[Vigilanteman]

In a previous life, I worked for an quasi-agency of the county government. I got fired for reducing their dependence on taxpayer funding from one-third to one-sixth of the total budget while nearly doubling gross revenue.

While that wasn't their official excuse, it was the actual reason. They didn't like the idea of us moving toward a self-sustaining model.

I was young, foolish, idealistic, only 33 years old and honestly thought I was doing a good thing by consuming fewer taxpayer resources.

[morphing libertarian]

Did not get fired, just ridiculed.

I proposed that some of our Youth Authority inmates had parents who could pay for some of the costs of their incarceration.

A year later they came up with the state victims of violent crime fund, which inmates paid into.

Same/same

I had ears that in some pleas you had to pay $90 a month to be on probation, if you were working. circa 1986.