Pennsylvanian Gov’t Workers Too Stupid to be Courteous
Pennsylvania’s liquor board will be sending their employees to training in order to teach them how to be friendlier and more well-mannered. This will come at a cost of $173,000. I like to think in terms of how many tax slaves that a given stupidity like this one requires. A bit of searching reveals that the average Pennsylvanian pays $4,463 per year in state and local taxes. Doing the math, then, there are 38 people whose full tax burdens are taken by the state of Pennsylvania in order to ensure that government workers learn how not to be rude, i.e. so that they learn what it takes to run a real business instead of a true, pure monopoly that succeeds only by force.
Well, it’s probably not that they’re too stupid, but rather that they just don’t care. Absent competition, “civil” servants are allowed to be anything but. It’s not like they’ll ever be put out of a job.
Government has no business running liquor stores. End of story. If you live in a state (like Pennsylvania or Virginia) stupid enough to insist that only the government can sell you liquor, demand better, or just move.