewise help any small competitors to this behemoth? Does he benefit from corporate welfare and special favors?
Do you have evidence to suggest these questions are more than a “when did you stop beating your wife” variety? In otherwords he’s a sucessful businessman who happens to be a republican, therefore he must have done something wrong. If, on the other hand Gofdisks, you have ever taken a deduction on your tax return, are nothing more than a hypocrite. You really can do better than that kind of weak arguement.
“Cluck Cluck Cluck”…Who will pull the wagon when everyone wants to ride?
A better title: Keys to Prosperity for the Ruthless
I am curious if Allen theater’s labor policies are helping to create and sustain a strong middle class in our state. Do his employees make enough money and are provided with quality benefits so that they can afford to go out and buy private transportation, put food on the table, buy consumer goods and technology, have dignified health care and save for a retirement and the education of their children? Can his employees achieve the “American dream” working for Allen theaters?
He states, ”
Republicans, however, if you give us the chance, would provide a dynamic economic climate where small and large businesses alike will set up shop in and throughout the south valley and New Mexico. This climate will usher in a period of prosperity because business will be able to expand, hiring and providing more jobs for our family, friends and neighbors; it would also be the time for some of us to pursue our own small-business ventures.
If our fellow citizens who are able to work had more choices for a better source of income, they would be able to purchase their very own vehicles, drive their vehicles wherever they want and as often as they want.”
So is he, as a Republican, providing for the “demand side of the economy” for this prosperity to happen? I would like to know what the prevailing wage and benefits are for his employees or is he expecting all this prosperity to emerge from the working poor needing to be subsidized by the government in order to survive?
He claims that he doesn’t have a “chance” to do this for the economy? Huh? Is he vying for corporate welfare and special favors that stifle any competition for his monopoly?
Does the state already subsidize his business or give him tax breaks since his is such a great Republican with the resources to buy off politicians? Would the state likewise help any small competitors to this behemoth? Does he benefit from corporate welfare and special favors?
Fantasies and heroic myths make great stories. I like reading them. (1)
While Democrats talk about providing Band Aid solutions that take Las Cruces and El Paso taxpayer money to provide transportation to rural Doña Ana County, Republicans want to give you the keys of opportunity and, yes, maybe your very own transportation by providing better employment opportunities for all!
But I know the difference between fantasy or myth and reality. Apparently the distinction has escaped Mr. Allen. He thinks that driving his very own car is something that he can do because he works hard and has money – he fails to remember that he can drive his car because the government provides taxpayer money to support his choice.
The government provides billions and billions, even trillions, of taxpayer dollars to subsidize Mr. Allen and his car.
The government builds the roads. The government buys the land, pays the designers, buys the materials, and pays to have the roads installed. Then the government clears the ice and snow in winter, and picks up the litter in summer, and fills the potholes and keeps the roads repaired.
The government provides police to keep those roads safe so Mr. Allen can drive his car, and provides emergency medical services in case he gets hurt in an accident.
The government maintains a big military in part so that oil can be shipped around the world so Mr. Allen can fill up his tank. Then the government sets standards for gasoline so he can buy gas at any station in the country and know it’ll work in his car. Then the government maintains a financial system so Mr. Allen can pay for his gas.
The government pays for a system of car titles and registration, to help keep Mr Allen safe on the roads and help deter people from stealing his car. The government pays for enforcing a system of mandatory insurance so Mr Allen can get recompense if some uninsured driver does him damage.
The government could, of course, choose to put more money into mass transit and less money into making things easy for people driving their own cars. That is a choice.
Mr Allen apparently thinks we’re richer because the government puts money into helping car owners rather than into mass transit.
Perhaps he’s right. Just think about some of the places with really good mass transit system: Tokyo. Paris. London. New York. Obviously those people live in squalor compared to the people around Las Cruces with it’s system of privately owned individual cars.
I like fantasies, but I know better than to try and actually build societies based on them.
