The schools and their rent-seekers -- those who use government to obtained privileges and coerced goods -- claim that the community needs to pay for strings, sports, etc. Why should the community pay? Well, these folks claim that the schools provide a public good -- a supposed good that benefits the community as a whole.
Hogwash. These folks simply want others -- their neighbors -- to pay for family expenses. Public goods are an economic fallacy; they are simply wealth transfers from taxpayer to the schools and rent-seekers.
Funny, those who rebel against government welfare programs have no problem using the ballot box to obtain financial support from both their neighbors and those -- such as Edith (actually Treva) -- who can afford it least.
Sure, you can try to dress school programs as public goods done for the general welfare, but they are just another form of wealth transfer from taxpayer to tax recipient.
This Labor Day, keep in mind those who must work to pay for someone else's desires. And, remember them once again on voting day.
Read the Dispatch article (below) as well as my related articles(link and link) to understand what really goes on with regard to tax-supported school programs, and learn more about those who are forced to pay for them.
From The Columbus Dispatch:
Great-grandma gladly labors on
Job at Meijer helps 81-year-old stay independent
Monday, September 3, 2007 3:33 AM
By Tom Reed
After wiping rain off shopping carts, Treva Buck patted perspiration from her brow during a recent shift at a Meijer store.
Because of a scheduling glitch, the 81-year-old greeter was working her eighth consecutive day at the chain's Lewis Center location.
Yet the diminutive great-grandmother warmly welcomed customers as if they were Thanksgiving Day guests in her home. She directed a man to the automotive department, made faces to amuse toddlers and retrieved a newspaper clipping she had saved for a regular customer.
"Treva is awesome," said co-worker Jennifer Stangland, 33. "She is so friendly and has so much energy for a woman who's on her feet eight hours a day."
Her most admirable stand, co-workers and relatives say, is maintaining her independence.
The Liberty Township widow lives in her own house, drives everywhere and keeps punching a time clock -- even on a holiday created to give the working class a break.
"I volunteered to work Labor Day because it means time and a half," said Buck, who will celebrate her 18th year with Meijer on Sept. 11. "My family always asks, 'When are you going to quit?' But I enjoy what I do, and I want to keep my house, and working allows me to do both."
Buck is part of America's fastest-growing labor demographic, the 24.6 million workers who are 55 or older, according to a 2006 study by the Chicago consulting company Challenger, Gray and Christmas Inc.
In Ohio last year, 13.6 percent of workers were 65 or older, according to U.S. Department of Labor statistics.
Unlike many older Americans, however, Buck neither delayed retirement nor came out of it looking for work.
After raising six children, she took a job for the first time in 1989. She was 63 and alone after her husband, Wesley, died of cancer.
Losing her spouse of 44 years was difficult, she said. But the family matriarch with soft brown eyes needed an income and time away from a house full of memories.
"I lost my husband a year and a half ago, and it absolutely changes your life," said her daughter Janet Jewell, 65, of Delaware. "You either sit there, or you do something about it."
Buck also had to learn to drive, taking lessons from daughter-in-law Sandy Buck, who lives nearby. To practice parking, the older woman eased a 1979 Chevy Nova between tomato stakes in her backyard.
"Most folks learn to drive, get a job and then start a family," Buck said. "It's almost like I've lived my life backward."
Her career path has made for some age-related oddities.
Store director Weston Brubaker, 32, is younger than 10 of Buck's 12 grandkids. And three of her children already are retired.
"It really is remarkable," said her oldest son, Don Buck, 61, also of Liberty Township. "At the time, it made sense (for her to work). She needed the money, she was in good health and she wanted to.
"But I never thought she would still be doing it."
He and his siblings (three brothers and two sisters) frequently remind her that a comfortable retirement is only a "For Sale" sign away.
But she won't hear of it -- for now. Her full-time job, which pays $9.15 an hour and benefits, allows Buck to keep her white, split-level house with brick trim on 5 acres.
"If I didn't work, I'd have to pinch pennies," she said. "I don't want to do that."
Brubaker said he values his senior employees, including Cleo Terry, 88, of Delaware, the store's oldest worker, and Buck, who was employee of the month twice at another Meijer store.
He praised Buck's dependability, noting that she scheduled cataract surgery for a day off in July rather than take a sick day.
Sometimes, Buck admits, forgetfulness comes with age. Recently, she was about to announce over the intercom system that a car in the parking lot had its lights on and engine running -- until she realized it was hers.
Don't mistake her for a soft touch, though.
Two years ago, Buck, who barely tops 5 feet, suspected shoplifting when a man and a woman left the store with $800 worth of electronics gear in a cart.
"The faster they walked, the madder I got," she said.
She repeatedly asked to see a receipt until the flustered couple sped off in a car -- without the booty.
"We've told her a hundred times, 'Don't do that stuff; it's not worth the risk,' " Don Buck said. "I'd like to see her retire."
Her oldest son will have to wait to get his wish. His mother's goal is to work 20 years for Meijer.
"I might surprise you one of these days," she said. "But right now I want to keep working."
treed@dispatch.com
Copyright © 2007, The Columbus Dispatch
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