Right now, the economy is the 10-year-old jerk who lived across the street that ruined every neighborhood game because of his bad attitude.
When all our pals would meet up at the public pool to play Marco Polo or Jailbreak, the economy was the kid who decided running across the pool deck to safety was a fair tactic - logic that is erroneous on all counts.
Last time we checked, the Fish Outta Water rule is the law. Way to ruin a perfectly nice day at the pool, kid.
We couldn't stand that kid back then. As we've gotten older and somewhat wiser, we've watched kid-sized annoyances evolve into superhuman life-wreckers: Enter the current state of the economy.
The County Commission's plans to make some additions around town have been thwarted by a monumental jerk in the form of a failing housing market and shrunken tax revenue.
Tax revenue in the fiscal year for 2008 was $10 million less than expected, and in response, the Commission unanimously voted to draft a resolution to cut back bond-funded projects.
Now, don't go blaming the Commission for setting up projects dependent on bonds. In 2004, when many of these projects were conceived, tax revenue was steadily increasing, so payback in the form of property and sales taxes was expected.
Then, the little jerk you couldn't stand when you were younger reared his ugly head to say "No tag-backs" the adult way: Sorry, the bonds you thought would only take six years to pay off will probably take closer to 20 years now.
Sorry, potential Public Defender's and Supervisor of Elections offices, looks like you're getting pushed to the back burner in favor of necessary tightwad resolutions.
The low gas prices may have us breathing easy right now, but we all need to be wary of the still-ailing economy.
