The ox is goring me!

 

 

"Let me see. The ox is the state, the man is me, and the action is my lousy tax situation..."

Most of us have heard the old statement, "It all depends on whose ox is gored." And that is exactly what is happening today. The BIG plum, just waiting to be picked, is the budget surplus. It is almost funny. Even though the years change, the players change, the argument always stays the same.

So let the PR games begin. The Governor has already had a presser to inform the public those Rascally Republicans are at it again! They want to do something "fiscally irresponsible" and give the total surplus back to the taxpayers. The utter gall of these selfish plebiscites! The GOP on the other hand, has started airing a commercial starring the Chairman of MNGOP. In the commercial, the Chairman tells the public a family of four should get $1,400 back if the surplus is returned. That may or may not be totally accurate, but the optics are great.

My opinion stays the same. No institution, none on this planet, has the ability to waste money better than the government. And I draw no difference between the state and the federal governments. Just the other day I saw an article about the number of people over 112 who are drawing Social Security. The "joke" in the article is there are no people that age collecting Social Security. They have all died. But who cares? We just keep paying anyway. Waste, fraud and abuse in living color.

Medicare and Medicaid are full of fraud. Article after article shows that maybe 20% of all claims are improper. But who cares? It is not anybody's money. It is just there to spend. When Jeff Johnson was running for Governor last year, he wanted to put every state program under the microscope to test it for validity, effectiveness and efficiency. We chose not to elect Jeff. We like the status quo of spending like drunken sailors on every which thing. Well no more! I am tired of this. The ox is goring me and it has to stop!

It is time, high time, that more people get involved. This is our money. Very few of us would ever think of spending our money like the government does. No accountability. No focus. No follow-up.

The ox is coming for all of us "wagon pullers" folks. And when the ox gores, it hurts more and more every year.