Wednesday, January 14, 2009

All in the Family


The family of Florida Governments have seemed to learn very little from the crisis that has hit real Florida families square in the jaw. While many attribute 2008 as the year the economy collapsed, the recessionary problems where hurting families long before 2008. Many Florida families had been feeling the pain even before 2007 to the extent that many had started to cry out to lawmakers and local elected officials that the ever increasing taxes were too much. The problem is that most families did not contend with cutting their expenses and creating a bigger savings accounts, early enough, instead of robbing their savings to keep the lifestyle they had developed when times were better. While we have heard many politicians attempt to blame the exploding amount of foreclosures and bankruptcies on irresponsible acts of individuals, the WayneWho staff has to wonder if more people would have curtailed their spending if every government official and economic hack weren't running around saying things like 'the fundamentals of the economy are strong.' Why would people think we were headed into a housing downturn when governments were approving development after development saying things like 'growth is coming'? There were even quasi-government social clubs like MetroPlan Orlando that hosted little parties where the public could come in and stick down little stickers on where they thought all this growth should go. With all of these high-end professionals thinking things were going to still boom, why wouldn't the average Florida family think the same thing? Why wouldn't they invest some of their savings into a such a booming housing industry?

It is obvious now that many wish they had not robbed their savings based on the uneducated wisdom of elected officials and quasi-governmental employees who are better at keeping themselves employed than they are dealing with the problems in our communities. Of course now we have these same uneducated leaders hacking and slashing our state budget with the precision of inmates stamping license plates. And, you might ask, what are their big ideas to fix the $2.3 billion budget shortfall? They are going to rob the state trust, emergency, and reserve funds, which are basically like savings accounts for the state, and they are going to borrow more money.

Just let that little gem shine for a second.

Our message to state lawmakers: Listen meathead. Robbing your savings and going deeper in debt will not fix the problem. This scenario has been played out millions of times by American families all across our nation with the results only being worse than where they started. We suggest that you download the Suze Orman custom expense worksheet and look at the reality of your problems. There is not one financial guru that would give the state a thumbs up on a plan based on making things worse and going deeper in debt.

Of course by taking the easy way out, lawmakers don't have to work so hard or show that they have don't have any clue as to what they are doing. As the great Arhcie Bunker once said about a co-worker, "In fifty years, he never worked a day. To him, nine to five was odds on a horse." The same is true for politicians. It is easier to play the odds and hope that some one else will cover the losses.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

It is weird that with the economic problems facing the country, we might actually go back to times like Arhcie Bunker's.

Anonymous said...

It looks like the state is using the Bernard Madoff accounting method to balance the budget. Steal everything you can and liew about it to everyone.

Anonymous said...

You bloggers are morons! Like you know anything about the economic situation of the state of Florida. Things are not as simple as your little minds would like to think. The people deserve all the service cuts they are about to receive after voting for the property tax amendment. Many of us tried to warn them and all you bloggers did was stir the pot! Serves all of you right.

Anonymous said...

Why don't they just hire a consultant like Orman to figure this stuff out. It would make more sense to spend money on her than the consultants they spend it on now.

Anonymous said...

The consultants know the drill. They come back with recommendations that the city wants or they do not get any work in the future. It is a rigged deal. The consultants are just used as a buffer so the commission can say, This is what the professionals recommend.