Give 'em a check...and its all down hill.

Lately I have done some studies on what modern socialism has accomplished, and what modern socialists wish it would. I've come across some very interesting web pages designed to tug at your "feel sorry" strings and lead you to the conclusion that industry is to blame for the worlds' woes, and government is the cure. I have sat and pondered many times how anyone could come to this conclusion, and be so sure about it, that they proudly call themselves socialists.

In the spirit of this movement I decided to look at the basis for their "save-the-world-via-government-intervention plan for success." I found a great example of how and why government is not the answer, but as Reagan said, is the problem.

The City of Mesa, is a sprawling suburb of Phoenix with slightly over 460,000 citizens. The landscape of Mesa is as diverse as the people who live there. On the west end you have a mix of high class business suites, right next door to pay by the hour hotel rooms and on the east end you have multi-million dollar homes. But in the west end you will find the first evidence of a failed government plan, the light rail system. Just to be clear, I like the light rail idea. I lived off of it in Europe and I like the system Salt Lake City has. But in Mesa you will find all of one mile of light rail track, which quickly terminates at the sight of an old abandoned mall. It literally is the end of the tracks. So why is this the City's fault? They waited way too long to get on board the project, and failed to explain to the citizens how useful it would be. They simply shrugged their shoulders and quietly whispered, "It'll never work."

Next we have a failure on the part of the city to recognize bad money management. A few years ago the city would pay each person $50 for their old refrigerators. Why? Well I don't know except to say they obviously wanted the honor or throwing the old cold boxes in the dump themselves. And sit tight, this next one will sting, $800,000 on the first (and only) City of Mesa Citrus festival! Eight hundred thousand big ones to celebrate an orange. It was fun for the whole family, and ended as a "fee"-nominal failure.

Ready for this? The Diversity officer for the City of Mesa starts at just over $79,000 a year. Just to put that into perspective; That's two firefighter recruits or one and half Police Officer recruits. In fact, when a cop "tops out" they wont even come close to $79K a year. For reasons of clarity I will add that the only education requirement for the Diversity Officer is a 4 year degree.

I don't have enough space on this post to talk about the City's utilities department who artificially kept rates low so as to keep customers, even while the water pipes were bursting all over the place.

And finally, the piece of resistance, bronze statues. Yes life like statues of dogs, kids, three over- weight women, and a skinny horse. Total cost? $69K for upkeep and upgrades, plus 75K for advertising. Income to the city? Um, zero. (They don't have a sales tax so even if you buy an Ice Cream while looking at the skinny horse, the only person you are helping is yourself).

And in that final thought comes the inspiration for my conclusion: The government cannot provide the type of financial leadership socialists crave. Because of the City's lack of fiscal responsibility, there are patches of extreme blight everywhere. Abandoned buildings dot the landscape, and low income neighborhoods look like war zones. Hundreds of people will be cut loose after Christmas, and no one is safe from the chopping block. That simple bronze cast skinny horse is the epitome of the failed government, and now even he has to go.