A Nation of Fools by Peary Perry
“It’s Alive…It’s Alive..”
To start us off this week, I offer the following quote :
"The problem is, and always has been, that once government programs and agencies are created, they quickly become sacrosanct and virtually impossible to destroy. As Ronald Reagan said, 'Government programs, once launched, never disappear ... a government bureau is the nearest thing to eternal life we'll ever see on this earth!' So it doesn't matter that the Department of Education doesn't educate, or that the Department of Energy doesn't produce energy. It's government and, thus, by definition good in the minds of the Washington establishment." --columnist Cal Thomas
Truer words were never spoken. One has to wonder if anyone, anyone out there has a complete understanding of just how many agencies are in our government? Or better yet, what the functions and annual progress indices are for any of these agencies. I was surfing the internet the other day and ran across an interesting federal agency called the FLC. Never heard of it? No wonder, here is a description of what it is and what it does:
“The Federal Laboratory Consortium for Technology Transfer (FLC) is the nationwide network of federal laboratories that provides the forum to develop strategies and opportunities for linking laboratory mission technologies and expertise with the marketplace.”
I’m certain this made you feel better didn’t it? How many government employees are working at this place? What is their budget and what do they produce or accomplish? How can we find out if we wanted to do so? You can’t look at their website and see any of this information. Public companies post this kind of information on their annual reports and websites for the entire world to see, but I bet you’d have to file a freedom of information request to see anything about this agency. I realize my question might be broad, but private enterprise companies are judged based upon their annual performance. Generally this consists of something as simple as …did we bring in more revenue than we spent in expenses? It’s all fine to discuss such things as these next couple of items (from their mission statement):
• Promote and facilitate the full range of technical cooperation between the federal laboratories and America's large and small businesses, academia, state and local governments, and federal agencies.
• Provide direct services to member laboratories and agencies in support of their technology transfer efforts.
• Enhance efforts that couple federal laboratories with American industry and small businesses to strengthen the nation's economic competitiveness.
But my question is how much actually got accomplished in any given year to improve the gross domestic product of this nation by increasing any one business segment? If you are spending millions each year and have no quantitative method of assessing your effectiveness, then what is the purpose of your existence in the first place?
How many agencies such as this one do we have in this country? Who reviews them after they have been completed to determine if they are really making any headway with their programs or are they just engaging in pointless watermelon talk? Watermelon talk is a local term for; well you know what it is, don’t you?
I once bid on a government contracting job that employed about 50 people and had a budget of several million a year. My bid came in at about ½ the cost and used about ½ the number of employees. The bid was rejected and the entire process stayed with the municipality. In an after action meeting I inquired why the government needed twice as many employees as it would take for me to do the job. Their answer was that the government supervisors kept asking for more employees to get the job done on time. No one had ever asked if the employees were being efficient with their time (they weren’t) or if the processes could have been improved upon (it could have been) or was anyone actually looking at performance on a regular basis (no one was) so their budget requirements keep being increased year after year.
If you and I ran a private business the same way the government runs their business, we would have been broke a long time ago. But then isn’t that the current status of our national debt? Fiscal responsibility should be more than an election year slogan; it should be a mission statement.
Comments go to www.pearyperry.com
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
Thursday, October 14, 2010
Talking out of both sides of their mouths.....
A Nation of Fools by Peary Perry
“Talking out of both sides of their mouths”
The Boston tea party of 1773 was committed by a group of angry colonists disguised as Indians or Native Americans… if I need to be politically correct. These die hard citizens were rightfully disturbed over the increase in taxation from England along with a host of other unwelcomed rules and regulations. As you know from history, this is one of the pivotal events leading up to the Revolutionary War and the establishment of the United States as an independent and sovereign country.
It now seems as if history is once again repeating itself by the creation of a new, but different tea party in our country. This time it is somewhat different from the first one.
Tea party opponents try to uncover the so called ‘disguise’ of the members of this new political movement and seem to be stumped because they cannot find its core or even its leaders. It’s almost as if all of the members are still disguised and are hidden from view. In the minds of those opposed to the tea party concept, the members of the tea party are still running around refusing to show their true identities.
Nothing could be further from the truth.
