Archive for November 27th, 2006
Tonight at 5 pm, a public hearing was held in front of the Erie County Legislature to solicit opinions on the proposed County budget for 2007. The legislature’s chamber was packed with a standing room only crowd. I stayed for nearly 3 hours and heard over 50 people speak. Each person was given 3 minutes maximum to voice their thoughts. A good job was done to keep the speakers moving along, but it was still a long, tedious process.
My overall impression was one of disgust. All but two of the speakers were there to advocate more spending for cultural institutions. The library system was responsible for the most people seeking taxpayers’ money. It appeared that most of the people seeking funding directly benefited from the government handouts as employees of the organizations they represented. Some of the funding requests were downright bizarre, including a request for funding for feral cats.
The people with their hands out did not seem to realize the County’s finances are bleak and money is tight. They also seemed to have no concern for the fact that we are severely overtaxed, causing businesses and people to relocate to other areas of the country. Most of the pleas for money were based on fallacies, emotion, and rhetoric. One gentleman tried to imply that failure to fund the culturals adequately would result in “all our young people being placed in prisons.” Others tried to make a case claiming that the cultural institutions create wealth for the area. The truth of the matter is that when you add up all the local, state and federal funding these groups receive, there is no way wealth is created.
James Ostrowski pointed out that one cultural institution was severely underrepresented, the family units of Erie County struggling to pay their own bills. Many families can not afford to attend these cultural institutions, such as Shea’s, the Buffalo Philharmonic, Studio Arena and many others. The cost of admission is beyond their reach. Yet, they are forced to hand over their hard earned money, money that is needed at home, to fund these organizations that are loaded with jobs paying far above what the average worker makes. Ostrowski noted that the legislators frequently blame the County’s financial condition on mandates from the State. He also noted that most of the legislators supported the State politicians who created the mandates and also accepted money from them for their own political campaigns.
The pro-library funding crowd doesn’t seem to comprehend that the population has declined and the tax base can’t and shouldn’t support that same number of libraries we used to have. What these groups fail to do is come up with solutions that are more realistic. They need to think out of the box and look at options like merging all libraries, or most, into the schools. That would put the resources within better reach for students and eliminate building and maintenance costs. I suspect the “supporters” of the libraries wouldn’t like that because it would lead to a reduction in jobs.
Government workers comprise 17% of our workforce in Erie County. In many ways the plush jobs at the cultural institutions, and many non-profits, are just an extension of government employment that is not counted in the 17% statistic. When you add the actual number ofgovernment workers to the cultural and non-profit workers and compare that to the average voter turnout, it is easy to see why we are in a financial mess currently.
Until taxpayers start becoming more vocal and demanding change, we might as well get used to being overtaxed in a shrinking economy.
Continue Reading “Public Hearing on Proposed 2007 County Budget = Plea for Pork!” »
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There has been quite a bit of discussion in the blogoshpere as of late regarding the pending hospital closures. Buffalo Hodgepodge ran the numbers and came to the conclusion that economics dictates that we are over supplied and the closures are necessary.
While I agree that we have an over supply, I do not believe the State should be closing hospitals. The State, as well as the Federal Government is part of the problem. What is needed is a solution that attacks the root cause of our spiraling health care costs. That cause is the proliferation of 3rd party payers, including HMO’s and government benefit programs.
These programs have led to a plethora of unneeded medical tests and treatments. The accountability for the cost of services is removed from the person seeking medical care. The current system benefits the insurance companies and government bureaucracies by creating profit and jobs to process the claims for care. The average person gives no thought to the cost of care because the money is not coming directly out of their pockets. What most people don’t realize is that the cost does come of their pockets indirectly, through higher taxes and increased insurance premiums.
The federal government in 1973 passed legislation that led to the widespread growth of HMO’s. This had a devastating affect on health care costs. The same is true for government provided health care benefits. Another problems is that private health insurance is often tied to employment. If people shopped around for insurance and paid directly for it, there would be more pressure to contain costs.
The United States had the finest health care system in the world before 3rd party payers came to dominate the system. Insurance was carried for catastrophic illnesses and procedures. Routine services, such as a doctor’s visit, were paid directly by the patient to the doctor. That is what kept costs in check.
What is needed is a major overhaul of the entire method for financing health care. Then, hospitals, and other providers, would be subject to the natural economic realities of a free market and costs would be normalized. It was common for doctors to treat financially disadvantaged people at reduced charges or free in the past. Today’s system does not allow for that because doctors must work on volume to make a profit under the 3rd party payer system.
The following statement is from Congressman Ron Paul. You can read the whole speech here.
No one disputes the diagnosis: American health care is in lousy shape. As a practicing physician for more than 30 years, I find the pervasiveness of managed care very troubling.
The problems with our health care system are not the result of too little government intervention, but rather too much. Contrary to the claims of many advocates of increased government regulation of health care, rising costs and red tape do not represent market failure. Rather, they represent the failure of government policies that have destroyed the health care market.
It’s time to rethink the whole system of HMO’s and managed care. This entire unnecessary level of corporatism rakes off profits and worsens the quality of care. But HMO’s did not arise in the free market; they are creatures of government interference in health care dating to the 1970s. These non-market institutions have gained control over medical care through collusion between organized medicine, politicians, and drug companies, in an effort to move America toward “free” universal health care.
Nothing is “free” and that includes universal health care. The true costs are astronomical.
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After visiting the Inner Harbor Project, I took advantage of the weather to drive around and take some other photos. My favorite from today is below. Ironically, I didn’t have to do anything but turn around while at the harbor to get this shot. Click here to view the photo large. The tiltle of the photo is Off Ramp.
Sunday afternoon greeted us with beautiful weather. I took the opportunity to visit the Inner Harbor Project to view the progress. I’ve been following this story with great interest on other blogs and media sources. This was my first trip down to witness the unearthing of history in person. It was a very enjoyable time, not only due to seeing the project, but because I ran into a small group of seniors also checking things out. We had a lively and interesting conversation about the project, taxes, the casino and what is wrong with government.
Below are some shots I took today of the uncovering of the terminus of the Erie Canal. There are additional photos after the jump.
