Alabama's Department of Corrections has already raised operating cash by selling surplus acres of land. Now perhaps they'll hear what California is proposing for the next logical step. Sell a prison. According to today's L.A. Times, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger wants to sell San Quentin, which sits on some very valuable waterfront property. The Guv also says the L.A. Coliseum should be put on the block to raise money, prompting one outraged L.A. County Commissioner to compare that sports facility to the Statue of Liberty and the Washington Monument. They really do think differently out there, don't they? California is in deep deep debt. They have a 15.4 Billion dollar deficit. California prison officials would have to find a new place for executions, right as they spend hundreds of millions to build a new death row there.
California is on the verge of legalizing marijuana for adult use. It is estimated that they could bring in $1.4 billion dollars in tax revenue by adding a $50 per ounce tax. Hopefully that will come to pass and when the rest of the states see Cali awash in cash they will follow suit. I think my focus may even change to full legalization next year as opposed to medical only.
ReplyDeleteRight now the Alabama Dept. of Corrections could release 30% of the inmates who are there for non-violent drug offenses and save over $117,000,000. $4.5 million of that would be simply be releasing marijuana offenders. I heard thru the grapevine that Vernon Barnett is talking mass release.
I continue to oppose what I believe to be the misguided and wrong-headed actions of this governor and the AL Department of Corrections (ADOC) Commissioner Richard F. Allen by selling what they describe as "surplus properties."
ReplyDeleteLand is an asset and continues to increase in value, whereas cash has a fixed value, and because of inflation, is a poor hedge when revenues decline, and operational costs remain constant, or increase through inflation.
It's now the case where the costs of state operations are not only constant, but are increasing, and are doing so in in the midst of a downturn in revenue.
Would it be wise, in a time of fiscal hardship or crisis, to sell your house - knowing that it's debt-free, paid-for, in the "free and clear" - and take on debt in the form of rent or other such payment? It would be insane.
Similarly, would it be wise - in a worst case/cash-strapped scenario - to sell your car to pay for the license plate (tag)? To do so would be insane, because the cost of the license (tag) is far, far below the value of the car and the value it brings to you, as a means of transportation for work and other opportunities. The independence ownership of that automobile brings to you reduces your reliance upon neighbors and friends, and empowers you to make decisions in your benefit, rather than relying upon the mercy of others - receiving scraps, or handouts, if you prefer.
That the state remarks to their citizens that they cannot profitably operate or manage their own holdings is a damning self-indictment against their management. It is self-confessed incompetency. Do we elect or re-elect officials because we hope they are incompetent? HELL NO! Yet, that's precisely what we have done in Alabama, and did for nearly a decade in this nation. Now, we're paying the piper for those two dances. We all recall that common sensical saying, right?
"There's an old saying in Tennessee - I know it's in Texas, it's probably in Tennessee - that says, fool me once... shame on... shame on you. It fool me. You can't get fooled again.” - President G.W. Bush, speaking at East Literature Magnet School, Nashville, Tennessee, Sep. 17, 2002
Can't get fooled again. Yup.
Are our leaders trying to short-sell Alabama? If so, they're doing a poor job, because they won't close that position, and they're very obviously doing a poor job of "going long"!
Alabama's "leaders" are behaving as if they have a contract on Alabama!!
When taxes are owed on privately held real estate, and the owner is negligent to pay the taxes upon it, the state will then auction the land to recoup unpaid taxes. But when the people own an asset, is it wise to sell that asset to private enterprise merely to obtain a quick source of minor revenue?
It would be more profitable for the state - if its "leaders," for whatever reason, cannot effectively manage the we the people's holdings - to lease the land for perhaps ten years, or more (but certainly less than 25) - not only to obtain a revenue stream, but to supply the needs of (in this case) the Department of Corrections.
On one hand, the governor wants to almost permanently lease state land on the gulf, while on the other he sells assets that could similarly be utilized for the state's long-term benefit.
The utter incompetency and abysmal lack of foresight of Alabama's current spate of "leaders" continues to appall me.
Something more than common sense had gone terribly awry.