A walk around town

Today I took my Personal Finance classes on a walk around our small town. We are studying paychecks and taxes. It is important for students to "see" what their tax dollars pay for and also gain new appreciation for the things around them that are for the greater good. Here are just a few of the types of things that we saw or talked about.

Local schools and Universities:

Libraries:

Sewer, roads and other public works.

Local, state and national parks.

City, County, State and National government:

Street lights, highways and other safety features:

Emergency services, public agencies and servants:

Phew, 3 times I walked around our town. We visited the School District Central Office, City Hall and the local paper (they took the students' picture). We walked over bridges and walked by the schools and talked about a lot of things that are not paid for by tax money.

I don't know about you, but even in this horrid economy with unethical public officials and the like, I still think we have it pretty good in these United States! God Bless America!

My personal theme for this year is Eat Less Move More. Today I succeeded! I've walked over 14,000 steps/6.5 miles. Not bad for a "day in the classroom."

Note: this is not an all inclusive list of things our taxes pay for. Just a few of the things we talked about.