For state governments, a budget surplus plan usually involves figuring out ways to waste the money. A number of years ago, before the great recession, I remember an Arizona state politician stating publicly that they were “having trouble finding ways to spend all the money.â€
Now, as offensive as that statement is coming from someone entrusted with money collected by taxing the citizens who entrusted him, it doesn’t surprise me. Of course, a year or two later, the state was hunting for anything that could be cut.
After some pondering over a similar situation occurring again in Arizona, an idea came to me. There’s a budget surplus and they’re looking for ways to spend it. The public schools were picked over by the vultures and funding hasn’t been completely restored.
It occurred to me that we could use that surplus and invest in municipal bonds in this state. Not only is it a fairly safe investment, it also directly addressed our decaying infrastructure problem, and earns dividends that could be funneled into public schools.
It’s a plan that makes too much sense to be implemented.