What’s humorous about this situation is that none of the members are hidden at all; no …they are all in plain sight and walking freely among us. They are simply us. They are our neighbors, our relatives and our friends. They come from all walks of life and are members of all political parties. They are not hiding at all, which is what makes their detection all that more difficult.
I say again….History repeats itself. It is not uncommon for those in opposition to something to put labels and disparage any form of things unknown. In this instance the tea party movement to the established political parties (of both major parties) is an unknown. The major parties simply do not know how to react to a grass roots movement that has only been in existence for a short time and has no central leadership or even organization behind it. They keep looking for something that does not exist.
It simply is what it is.
This, as you might well imagine seems baffling to career politicians. They are used to everything being done on a quid pro quo basis. The theory that you would actually do something or be a part of something without having some sort of ulterior motive is beyond their normal range of comprehension. You and I both have witnessed our elected representatives going at each other tooth and nail at 10am and then praising each other at cocktail parties at 10pm. All in a days work for them. Their lives are lives of compromise and give and take depending upon what each one of them can give or take. From what I’ve seen, very little consideration is given to those of us who have voted to send someone to Congress to work on our behalf. No, the normal behavior is to do what works for their purposes and then if there is anything left over for us then it may or may not trickle down to our level.
Is it any wonder that the average American is sick and tired of this farce and is now ready for some real changes, not just the same old tired campaign slogans we have been hearing for years and years? We all know the potholes and roads get fixed just before elections, but what about all the rest of the time? Why can’t our government be more responsive to our nation’s ills and problems when there is no election to be considered?
No, our problem is that since the 1700’s our nation has become more and more diverse and in an effort to win the hearts and minds of voters, the politicians have tried their best to carve out a piece of the pie for each individual group. Our growth over these past 200 plus years makes that almost impossible. We are too complicated and diverse to tailor our government so that each and every one of our needs is addressed by the state. Perhaps it was possible in 1773, but certainly it isn’t possible now. We need to get back to basics and address the issues that are of concern to all of us, not just a few.
The sole purpose, in my opinion, of the rise of the tea party movement is to unite people across this land who are seeking the solutions to our common problems. The unity being expressed by the growth of this movement should be applauded and encouraged, not spoken about as if it were a secret society.
It is no secret; it is the will of the people. It was no different in Boston in 1773.
Comments go to www.pearyperry.com
“Talking out of both sides of their mouths”
The Boston tea party of 1773 was committed by a group of angry colonists disguised as Indians or Native Americans… if I need to be politically correct. These die hard citizens were rightfully disturbed over the increase in taxation from England along with a host of other unwelcomed rules and regulations. As you know from history, this is one of the pivotal events leading up to the Revolutionary War and the establishment of the United States as an independent and sovereign country.
It now seems as if history is once again repeating itself by the creation of a new, but different tea party in our country. This time it is somewhat different from the first one.
Tea party opponents try to uncover the so called ‘disguise’ of the members of this new political movement and seem to be stumped because they cannot find its core or even its leaders. It’s almost as if all of the members are still disguised and are hidden from view. In the minds of those opposed to the tea party concept, the members of the tea party are still running around refusing to show their true identities.
Nothing could be further from the truth.
What’s humorous about this situation is that none of the members are hidden at all; no …they are all in plain sight and walking freely among us. They are simply us. They are our neighbors, our relatives and our friends. They come from all walks of life and are members of all political parties. They are not hiding at all, which is what makes their detection all that more difficult.
I say again….History repeats itself. It is not uncommon for those in opposition to something to put labels and disparage any form of things unknown. In this instance the tea party movement to the established political parties (of both major parties) is an unknown. The major parties simply do not know how to react to a grass roots movement that has only been in existence for a short time and has no central leadership or even organization behind it. They keep looking for something that does not exist.
It simply is what it is.
This, as you might well imagine seems baffling to career politicians. They are used to everything being done on a quid pro quo basis. The theory that you would actually do something or be a part of something without having some sort of ulterior motive is beyond their normal range of comprehension. You and I both have witnessed our elected representatives going at each other tooth and nail at 10am and then praising each other at cocktail parties at 10pm. All in a days work for them. Their lives are lives of compromise and give and take depending upon what each one of them can give or take. From what I’ve seen, very little consideration is given to those of us who have voted to send someone to Congress to work on our behalf. No, the normal behavior is to do what works for their purposes and then if there is anything left over for us then it may or may not trickle down to our level.
