What a clown throwing our money around!

Infrastructure and transportation , coupled with higher education expenditures are what make Massachusetts great and the envy of the world.

Great job , Governor Deval Patrick. Keep up the good work.

Get rid of the ~8.5 billion for the mass transit stuff. Those are supposed to be self-sufficient.
If they need more money for MBTA then charge more for its use.
Privatize it completely and watch it turn into a profitable enterprise with better service after it gets out from under the unsustainable out of control union contracts that are dragging it down.

The article notes that partial funding will be through tax "reform". It's comical that the governor still thinks that by soaking the "rich" will raise more revenue. It has been proven time and again that progressive tax rates decrease revenues, not increase them. I look forward to the next round of hand-wringing when they cannot understand why they failed to meet their revenue projections

Tyler,
I am not sure how just making an announcement about spending money without any concept of how is will be raised or more to the point some real detail is great. If the roads need so much work then want has the governor being doing since he came into office and why has the democratic controled state house let things get so bad. I know let's blame someone else. Talking does not make someone great, doing does.

Tyler for once try not to climb up of the soapbox and just say the Dem is great no matter what.

Late night public transit at least on Thursday Friday and Saturday night is a big one Tyler, it will cut down on allot of drunk driving if people can take a train or bus home after the bars close instead of driving. Take a survey and you will see that this is a big complaint in the state (eastern part anyway).

Perhaps you could answer this simple question Tyler.
If there is no waste in MA government spending, why does it cost MA twice as much as NH per mile for road construction? (NH more in line with natl per mile cost) How can they do the same thing that MA is doing and get a better product in the end, at half the cost? I use NH as an example because no matter what road you take heading north into the state, you know the second you cross over the border because the roads are nice and smooth up there.
MA is on a schedule to repave the entire length of 93 from NH to Boston every three years. I think it has been ten years since NH repaved 93 from MA to Manchester and it is still smooth.

As for schools, we do have good public schools in MA but all this extra money he wants to spend in this article is not about education.

Why bring up jobs going out of the country? What does that have to do with this article either. And you can thank Clinton for the start of that.

Stay on topic Tyler and stop just regurgitating the DNC talking points.

Democrats could harvest a great deal of revenue by making peace with a profitable and growing economy and with those productive individuals who create such an economy. But they will, as they always do, embrace new taxes on both upper- and middle-income earners that will restrain economic growth and deprive the revenue that Democrats demand to fund the government they love.

Tyler,
"4.6 billion to fully state-fund highway maintenance and construction, including major projects identified in the 21st Century Transportation Plan, such as the I-93/I-95 interchange and Springfield I-91 viaduct"

Really, road maintance is not repairs. What is that if not repairs?
I am always amazed when someone challanges your endless cheerleading you start with the nothing is free and if you do not like it move.
To question waste is not to question the government or the value of paying for legitimate expenses. I suppose when you go out to eat or buy something at the store you just pay the price they ask without wondering if it is worth it or if you can get a better deal somewhere else. The food is not free and the goods cost money, but I have the right to question is it worth it when I purchase it. Somehow this concept escapes you. I know roads and bridges cost money to maintain. The question is why have the fallen into disrepair, if the state is so well run. As a taxpayer, I always have the right to question where my tax dollars go and is there waste. If you have no problem with waste and paying for things that may not be worth it, then you can chose to not care. I still do. The bottom line is as always, will support whatever the governor says without even thinking about it. I chose to actually question it first.

Tyler,
If it is not waste or corruption, what is the answer to the question. I will keep numbers even to make it simple.
If NH can pave a road for 1,000,000 per mile and it lasts for 9 years then why does it cost MA 2,000,000 per mile and it only lasts for 3 years?
So to translate, to get the same work done and have it last the same amount of time it costs MA 6,000,000 per mile.
Exactly how is this efficient, productive work? If you had work done at your house would you rather pay a smaller amount or twice and much and have it done three times as often?
And when you answer keep it within the same two states, I am comparing apples to apples, not apples to grapes. Whatever roads New Delhi has are probably better than most in MA and they were done at 1/1000 the cost.
I never advocated privatizing the roads so don’t say things I never did.

As for the MBTA, privatize it, state is responsible for overseeing existing pensions not the private company, fire everybody and cancel all union contracts, rehire everybody at same pay rate as before, they pay into health insurance at same rate as a standard private company would, no pensions, they can invest in an IRA instead. Subsidize at all current rates and charge passengers accordingly until it turns a profit, use profits for capital improvements.
Why should somebody in Springfield have to pay for somebodies commute into Boston?

Tyler,

What is your opinion on how we can change the MBTA?