My change, please!

 

 

 

"Excuse me - I did not say keep the change!"

Yesterday I stopped at a store to buy some cold medication. Everything all together cost slightly over $15. I gave the clerk a $20 bill. She thanked me for my purchase and then told me she was keeping my change. I asked her why. It made no sense that I should have to pay more for something than it cost. She then told me there were other things she could do with my change. A possible store expansion, helping to pay off another person's bill, or just buying more inventory. I told her that was not fair - it was my money! She smiled and responded, "Not any more."

As you can see from this analogy, our state lawmakers are now back in session. Some are giddy with laughter as they think they just received a bonus. A bonus? Not quite. They have some extra money from you and I as we were charged too much last year to pay the state's bills. So whose money is it? Democrats believe that every dime that roles into St. Paul belongs to them. Conservatives on the other hand, believe we all have a responsibility to keep a "right-sized" government running. Period. Not a penny more than that. So if the numerator is bigger than the denominator, we get our change back.

I find it amusing that this issue even ends up in a discussion. If there is a deficit, that means the state spent more than what was allocated to it. Costs would then need to be cut to get the deficit "trued up". If there is a surplus, the state collected too much money. The excess money should be returned to the taxpayers.

No company in America is run the way our government is. Very little accountability, very little cost containment, very little acumen. Looking at the MNSure mess is a great example. April Todd-Malmlov was put in charge of this thing, a position she was not in the least bit qualified for. She made a mess out of it, and then gave bonus money to the people under her who helped her make the mess. Whose money was it? Ours, the taxpayers. Oh well - life goes on.

We expect accountability in Washington as well as St. Paul. We expect our government to be right-sized or down-sized. We will pay our taxes to fund a right-sized government, and not a penny more. If some incompetent person is put in a position of spending authority and wastes taxpayer money, many heads up the line should roll. In family budgets today, every penny counts. The same should be true for our government.