Is it any wonder that the average American is sick and tired of this farce and is now ready for some real changes, not just the same old tired campaign slogans we have been hearing for years and years? We all know the potholes and roads get fixed just before elections, but what about all the rest of the time? Why can’t our government be more responsive to our nation’s ills and problems when there is no election to be considered?
No, our problem is that since the 1700’s our nation has become more and more diverse and in an effort to win the hearts and minds of voters, the politicians have tried their best to carve out a piece of the pie for each individual group. Our growth over these past 200 plus years makes that almost impossible. We are too complicated and diverse to tailor our government so that each and every one of our needs is addressed by the state. Perhaps it was possible in 1773, but certainly it isn’t possible now. We need to get back to basics and address the issues that are of concern to all of us, not just a few.
The sole purpose, in my opinion, of the rise of the tea party movement is to unite people across this land who are seeking the solutions to our common problems. The unity being expressed by the growth of this movement should be applauded and encouraged, not spoken about as if it were a secret society.
It is no secret; it is the will of the people. It was no different in Boston in 1773.
Comments go to www.pearyperry.com
Tuesday, October 5, 2010
'Run...the voters are after us!!!'
A Nation of Fools by Peary Perry
(sign up for new columns at www.pearyperry.com)
‘Run…the voters are after us!!!!!’
I suppose I’m just naïve or something, but I always thought being a member of the United States Congress was an honorable position and one we should all look up to for guidance and inspiration.
Having said that, I’m of the opinion that those who run away from adversity and challenges are often called by less than inspirational names….such as cowards or ‘yellow’ or shirkers or (and I love this old word)…a poltroon.
So as in the course of any major military battle, since recorded history began, the commanding force that ran from the challenge at hand was deemed to be cowardly due to their actions. Thus we can safely attach that same label to any and all who shirk from their respective responsibilities, can’t we?
Obviously, there is a point to all of this bit of explanation… and that is to illustrate the actions of our current federal congress that recently fled the nation’s capital leaving a multitude of tasks unfinished. Several members advised that the session had … ‘just ran out of time’… before the fall break. Small wonder that they didn’t have time to convene on really important national items, but did manage to allocate forty minutes of their time towards considering whether or not to recognize the Washington Stealth Lacrosse team for its winning season. Nothing against a winning team, but I do think we have larger fish to fry, don’t you?
So, the Congress packed up its bags and quietly slunk out of town and back home for the remaining few weeks before the 2010 mid term elections. Or perhaps hop on another taxpayer funder junket to Paris (for info on the Islamic world), Dublin (Information on US/Russian relations) or Punta de Mita Resort in Mexico (for conference on South American policies). Oh and be sure and invite your spouse, since they come in handy at the embassy parties given in your honor. At taxpayer expense, naturally.
What a wonderful life they have. Great benefits, excellent retirement options, good travel, better than average pay, lengthy vacations and multiple opportunities for private enterprise all at someone else’s expense. All you have to do is make big promises and get yourself elected, then make more promises to get reelected…..do this a number of times and you are on easy street for the remainder of your life.
Of course every once in awhile some of those nasty old voters may want to bring you to task for running away from the very things they elected you to do for them.
Such as you did this past week, when you left town before you:
1. Told anyone how you would vote on the upcoming decision to extend or deny the Bush tax credits (due to expire on December 31st)
2. Enacted and passed a budget for the forthcoming year. Choosing instead to just vote on a stopgap measure for the next two months.
3. Failed to consider ethics charges against two house members who are up for re-election as the outcome of their trial might endanger their reelection chances. (You think?)
These items as well as slew of others just as important were left hanging until after the mid term elections. So none of us in this country actually know what our budget is going to be or what our tax rates will be until after we elect or not elect those who were sworn to represent us.
A fine kettle of fish this is.
The entire country is basically frozen in place, afraid to jump in any direction because no one knows what the Congress is going to do….and they won’t tell us. No sane business man or woman wants to lay their lives and fortunes on the line by building a new plant or facility and hiring more workers without being able to calculate their overhead costs.
