Two Disturbing Numbers Came To My Attention

Two numbers came to my attention in the last five days and it is hard to decide which one is MORE disturbing.
The first one is $9 and the second one is $750,000.00.
I was incredulous over the week-end when I learned that an EMT working for Rockford/Lowell Ambulance makes $9.00 an hour. With a 40 hour week that would be $18,720 a year assuming you worked 52 weeks with no vacation.
Ambulance transport costs hundreds of dollars. Rockford Ambulance is registered as a non-profit and a Google search told me they had 4.64 million in annual revenue.
When we had a coffee shop in Lowell, we paid $8.50 to $9.50 an hour to part time workers who knew how to make coffee. It does take a couple of hours of training to learn to pull a great shot of espresso, but attending Baker College to get certified as an EMT takes about six months and will cost $6,600.00 for the courses and books.
The second number is what one of the candidates expects to be raised and spent in the race for the 76th District Michigan House of Representatives. This number was told to a group of us by the current incumbent at a meeting last night. According to what I could find online, the money raised in 2014 was $536,360.00. Over half a million dollars that might have been better spent in the service of the people of Michigan.
It is important to note that this particular seat, the 76th which is mostly Grand Rapids, is one District that the Republican experts in the art of jerrymandering were not able to draw for a decisive win. The lady who holds the seat is a Democrat and she told us that her seat was one of the top two or three contested seats out of the 110 Michigan House spots.
Be that as it may, this obscene amount of money shines a bright light on the power of PAC money in Michigan politics. One wonders how much time the Representative has to spend in order to raise 375,000 dollars every two years. One wonders how many different PACs are involved to make such funding possible. One wonders what raising that kind of money really has to do with running a government that is supposed have all of the inherent power invested in the PEOPLE of the State of Michigan.

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