The Santa Claus Syndrome: Where Things Come From

Government Fees Disappear

    If a government charges an extra fee for something, where do suppose the money goes?  You may think it has to go to whatever purpose the fee is charged for.  Some of it probably does.  But the Atlanta Journal Constitution has revealed that in our state, much of the fee money just goes into the pot to be spent on whatever priorities the government might have at a particular time.  

    One of the fees we pay in Georgia is a $1 per tire fee when we buy new tires.  It is supposed to go to cleaning up piles of scrap tires.  I guess many would call that a worthwhile purpose.  But in 2009, only $1.4 million of the $16.38 million collected is going to cleanups.  The rest disappeared into the General Fund.  

    In another case, a fee is tacked on to the sale of every prepaid cell phone that is supposed to support local 911 systems.  But the millions collected is being diverted to other purposes. 

    There are hundreds of these fees in our state and there seems to be little accountability for the funds. The AJC article has several other examples and you can read the whole thing at: http://www.ajc.com/news/misused-fees-lead-state-189810.html .

    But we need to look more broadly.  I’m sure Georgia isn’t the only state doing this.  And the federal government isn’t above charging fees for whatever it can think of.  I doubt they are any more diligent about accounting for the money than Georgia. 

    If you look around, you probably have the same situation in your state, and even with your local government.  It’s an example of how governments chip away at us in increments so small it is hard to fight them off.  But it adds up to a vast amount of money with little accountability.  Hordes of small fees nipping at us is good for them and bad for us.  We need to save this article and drag it out any time a government says they need a new fee for some purpose.  Make them prove they can be trusted first!

Casino Gambling in College

It’s everywhere or at least close to everywhere.  There are certainly ads everywhere for it.  It’s fun.  There are lots of things to do at the casinos and hotels. 

But the main business of casinos is to get your money away from you.  They don’t produce anything you can eat or that can provide shelter.  I suppose they claim to be providing “entertainment” just as many sports or show business venues do.  While these other entertainment choices can cost a lot, you don’t have to keep paying while it’s going on. You know the whole price when you buy a ticket.

It’s is important to realize that it is impossible to win in a casino.  Even those who run them say that.  There are a few short term winners but they inevitably give the money back by continuing to play.  You don’t have to quit while you are ahead.  You have to quit when you run out of money.  Of course as an accountant, I can see this as an especially bad deal.  Giving money away where the only benefit is the thrill of giving your money away isn’t appealing.

If casino gambling (I include various gambling machines that might be other places too) involved definable set of skills or methods, if it could be trained, then respectable universities would offer degrees in it.  If winning at gambling could be taught, who better to learn than intelligent young college students. 

If this were anyway legitimate, with your new casino gambling degree, you should be able to get a business loan to stake you and you are off to making a living.  But that isn’t what happens.  If this were possible, people would win so much from casinos that the casinos wouldn’t be viable.  If the odds approached being even, that would probably be the case.  If even a high level of skill in playing games was the necessary tool, enough people would turn their hand to gambling that the casinos would collapse. 

But none of this happens.  What happens is that millions of people enter casinos every year and most, necessarily, leave with less than they started with.  The saddest cases are those who are under some illusion that they can win.  It is hard to believe that casinos get away with this.  In fact, hardly anybody criticizes it.  I’m sort of libertarian leaning politically so I’m not saying it should be outlawed. I’m saying we shouldn’t do it because it’s not only expensive, it’s dumb.  Or at least wait until it becomes legitimate enough to be a college major.