Voters just approved a 312 million dollar bond referendum for schools in my county. No information other than how much it would cost was given on the ballot. How is someone supposed to make an intelligent decision to approve or disapprove? Prior to the elections, there was precious little information in local papers other than how many schools were to be built and what they each would cost. One school is estimated at 145 million dollars plus land costs. You could build a palace for that price! There should be a law forcing government to give pertinent facts on all bond votes such as:
Cost per square foot and cost per classroom. (for roads, cost per mile, etc.)
Cost of the school building and cost of the athletic fields/stadiums separately.
Average cost per household of the bond total.
Costs in total and costs per household of all other outstanding bonds.
Projected repayment costs of principal plus interest as an annual dollar total and percentage of tax revenues.
Is this an interest only bond with a principal balloon payment at the end (probably necessitating a refinancing to pay off the principal)?
It seems that if you just put the word "school" in front of a bond referendum that it is likely to pass without any serious review by voters. That is fiscal insanity!
Getting it Right - Welcome
The goal of this blog is to publish my thoughts on a variety of economic and political topics in the hopes that people who find them educational or beneficial will utilize them and/or forward to others who might find them interesting and/or worthwhile to promote to others, possibly including politicians who can push some of these ideas to fruition. The topics in my blog are meant to be of value on a long term basis, not a daily diary or political issue of the day log. If the information posted is useful to you, by all means utilize it and/or forward it as you see fit. If not useful, then merely ignore it. There are no universally agreed upon truisms and too little tolerance between some of those with opposing viewpoints to successfully convince the people with hardened opinions to move away from them. I am an analytical type person who will try to be as factual as I am able.
I disdain the current popularity of name calling and condemnation of viewpoints with no factual alternatives or logical solutions given that I see so often. If you don't have a solution based on fact and logic, then opt out of the discussion because you have nothing to contribute. My background is a degree in Economics from the University of Michigan and 39 years working in middle management jobs for a major retailer. My opinions are forged on the personal experence of life, family, friends, and work as well as triumphs and mistakes that I have made and hopefully learned from. My hope is that this blog helps you.
My first topic will be about personal finance. I chose that one first because most of us work long and hard just to survive but not all of us realize our dreams of becoming financially independent from the labors of our work. Much of our political votes/thinking also focus on the economy and in particular how well we are personally doing financially.
It is relatively simple, without sacrificing the enjoyment of living for 'today' and even at moderate incomes, to retire as a millionaire or multi-millionaire, if you focus on that goal consistently from a young age. It is also simple to ensure that your child or grandchild retires rich. It merely requires a one time gift of just $2,000 invested wisely and the passage of time. Please read my first post on this blog to learn more.
An index/schedule of past and future posts and their dates will always be updated so that it becomes the first post that you see below. If the date of a post that you wish to read is preceded by the word "Posted", then find it below or click on the title in the Blog archive to review.
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