Long-time readers know of my disposition toward government, and by government, I mean any government, be it federal, state, or local. I consider them to be a magnet for waste, fraud, and laziness, and I daresay if every single government employee on the planet vanished instantly into thin air, almost all of us would be vastly better off (to say nothing of demonstrably wealthier).
The frustrating thing about government waste is that you can’t do a damn thing about it. you just have to live with the fact that your assets are going to the worst of humanity. Here in my fair city of Palo Alto I have read about countless instances of the kind of crap that makes me despise government more by the day. First, there’s this gem:
According to reports, this guy was up to all sorts of shenanigans, not the least of which was various forms of behavior that made female colleagues, shall we say, very uncomfortable. In spite of being shit-canned over his behavior, he’s slated to enjoy $20 million in pension benefits. He’s set for life. His lawyer, naturally, pulled out the race card, which seems to work like a charm every single time.
Then there’s the lady below……….
I won’t bore you with the details, but the office of this sheriff was neck-deep in corruption (not the least of which was bankrolling a paid role for a guy she was banging) so, as with the dude above, she got voted out of office after spending millions and millions of dollars in county funds to extend the legal battle.
Literally hours before it was clear she was going to get thrown out of office, she decided to resign, which preserve his huge salary and medical benefits. Crime pays, as you can plainly see.
Oh, and then there’s the Palo Alto school superintendent whom evidently everyone despised. He was thrown out of his ass but, just as with every other government employee, he’s set for life with a huge payoff. It’s all about the pensions (which, by the way, are insanely underfunded, but people keep pretending the problem will never truly throw the state into bankruptcy).
Oh, and one last example: this teacher was accused of sexual assault years ago. He got handed a multi-million dollar check. To be clear, I’m actually sympathetic to this guy, because by all accounts he did nothing wrong, so he should get paid. Still, it’s just another example of how government mismanagement (in this case, a rush to judgment) cost taxpayers.
Like I said, there’s nothing to be done. Everything around us – – the country, the state, and the country – – will all eventually go down in the flames of insolvency. In the meanwhile, you can count on public employees to do everything they can to rape the system, and the taxpayers, while they still have the chance.
Public servant, my ass.
