This month, when I received my water bill, I could not help but notice a steep jump in the amount billed for trash collection ("Solid Waste Disposal"). From $17.00 in June to $19.50 in July. That is a whopping 14.7% increase.
Now I guess one could argue that governments are slow at making these moves, and maybe, the increase was overdue. And therefore, somehow justified. But of course, the city raised the rate from $16.00 to $17.00 just one year earlier.
Okay, part of a multi-year pricing correction, you might ask? Let's see.
I don't happen to have water bills back to when I first moved to Cary in the year 2000. But I do have them back to June 2003. My fee for Solid Waste Disposal for that month was $7.67.
This is a 154% increase from 2003 to 2019. Meanwhile, the Consumer Price Index (CPI) for that period has risen around 39%. Meaning that the price of garbage collection in our supposedly well-run city has increased at roughly four times the inflation rate, during this period.
Yes, this is a very small example of government inefficiency. But I would argue, this is a very good example of government, period. This is government.
And we all know this is true. It's just that some of us are more accepting than others. But many people argue that government is the answer for all societal needs and ills, large and small. Or more government is the answer, or more money for government is the answer. I think we should seriously question the motivations of people making these arguments. For these people, is it about service or services? Is it really?
Or is it about power?
Update, 10 August 2019
When I switched this weblog to the Disqus comments system, I lost some of the original Blogger comments. For the most part, I thought that was the price to be paid for the switch, and well worth it because so many readers find the Blogger comments system to be unusable.
But this post did have one comment that I think is worth preserving because it is so illustrative of how left-of-center people think.
Sherry Shaw, 9 August 2019
Reuben. Really? Your argument doesn't hold water. You use your water/garbage bill increase as an example to extrapolate that people in local Cary government are all about "power"? They cleverly disguise their power-hungry quest as "providing services to the citizens." Really? You are so much smarter than that. However, I do understand our disgust for people who are in positions of authority or wealth who disguise one thing ("this is good us!") when it is really ("not good at all for us at all we realize now!") Bait and switch. One can help but think of Trump supporters. I'd love to see you write a piece on what I refer to as "the blue collar lie" that Republicans have been selling lower and lower/middle, vastly uneducated white people for decades that got traction with Reagan's trickle down economics lie. An equally sinister but secondary effect of this is that it has made our country meaner, uglier. And it's made it okay to be mean. The lie that someone is waiting to take what is yours justifies the meanness. The two are twins, bound. I admit the "blue collar lie" is a brilliant political, marketing strategy. It has worked for years because it scares the hell out of people. Middle class (the small business owner, the factory worker) must have an awakening. An enlightenment. They must understand the conservatives et al who push this blue collar lie as their agenda (their only agenda because they have no other real ideas) don't care about them. At all. They don't care about their jobs or lack thereof. They don't care if their families have health care. The middle class voter, the Trump voter, for example, must swallow hard and admit they've been used. The "conservatives" are whores to corporate welfare and the groups who line their pockets. And no, it does not trickle down. The middle class in turn have become whores by default. Well, one-night-stands who go to bed with Trump. At least whores get paid.
Reuben Moore, 10 August 2019
Well before you so casually dismiss my concerns, I would remind you that local government has a long history of patronage and nepotism, two forms of political power. I have no idea whether Town of Cary employees care about power, or merely increasing the size of their fiefdom. But of course, that is not what I said above. I questioned whether those who argue for more government (and I mean at all levels) really care about service? Or efficient government?
It is fascinating that one can write a comment, longer than the original post, without so much as a mention of the substance: These particular government expenses have risen at four times the rate of inflation. This example speaks for itself.
As for the rest of your screed, why do people who start with You are so much smarter than that always veer towards ugly emotional arguments. In this case, conservatives are lying, mean, uncaring whores. Would your argument not be stronger if you just said: Four times the rate of inflation is NOT enough; we need to raise your taxes.