(1) I particularly like the ones in paperback with dragons on the cover. Also some scantily clad young female mammal (*) who is impossibly buxom yet somehow buoyant. Yes, I know I’m re-inscribing heteronarmativity again. I can’t help it, I’m a helpless pawn of the patriarchy.
(8) they may be elves or other non-humans, but they’re clearly mammals.
In this case Stever is right about movie theater owners. When we consider freedom of speech, we must also consider private-property rights. The owner of a newspaper has the right to publish or not publish materials because the newspaper belongs to that person. If one person can’t persuade another to publish his views, he is free to open his own newspaper.
Movie theater owners have the same right. The owners have the right to restrict the conduct of patrons and, for that matter, to refuse to show R-rated movies. It is not censorship. They are simply exercising their right of private ownership.
However, in the case of Allen theaters they have a monopoly ownership of theaters in New Mexico. They have absolute control of what films New Mexicans can see and not see. They also have controls of admission prices. New Mexicans have no alternative. There is no competition.
In fact Allen theaters just raised its prices. This all ties in to Russell Allen’s commentary. In his world monopoly has been the path to his prosperity. So his following comment is bogus: “Republicans, however, if you give us the chance, would provide a dynamic economic climate where small and large businesses alike will set up shop in and throughout the south valley and New Mexico.” You just try to establish a theater in competition with the Allen theater syndicate in New Mexico.
Mr. Russell Allen obviously does not believe in freedom of speech.
Hmmmm. Interesting interpretation of the First Amendment. Compelling a privately owned movie theater to show every movie. I’d be interested in the case law on that.
Mr. Russell Allen obviously does not believe in freedom of speech. He literally controls all movie theaters in New Mexico. His Allen theaters banned a sci fi comedy “Horror In The Wind. ” Dick Weber, Executive Producer at Revision Studios, reports that Allen Theaters refused to screen the locally produced comedy because it is too political. “Horror In The Wind” tells the story of two bio-geneticists who invent an airborne formula that accidentally reverses the whole world’s sexual orientation. This is a result of controlling the media. In this case it is movie theaters.
http://www.horrorinthewind.com/
Mr. Allen should be ashamed of himself.
Gee, I didn’t know they owned all those theaters. Thank goodness for Netflix, where I can re-run a scene if I want to and fix my own popcorn.
Mr. Allen’s key to prospersity is simply to own all the theaters in New Mexico. See history:
http://www.allentheatresinc.com/history.php
They own all the theaters in the following cities of New Mexico:
Alamogordo
Carlsbad
Clovis
Cortez
Durango
Farmington
Gallup
Hobbs
Las Cruces
Roswell
Ruidoso
Mr. Allen and his family cornered the market in movie theaters in New Mexico. With this monopoly they can charge whatever they want. That is why they are wealthy! Is there a Republican lesson in this for America? I think not!
One key to prosperity is charging exorbitant amounts for popcorn at movies. An ounce of popcorn cost more than an ounce of filet minion at a high end steak house.
I have to agree Hemingway, not much of substance here. And EW-aif, you are only looking at the revenue side of the balance sheet, on the expense side all that failed stimulus, ObamaCare, and wasted “green” energy subsidies that went bankrupt which have totaled in the trillions of $$ also factor into the bottom line of not enough money available for mass transit around Anthony (?).
This commentary says absolutely nothing. The key to prosperity for Mr. Russell Allen is to have a monopoly of movie theaters in Las Cruces. Allen theaters just raised its admission prices. This will result in fewer people on a limited income to go to his theater. Also there is no competition. There is no choice.
This is typical Republican claptrap. There is no opportunity for jobs in their message. So in the case of Mr. Allen’s candidacy – “choose wisely” and don’t fall for his political rhetoric. Instead ask him to lower prices at his theaters.
The funds aren’t there because of the 2003 NM tax cuts and the Bush tax cuts at the Federal level, duh.