Who can tell me right now what any healthcare plan for any of my current employees or future employees will be or might be? No one, that’s who.
Who can tell me what my taxes will be in the coming year? No one, that’s who.
Who can tell me if the person I vote for will even be my representative (if mine is one of those currently involved in the ethics investigation) after their ethics trials are held? No one, that’s who.
Run, run away and keep on going…..then perhaps we can elect honest and responsible people to look after our affairs after you are long gone. Good riddance and don’t come back.
We don’t need cowards, we need real Americans.
Comments go to www.pearyperry.com
(sign up for new columns at www.pearyperry.com)
‘Run…the voters are after us!!!!!’
I suppose I’m just naïve or something, but I always thought being a member of the United States Congress was an honorable position and one we should all look up to for guidance and inspiration.
Having said that, I’m of the opinion that those who run away from adversity and challenges are often called by less than inspirational names….such as cowards or ‘yellow’ or shirkers or (and I love this old word)…a poltroon.
So as in the course of any major military battle, since recorded history began, the commanding force that ran from the challenge at hand was deemed to be cowardly due to their actions. Thus we can safely attach that same label to any and all who shirk from their respective responsibilities, can’t we?
Obviously, there is a point to all of this bit of explanation… and that is to illustrate the actions of our current federal congress that recently fled the nation’s capital leaving a multitude of tasks unfinished. Several members advised that the session had … ‘just ran out of time’… before the fall break. Small wonder that they didn’t have time to convene on really important national items, but did manage to allocate forty minutes of their time towards considering whether or not to recognize the Washington Stealth Lacrosse team for its winning season. Nothing against a winning team, but I do think we have larger fish to fry, don’t you?
So, the Congress packed up its bags and quietly slunk out of town and back home for the remaining few weeks before the 2010 mid term elections. Or perhaps hop on another taxpayer funder junket to Paris (for info on the Islamic world), Dublin (Information on US/Russian relations) or Punta de Mita Resort in Mexico (for conference on South American policies). Oh and be sure and invite your spouse, since they come in handy at the embassy parties given in your honor. At taxpayer expense, naturally.
What a wonderful life they have. Great benefits, excellent retirement options, good travel, better than average pay, lengthy vacations and multiple opportunities for private enterprise all at someone else’s expense. All you have to do is make big promises and get yourself elected, then make more promises to get reelected…..do this a number of times and you are on easy street for the remainder of your life.
Of course every once in awhile some of those nasty old voters may want to bring you to task for running away from the very things they elected you to do for them.
Such as you did this past week, when you left town before you:
1. Told anyone how you would vote on the upcoming decision to extend or deny the Bush tax credits (due to expire on December 31st)
2. Enacted and passed a budget for the forthcoming year. Choosing instead to just vote on a stopgap measure for the next two months.
3. Failed to consider ethics charges against two house members who are up for re-election as the outcome of their trial might endanger their reelection chances. (You think?)
These items as well as slew of others just as important were left hanging until after the mid term elections. So none of us in this country actually know what our budget is going to be or what our tax rates will be until after we elect or not elect those who were sworn to represent us.
A fine kettle of fish this is.
The entire country is basically frozen in place, afraid to jump in any direction because no one knows what the Congress is going to do….and they won’t tell us. No sane business man or woman wants to lay their lives and fortunes on the line by building a new plant or facility and hiring more workers without being able to calculate their overhead costs.
Who can tell me right now what any healthcare plan for any of my current employees or future employees will be or might be? No one, that’s who.
Who can tell me what my taxes will be in the coming year? No one, that’s who.
Who can tell me if the person I vote for will even be my representative (if mine is one of those currently involved in the ethics investigation) after their ethics trials are held? No one, that’s who.
Run, run away and keep on going…..then perhaps we can elect honest and responsible people to look after our affairs after you are long gone. Good riddance and don’t come back.
We don’t need cowards, we need real Americans.
Comments go to www.pearyperry.com
Sunday, September 26, 2010
Send In the Clowns.....
