What Ails Us

I don't plan to use this space to rant and rave about politics (much), but I will share when I think it's worthwhile.

Many of our "representatives" in Sacramento like to claim that the biggest reason California isn't the envy of the country like it used to be (finest schools, best roads, highest-paying jobs, etc.) is that Californians just aren't willing to "invest" in their future like they used to be. Today, we are "starving" our schools and our infrastructure, they say.

Check this out: 40 years ago, the State of California spent $200 per person per year (that's $1,240 in today's inflation-adjusted dollars). Today California spends $3,200 for every man, woman, and child in the state, and of course it gets bigger every year. Californians pay the fourth highest taxes on gasoline in the country, yet we rank dead last in per-capita spending on roads. California backs every classroom in the state with nearly $300,000, yet only a fraction makes it to the classroom.

Just a suggestion: Maybe the problem is more of a mismanagement of the ridiculous amount of money that Californians are "investing." Maybe our "representatives" are doing a terrible job of representing us. But, I guess people have sort of come to expect that from government. Worse, we have accepted it. And that's just what they want.