Sunday, November 19, 2006

But isn't it all free?

Oregon leaders' choice: Santa or statesman
Full-day kindergarten. Universal health care. Fresh bouquets on the desks of every state employee, paid for through a newly created State Flower Fund. There's no end to the number of government programs that might make life better for Oregonians after years of cuts.

The Fishwrapper calling for less spending? Actually not really. Of the three items listed above you can bet that they support the first two while reluctantly opposing the third.

And instead of saying they want to "spend" on something they say we should "invest" in something. Kind of like I could "invest" in a six-pack.

My prediction: Lars and Victoria are going to have lots of cannon fodder to talk about when the next legislative session comes about.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Who could be opposed to free flowers!!! I can't think of a better way to spend tax dollars...

Kaelri said...

Think economically. Even the expense of something cosmetic, like a bouquet of flowers, can pay for itself and more with the psychological benefit to state employees' productivity.

Obviously there's a cutoff point - I don't think it was an economic necessity for Karl Rove to receive skybox seats and free dinners and bottles of fine wine from lobbyists - but something like this, if there's a study or something behind it that shows a tangible improvement on worker productivity in private businesses, I wouldn't mind.

Anonymous said...

a shorter travel time to work would do more for my fellow workers than anything. The cost of goods and services is way up because of travel time. invest in the future.

Bobkatt said...

If there is a study or something behind it that shows that half of the government is a useless waste of money, I wouldn't mind getting rid of it.

Anonymous said...

Hey Kool Aid Kaelri,

You said “…benefit to state employees’ productivity”.

What are you talking about? There is no such thing as a productive government worker. I’ve yet to meet one that could hold a job in the private sector.

Kaelri said...

If that's the best counter-argument anyone's got, then bring on the roses.