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scottieducati t1_j5oupdg wrote

Reply to comment by The_Sloth_Racer in My high school in Wilbraham, MA, got the 'Saturday Night Live' treatment due to lighting issue. The school has a server to control the lights with no manual override. The server got hacked and the school hasn't been able to turn off lights since 2021. Still not fixed. by The_Sloth_Racer

LoL so let’s tout our stringent and woefully messed up gun licensing with…. Not our neighbors. Phenomenal.

We could also talk about the layers upon layers of taxation, here. Like a goddamn onion people think it’s normal to pay sales tax on a car, then excise tax on top of it yearly, oh plus inspection requirements. Want to expand your house? That’ll cost you 50% more than in NH because of the vast amount of bullshit.

It’s staggering what folks accept as the norm down here. You are not getting a good return on the immense tax schemes that suck everyone dry. Look at the state of our actual schools (buildings), roads, the T, etc.

We also have a pretty big prison complex here, and a state police force that can’t seem to stop committing fraud and wasting taxpayer monies.

The entire economy of Boston was underpinned by subsidizing secondary education and the schools profited so much they bought half the damn land area and guess what? That means less taxes.

There’s a dire housing problem and the local / state government hasn’t acted to curb NIMBYism for decades. Directly hurting anyone not rich enough to own land here.

So let’s add on a few more passive taxes that folks won’t notice instead of using sound policies to foster affordable housing, mixed-use development, invest meaningfully in infrastructure and transit, and broaden the tax base.

When is it enough to demand some kind of accountability or real change?

I honestly think the incremental creep of mismanagement, taxation, and slapping band aids on core issues has people a bit deluded.

Boston and the surrounding area is great for white collar, high earners who own a home. For…. Everyone else? I’m not convinced.

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Melbonie t1_j5u1a3n wrote

Maybe you should move to Florida with the rest of them. If you do the snowbird thing like all of my family's neighbors do, you can live in MA half the year and enjoy all the perks of a functioning society, and hang out in the cockroach heaven of Florida the other half, for no income taxes. Down here helping out a sick family member caught up in a sick underfunded system right now, and you're deluding yourself if you think less is gonna be more. We have an amazing quality of life in MA, and we take care of each other. Don't believe the hype- it's not any cheaper in Florida- and if you need any sort of help, ever, it's fuck you you're on your own. Same goes for NH. Live Free or Die means if it ain't free, go ahead and die. My aunt just died of cancer up there and it was unnecessarily stressful and unpleasant. Worst kind of blessing that she went fast, as it was all pain, suffering and fighting for any little scrap of help. We get what we pay for, and must experience true lack before we can appreciate anything.

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scottieducati t1_j5u1mbw wrote

So we’re better than FL but can’t improve? They aren’t comparable and I never asserted as much.

MA has plenty of shortcomings and if you don’t see that I’d love some of what you’re smoking. Is it better than some areas? Absolutely. The bar isn’t very high if FL is your comp.

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Melbonie t1_j5u4h5z wrote

I just see the same tired Taxachusetts argument, old as Methuselah and just as fictitious. I paid more taxes as a percentage of income in WA, OR, CT. I paid WAYYY more for healthcare, home and car insurance, utilities, water, gas and groceries in FL, SC and GA. We have plenty of shortcomings in MA, who doesn't, but the fact is that we get a lot of bang for our buck, compared to most states. Particularly all the low-tax states that our tax dollars subsidize. I work in public service, caring for "invisible throw away people" (elderly, disabled, mentally ill) and we could always do better, but are doing light years better than any of the other 6 states across the nation I've lived and worked in. But that's not your cohort, so you don't see it. No offense and I hope you don't, but chances are someday you'll need some of the services we pay for and then you'll see the value.

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scottieducati t1_j5u6bwd wrote

Totally down for better social safety nets and yeah that’s a huge plus for MA vs NH.

We’re also home to big pharma and healthcare so indirectly benefit from it at perhaps the expense of having serious discussions of universal healthcare.

It’s a weird place to be here, so much progressive potential but so much old money, corruption and nimbyism holding things back.

I intended that list more as a list of opportunities to improve things here and less of grievances but realize it may have come across poorly.

I’ve owned a business here and there is a LOT to be done to make things better for small business.

Don’t have to look far from Boston to see them closing and being forced further away… we get banks and chains now. I’ve lost count of shuttered local business in metro west.

The financial burdens to the little guys (but maybe not those in “need”) is astronomical these days. Something needs to change or folks won’t like where we end up.

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Melbonie t1_j5u9xbg wrote

DEFINITELY need to cultivate a way better environment for small business. I'd love to use my public sector skills to craft similar programming for anyone who could use it, not just MassHealth qualified folks. Given the trend toward corporatization of everything, we should really try to be progressive leaders in making small business more achievable. We talk a big game about local source in Western MA, but not a lot of action. I was really disappointed to see the crony capitalism in the MassHealth sector when Baker brought Optum on board- another layer of administration and bureaucracy is not what the system needed, and their services can't be cheap, given all their advertising at Fenway and Gilette. (seriously- what are they even selling, exactly? and to whom?) Don't even get me started on the outsourcing of MassHealth customer service to places like Indiana and Wisconsin...

I was driving to the store a couple weeks ago and saw the Repubic waste management garbage trucks picking up in town and wondered whatever happened to local DPWs-- thinking yeah, they saved money going to the corpo, but now that Republic is the only game in town, they can pretty much name their price, can't they?

I digress for sure, but looking to big business for everything is eventually going to be a losing proposition.

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