All those zeros
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
Sometimes a child’s perspective is a good way to look at the world, especially when it’s the world of money.
A 13-year-old recently told about a class assignment to write a paper about the state’s budget woes. Apparently, students were supposed to take a stand on a solution and present supporting arguments for their opinions.
The boy thought the legislators needed to free up money to help finance schools. But he also thought that schools should be working to cut the fat from their own budgets. And he thought it was, to a great extent, a matter of the difference between “want” and “need” — a difference drummed into him by his parents.
He is right. The boy is an innocent when it comes to big finances. He’s never had to deal with all those zeros that can change a small number into a fortune. He knows how much money he has, not how much money he expects to receive, and he bases his purchases on what’s in his pocket, what’s on special, and whether he really needs it. He’s got a strain of tightwad running through him; a penny saved is a penny earned.
So he wondered why, if the school district needed money, it had spent a chunk of money on a new piece of equipment that, while automated and awe-inspiring, wasn’t needed. It was merely wanted and it was expensive. He would have crossed it off the shopping list, but the adults bought it. In the scheme of the budget, it wasn’t much. It didn’t have a lot of zeros behind it.
That, then, became the lesson. Budgets are a matter of perspective. Individuals may eat at home more often when money is tight; they may turn back the thermostat a couple of degrees or skip buying a $5 cup of coffee every day.
The savings, taken singly, may not seem like much. Added together, though, they might make a house payment or lessen the bite of property taxes. Money not wasted can be saved or spent on a need, rather than a want. It’s how households are run all over the country. Citizens are smart enough not to make across-the-board cuts that prevent them from taking care of their basic needs.
People overseeing governments and schools have a different perspective. They routinely deal with numbers so large that $3,000, or even $300,000, seems like small potatos compared to the millions or billions dollars they have in their budgets.
Even as legislators are crying hard times, they are spending, spending, spending on little things that add up to great amounts and on great things that started big and grew even bigger through the years. More than $285 million in bonds for the ever-expanding Capitol improvement project are a perfect example of how wants got mixed up with needs and cost taxpayers a small fortune.
If there is any one lesson our leaders need to learn, it’s the lesson of the middle-schooler and his budget: there are things in this world that are wants and there are things that are needs.
Now all our government and education officials need to learn is how to tell the difference.
Bobbi Mlynar
Reporter
momoftwo (anonymous) says...
AMEN!
February 2, 2010 at 1:30 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
create (anonymous) says...
Excellent commentary! It all boils down to basic finances no matter how many zeroes.
February 2, 2010 at 5:14 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
seriouslyfolks (anonymous) says...
Wow. One thing I learned from this story is that, apparently, I think like a 13-year-old when it comes to budgets. When I say the same thing, though, people start screaming at me like I just kicked their dog.
February 2, 2010 at 8:03 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )