Internet can't do it all: Libraries still offer value, state librarian says

The district and state collect taxes... then a bunch of politicians set up bidding rules and other nonsense in such a way that the companies that made donations to them, or the people who funded their campaign commercials, or family members... get the contracts at rates substantially above market value.

Throw in general inefficiency, generally poorly-developed state retirement and medical plans, a glut of ill-conceived public project loans and city building bonds... and you suddenly wind up with a library that's only allowed to hire one full-time employee and is expected to find a bunch of volunteers to reshelve books.

The problem is that what he's asking for is also a disaster, how much of those taxes will actually go to the library funding over 10 years? How many will be used for other things?

And why property taxes in the first place? Oh right, because they're the easiest to raise, just like sales tax, because the people in power know they're regressive taxes. They are effectively asking the poor and middle class to pay for infrastructure and public services that have always existed, while they misappropriate the funds that should actually have gone into libraries in the first place.

/r/books Thread Parent Link - mlive.com