Life Together: Our Efforts to Communicate

Thanks to all of you who have written in response to my first attempts at blogging! It is good to know that there are readers out there, and people willing to engage in dialogue about important matters.

We are working to find a way that will both be inexpensive for us, no cost to you, and that will avoid advertisements or some other group harvesting our address list, to let you know when new posts to the blog have been made. As novices in this new form of journalism and communication, it sometimes takes us a while to find the right way to do things. I hope you will bear with us, and check the site from time to time to read the new contributions. I will be writing at least weekly.

This past week, I've sent a letter to Governor Fletcher and to former Governor Jones, regarding the failed promises or potential failure of gambling income to the states that have expanded gambling for the sake of balancing the budgets and lowering taxes. In New York, income from slots at the tracks is coming in at about 40% of what was predicted. In Pennsylvania, a sociologist doing a poll of citizens of that state about their anticipated rate of participation in electronic forms of gambling (they are going to install about 60,000 slot machines across Pennsylvania), with an anticipated return of $1 billion a year to the state treasury. However, his polling of a significant number of people is showing that the returns to the state may be closer to 36% of what they will be banking on. This is no way to run a state treasury. When markets are saturated, when inflation has begun to set in (as it has because of the higher price for gasoline), then people will have less income to gamble.

A word to the wise: Gambling advocates will promise the moon, to get their foot in the door. They will generally accept strict regulations, knowing that when the state is dependent on the income, and the income begins to decrease, they can get the restrictions loosened.

May the sun shine bright on our old Kentucky home; we've had a cold week just past. It's time for spring, and for Pentecost, and for the church to come alive with hope and compassion.

Grace and peace, Nancy Jo