They Tried a Short Term Solution to the Flint Situation

More bad behavior but this time from the government and not from the usual bad guys. The situation in Flint, Michigan is really sad and portends grave long-term consequences. The kids will probably grow up disadvantaged for the rest their lives. I did read other headlines that suggest that other cities face the same poor quality water. If we do, no wonder “our kids can’t read”.

It sounds like the problem stems from the government’s effort to cut costs and obtain water from another source. The city officials said that the river was polluted but the state’s scientists said that the tests indicate the water was fine. Flint is predominantly black and poor.

So, was this a case of incompetence on the scientists’ part or was this racism? Did the government go too far in trying to reduce costs?

The attempt to reduce costs builds upon the same business philosophy of showing fiscal responsibility by slashing costs. Flint was having fiscal problems so a manager was assigned to oversee the city. The water manager appears to have gone too far in his cost cutting.

So, where else have we been cutting too deeply?

How about education? Haven’t we been slashing education the last few years?

Such cost cutting will come back and bite us.