A Nation of Fools by Peary Perry
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“Send in the clowns……”
I really must make it a point next week to run down (not literally) my postman (post-person? postal employee?) and ask him (her? or whatever) what happened to my application for benefits under the Temporary Assistance for Needy Family Program. Surely it must be stuck in their (his, hers, whatever) mail sack or bag or whatever they call the thing they use to carry the mail. Forgive me if I am not PC enough to get all of the terminology correct, I’m doing the best I can.
You didn’t get your notice either? What’s up with this? Maybe we were absent the day the notice went out…..you think?
Not surprising, no one in our neck of the woods has heard of it either. It must be some sort of regional program.
A little bit of explanation. The Temporary Assistance….let’s just call it the TANF program was part of the stimulus program enacted last year. It was designed to provide some benefits and assistance to our citizens who were attempting to obtain government jobs. So, included in last years stimulus package was this little noticed program which has doled out over 4.3 billion bucks to some 120,000 of our citizens. Lucky them.
Don’t bother to get your calculator out, I’ll do it for you, it comes out to a little over $40,000 per person.
Here’s what the money was to be used for:
Basic assistance- (I could have used this and you probably could as well) I suppose that’s for food, gasoline, tires, clothes, a new flat screen TV…you know all of the things that we need to live on….doesn’t seem to be many restrictions or definition as to exactly what the word ‘basic’ actually means…but those are detail and who cares about details when you are handing our free money?
Emergency expenses-(I could have used this and you probably could as well) this money was to go for such things as rent and utilities. I have those. I could have used money for this. Especially if it was free. My electricity bill is way too high, and if the Queen of England is trying to get her light bill partially paid for by the government, why shouldn’t I? I wonder if she remembers to turn out the lights in her castles as she moves from room to room? Probably not.
Subsidize payroll on jobs- (I could have used this and you probably could as well)...this is a great way to spend government funds. You just go into the private sector and pay for a certain portion of an employer’s payroll. Talk about a boost to the economy. Why the governor of Mississippi (a republican... no less) says it helped his state keep 3,200 jobs. All an employer had to do was keep the person on the payroll for at least six months. What a deal. I really like this one the best. Let’s say I’m in the construction business and you own another company and we are both bidding on a contract. You, poor fellow, did not get notice of the subsidy program, so shame on you. If some portion of my labor costs are being subsidized by this government program, whose bid is probably going to come in lower? I know you readers, you can figure this out. Why… it would probably be mine since I have lower cost associated with the project. I win; you lose…thanks to Uncle Sam and this wonderful free money.
Free money….? Would someone, anyone be kind enough to explain to me where this free money actually comes from in the first place?
Is this the model of efficiency we need for economic growth in this country? Unfair competition for some, but not all? Federal programs being instituted to a select few who just happen to be on the inside and being made aware of what is available?
I know, the naysayers will say that we all can look for these programs, they are open to everyone. You just have to know how to look.
Sorry, but I don’t have time to look…I’m too busy working to pay my utility bills, my mortgage and taxes so you guys in congress can give away more money or pay for clowns like Steven Colbert to entertain you for a day. At least he is honest enough to admit he is a clown, none of you people will do so.
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Tuesday, September 21, 2010
"All of me...why not take all of me?"
A Nation of Fools by Peary Perry
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“All of me…why not take all of me?”
My reading habits range all over the place. I tend to stick with history but I’ll get into some period and stay there until I can take no more. In the past I’ve ranged through Caesar, American Indians, Mexico, the Civil War, World War II, you name it and I’ve probably read about it at one time or another.
Right now, I’m into the French Revolution. Or I should say I’m about out of the French Revolution. There is just so much you can cram into your head at one time about this period in time. I’ve had enough of Louis XVI’s last moments, but then again I’m sure they were painful for him as well.
What is of interest to me about this era is that the following was occurring in France when the revolution got started:
- high unemployment
- massive government debt
- no representation of the people in government affairs
- disregard of the laws by government officials
- corruption by government officials
- poor economy
- repeated lies concerning the economy spread by the government
- inept finance ministers
Now, consider that this was in the late 1700’s. Sound familiar?
I thought you might.
