A Priorities Rant

[cabinetman]

This is not a political rant.

I'm mad. Maybe my upbringing was way too logical. If I wanted something, and we didn't have the money for it, it was a dead issue. Now comes the rant.

Miami Dade County, and the City of Miami have gone along with the new construction of the Marlins Stadium for a cost of $515 million, and total expenditure down the road of $1.8 - $2.0 billion. Miami Dade County School system has laid off teachers, cut salaries, and can't afford to buy school supplies. There are depressed high crime residential areas that need upgrading. Police departments have budget problems, and little is done for the homeless.

In Broward County, the Sheriff's office will be laying off deputies.
Florida put the Lotto up for vote in 1988 claiming that the money would be for education. Granted it goes into the "General Fund", and however the pie is cut is where it will be spent. But, I think we've been hoodwinked. That money should have been earmarked. As of this date, there has been no public disclosure about the millions of dollars collected WEEKLY.

I'm wondering how the children in our schools today will respond to their educational dilemma in favor of a new baseball stadium. That is if they ever graduate.

End of rant...for the moment.
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[LinuxRandal]

Florida put the Lotto up for vote in 1988 claiming that the money would be for education. Granted it goes into the "General Fund", and however the pie is cut is where it will be spent. But, I think we've been hoodwinked. That money should have been earmarked. As of this date, there has been no public disclosure about the millions of dollars collected WEEKLY.

If it is anything like Missouri, our lottery/gambling stuff is/was earmarked for education. What people THOUGHT this meant, and what it meant are two different things.
A lot of people (to this day) complain, thinking that, that money should be going to education on top of the normal.
What this means is the money from gambling, goes to education. The money that would have gone (same amount), goes back into the general fund for other uses.

[crokett]

What this means is the money from gambling, goes to education. The money that would have gone (same amount), goes back into the general fund for other uses.

That is what it means in every state. NC put in the 'education' lottery here a few years ago and that is exactly what happened here. It was earmarked specifically for education, but what the state did was just give education less out of the general fund.

[gjat]

The promise here in Florida was the Lotto money was to finance new buildings and subsidize higher education. We have Bright Future Scholarships where Florida Residents have 75-100% of the tuition paid at State universities if you meet the grade criteria. Every year they raise the criteria, make reasons to deny students afterwards, but justify huge tuition increases because a good student can get a scholarship.

What's happend is they've used more and more of the $$ for general school budgets so less general funds were spent on schools and frittered away on other BS. Now with the budget crisis, they can't replace the school money, lotto sales are down, and the lies we've been told for years are becoming apparent.

The Government ALWAYS lies about how they spend our money. The only difference is the two parties have different lies. In this free and democaratic nation, we get to choose which lies we want to believe...

[Kristofor]

In the 2008 election (you know the one that put a Senator in DC like last week) we passed a constitutional amendment that raised the sales tax with said funds being dedicated to "The Arts and the Environment" and included a provision that these must be supplemental dollars, to try and avoid the situation you're talking about.

Now, in a flat/growing budget year that's one thing, but we're in a deficit (sort of, we also have a balanced budget amendment so the governor will cut spending to make the dollars in and dollars out match) so everything is being cut to some extent. There is now debate about the constitutionality of cutting spending on arts or the environment. Regardless of whether it's legal I'm sure we're going to spend plenty of dollars to go to court and find out...

[Uncle Cracker]

The kids need to get down to the batting cage and practice, so they can make their living playing for the Marlins, as opposed to reading, writing and 'rithmetic...

[radhak]

I am shocked. The figures Cabinetman has provided are far worse than anything I ever imagined. Living in the real world I've always allowed for less than complete disclosure from powers that be, but this sort of blatant, in-your-face abuse of power and money makes me wild. Just the $500 million would be manna for the education industry of the region; the total of almost $2 billion is inexcusable !!

I think it's time we got more involved in the decision making process. A couple of class action lawsuits might start it off nicely.

[BobSch]

And you believe a politician? Wanna buy a bridge?

[pierhogunn]

when taking a look at how badly the infrastructure in our country is crumbling, how little investment there is in the continued improvement of our most basic public institutions, and how much money we allow our representatives to collect, and then dispense to various interests in order to secure continued office, it amazes me that we haven't had an armed insurrection in places like California, and some of the larger metro areas...

And then I had an enlightening conversation with my wife... it's not that she doesn't care because she is naive, its that she no longer cares because she does not believe there is anything that she as a rational individual can do to change the status quo... And now that there are enough people that share that attitude, I doubt that things like the OP pointed out will stop, and as we continue to march towards great and greater public entropy, these things will increase in frequency and outrageousness.

This is not an indictment of any political entity, but of our society and mindset as a whole

[scmhogg]

You guys all sound like you live in California.

Steve

[Hoover]

This happens in schools, all too often. No money for textbooks or school supplies, but the athletic department has first dibs on funding. Lets then spend money for all children for physical education, and programs that will help ALL children benefit.

OK rant off.

[cgallery]

Maybe we can have members of the Marlins team tutor the youth. They can teach 'em things like spittin', and grabbin', stuff like that.

GJAT got it right. I'm not going to get any more political than that.

[Uncle Cracker]

As always, for the answers, follow the money. Lots of it being thrown around in pro sports (amateur, too). But education and public safety never paid a politician, (err... a "public servant") a dime...

[Kristofor]

Maybe, but about half of our state budget is education. Toss in transportation, public safety, and health and human services and you're over 80%.

In general I'm not sure that much of the money is being spent on the wrong things (yeah, the $50K drinking fountains are a bit of an issue), it's just that when you lean on income tax and sales tax so heavily your budget will shrink when everyone is feeling the pain of a recession whether you like it or not...

[Uncle Cracker]

Not talking about the public money driving the decisions... It's what decision-makers stand to gain in "private" funds that's behind it. I don't mean graft (necessarily), but legitimate "opportunities" do seem to gravitate towards those in positions of influence, don't they? Those "in the game" never seem to retire poor...