Where's the Fat?

By Keith Schmitz

Not that I personally can use any more.

The tax hackers are always claiming under the guidance of towering intellectual Grover Norquist and other fans of the fantasy works of Ayn Rand that government is larded with gobs of fat.

Let's take a peek into the lab, that being Milwaukee County.

To whack off the so-called chunks of that fat it now looks like limbs and other parts seems to be getting in the way of the ax. In the process we have seen our once admired county parks and bus system go down hill, cut-offs for vital drug treatment programs -- a far cheaper means than the jail -- and even circuit court judges having to scrub out their own toilets. This is the short list.

Point being is that if we are attacking vital services, the fat really doesn't exist in large buckets full, otherwise this important stuff would be left alone. More conservative myths at work.

Oh in a bit we will read about this or that $1,000 program, but come one guys. We're talking about a $1 billion plus budget, so don't waste our time.

Milwaukee county and other units of government are having revenue problems, and not so much in terms of spending especially here in Wisconsin where we rank about dead average.

Were can we get more revenue? Start here.