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David Spates I want my change back
OK, here's the scenario. You're busy in your
office when one of your co-workers asks you if you'd like to
go for lunch. Unfortunately, you've got many papers to shuffle
that day, and killing an hour for lunch just isn't feasible,
but, you ask, if he could bring back something for you, that
would be great. So you order a triple bacon cheeseburger,
a side of chicken remnants pounded into nugget form, an extra
large order of seasoned fries and a large chocolate shake. After
calling your doctor to cancel your annual physical, you slip
your co-worker an Alexander Hamilton and go back to work. An hour or so later, Johnny Co-Worker returns
with your feast. You thank him profusely and wait for him to
hand you the change. He doesn't. After a quick mental calculation, you determine
that you should have received about $3 in change. After all,
Winky's Grease Pit charges about $3.50 for the burger, $1.50
for fried chicken residue, $1 for the fries and $1.50 for the
"homemade" shake that you swear tastes like it contains
sawdust. The grand total should have been about $6.50 plus tax. Although you've got your No. 3 myocardial-infarction-in-a-bag
meal, you're still short the change from the $10 bill. Johnny
Co-Worker is pocketing your hard-earned three bucks, and with
expenses like the wife's breast enhancement, your 7-year-old
son's Playstation 2 and your 3-year-old daughter's beauty pageant
tiara in your household budget, you don't have coin to spare. Well, guess what? Johnny Co-Worker and your
federal government are doing the same thing, except when Johnny
palms your $3 he doesn't call it a "budget surplus." I don't pretend to understand the intricacies
of federal government finances, but I do when I feel like I'm
getting the 1040 shoved down my throat all the while receiving
a pat on the head. The U.S. budget surplus soared to a record
$237 billion in fiscal year 2000, which ended Sept. 30. Al Gore
and George W. Bush have big plans for the extra dinero, but I
won't bore you with the details. They still have a week's worth
of campaigning to do that themselves. What gripes me is the notion that the extra
money is the government's to spend! It's not! It's my money,
it's your money, and it's Johnny Co-Worker's money! It's the
taxpayers' money! The government took too much money from us,
and it's not going to give it back. Let me say that again for emphasis. The government took too much money from us,
and it's not going to give it back. How did we Americans get hoodwinked into believing
that the federal government (or state governments or even local
governments, for that matter) has its own money to spend? It's
not the governments' money, it's our money. We taxpayers provide
the money governmental bodies spend, and if those governmental
bodies come to the realization that they have taken too much
of our money, then they should return the difference. It's that simple. This notion of the government as being a kindly
old father who doles out gifts to his children has gotten way
out of hand. In an issue of the Crossville Chronicle last week,
we ran a story about the mock election at Cumberland County High
School. Bush beat Gore like a bongo. CCHS junior Holli Lloyd
was asked why she thought Bush won so convincingly. She was quoted
as saying a major reason is that Bush "gives us money and
what we need for education." I hate to single out one individual, especially
a person so young as Holli, but her comment clearly states what
I fear so many people actually believe. The government (or president)
"gives us money." The government has no money to give.
The government is supposed to decide how to best allocate the
money we pay in taxes. The idea that the government has its own
money and we must drop to one knee and say "pretty please
with sugar on top" before we receive any benefit is atrocious. In the business world a "budget surplus" is called a "profit," and as far as I know, the government is supposed to be a non-profit organization. Just a little something to keep in mind when you head to the polls next week or when you order your next triple bacon cheeseburger. |