On the first day of my summer vacation...

The Orlando Sentinel, trash rag that it is, has a feature every week called Friday Forum. This is part of their OP-ED section where they ask a question and let the mouth-breathing members of the general public voice their opinion. I decided I need to join these ranks since I can't really publish anywhere else. The question that they asked was:

How would you like to see the state spend $4.5 billion in extra cash it expects in its treasury after a sizzling real-estate market and rebuilding after last year’s hurricanes?

My response:

It is economic blasphemy to think that hurricane repairs cause the state coffers to have “extra” cash. Sure the increase in work saw an increase in tax revenues, but we are failing to see the other half of the story. We aren’t looking at the alternative uses of that money that was spent on repairs. We aren’t seeing the employee that could have been hired, the store that could have been opened, the weekend trip that could have been taken, or the IRA that could have been increased. Keep in mind that an increase in consumption of repair services must also be accompanied by a decrease in consumption of everything else. If you don’t believe that then get together with your neighbors and destroy the windows and roofs in your own neighborhood…the state could use the “extra” cash.