It was a little cloudy, so maybe that’s why

Wichita city leaders tell us that the budget and spending have been cut to the bone. Except for the waste, that is.

At 11:27 am, it was a little cloudy and rain threatened. So maybe that’s why these lights were switched on. Or maybe not — other similar lights and streetlights nearby were not lit.

The lights illustrated in this photograph are, undoubtedly, a small portion of the city’s spending. But you don’t have to look very hard to find waste like this, and we know that small examples of waste are multiplied many times. So when city leaders tell us that there is nowhere left to cut in the budget, that everything that can be done to trim the fat has already been done, and that the only thing we can do is raise taxes — well, think of this photograph and others illustrated in In Wichita, the streetside seating is illuminated very well, In Wichita, the rooftops are well-lit and On a sunny day in downtown Wichita you can see the street lights.

This is not to say that waste like this does not occur in the private sector. Of course it does. But businesses and individuals have a powerful incentive to avoid waste that isn’t present in government: Businesses and people are spending their own money.