He who has the Gold makes the rules (or, the bribe / lure of free money) - Granite Grok

He who has the Gold makes the rules (or, the bribe / lure of free money)

Part 1: The "lure" of free money – all the politicians jump for it, thinking that they can "give" something to someone and it doesn’t cost local taxpayers anything.  During yesterday’s show, we got this from Dan (using GrokTALK@GraniteGrok.com):

Using the 16th amendment the federal government takes our money, then turns around and gives a portion back to the state as incentive to enact state laws that the federal government wants. They don’t fully fund these programs; that means there are spending programs we can’t touch without losing federal funding.
 
Bring this out into the open, let the people see how much control the federal government has taken from us.

Yup, pretty much: "yeah, the Feds love to bribe us with our own money to do things their way, and usually, attaching long term conditions to accepting the money." Another way of summing it up is: "Federal money with REAL strings attached".  Lots of paperwork,  lots of effort to show compliance, and "incidental" costs that will last forever.

Every year that I’ve been on our local Budget Committee, our outdoor "ice rink" (there’s a roof but no walls, steel beams for support) comes up and often, the discussion comes around to maintenance costs.  Now, there are some in town that use it a lot, but only some.  And the costs are going up.  Each year, the questions is asked: what if we were to just rip it down?  The problem is that if we did, get this:

The town would be liable for the entire cost (and I think with interest) back to the Feds.

Once built with Fed $$, we’re on the hook forever.  Ditto with our bandstand.  And because of a "simply wonderful school project", my hamlet now is the proud owner of "sidewalks to nowhere".   Which we are now required to keep passable 24/7/365.  Now, these are pretty much the only sidewalks in town – about a mile’s worth in the "center" of town.

We’re in central NH.  It snows.  A lot.  And we’ve never had to plow sidewalks before.  Now, we have to go and buy a special plow (and not a "walk behind" one either like one you’d buy for yourself).   Forever.

You know, we keep hearing that this road needs repair, and that bridge needs fixing, right?  High priority items, right?  You’d think that it would be MORE important, if Fed money was to be spent locally, that it should be spent on those (re: Minneapolis’s bridge where people died when their bridge collapsed).  That would be a good use of Dept of Transportation $$, right?

Yeah, instead of letting the State use that money for really important stuff, it got wasted.  The choice of word is deliberate; we’ve never (that I know of) had an accident with pedestrians in the center of town where the sidewalks were put; our "center" literally are a 1 general store, 3 school buildings, and a few houses.

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