To me, a thousand is a big number … as in … say … a thousand dollars. A million is hard for me to imagine. And if I had a billion dollars, I probably couldn’t spend it all in the time I have left in this world. Plus, I can’t think of anything I’d want to buy. A great portion of my billion dollars would go toward helping others, to good works.
Now let’s try to imagine some really big numbers. The federal budget deficit … 1.4 trillion dollars last year … is predicted at 1.47 trillion this year … and 1.42 trillion next year. That means more than 40 cents of every dollar the federal government spends will be borrowed.
At what point do such numbers become meaningless … entirely incomprehensible?
Someone must begin explaining what all this horrendous debt means to each individual American. Explain to me – someone – what happens when the debt reaches the tipping point. Make it personal.
The number is so big that in the Wichita Eagle’s headline it said the deficit was “projected to near $1.5 billion” in 2010.
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Our thought for today is from Groucho Marx:
“A child of five would understand this. Send someone to fetch a child of five.”
Like just about every American, I believe capitalism works … and business should be free to innovate and operate. We’ve all seen great examples of people with new ideas or better ideas who have taken risks, worked hard, and succeeded in their ventures.
Last week President Obama signed into law an overhaul of banking and Wall Street regulations … a massive, two-thousand-page document. It’s designed to make sure we don’t see another, similar financial meltdown in the future, and to protect consumers when powerful traders and bankers go off track.
The government reaction was predictable. Politicians too-often respond to a problem with a one-size-fits-all solution. In other words, they overdo it.
My belief is that markets need a gentle touch when something goes askew, not the smashing of a sledge hammer. The unscrupulous, unethical, and just-plain dishonest found a way to game the system … and now millions are suffering.
Changing the rules doesn’t change the fact that not a single person has been prosecuted for any crime.
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Our thought for today is from H. L. Mencken:
“There is always a well-known solution to every human problem – neat, plausible, and wrong.”
The Shirley Sherrod story should be a huge warning flag for all of us who report the news … and for people who swallow their favorite blog or news outlet’s offerings wholesale. In journalism, haste can be harmful.
There is great pressure to be first on any story. And in today’s rapid news cycle, there is not much time to track down as many facts as possible. A blogger with a political agenda put a video clip online to illustrate his personal view … but he failed to show all of the clip and missed the truth of the story: that Sherrod was telling an anecdote to illustrate her own growth in dealing with racial issues.
The Agriculture Secretary has apologized for demanding Sherrod’s resignation … as has the N-A-A-C-P.
I think Democratic strategist Donna Brazile got it right when she blamed “this rapid news cycle, the White House, the administration, the N-A-A-C-P, the conservative noise machine, the liberal noise machine. We’ve got to learn to calm the waters”.
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Our thought for today is from James Gordon Bennett:
“Remember, son, many a good story has been ruined by over-verification.”
He came to Shelley and me as a puppy in the summer of 1997 … a rat terrier with markings on his back that looked like angel wings and a four-leaf clover. I was out of work and needed some good fortune, so we named him Lucky.
He was smart and a bit goofy … once ingesting my wife’s wedding ring … which he subsequently gave back. We took him walking with us and he ran with me in Riverside Park nearly every day for several years. He was tough. I’ve seen him make other, bigger dogs back down … including a pit bull and two big Dalmatians at once.
I taught him to lie down, sit up, and roll over. Although he was sometimes a monumental pain in the neck, most of the time he was a terrific companion and friend.
Last week he grew lethargic, stopped eating. The vet told us his kidneys and pancreas were shutting down. Old age had caught up with Lucky.
Saying goodbye was one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do.
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Our thought for today is from Roger Caras:
“Dogs are not our whole life, but they make our lives whole.”
The weekly Wichita City Council meeting begins with an “invocation”. It’s actually a prayer … usually a Christian prayer … but other religions have been included as well.
This week, Vickie Stangl – President of the Great Plains Chapter of Americans United for Separation of Church and State – told the city council:”There is no good reason to use public time to express private belief.” She also said: “If the council continues to offer invocations from only one small segment of Wichita’s rich religious spectrum, this would be an endorsement of religion and a violation of church and state”.
But the council’s invocation sometimes has been delivered by non-Christian believers. Council member Sue Schlapp took exception to Ms Stangl’s comments, saying: “I believe all good flows from our heavenly father and I’d like to bless this meeting this morning”.
I believe in the separation of church and state, as defined in the First Amendment … “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof”. I don’t think religion and politics mix well at all.
However, I don’t agree that the city council invocation violates the separation of church and state principle.
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Our thought for today is from Abraham Lincoln:
“We trust, sir, that God is on our side. It is more important to know that we are on God’s side.”
A U-S-A Today/Gallup poll finds that a majority of retirees expect their current Social Security benefits to be cut. U-S-A Today calls that “a dramatic increase in the number who hold that view”. And a record six out of ten non-retirees predict Social Security won’t be able to pay them benefits when they stop working.
