Eureka!
Under the gaze of Minerva, the Roman goddess of wisdom, a miner works near the Sacramento River. A grizzly bear rests at her feet and ships ply the river. The Sierra Nevada mountains rise in the background. Wildlife, agriculture, natural beauty, commerce, and opportunity are all represented on California’s Great Seal.
The state motto, Eureka, sits over the mountains. A Greek word that means "I have found it," Eureka refers the discovery of gold in California. The miner, working with a pick, is another reference to the gold that was found in California. A pan and a rocker are also depicted on the seal near the miner. The pan was used to separate the gold from the dirt; just add water. The rocker is a larger and more sophisticated "pan." It allowed miners to process more dirt and sand faster. At the time the seal was designed, people were coming from all over the world looking to "strike it rich" in the gold fields.
Bureaucrats!
As usual, the French are responsible for coining the name “bureaucrat” – translated, desk official. Or more important, one who makes getting something processed more difficult in order to make their job more important.
As a side note, did you know that the term “red tape” came from the Veteran’s Administration after the Civil War, where their records were kept wrapped in red tape. Bureaucrats and red tape go hand in hand.
The state of California is full of these bureaucrats. The state government is riddled with them in more numbers than a local school district. People used to strike it rich discovering gold in our state, now they strike it rich working for the state government.
And as a citizen of the “richest” state in the union, I, like so many Californians have to question why we are the worst state in the union as far as school ratings, credit ratings (I don’t think I’m going to buy a water bond anytime soon) and billions of dollars in debt. At least that’s what we’re told by our wonderful govenator and the people who allegedly represent us in the state’s legislator body. There’s no end to the excuses that we have heard. But the simple truth is that we need to cut the fat where it needs to be cut. At the top!
Just like the rest of government, this state needs a complete overhaul, which, of course, we know, will not happen. But, as Voltaire said – “this is the best of the best of all possible of worlds” and anything is possible, if not highly unlikely!
Now the reason I am addressing this today is that last week we received a perfect example of how bureaucratic the state of California really is.
Every year S corporations are required by the state to file a “Statement of Information”. This form needs to be filed by the 15th of September along with a $25 check. As I had processed this form last year, I simply pulled up the one that I had filed from the previous year, changed the date from ’08 to ’09 and sent it on its merry way.
Last week the form, along with the check was returned with a note “The name of the corporation has to appear exactly as the state has it registered.” Now, mind you, they accepted the very same form last year, why are they returning it this year?
The state provided me with a copy of how they would accept the name and in comparing the two I had put a comma at the end of the company name before Inc. and a period after Inc, whereas the state had not.
So some state bureaucrat had to take the time to open our filing, review the form and determine that it did not match the one on file (God forbid you should have periods and commas in your name), fill out a form and an envelope, print them out, staple the check to our filing along with their form, stuff it in an envelope and spend 43 cents in postage so they could receive the filing exactly as they needed it. That whole exercise had to cost more than the $25 dollar filing fee!
What the heck is going on??? Clearly this is a prime example of a state government gone amuck, mired in bureaucratic nonsense so yet another non compos menace can keep their job.
And we wonder why the state is in such a mess. Eureka! It’s the bureaucrats!
As usual, the French are responsible for coining the name “bureaucrat” – translated, desk official. Or more important, one who makes getting something processed more difficult in order to make their job more important.
As a side note, did you know that the term “red tape” came from the Veteran’s Administration after the Civil War, where their records were kept wrapped in red tape. Bureaucrats and red tape go hand in hand.
The state of California is full of these bureaucrats. The state government is riddled with them in more numbers than a local school district. People used to strike it rich discovering gold in our state, now they strike it rich working for the state government.
And as a citizen of the “richest” state in the union, I, like so many Californians have to question why we are the worst state in the union as far as school ratings, credit ratings (I don’t think I’m going to buy a water bond anytime soon) and billions of dollars in debt. At least that’s what we’re told by our wonderful govenator and the people who allegedly represent us in the state’s legislator body. There’s no end to the excuses that we have heard. But the simple truth is that we need to cut the fat where it needs to be cut. At the top!
Just like the rest of government, this state needs a complete overhaul, which, of course, we know, will not happen. But, as Voltaire said – “this is the best of the best of all possible of worlds” and anything is possible, if not highly unlikely!
Now the reason I am addressing this today is that last week we received a perfect example of how bureaucratic the state of California really is.
Every year S corporations are required by the state to file a “Statement of Information”. This form needs to be filed by the 15th of September along with a $25 check. As I had processed this form last year, I simply pulled up the one that I had filed from the previous year, changed the date from ’08 to ’09 and sent it on its merry way.
Last week the form, along with the check was returned with a note “The name of the corporation has to appear exactly as the state has it registered.” Now, mind you, they accepted the very same form last year, why are they returning it this year?
The state provided me with a copy of how they would accept the name and in comparing the two I had put a comma at the end of the company name before Inc. and a period after Inc, whereas the state had not.
So some state bureaucrat had to take the time to open our filing, review the form and determine that it did not match the one on file (God forbid you should have periods and commas in your name), fill out a form and an envelope, print them out, staple the check to our filing along with their form, stuff it in an envelope and spend 43 cents in postage so they could receive the filing exactly as they needed it. That whole exercise had to cost more than the $25 dollar filing fee!
What the heck is going on??? Clearly this is a prime example of a state government gone amuck, mired in bureaucratic nonsense so yet another non compos menace can keep their job.
And we wonder why the state is in such a mess. Eureka! It’s the bureaucrats!