I do not advocate the extremes which were displayed in France during the revolution, but you can certainly understand the anger of the French people who basically saw themselves as being shut out of life’s little pleasures by a overbearing and insensitive government. Having one set of laws for the wealthy and the clergy and another set for the common people would tend to make anyone question the true value of any government, whether it was two hundred years ago or today.
Which is my point today.
Here we are in a terrible recession, which by the way, has ended according to the reports put out yesterday. According to the latest information from the White House, we are all much better off than we realize. I suppose they think we’re all just too stupid to know the price of bread…oh wait that was in 1789, not 2010….my bad.
Millions of us are without any jobs or any hope of securing a job. The unemployment figures do not represent the total number of Americans without work since they do not track those who have given up their job searches entirely. Then we suffer the indignity of having (positive) figures reported to us with great fanfare and then changed to true (negative) numbers months later. As if no one would know or remember.
So now we are faced with a dilemma, raise taxes or cut expenses. In the past this wasn’t much of an issue since our congress (both democrats and republican) just raised taxes as if there was no tomorrow.
Tomorrow is arriving and we cannot support the debt with our present economy. We must make clear, decisive decisions and do so now. Budget reduction does not mean a reduction in your annual budget request over your budget request from last year. It means making do with less money than you did last year. It means cutting costs and becoming more efficient. It means it’s time to get serious. The tax man cannot keep coming forever. At some point in time everyone will run out of steam and revert back to self preservation and individual substance. Google up ‘survival food’ if you doubt what I am saying.
Time will out as to whether or not our elected officials pay any attention to us. My gut feeling is that they won’t. They seem to say the correct things in order to get elected, and then go their own way once they are ushered into their offices.
It was happening in ancient Greece, Imperial Rome, pre-revolutionary France and is going on today in our country.
Unless we take more time to choose our elected representation than we do what we watch on television we will never escape this downward spiral of our society.
Comments go to www.pearyperry.com
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
Coming soon...Tax on air...
A Nation of Fools by Peary Perry
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“Coming soon….tax on air!!!!”
Every day in this country brings us new joy, doesn’t it? You can never say you are bored with what our government is doing to us on a daily basis can you? Most of the things that will apply to each and every one of us are hidden somewhere in some sort of legislation that gets passed and put into effect without any input or commentary by any of us poor working stiffs.
So, we are expected to be cheerful and sing as we trudge off to the mines each day, hi-ho, hi-ho it’s off to work with go. Sometimes I begin to believe our elected officials really think all of us will get our greatest rewards when we die rather than anytime we may have here on planet Earth. Why should we have any pleasure or fun? They seem to revel in theft, corruption and just plain stupidity each and every day of the week.
Hardly a day goes by that we do not hear of some legislator in some part of the country caught again with their hand in our cookie jar. I don’t know about you, but frankly I’m sick of hearing elected officials tell us that … ‘The rules weren’t clear’ or ‘ I didn’t understand that stealing was not allowed…’ We aren’t dealing with second graders here, we are dealing with grown men and women who supposedly are astute enough to get elected and placed into positions of trust to represent our interests, not their own.
Well, enough about this issue…..
Let’s talk about taxes. Several items have been brought to my mind this past week.
One is the tax on gasoline. Most of the state governments as well as the federal government are talking about raising the tax on a gallon of gasoline. Why? Well it’s very simple, see we are driving less as well as buying vehicles that get better gas mileage than they used to do so the total amount of gasoline being consumed is actually going down due to our being more efficient. You’d think this was a good thing, wouldn’t you? But no, the government (both local and federal) see tax revenues declining due to our being more efficient and therefore they need to increase the amount of tax to equal the revenue they once were receiving. So, using this analogy I suppose when we are able to buy vehicles that get 100 miles to the gallon, we will be paying more in taxes since the government still needs the revenue. Sounds right to me, how about you?
The same explanation is going for our electricity providers who are seeing a reduction in total usage due to better insulation and more energy saving appliances. Got to keep those tax revenues up no matter how efficient we become. Reduction of governmental expense seems to be a foreign concept, doesn’t it?
