A Local Lament
When Governor Bobby Jindal came into office last year the state of Louisiana had a surplus. The state does not have a surplus now. It's gone. That kind of stinks. Why is it gone?
I don't pretend to be an expert on the Labyrinthine game of Louisiana politics, but it seems fairly obvious what has happened. It appears that Jindal, riding into office on a wave of "no business as usual", banked on the business as usual Louisiana Policy of putting it all on black. And when I say black, I mean oil. The state has done this numerous times. When the roulette lands on black, we win big. That's how, thirty years ago, my parents bought the house they still live in, the house I'm blogging from right now. Unfortunately, some time before my tenth birthday, oil fell. It fell big. My parents went from rich to not rich quite quickly. Perhaps in my case this was fortunate as I came of age working my butt off to get what I needed and not being fed with a silver spoon. Eventually, after I started college, my father found a profession that paid better than crop farming. But the moral of the story is don't bet on oil. It may be easy to do when gas is over four dollars. But when it starts dropping, so do the coffer levels. Jindal, maybe it's time to bring out all those brains and innovation you've been touted for and find us something else. Invest in the future and not what's only blown up in our faces in the past.
Also, I don't know what is up with you denying 100 million of the government bailout money, but I will give you the benefit of the doubt and assume it is for reasons beneficial to the state that you have calculated in that great mind of yours and not for any sort of political gain.
Happy Mardi Gras, everyone! Eat some kingcake and boil some crawfish!
I don't pretend to be an expert on the Labyrinthine game of Louisiana politics, but it seems fairly obvious what has happened. It appears that Jindal, riding into office on a wave of "no business as usual", banked on the business as usual Louisiana Policy of putting it all on black. And when I say black, I mean oil. The state has done this numerous times. When the roulette lands on black, we win big. That's how, thirty years ago, my parents bought the house they still live in, the house I'm blogging from right now. Unfortunately, some time before my tenth birthday, oil fell. It fell big. My parents went from rich to not rich quite quickly. Perhaps in my case this was fortunate as I came of age working my butt off to get what I needed and not being fed with a silver spoon. Eventually, after I started college, my father found a profession that paid better than crop farming. But the moral of the story is don't bet on oil. It may be easy to do when gas is over four dollars. But when it starts dropping, so do the coffer levels. Jindal, maybe it's time to bring out all those brains and innovation you've been touted for and find us something else. Invest in the future and not what's only blown up in our faces in the past.
Also, I don't know what is up with you denying 100 million of the government bailout money, but I will give you the benefit of the doubt and assume it is for reasons beneficial to the state that you have calculated in that great mind of yours and not for any sort of political gain.
Happy Mardi Gras, everyone! Eat some kingcake and boil some crawfish!
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