Don't Blame The Lunch Ladies

This weekend The Des Moines Register (motto: Pay No Attention to the Tax Behind the Curtain) called out some Iowa school districts for taking a hard line on collecting overdue lunch money. The schools have informed anyone who reaches a certain point on credit that they'll only get a PB sandwich until they get the account up to date.

Even though some public schools have hundreds/thousands of dollars owed them in lunch account receivables, the Register thinks these schools should just keep feeding the kids the hot lunch meal and worry about collecting the money later. EARTH TO REGISTER: Public schools = taxpayer funded - why should taxpayers subsidize, and potentially be on the hook to eat (no pun intended) these overdue bills!?

If we were talking about overdue corporate taxes or income taxes, The Register would be having a fit about them not being timely paid or collected. But with public schools, they either don't make the taxpayer connection, or they think it's OK to spend or forgive any amount without accountability.

As so often is the case, the tax and spenders have it backwards. Collecting the money later is the problem, not the solution. So, you go, lunch ladies! Thanks for your support of Iowa taxpayers!

Taxes And Your Public Library

Generally speaking, we pay too much tax. Income tax, property tax, sales tax, you name it, we pay too much of it. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure this out, just pick up the paper any day and you will read about some sort of local, state, or federal goverment fraud and abuse of taxpayer money. Taxpayer money wouldn't be wasted if there wasn't too much of it.

Having said that - and having made it clear that I am nothing if not a warrior for the taxpayer - there are some services for which I don't mind being taxed. Police and fire protection, utilities, that sort of thing. Basically, if we need it to establish justice, ensure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, or promote the general welfare, that's cool. Otherwise, we should not be taxed for it.

Which brings me to the topic of public libraries. Now, I don't think public libraries are evil. My family has benefitted in countless ways from the availabily of a nice public library. But let's get real: They are in many ways a multi-million (billion?) dollar taxpayer boondoggle.

Look, we don't need a nice public library in every stinking town. I travel Iowa a lot, and I'm telling you, damn near every little town has at least one bar, one convenience store, and one library. That may seem nice, but the thing of it is, neither the bar nor convenience store are taking money out of people's pockets whether they use them or not. And no - not every suburb in every city needs one either. Ever heard of sharing services?

Also, we don't need public libraries to be everything to everybody. These days they are all apparently required to have computers with internet access, DVD movies, and perhaps even a little coffee shop. What ever happened to just being a quiet place to read or to loan out books? Oh, and they don't need to be housed in multi-million dollar buildings, either.

So where's the outrage for the over-abundance and over-indulgences of these taxpayer funded libraries? I suppose it's a little bit like kicking a cat - while many people may want to do that, it isn't going to be a real popular target with most folks. And let's face it, there are worse expenditures of tax money.

But let's at least be honest - we could find less expensive ways to promote the general welfare.

So I Got That Goin' For Me, Which Is Nice

My current work/life attitude is best summarized in the immortal words of Carl Spackler from the greatest movie of all-time, Caddyshack: So I jump ship in Hong Kong and I make my way over to Tibet, and I get on as a looper at a course over in the Himalayas. A looper, you know, a caddy, a looper, a jock. So, I tell them I'm a pro jock, and who do you think they give me? The Dalai Lama, himself. Twelfth son of the Lama. The flowing robes, the grace, bald....striking. So, I'm on the first tee with him. I give him the driver. He hauls off and whacks one – big hitter, the Lama, long – into a ten-thousand foot crevasse, right at the base of this glacier. Do you know what the Lama says? Gunga galunga....gunga, gunga-lagunga. So we finish the eighteenth, and he's gonna stiff me! And I say, "Hey, Lama, hey, how about a little something, you know, for the effort, you know." And he says, "Oh, uh, there won't be any money, but when you die, on your deathbed, you will receive total consciousness." So I got that goin' for me, which is nice.

A Benevolent or Malevolent Society

Years ago in a college interview I was seriously asked "If you could be an animal, what animal would you be?" (Yeah, it was a psych major who asked it. By the way, there is a correct and an incorrect answer to this question if you are asked. Say you would be a horse - both powerful and graceful, and possibly either tame or wild. Do not say a jellyfish - no spine.)

Over the years I've come to ask my own more conversation-making philosophical question: Do you believe we live in a benevolent or a malevolent society? I've always said America is basically a benevolent society. The vast majority of us will go out of our way to avoid trouble and confrontation, not seek it out.

Unfortunately, I'm about ready to change my mind in at least one or two areas. For example, it's hard to look at the behavior of people in today's political and media environments and say they are benevolent. Many of those folks are just publicity hounds and therefore almost always malevolent by design. Their confrontation and rhetoric sells, and can make them rich and famous.

But they are simply warts on our otherwise generally docile and civilized behavior. We're not malevolent, we're benevolent. I said benevolent, dammit!

Taxes Are Evil

This week there were a couple of Des Moines suburban referendums on new tax levies for school buildings and/or or maintenance. Although not in our school district, I was pleased to see these were voted down. It never made any sense to me that people would vote to tax themselves to begin with, especially when others are taxing them just fine, thank you very much.

I believe in having nice school building and grounds, but the state of Iowa has already lost its collective mind in using sales taxes to raise money for schools. Here in Polk County it started years ago with the passage (on the third try) of a 1 penny sales tax with a so-called 10 year sunset provision. Most counties eventually did this, but then just a few years later, the Des Moines school district wanted to extend that 10-year period, because school districts were burning through the money too quickly. Now all of that is moot, because the state went ahead and just made the extra penny part of the permanent statewide sales tax.

Just like any tax, there is no end to how people will ratchet up the spending to meet the revenue the tax generates. It's completely backward, and as time goes by the addiction for more tax money only gets worse. It's why taxes are basically evil. The spending monster created by taxes doesn't need to be fed, it needs to be starved. I hope these recent votes mean that more people in the city, school district, county, state, and country where I live are starting to figure that out.

Blogging Isn't Easy

Random thoughts to catch up on the past week:

• Note to self: If you're going to have a blog, you have to update it at least once or twice a week.
• It's very hard to be an above-average golfer. If you only play once a week, it's almost impossible.
• Late summer / early fall is the best time of the year. Especially in a non-election year.
• Regarding Obama's planned speech to school children.....If parents don't want their kids watch it, OK, but let's have some perspective here. How many of those same parents take no interest (or have no clue) in what else their kids watch on TV or their computers? Answer: Most of them. That is the definition of hypocrisy.
• I seem to have a lot less time to do things during football season.
• How do people who call themselves 'life coaches' or some other cheesey name actually earn a living? It seems all smoke and mirrors to me to begin with, and in this economy, how can anyone afford to pay someone else to be motivated?
• I don't remember the last time I wasn't at least a little bit tired.

Investment Rules And Where To Invest

In an interview earlier this summer, Berkshire Hathaway CEO Warren Buffett was asked for his top three pieces of advice for Americans who want to grow their savings and keep their money safe. His answers:

1. If it seems too good to be true, it probably is.
2. Always look at how much the other guy is making when he is trying to sell you something.
3. Stay away from leverage. Nobody ever goes broke that doesn't owe money.

People should be especially aware of #2 (literally and figuratively). That's why you don't want to work with a commission-based investment advisor - they usually care more about what they make than they do about what's best for the investor.

One more nugget from this Buffett interview had to do with his views on education. He said, "Generally speaking, investing in yourself is the best thing you can do. Anything that improves your own talents. Nobody can take it away from you. They can run up huge deficits, the dollar can become worth far less, your can have all kinds of things happen. But if you've got talent yourself, and you maximize your talent, you've got a terrific asset."