U-S-A Today reports that skepticism “is highest among the youngest workers. Three-fourths of those 18 to 34 don’t expect to get a Social Security check when they retire.”
The Social Security’s trustees predict the system will begin running in the red in 2016 … as the Baby Boom generation retires … and the trust will be exhausted in 2037. Now, remember … that prediction is based on current levels of funding and benefits. The picture could brighten considerably if benefits were slowed or the growth of payouts slightly reduced … if the payroll tax was increased a bit … and if the wage cap on payroll taxes was eliminated.
The Social Security problem could be solved without a great deal of pain. Just as important – I think – is keeping the government from raiding the Social Security trust fund and leaving behind worthless I-O-Us.
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Our thought for today is from John Sladek:
“The future, according to some scientists, will be exactly like the past, only far more expensive.”
The 18-member, bipartisan National Debt Commission may discover it has a relatively easy job. The basics of our exploding national debt problem are simple enough for a child to comprehend: our government is handing out more money than it’s taking in. Beyond that, the commission will conclude that spending needs to be curtailed and revenues need to increase … through higher fees and taxes … along with the elimination of some tax breaks.
So-called “entitlements” are the 800-pound gorilla that will turn the politicians into sniveling cowards. No one wants to touch Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, or prescription drugs. Truth is … in my opinion … we’ll have to “touch” all of them.
Someone’s going to have to tell Americans that the pay-outs will not be quite so generous in the future and we may have to raise the premiums. On Social Security, we need to stop taking I-O-Us from Congress.
Remedies for the debt problem have been discussed for years, but they’ve been avoided because politicians don’t want to ask Americans to endure any challenge or discomfort whatsoever.
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Our thought for today is from Artemus Ward:
“I have given two cousins to war and I stand ready to sacrifice my wife’s brother.”
National Debt Commission leaders Alan Simpson and Erskine Bowles painted a gloomy picture of the national debt when they spoke to the National Governors Association recently. There was talk of curtailing popular tax breaks, such as the home mortgage deduction and instituting a financial trigger mechanism for gaining Medicare coverage. The nation’s total federal debt next year is expected to exceed 14 trillion dollars … about $47,000 for every U.S. resident.
According to U-S-A Today: “Simpson said the entirety of the nation’s current discretionary spending is consumed by the Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security programs”.
China alone currently holds $920 billion in U.S. I.O.Us. “Bowles said if the U.S. makes no changes it will be spending $2 trillion by 2020 just for interest on the national debt”.
Simpson and Bowles give every indication that the bi-partisan18-member commission will recommend some big changes in the way our government does business. Some of those recommendations are likely to be painful.
Are the American people ready for the challenge? They will be, when the problem is properly explained.
Are the politicians up for the challenge? That may be another matter.
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Our thought for today is from Noela Evans:
“Challenge is a dragon with a gift in its mouth. Tame the dragon and the gift is yours.”
The new Kansas seatbelt law says it is now a “primary” violation. That means law enforcement officers can pull you over if they spot somebody in your vehicle not properly restrained. They don’t need to pull you over for some other infraction before citing you for a seatbelt violation.
The state fine is five dollars. Last week the Wichita City Council adopted the new state law, but retained its tougher penalty for a seatbelt violation: a 30-dollar fine.
Some say this is giving the state too much power, that our personal safety must be our own responsibility. I respect the argument, but disagree. Driving is a privilege, not a “right”.
In recent years we news people have seen increasing numbers of “rollover” accidents. There are more “high profile” vehicles on the street, meaning trucks and S-U-Vs. Many of the injuries are associated with “ejections”; someone is tossed out of the vehicle and often run over.
Sorry for the inconvenience … sorry for the loss of freedom … but I agree with tough laws for seatbelt violators.
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Our thought for today is from George Bernard Shaw:
“Liberty means responsibility. That is why most men dread it.”
Wichita City Manager Robert Layton has released his proposed budget for 2011. It includes eight million dollars in spending cuts. Most of the savings comes from job cuts, consolidations, and furloughs.
At the same time, Layton proposes adding $600,000 for street repairs; you have to fill those potholes.
The City is looking at raising water and sewer rates by 8% in January to help pay for the aquifer recharge project and other infrastructure projects.
The city manager is NOT asking for an increase in the property tax rate. In fact, this is the 17th consecutive year the City of Wichita has not raised its share of local property taxes. Individual taxes may have gone up, through increased value of property … but the tax rate has not been raised by the City in 17 years. I think that demonstrates fiscal responsibility.
The City will retain basic services … enough cops and firefighters … and hold the line on taxes.
The budget is up for public debate with passage set for August 10th.
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Our thought for today is from Aristotle:
“A great city is not to be confounded with a populous one.”
