Still Alive

I'm not taking this personally. Honestly, I'm not. I don't even like politics that much. But the state of Illinois needs to clean up its act (permanently) and get over itself. Real people are getting hurt by political pandering.

For at least three years in a row - as far back as I've had the need to pay attention to this problem - the state has failed to pass a budget before the deadline. I'm sure some more astute political commentator could give you all of the reasons for this, including political infighting between Blago and his rivals or disagreements on tax hikes or cuts. But ultimately, this state is broken. So many political scandals have been going on in the past few decades in Illinois that no one knows where all of our money has gone, and right now is the absolute worst time for this house of cards to come crashing down on the citizens.

Previously, the budget had only been passed due to fixes and borrowed money from other programs - similar to the borrowing of money from our federal social security program in Washington D.C. What is ultimately wrong is that Illinois lawmakers couldn't balance our budget in times of prosperity! What did they think would happen in times when money is tight?

In my head I constantly wonder, "Why on earth are we paying these congressmen and women so much to do so little?" The threat of non-reelection apparently isn't actually threatening in Illinois given what it takes to get into office (ppst - it's money and political favors).

But to be fair, it's not entirely their fault. The tax system itself isn't an effective way of raising money for the state. When the people in the system are prosperous, the government has access to more money than it probably needs. It creates programs that help the unfortunate and funds them liberally. That makes sense. Spread the wealth, and everyone is a bit better off for it - let's just put aside the fact that not all of these programs work or actually achieve anything or sometimes do more harm than good.

But what happens when times are hard? The people fall on hard times. They make less money and need those services more. However, the government makes less money (because, after all, what are taxes other than a percentage cut off the top of what you make and buy?), and the demand for services outweighs their ability to pay for these services. Programs get cut, but people need them more. Does this make any sense to you? It sure doesn't to me, and it leads me to believe one thing - the tax system is broken.

When we first created the tax system, I'm sure it made sense to tax people based on a percentage of what we make or tax us based on things we buy based on how much those things cost. That's clearly the only fair way to do it. Taxing the poor more than they can afford makes no sense, and the current system creates more revenue from those who make the most and can afford it.

But the way state legislators use all (if not more) of our tax money every year seems to set up the entire state (and country) for disaster. Would a responsible citizen plan to use its entire paycheck every month? Of course not! Every responsible budgeteer knows that you keep some aside for the things you want. When you save up your money, you can afford to spend it later on something you can't afford right now. Sometimes this takes a few months (or years in this analogy), but in the end not everything is immediately affordable - and we've all seen what traps "credit" (aka, borrowing from foreign lenders) lures us into.

Now, I know I don't know exactly how the state budget is spent every year, but wouldn't it make sense to save up portions of tax dollars during fat years to use during times like these? Does the state really need to spend all of our money all of the time? And why can't they start to work out the budget earlier in the year to iron out the kinks before the deadline looms close and tempers flare?

Maybe they're doing what they can. All I know is that honest state workers and citizens are the ones getting hurt, and these people are the ones who can afford the political infighting the least.

I, for one, am afraid to sign a new lease for August. I couldn't afford it if my job disappears in the wake of the state budget being slashed nearly in half, and the job market looks less than promising with the throngs of people applying to every job they can. And what kind of support will I get once I am jobless if the state suddenly can't afford the large numbers of people drawing on unemployment benefits?

The one thing I can say is that I am lucky to have the friends and family I have. And no matter what happens - I'm still alive.

Anyway, this cake is great. It's so delicious and moist.