My uncle Max was an extremely bright man whose downfall was drink. It severely skewered his normally tidy and logical mind and made him into more of a Romantic than a 20th century man. What has this to do with the last post, you ask? Read on.

One night in the bar at Nasr's, Max was trying to construct a simple theory of language that would make it easier to understand one another. In desperation, he finally said, "Well, then, let's just use words of one syllable!"

I had come in late and was therefore several drinks behind him. Logic had not yet fled. I said, "Max, you can't even say 'syllable' in words of one syllable."

He was crestfallen, but another Scotch cleared that up.

An article in this morning's San Francisco paper brought this old thread to my mind. I think it's unfortunate that Salinas is having financial difficulties, and has closed its libraries. But I think it's important to remember that those difficulties are very complex. There are those who would blame the Salinas city managers for having the wrong spending priorities. Or the citizens who voted against a 1/4% sales tax increase (which would still leave them a full percent behind San Francisco). The citizens there, I think, do value their libraries. The places are (were) well-used and especially helpful to the town's large immigrant community.

What appeared in today's paper that brought me back to this situation is an article about the financial difficulties of California counties. It made a few interesting points, which make me think that Salinas is not entirely to blame:

1. "Last year, to help balance its own budget, the state kept $1.3 billion earmarked for cities and counties. Another $1.3 billion will be withheld this year." This was money that belonged to cities and counties; money they counted on. But it was confiscated by the State. That kind of thievery is supposed to stop in 2006 with the activation of a new law the voters passed recently. We will see. We will see.

2. "Because many of the services counties provide are mandated by the state, only a small portion of county spending is discretionary." To a great extent, the budgetary hands of cities and counties are tied. Some have kept money-losing institutions open, but have gone into serious debt because of their decisions. Damned if you do, etc...

3. "Increasing costs in everything from workers' compensation to health coverage and retirement contributions have steadily driven up operating expenses." Add to this the rising public health costs in a relatively poor and rapidly growing region, and you can see where Salinas is getting squeezed.

Wish we could have everything, and not have to pay for it. Heck, in the case of Salinas, it would be nice to have just the things they pay for. Thanks to the State of California, which balances its budget on the back of poor and under-represented rural areas, they don't even get what's rightly theirs.

So, that's my two cents. But two cents won't help much.