Take your pick: Higher taxes or fewer services

President Barack Obama has been in office for a few weeks now, and life continues to go on as it always has—at least as it has since the economy tanked. The world has not stopped spinning, and nothing has changed in the financial crisis or in society. Life is always an interesting struggle, on the national front as well as on the home front of Nevada.

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On a national level, there are many worthy-of-note things going on, like the impeachment of Gov. Rod Blagojevich. He was barred from ever holding office in the state of Illinois again. Now this situation could either be seen as laughable or disgraceful—I am not quite sure which. Both, probably.

This is the Democratic governor who allegedly attempted to sell Obama’s Senate seat after Obama won the presidential election. This shouldn’t surprise anyone; this is how Chicago politics works, isn’t it?

This is corruption through and through, attempting to make money when he should have been considering what is best for the people. On the other hand, this could be seen as capitalism at its best. A man found a situation and decided he was going to do something to help himself. Living the American dream, Chicago style. Now don’t get me wrong, I believe this man is scum, the lowest of low and deserving of everything he gets. In fact, he’s lucky if he doesn’t go to jail. But you have to give the man props for trying.

And you have to laugh: Did he really think he would get away with it? Even to the very end he was telling the people of the state of Illinois that they were about to set a “dangerous” and “chilling” precedent. Apparently they didn’t think so; legislators voted him out 59-0.

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On the Nevada front, the fact that our state is broke is an ongoing problem. The Reno Gazette-Journal reported on a survey that reported those surveyed wanted education to be spared in the cuts that are to come, but they also didn’t want taxes to be increased. Well, which is it? Nevadans can’t have it both ways.

As I have said before, I am not an economist, nor do I ever care to be one. However, one can learn in ECON 101 the basics of this situation. Nevada can’t keep spending money it does not have. As reported in the Reno Gazette-Journal, “73 percent oppose raising property taxes, 62 percent oppose raising payroll taxes and 53 percent opposed a sales-tax increase.” My question to the people who do not want tax increases or service cuts: Where do you expect this money to come from?

Given that we live in a capitalist society, it is not surprising that many of us want it all. We want to continue receiving government services as though nothing were wrong with the economy, all while not receiving tax increases. Logical that we want this, yes. Realistic that this will actually happen, no.

In this poll, people were opposed to raising taxes, and they were also opposed to high education cuts and teacher’s salary cuts. It is hard to ever watch people take cuts, especially in education. But life is hard for everyone, and no one wants more money taken out of their pockets. So take your pick, Nevadans. What’s it going to be, budget cuts or tax increases?

Many of us have accepted that 47 percent being taken from the University of Nevada, Reno is unacceptable and harsh, but we can’t just cut nothing and expect life to go on as usual. Things are not normal right now, and nobody knows when life will return to prosperous times. Lucky for us the rules of physics and the economy don’t mix. If they have, the world may have stopped turning by now.