Why we're broke

We shouldn't let Baby Huie chew our bullets.  Eating lead is a bad idea. It might damage his brain. That would make him too dull for any profession except politics.

So we certainly applaud our governments' drive to keep Huie lead-free and smart. Except, maybe...

The grant is for $2.45 million. Local taxpayers will be extorted to the tune of another $2 million. If you total that and add a few hundred thou left over from the earlier HUD $3 million grant  -- plus whatever local tax bite that one "leveraged" -- and you get something north of $6 million. But let's be conservative and say it's only $5.5 million.

Peanuts, of course, if it preserves enough Huie brainpower to permit him to prosper as a vinyl siding salesman.

Or maybe not. All that money permits the county health czars to tidy up 142 homes in the next three years.

Time for the world's most useful tool for politico-economic analysis -- a five-buck pocket calculator.

Lessee. Five and a-half million divided by 142 equals, ta-dahh,  $38,732 dollars per house. And 39 cents, to be precise.

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Okay, but it's for the poor and therefore righteous, right?

"Funds from the grant are available to assist homeowners whose income is less than 80 percent of the median family income and landlords whose tenants’ incomes are less than 80 percent of the median family income. "


The median family income in this state is a little more than $60,000 per year, apparently meaning you can heist your neighbors for a new paint job even if you gross $48,000.

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Yeah, even our official state health masters say you can pretty much eliminate Baby H chewing lead paint chips by repainting with latex. 'course  you must use obscure techniques known only to practitioners of that mysterious profession known as (shhhh) "painters."

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H.L. Mencken: "Every normal man must be tempted at times to spit on his hands, hoist the black flag, and begin to slit throats."