If you want to look at a harbinger of what could happen in this country you should study the current economic conditions taking place in Greece. This country is in serious trouble and the future doesn’t look well for them any way they go. If they cut government spending in order to reduce their debt, then tax revenues will fall causing more spending to be required to be cut resulting in less tax revenues and on and on. Spending more government money creates more debt so this isn’t the answer as well. They are in a no-win situation due to their massive and unsustainable debt load.
Our local government borrowed a huge amount of money to build a rail system which has resulted in less than one fourth of the expected daily passengers. Since the fare revenue is so drastically reduced, the rail administrators came up with a brilliant plan. Increase the fares to cover the operational shortfall. So, instead of lowering the fares (basically think of it as a tax) to encourage more riders on a daily basis, they discourage riders by increasing the fares. I suppose if only one person rode each day, then untimely that person would be charged the entire operational fee for the entire system.
The problem ( as I see it) is that the majority of persons running our government have never operated a business or had to cover payroll, pay taxes or deal with employees, banks and the IRS. Once you have done this, you begin to understand what it takes to actually manage something in order to remain in business. Governments have no profit motivation since their source of revenue is virtually endless. Opening up credit and reducing the amount of governmental interference is the quickest and surest way to get the economy on the run once again.
Otherwise we end up like Greece, looking for new ways to tax the citizens...such as making us pay for the air we breathe.
Comments go to www.pearyperry.com
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“Coming soon….tax on air!!!!”
Every day in this country brings us new joy, doesn’t it? You can never say you are bored with what our government is doing to us on a daily basis can you? Most of the things that will apply to each and every one of us are hidden somewhere in some sort of legislation that gets passed and put into effect without any input or commentary by any of us poor working stiffs.
So, we are expected to be cheerful and sing as we trudge off to the mines each day, hi-ho, hi-ho it’s off to work with go. Sometimes I begin to believe our elected officials really think all of us will get our greatest rewards when we die rather than anytime we may have here on planet Earth. Why should we have any pleasure or fun? They seem to revel in theft, corruption and just plain stupidity each and every day of the week.
Hardly a day goes by that we do not hear of some legislator in some part of the country caught again with their hand in our cookie jar. I don’t know about you, but frankly I’m sick of hearing elected officials tell us that … ‘The rules weren’t clear’ or ‘ I didn’t understand that stealing was not allowed…’ We aren’t dealing with second graders here, we are dealing with grown men and women who supposedly are astute enough to get elected and placed into positions of trust to represent our interests, not their own.
Well, enough about this issue…..
Let’s talk about taxes. Several items have been brought to my mind this past week.
One is the tax on gasoline. Most of the state governments as well as the federal government are talking about raising the tax on a gallon of gasoline. Why? Well it’s very simple, see we are driving less as well as buying vehicles that get better gas mileage than they used to do so the total amount of gasoline being consumed is actually going down due to our being more efficient. You’d think this was a good thing, wouldn’t you? But no, the government (both local and federal) see tax revenues declining due to our being more efficient and therefore they need to increase the amount of tax to equal the revenue they once were receiving. So, using this analogy I suppose when we are able to buy vehicles that get 100 miles to the gallon, we will be paying more in taxes since the government still needs the revenue. Sounds right to me, how about you?
The same explanation is going for our electricity providers who are seeing a reduction in total usage due to better insulation and more energy saving appliances. Got to keep those tax revenues up no matter how efficient we become. Reduction of governmental expense seems to be a foreign concept, doesn’t it?
If you want to look at a harbinger of what could happen in this country you should study the current economic conditions taking place in Greece. This country is in serious trouble and the future doesn’t look well for them any way they go. If they cut government spending in order to reduce their debt, then tax revenues will fall causing more spending to be required to be cut resulting in less tax revenues and on and on. Spending more government money creates more debt so this isn’t the answer as well. They are in a no-win situation due to their massive and unsustainable debt load.
Our local government borrowed a huge amount of money to build a rail system which has resulted in less than one fourth of the expected daily passengers. Since the fare revenue is so drastically reduced, the rail administrators came up with a brilliant plan. Increase the fares to cover the operational shortfall. So, instead of lowering the fares (basically think of it as a tax) to encourage more riders on a daily basis, they discourage riders by increasing the fares. I suppose if only one person rode each day, then untimely that person would be charged the entire operational fee for the entire system.
