California is called a belle weather state meaning that
trends in economics and society, there, tend to spread across
the rest of the United States in time. The good people of
California passed Proposition 13 several decades ago limiting
property taxes and how much they could rise in any given year.
They felt so proud of themselves and many developed carpal
tunnel syndrome patting themselves on the back. The only problem
is that they didn't make up for the lost revenue in any other
way. It didn't hurt too much right then, but as is the case many
times, the people who made the mess retired/died/moved away
before it began to stink and man,! is it stinking, now.
California has a budget deficit measured in billions of
Dollars and everybody sees waste and fat government in every
other agency of the state except, surprise!, their own.
Universities used to be free to in-state students.
Public schools had operating budgets that we, here in Oklahoma
and other parts of the middle US couldn't even imagine in their
wildest pipe dreams.
I am not actually picking on California. It is just one
of the more extreme examples of what most state governments are
doing across the country right now.
In time, all those cuts to schools and infrastructure
support will stink just as it is in California. When big
companies are looking for a place to set up shop, the people who
do these studies look at education and infrastructure and if it
is substandard, they are apt to look somewhere else.
Let's see. Oklahoma. Wow! They've got relatively clean air
and lots of nice people and a low cost of living but they don't
support their schools very well and the kids come out deficient
in math and science and half of them can't compose a decent
sentence, etc. I think our company may look at North Dakota
instead.
The problems in California are much more complex than
just Proposition 13 but it is a good example of how one can cut
one's nose off to spite one's face. That seems to be the order
of the day everywhere when it involves taxes. I heard a little
verse that describes this philosophy.
Don't tax you.
Don't tax me.
Tax that man behind the tree.
Man? What man? We cut down all the trees and there's nowhere to
hide.
Martin
Sarah Alawami writes:
> yeah I'm trying to find work as well and our unemployment rate is at 15
> percent and climbing. My school is cutting the budget but raising tuition
> by 3 percent. They are also cutting 200 jobs and 19 departments. Yeah and
> I wonder why my state is 50 in education standards. That's just plain
> horrible.
========================================
The Just-chat E-Mail forum is guaranteed malware, spyware, Trojan, virus and
worm-free
To modify your subscription options, please visit for forum's dedicated web
pages located at:
<http://mail.tft-bbs.co.uk/mailman/listinfo/just-chat>
You can find an archive of all messages posted to the just-chat group at either
of the following:
<http://mail.tft-bbs.co.uk/pipermail/just-chat/index.html>
or:
<http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]>
You may subscribe with your RSS reader at the following URL:
<http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/maillist.xml>
---------------------------------------
