Since local blogger Roch 101 enjoys fact-checking N&R letters to the editor, he should have a field day with this howler from Siler City reader Sandi Campbell, which appears under the headline ‘Years of cutting taxes have hobbled California’:

California is a microcosm of what 30 years of relentless tax-cutting brings. Thirty years ago it had the nation’s No. 1 public school system. Now, it is near No. 48.

Its public college system was top-tier. Thousands of innovative, high-paying jobs in aerospace, computers and engineering were created there because they knew how to invest in their people. Now they’re cutting classes and staff and raising tuition for in-state students.

How many potential engineers, scientists and innovators will not be educated because of the short-sightedness of those who don’t understand that the “free market” isn’t free? Human capital is not just a wasted expense.

We blame “government interference” for our plight. But regulations and programs to help the poor and working classes better their lot are not the problem.

The fact is there simply aren’t enough taxes to cover the California’s runaway spending, especially on entitlements and support for illegal immigrants. What’s really sad is several other states have the same problem, and the federal government is quickly following suit.