I am back after a hiatus spawned by all the stupid spam that keeps getting into my comments. I really wish folks would just cut it out. If you don’t have something to actually say about what I am writing about, don’t comment. I just don’t get why these spammers do what they do. Do they actually make money doing it? If so, how much, and maybe I should become a spammer so I can make some more dough. Anyway, good comments I’ll approve, the rest get deleted.
So, the economy still sucks and here in DeLand, FL, it sucks really bad. The summer high pressure dome sits atop us with its oppressive heat, stores close down, people stay inside, the humm of air conditioners tell the tale of the here and now. And yes, jobs keep disappearing; unless you work for our government, then the job cuts come slower and managers are advocating for those in jeopardy, trying to find them other positions and such. Of course, in the private sector, no such help exists at this time for most people facing lay-offs.
I have spoken to more and more people out there who are facing tough times, particularly those in the building industry. Folks are still hanging in there, but barely. Many are losing hope and thinking of moving away to Texas or Tennessee or North Carolina. As for myself, I am lucky to have the work I have and have to work even harder to add work to the pipeline. But, it seems that the only people who aren’t too worried work for our government.
Why do I keep coming back to that theme, because right now, the best jobs with the best benefits and retirement in our area are jobs working for our governments, be they city or county or state or federal. No one in the private sector at this time has the level of benefits and retirement that our government employees have. Yet, in the County of Volusia, the County manager is thinking of raising the millage rate on property taxes just to keep the budget level and avoid more lay-offs. I guess we need to keep the County fully employed while the rest of us go bankrupt. No, we don’t have to do that.
Look, I hate to see people lose their jobs anywhere, especially good jobs in government. However, there is a seriously fundemental problem that exists when the best jobs in the area are those in government. It makes us all feel like we are working for the company store on some coal mine in eastern Kentucky. This problem can be solved and it will be solved one way or the other.
The first way it will be solved is by focusing on jobs, jobs, and more jobs; by suspending impact fees and other planning and zoning obstacles to development, good quality development, particularly industrial development. We desperately need to attract industry to West Volusia that is sustainable and that will create several thousand jobs. If government leaders and staff cannot focus on creating jobs first and foremost, they ought to resign or mark my words, they will lose at the next election cycle. Elected leaders must understand the will of the people to have work and decent jobs. We can’t all work for the government. Elected leaders must directly order staff to pursue industry and eliminate impediments to job growth. Staff that wants to argue that order should be shown the door immediately, most of them have a nice little retirement coming to them anyway.
The other way this will be solved is at the next election cycle. The people of this county and our local cities will eventually elect individuals to sit up at the diases and if it gets to that point, expect a house cleaning of historic proportions with the staff. There will be no arguing with the elected officials at that point as they will be driven by the populist angst that is reaching a boiling point.
Change will happen. Change is a mathmatical formula that works as follows: when the cost of not changing exceeds the cost of the status quo, then change will occur. What several elected bodies and staff don’t realize, is that we have already crossed that line. People are hurting bad and things are not getting better out there. So elected leaders and staff ought to take due notice, and govern themselves accordingly.
Tags: change, government, jobs, lay-offs
Where do I start ?
Why do people complain about government jobs when the economy is bad ?
When the economy is good and people are working, government workers are among the lowest paid.
Florida has been going downhill since the early eighties because of growth.
Florida has become overcrowded and the crime rate is through the roof because of growth.
Impact fees are way too low. They should be doubled. People who have lived here for generations are constantly being expected to foot the bills for new roads and schools.
Builders should be required to pay for these things instead of the taxpayer.
People should complain more about what an attorney makes per hour for pushing paper, instead of what a lowly paid government worker makes.
And no , I’m not a government worker.
The spam may provide a job, too. Somewhere is a kid with a shriveled conscience and underdeveloped sense of right and wrong. That kid is maintaining the program that injects all that spam.
And yes, that’s a shame. It is really unfortunate that we cannot find him and educate him, preferably with a 2×2.
The problem is not just that we have too many of the “best” jobs being in government. We pay for that, but thanks to Save Our Homes, much of the public is largely immune to the cost.
The problem is that we have government jobs doing the wrong thing. Much of the govt is focused in supporting more development. That means we pave more water recharge area. It means we have more black-top, making things hotter if you go out in the day. It means that we have more traffic, and need more roads to support the developers.
Developers contribute generously. That’s why govt supports them so well with our taxes. You cannot honestly say that the citizens of DeLand benefitted by having Arvida built. A few developers, and some temporary jobs, but that money rides out of town on the next truck after the Wal-Mart truck.
There may be no good solution. We may just have too many people. What is clear, however, is that bringing in more people will not solve our present problem of too much development.
Well Tanner, who should be the first people to leave since you are suggesting we have too many of your fellow human creatures around. Should we open hunting season for the surplus that you say we have. I would not have thought a reasonable person like yourself to be so misanthopic. And by the way, Arvida and the Victoria Park Project provided a windfall of tax revenue to the City of Deland. Its not the developers fault they wasted it and didn’t sock any away for lean times. Many businesses are able to provide services to the people who live there, utilities, doctors, pharmacy, cleaning, landscaping, etc., and yes, those folks do need an attorney now and then too.
I’m not identifying folks as needing to leave. Yes, I do have a list, and yes, it probably includes some of the same folks on yours.
However, I am simply suggesting that we cease to subsidize more growth. It is expensive, and produces things like Arvida (miles from the core of town, and sucking enough tax dollars that we had to raise the millage as it came online).
I suppose I ought to get points for picking on Arvida instead of [insert obvious city here] which seems to consist of almost nothing but sprawl.