June worked for me. Many years ago. We worked for a company owned by Harry. And Harry came out with a number of changes that would save money for the company. Problem is they would harm our workers.

My job was to explain the many details of the changes — to a gathering of our employees. I laid out the whys and wherefores — the reasons behind each change.

“Whoa,” June said. “Enough of this crap. The only reason for these changes is that Harry is one cheap SOB.”

I closed my folder and flicked off the slide projector. “I think you nailed it, June.” Truth. Applause.

More truth: Years ago, a married couple asked me to advise them. They earned good money. But they had gone bankrupt twice, and were nearly bankrupt again.

I listed 30 ways they could reduce their spending. Sell a few vehicles, I suggested. Take fewer vacations. They came up with good reasons to reject every one of these recommendations, all 30. In the end, I folded my file. I scrawled five words of truth across a pad and slid it toward them: You spend too damned much.

What is the truth about New York State? Why do we lose so many good people? Why do our businesses struggle, especially Upstate? Why do our schools, cities, and towns struggle? Why are parts of our infrastructure dilapidated?

Our politicians offer us a blizzard of reasons. Every government department explains. Yadda, yadda, yadda.

Here are a few truths that cut through the crap. New York State spends too much. It is that simple. To cover that spending it has to tax its people and businesses too much. We whine about high taxes. But there is a glaring reason we have high taxes. New York spends like that bankrupt couple. So, New York must tax heavily, to cover its ridiculous spending.

If anyone suggests we cut back, the squeals of pain erupt. Maybe you squealed as well.

Take education. New York could not possibly cut back on spending on our dear pupils. Gov. Cuomo proposed adding a billion more dollars in the latest budget. Well, New York already spends 90 percent more per student than the national average. It spends nearly double what the average state spends per student. Yet it cannot find ways to cut that spending?

Consider our state budget: New York has 10 million fewer people than Texas. Yet it spends $60 billion more annually. And it runs three times as much debt as Texas. Because the Empire State has had to borrow so much more — to cover its ridiculous spending.

New York also has to tax us punitively — to cover its spending excesses. Texas taxes gas at 20 cents per gallon. New York taxes gas at 61 cents a gallon. Texas taxes cigarettes at $1.41 per pack, New York charges $4.35.

New York taxes income and heavily. It starts at 4 percent and runs up to 8.8 percent on upper income folks. Texas levies no income tax.

New York splits hairs. It tells us why it cannot reduce any of its spending. It explains away its obvious stupidity. Just as I tried to explain away Harry’s cheapness. The state can offer a thousand reasons why it must spend so much money. Just as that bankrupt couple did.

But the state cannot escape a brutal truth: It spends too damned much. 

New York is just about the top-spending state in the union. Try suggesting to its politicians that they cut 5 percent of spending, across the board. If the state outspends virtually all other states, surely we must run a bit of fat. Surely, we could find a few places to save.

Nah. Cannot be done. Nope.

And since it won’t cut spending, the state government must tax, tax, and tax some more. We camouflage and hide the taxes. We sugar-coat them. But we are desperate for money to pay for our ridiculous spending. Desperate because we cannot break our spending habits. We are addicted.

I use “we” at this point for a good reason. If New York ever really slashed its outrageous spending, we would howl. You can’t touch our school budget; Where are the grants for restoring our main street?; These kids will go hungry if the state cuts back, etc. etc.

Few of us can really handle the truth.

From Tom…as in Morgan.         

Tom Morgan writes about political, financial, and other subjects from his home in upstate New York. Contact him at tomasinmorgan@yahoo.com, read more of his writing at tomasinmorgan.com, or find him on Facebook.

To the Editor:

My college career began as a 21-year-old, a few years late in seeing the light, but then laser-focused on achievement versus simple sustenance. Broome Community College (BCC) — now called SUNY Broome — offered me the best options.

 I attended school full-time during the day, and worked full-time at a 2nd shift job in a factory. What prompted my conversion to college was a late-night performance appraisal I received, courtesy of my manager. Larry was droning on about my attitude, my lack of enthusiasm, and reluctance to work overtime. As his words echoed off his cubicle panels, I saw the small certificate of graduation hanging on the wall behind his desk. It was at that moment, I decided that if the only thing holding me back from elevating my working life status from where I was to where he was involved obtaining a college degree, then I ought to pursue that. I was excited because it seemed to me that Larry wasn’t any smarter than I was, and he allegedly graduated from Syracuse University, so I thought, how hard could this be at the local community college?

 From the beginning, my plan was this: Learn as much as I could about business and law and between the two, I figured that I could do almost anything. Some of the best instructors I ever encountered staffed the business/marketing program at BCC. Many had started businesses, some had flourished, and some had failed. Most had worked in the private sector and had real experience. A few were truly brilliant and amazing examples of quality educators. They all had a lot to offer and the access to them was unlimited.

 As I settled in to the college routine, three of us, all in the same major, formed a friendship and working relationship that exists to this day. When it came time to transfer to a four-year school, one friend went directly to work and the other went to Penn State, a well-regarded business school. I transferred across town to SUNY Binghamton (now called Binghamton University) a nationally renowned educational powerhouse in the form of the School of Management (SOM), which at the time had an acceptance rate in the teens, average GPAs pushing 4.0, and SAT scores in the 95th percentile. Known then as a “public Ivy” the SOM was the poor man’s Harvard.

 I split my interests between political science and anything else I found intellectually stimulating. As for the SOM tract, it was lacking from my perspective. The overwhelming emphasis was on analytics and formulaic analysis of business modeling. The professors were largely inaccessible and totally lacking any real-world experience or expertise, having spent all of their life in academia and consulting.

 My tipping point came on the morning I asked my distinguished, visiting professor from London, a renowned expert in energy, how many gallons of oil were in a barrel and he couldn’t answer me. The brilliance of my political science professor, and the unbelievable knowledge shared by the professor of comparative western religions, was the only saving grace.

Fast-forward a few years and the one friend who went directly to work after BCC was living in Atlanta, working for an internationally known magazine publisher. My other friend had a nice career at a Fortune 100 company, and then spent his entire retirement nest-egg on building a business that he recently sold to a competitor for well into 7 figures. I was the director of the national governing body of a sport and authored that organization’s successful application to become a member of the United States Olympic Committee. I then started two successful businesses.

 The two of us who went on to finish our college careers in the best schools both conclude the same thing: We learned all that we needed to know at BCC. For my friend that went to Penn State, he gained the most value from that experience by way of his fraternity, which gave him access to friends and influences he relies upon to this day. For myself, I took what I wanted from the university, but the real value was at the community college level.         

Bob Kingsley
Port Dickinson, N.Y.