Wasteful Government

With the financial debt climbing in the United States I would think that the Government would start watching where it was sending out tax dollars. It is quick to cut spending on the educational system as well as the health care system, but it seems that a pizzeria in Iowa being given $60,000 to renovate the pizzeria's facade and give it a more "inviting feel" is a better investment for tax payer money. Along with several other investments with taxpayer money that seem far below what is essential in these downward economic times, money is being spent like their are no money problems at all! Well in that case please send more money to the school system and instead of cutting summer grant money for college students let the pizza place redecorate using their own money instead of tax payer money. Instead of giving a professor at Dartmouth $137,530 to create a game about the recession use that money towards creating more jobs or ANYTHING but a video game to help end the recession!!! There are companies who pay people to make games, we don't need the government to waste taxpayer money to make video games. Get your priorities straight. If you would like to add to the list of government wasteful spending please feel free to do so.

Federal Money

When doing our readings this week from our book Outspoken free speech stories by Nan Levinson, one part really stuck out to me although everything in the short piece sticks with you. The book states the federal government spends 6 billion dollars A YEAR on maintaining classified documents(pg.41), which is secrets that it keeps from United states citizens. I can find a lot of other uses for 6 billion dollars other then keeping secrets, that is an expensive habit. Do you think that the government should be using tax payer money to keep information hidden from us? With the author also stating that in 1995 400,000 "secrets" were created how much money are we paying per secret to keep it hidden? and how is this money being spent? I think that the government should make anything that comes in contact with tax payer transparent in its use and purpose. Our whole systems run off of the sweat of the people who work and labor to have their money taken from them to pay for government secrets? What is your take on this? Should the government have to make everything they use tax payer money on apparent to its citizens?

Cash Crop

Now when thinking of Marijuana ones mind does not usually also think of schools. In 2010 our state had the opportunity to legalize Marijuana for recreational use in prop. 19, but it was voted against so did not pass. Marijuana has the potential to be a great economic asset to our state if monitored and regulated properly. If it were to be legalized the taxation of this plant could bring millions of dollars of tax revenue into our state, and if narrowed could have that tax money go directly to our schools! We could have millions of dollars being funneled to our breaking down and underfunded schools. This cash crop if made legal and was written to be taxed as cigarettes where the money is for our school system there would be no need to cut school funding or school programs. The state would not be missing this money as it wasn't there before so having it go to the school system would only help our state. We need to think out of the box when it comes to our educational system and its deterioration, our school system is being tossed to the side and we need to find other forms of funding. If Marijuana were legal this would be one sure fire way of getting that funding, getting another proposition going for the legalization of Marijuana with the tax revenue going directly to our school system should be the goal. We need funding for our schools, there is no question about that, the only question seems to be is where is it going to come from? This could be our solution.

Taxation

The government likes to tax every little thing that we buy. For every little scrunchy that I buy for my hair to the new computer that I bought, everything we buy gets taxed. But where does the money from that sale tax go specifically? We know that in California a percentage of property taxes go to the school budget and taxes from cigarettes go to the school system too, but what about everything else?  Should we be able to determine where sales on specific items are used towards, as in what kind of programs should receive funds from Alcohol sales? Like the sale of cigarettes, should there be specifics on where this tax money will go. As in Washington state the sale taxes from the sale of Alcohol go specifically to law enforcement in violence reduction and drug prevention and also to the general state fund. Signs are posted in these stores to let you know that the taxation of this alcohol is going towards these specific funds. Should we in California adopt this type of system? Where the government makes it well known to what is going on with our tax money. What do you think? Should we be made blatantly aware of where our money is going when we get taxed on our purchases?