This morning, August 21st, I read Nancy Kaffer’s editorial piece: To Fix Michigan Schools, We Must Fund Them. Someone has been saying that same thing for at least 40 years, and it hasn’t happened. Why not? I would say mainly because the average taxpayer has seen their real income slip again and again over that time. You can’t get any more blood from a turnip. More taxes for education is a sure-fire non-starter.
To explain: The only way that most American households have been able to half-way maintain their lifestyle over the past 35 years is:
- By having the wife and mother go to work full-time.
- Then by both breadwinners working more and more hours.
- Then by borrowing against whatever home equity they may have.
- And then by running up more and more high-priced credit on their credit cards and student loans.
There are no more options to bail them out. When you ask folks who are caught between a rock and a very hard place, for more tax money, for whatever reason, the answer is going to be a resounding “NO WAY”.
Under these circumstances, it is irresponsible for Kaffer to call for more money. If the Free Press is touting something, many readers will assume that it must therefore be feasible, and that they can just sit on their hands while they wait for it to occur. That’s means becoming more a part of the problem rather than a part of the solution.
Kaffer seems to have the mindset of the 1960s. But, back then the average income of the American family was going-up at a rate of 6% each year, and most folks were then therefore willing to share a part of their blessings with others who were less fortunate. But that changed in the early 80s with trickle down economics, in which middle income people were pressed more and more and more to just maintain their existing lifestyle.
Today’s seeming shift in political will, is therefore actually pretty simple. If we really want to improve outcomes in the Detroit Community District, then we are going to have to do it by ourselves. Yes, there are a lot of folks who will object that this just plays into the hands of racists and that it is absolutely unfair. And, yes, I would agree with that. But, at the end of the day, if we just simply sit on our hands, we will surely regret it down the way.