Jules Feiffer has described Tony Auth best, "His perspective is that of a bemused and often angry comic historian. Irony, never a favorite form with Americans, is his meat and potatoes. He is not smug, and though he can be mean, he is never mean-spirited. Auth is a moralist and an optimist. He insists, even in this day and age, that hope is more than the name of a right-wing comedian or the shtick of a reactionary president."
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dtroutma
said, 11 months ago
“S” is for scapegoat!
AshburnStadium said, 11 months ago
Good to see Tony back. I just wish it was more frequently!
Doughfoot said, 11 months ago
“Just a bunch of leeches on society, along with letter carriers, social workers, soldiers, sailors, airmen, and all other public servants. Why should servants get anything more than room and board? The only ones who really matter are the Job Creators. ( Ever notice that Job Creator and Jesus Christ have the same initials? Coincidence? I don’t think so! ) Because as long as we take care of the JCs, and make sure that they are treated right, they will surely find a place on their payrolls for all the rest of us. Let WWJCHUS always be our motto: What Would the Job Creators Have Us Do? What’s good for the Job Creators is good for America. Anything bad for the Job Creators is bad for America. They ARE America, and the rest of should remember that. Any suggestion that there could ever be a conflict of interest between the JCs and the rest of us is anti-American socialist class warfare propaganda.”
cdward said, 11 months ago
Wouldn’t Congress also be public servants? What if we just quit paying them? Or just paid them the union wage. Or better, minimum wage.
MelvinLott said, 11 months ago
@Doughfoot
I have rarely encountered anyone so incredibly unable to do anything but regurgitate the crap from the fake news network. You really do need to start thinking for yourself and leave the silliness of the JC initials alone. Do you honestly believe that Jesus would agree with your assessment of giving the greedy everything they want while denying hard workers pretty much whatever it is you deluded ones want to deny them? I hate to burst your bubble, but you are most sincerely out of your tiny little mind. Please do not breed.
Vote4Vogons said, 11 months ago
@MelvinLott
I could be wrong here, but I read Doughfoot’s comment as sarcasm. But then again, perhaps I just want it to be.
Bruce4671 said, 11 months ago
Here we go again. The ploy is so emotion packed. Everyone knows we need and wants to have and is willing to pay for these types of jobs. BUT, the one thing that we seem to overlook is that while they have a high value they produce no profit. Yes, that’s right. These jobs “protect” us and thus have “value” but they do not produce a “product” that raises funds in the same way a “manufacturing” job would.
Where do the funds to pay a salary to the policeman, fireman or teacher come from? For the most part, taxes. (yes, there is fines and fees and such but they are just another kind of tax)
And NO Debbie, they are not bloodsuckers but they are a 100% drain on the budget of every municipality. Everything is an expense.
So where do you cut the budget at your house when you suddenly see that the income will not match the expenses? You look to the unnecessary expenses like the newspaper or the Friday date night or maybe the cable hookup – things you can do without.
Does that mean I think we can do without these people? Absolutely not. But there ARE things that can be done away with in government and a politicians fear is that you will think it is them so they throw out that THIS is the place that will be cut first to play on YOUR fear and get you charged up.
The ploy is working fine isn’t it.
ARodney said, 11 months ago
Bruce, for a conservative, you have a very poor understanding of the capitalist system. Government workers produce a product that is MUCH more valuable than that produced by hedge fund managers, trust-fund babies, and investors; yet the GOP has no trouble not only paying those people vastly inflated amounts, but also taxing them less than teachers and cops (and proposing to not tax them at all). Take into account that teachers, cops, and firefighters buy things (something that the GOP apparently believes they don’t do) and they contribute a LOT more to the US economy than a man who parks his vast wealth in the Cayman Islands.
Christopher Shea said, 11 months ago
@Bruce4671
While I’m well aware of the “Firemen First” principle when it comes to government budgets, Romney DID specifically say we can get along with fewer policemen, firemen, and teachers. I suggest we start the cutting in the California neighborhood where he’s building his new mansion.
Gary Kleppe said, 11 months ago
@Bruce4671
So tell us, what are these areas in which we could make substantial cuts and not lose vital services like the ones in the cartoon?
At the national level, there’s tremendous waste in the Pentagon, but that’s the one thing that isn’t really on the table. At the state and local level, governments have already been cutting for years. The budgets for the most part are already bare-bones. Sure, you could cut the salaries and benefits of elected officials, but that isn’t nearly enough to make a dent in the budget, and it would insure that only the wealthy or those with the backing of the wealthy would be able to hold these offices.
So where exactly are all of these painless cuts that can be made?
ninety_nine_percent said, 11 months ago
There is a huge lack of common sense here. Cut teachers? Really? So we don’t want our people to be prepared to compete with China in 10 or 20 years? This is economic suicide.
meetinthemiddle said, 11 months ago
@Bruce4671
Actually, Bruce, the problem is that the worth of police, firemen, and teachers is just hard to put a value on in the near term.
A well-educated student goes on to other pursuits, maybe starts a business.
Firemen and police stop all kinds of damage to society and save lives.
The problem is how much are we collectively willing to pay now for some hypothetical value in the future.
Then, as you say, even in business there are infrastructure costs – things that support the enterprise but don’t produce an easily quantifiable positive on the ledger. Hard to get support for those in the private sector as well.
One of the things I find a little puzzling is how successfully people have been soured on the unions of firemen, police, and teachers. Rather than people thinking “Hey, we used to have unions in the private sector who bargained for us” the attitude is “Why should they have something I haven’t got?”
’
And why haven’t people noticed the few that are still rolling in undeserved and excessive benefits are the corporate executive class.
SpicyNacho
said, 11 months ago
Obama’s team and his staff media will stop at nothing to keep dividing the public and scaring and whatever groups he can into voting for him.
Bruce4671 said, 11 months ago
@ARodney
OK, my brother, what product is that? You are the one that has no understanding of the system.
Those jobs are there because we the people come together and understand that we need protection from crime, from fire and someone to educate our children (boy are we losing there). We the people pool our funds voluntarily (through a tax system, in Florida it is property and sales) and then budget those funds to pay for those services. As I said they are valuable and necessary BUT they do NOT produce a product that can be sold to add funds to the pool. (In the case of hedge funds the product IS money – or have you never had an investment?)
You are not only showing your ignorance but your jealousy and envy as well.
Bruce4671 said, 11 months ago
@Christopher Shea
OK good idea.