California is the only state to hide its spending – nearly $300B a year
While I think transparency is great and it should be enforced, I also want to note that the goal of the organization behind this article is not transparency, but to sway public opinion against public spending in general.<p>One article in their website suggests tying education spending to performance, and that teachers in Baltimore are overpaid [1]. Another says that a $100,000 salary is "too high" for Texas public workers [2]. I think my favorite would be this one [3], where they assert that a $150,000 salary in San Francisco is excessive.<p>These public workers are in charge of essential duties. Suggesting that a firefighter or a teacher are "overpaid", is ridiculous and sets a dangerous precedent.<p>[1] <a href="https://www.openthebooks.com/forbes-baltimore-city-public-schools-promoted-student-with-013-gpa-while-spending-a-14-billion-budget/" rel="nofollow">https://www.openthebooks.com/forbes-baltimore-city-public-sc...</a><p>[2] <a href="https://www.openthebooks.com/forbes-why-texas-is-in-trouble---78064-public-employees-with-100000-paychecks-cost-taxpayers-12-billion/" rel="nofollow">https://www.openthebooks.com/forbes-why-texas-is-in-trouble-...</a><p>[3] <a href="https://www.openthebooks.com/forbes-why-san-francisco-is-in-trouble--19000-highly-compensated-city-employees-earned-150000-in-pay--perks/" rel="nofollow">https://www.openthebooks.com/forbes-why-san-francisco-is-in-...</a>