A couple of weeks ago, while driving on our local main road, I noticed that the state had put up a new sign that informs drivers of the distance to surrounding towns. Normally I would not write about a sign being changed, but something was wrong with the sign that I have been driving by the better part of twenty years and I couldn't put my finger on it. Then a couple of days ago, it hit me. The distance to the next town had been shortened by one mile. Yes, my fellow Observers, for all of you that may come to the mecca that is the north side of Woodbury, Connecticut (Represent!) you'll be happy to know that it is now only 7 miles to Watertown from the Shell gas station instead of the 8 it was just a few short weeks ago.
Usually something like this would give me a chuckle (and it did for a little while) until I realized that somewhere along the line of the infinite bureaucratic mentality of stupidity and waste that it came out of our tax paying pockets. Not just the sign, mind you, but all that went into that one little change. Think about it for a second. The meetings to discuss the signage problems, what needs to be surveyed. Taking in bids from contractors to do the surveying, analyzing those bids and then deciding who to hire (usually the first selectman's brother-in-law is a pretty safe bet). The surveying itself. Computer satellite analysis of the findings to make sure it's correct. Confirming and discussing the decision with the towns it affects. The manufacturing of the sign itself. Then the labor to remove the existing sign and install the new one. All because some fiscal, anal retentive, bean counting, distance accurate mileage OCDer had the epiphany while looking at the odometer on his Mercedes that it was closer to 7 rounded off miles the next town line than 8....and maybe that town line sign is wrong too! Like there is nothing else to worry about in our state. What's even worse is that somewhere, along the fore mentioned chain of events, I probably missed a few costly links... like.... maybe, for instance....Oh Yeah..... There was nothing wrong with the old sign to begin with.... you DOT morons! Last time I drove by, it was still functioning properly and looked perfectly fine to me, but I'm not an expert on signage and will be the first to say so. Best to leave it to the sign professionals, I suppose. I do wonder about the sign down the same road a piece that directs passerby's to our local non-profit nature center. That sign is has been missing it's right side support leg since someone ran it over twenty plus years ago. It's bent, cock-eyed and in a spot that gives you little notice that the turn is coming up and as of yet has not been replaced or repositioned. Hmmm.... priorities, I guess.
Speaking of priorities, my loyal reader, I ponder when our state is going to actually put our monetary priorities in proper order. I mean really......a sign?.... That needs it's distance changed? Our leaders decided they needed to address that first? It's not like our state is ranked... oh, I don't know... something like 45th in infrastructure against our fellow 49....oh that's right... We Are! Well... at least it's not at an 11.9% tax rate per capita we as residents of Connecticut are living in the 3rd highest taxed state beaten out only by New Jersey and New York.... wait a minute... that's right too.... go figure. And that's our problem. Our leaders can't figure out what we need over what they want as they better their political positions. They have the money to better our roads, improve education and raise the quality of our citizens lives with better health programs but don't seem to care about the 85% of us living well below the state per capita annual salary average of $60,287.00. Someone has to point out to these political Einstein's what happens to our working population's annual average salary when you lump us in with all the resident millionaires and well to do corporate executives that have summer homes and a couple of cars registered here. It kinda hurts us working stiffs when they use that average to calculate what we pay in taxes at the pump, the store, our state income tax, our state supplemented health insurance... etc...etc... It's almost as if that Connecticut acknowledges that it needs a working class... wants a working class....but doesn't want them living here. They'd probably be happier living somewhere else, anyway. Maybe they could commute from Jersey... oh wait...that won't work either.. Delaware then.
So what exactly does Connecticut spend all that tax money on besides mileage accurate signage? To tell the truth, I'm not exactly sure. Although Connecticut has passed a transparency act on spending, it's very difficult to get solid numbers on just how much they spend and what they spend it on. Since my research only turned up generalized figures on spending, I'll have to follow suit and generalize and speculate as well. For example, even though education is supposedly a top money taker, funds for it have been cut every year. Same with medical assistance, one of the other list toppers, but again cut and trimmed out of the budget year after year (along with the annual salary maximums to qualify for these programs being lowered as well) resulting in seniors and children having their benefits reduced or taken away completely. Well at least the seniors don't have to worry about school anymore. Another one of the top five is roads and bridges, but as I stated already our state is ranked 45th on that score. Oh, and our legislators have also cut the DOT budget the past five years despite that ranking. We're even (since July 1st, any way) the most expensive state to die in if your estate has to be settled in probate court. Connecticut's new budget that just went into effect completely cut all funding to probate court operations.... all. All heirs of loved ones passed on could pay as much as 1 million dollars or more to settle any estate disputes. The old maximum fee for this was $12,500.00. Although this new structured "pay to get what's coming to you" system probably won't affect most of the people who have to pay these fees all that much, it will effect the other people who have to use the probate process to settle things like adoption, disability and even mental health claims. These cases are not required to pay large court fees and will be relying on a legal system funded only by money from squabbling sibling property disputes. Hope all you potential parents didn't buy that crib just yet. Even generalized it doesn't make much sense. One thing that did seem to have an increase in funding year after year was government salaries.... big surprise there... huh? It seems for all the transparency, our states spending has a heavy opacity to it of conflicting circumstances that shows the money defiantly going in but fails to show our state community what were getting out of our investment. From where I'm sitting, I think we'd get better odds in Vegas. Round and round your tax dollar goes... where it's spent... nobody knows.... well someone knows... their just not saying.
On the bright side, however, for as much as our illustrious, supposed upper middle class filled state's spending is shrouded in a cloak of financial mystery, if we use our federal government as a monetary measuring stick we find ourselves in a dimension of "we ain't seen nothing yet". We also realize that the feds are more transparent that we would probably prefer as we discover that over the past ten years our government has spent millions on things like.....
2.5 million on a census bureau commercial that was aired during the Superbowl... I don't think that it made anyones top 10 commercial list that year.
175 million by the Dept. of Veterans Affairs to maintain hundreds of buildings that they don't use at all.... maybe we should turn them into housing for the veterans.
1 million spent by the National Institutes of Health to study the impact of male genital washing in South Africa.... no comment... but I do wonder what the impact was.... wait... no... I don't.
700,000.00 to the University of New Hampshire to study the methane emissions of dairy bovines.... yep... that's right.... cow farts.
5.4 million by the State department on glassware and alcohol.... that must have been some party!
1 million to an artist to create a granite sculpture that "resembles" a stacked pile of paving stones.....I didn't know that the stone section at Home Depot was actually an art gallery... I'll have to look harder next time.
And who could forget the Secret Service Broads, Bones and Booze scandal a couple of years ago that was funded by John and Jane Q. Public's tax dollars. Everybody loves a good old fashioned red light special.... don't they?
Whether it's signage or Seagram's, cow gas or granite, football or fornication, the fact is Americans waste and we waste a lot! We don't have to look to our local, state or federal governments to realize how much we dispossess every day. We see it in the 90% of our national landfills that are closed. On the side of the road that the DPW crews have to clean up. The food that we eat, the gas guzzlers we drive and the pricy toys and technology we purchase and discard just as quickly when the latest and the greatest comes out a few months later. In general we are all guilty and at fault for the common disregard we have for money, especially when that disregard serves our own personal wants. Until we change our attitude towards our wasteful lifestyles, our governments will continue to reflect our own image back at us. Strictly an Observation. If you'll excuse me, I heard the Secret Service is accepting applications.
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