The problem ( as I see it) is that the majority of persons running our government have never operated a business or had to cover payroll, pay taxes or deal with employees, banks and the IRS. Once you have done this, you begin to understand what it takes to actually manage something in order to remain in business. Governments have no profit motivation since their source of revenue is virtually endless. Opening up credit and reducing the amount of governmental interference is the quickest and surest way to get the economy on the run once again.
Otherwise we end up like Greece, looking for new ways to tax the citizens...such as making us pay for the air we breathe.
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Tuesday, September 7, 2010
I want Mercy...not Justice.....
A Nation of Fools by Peary Perry
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I want…mercy..not justice……
Long ago and far away, I was in a discussion with a friend of mine who was a judge. I was just wondering about certain aspects of the judicial system. I’ll never forget that he told me that if I were to ever find myself in court for any reason whatsoever I had better hope for mercy and not justice. He advised that no one really wanted justice….everyone really wanted mercy.
I suppose he’s really correct, since it’s doubtful anyone would want to be judged by a jury of their peers. Or is that piers? Probably doesn’t matter does it? When you look at the sorry state of our nation’s educational system, you might want to think long and hard about ever coming to trial in any kind of an American courtroom.
Several years ago I was involved in a major law suit that was very complicated and involved. The longer it took to go to trial the more concerned I became. It was difficult enough for me to explain what the case was all about much less the group of attorneys on our side. The experience left me very leery of the entire judicial system. I was not at all comfortable thinking that a group of my fellow citizens who had barely passed high school would be the ones deciding whether I was a winner or a loser. Fortunately the other side settled and I missed the experience of a court room trial.
Do not get me wrong, I’m not saying that all juries are ignorant or dumb. But let’s look at the recent trial of former governor Rod Blagojevich of Illinois. This trial droned on and on for weeks and then was declared a mistrial due to the hold out of one juror. Later news reports came out with the information that the jury was unable to understand the legal jargon and thought the charges were simply too complex. One juror reported that they got hung up on the charge of ‘conspiring to commit extortion’. It seems they didn’t understand exactly what this meant.
I had no problem with this...the charge looks fairly simple……but then again I wasn’t in the trial so maybe I missed something. However I am under the impression that conspiring to do something means several people got together and discussed committing some type of action, like murder or theft or even extortion. Under the law, conspiracy means an agreement between two or more persons to break the law at some time in the future, and, in some cases, with at least one overt act in furtherance of that agreement. There is no limit on the number participating in the conspiracy and, in most countries, no requirement that any steps have been taken to put the plan into effect. So in Rod’s case, the act of discussing on the telephone what he planned to do about filling the vacant senate seat of one Barack Obama caused some confusion on the part of the jury. His discussion of what he planned appears to me to be conspiracy, but then again what do I know?
Folks come to me all of the time asking questions about various things. One of the most common ones I get is whether or not someone should sue someone for something. I’m not an attorney and generally tell them they should consult with a lawyer, but I’d rather get pecked to death by a duck (my friend’s favorite term) than to get involved in a law suit. Looking at the level of education in this country, who wants to spend lots of dollars for a courtroom filled with jurors who cannot read or write, much less understand business practices? If the case was a simple case of someone stealing an apple, perhaps that might not be so bad. However when if comes to complex finances and business issues, then how has our school system prepared our citizens to handle these kinds of challenges?
Simple…they haven’t.
This might sound cruel, but suppose you own a business and someone sues you for whatever…..the person suing you wants all you’ve got. You’re trying to explain that you aren’t wrong to a group of people who normally are asking questions such as … “do you want fries with that?” These people are in a position to judge your fate as well as your future. If it comes to this in your life, I suggest you throw yourself upon the court and seek mercy…you won’t get justice.
Sad isn’t it? But until we get an educational system that rewards achievement and promotes excellence from our teachers as well as our students, we’ll be stuck in the ditch with the rest of the third world countries of this planet.
Comments go to www.pearyperry.com
(sign up for new columns at www.pearyperry.com)
I want…mercy..not justice……
Long ago and far away, I was in a discussion with a friend of mine who was a judge. I was just wondering about certain aspects of the judicial system. I’ll never forget that he told me that if I were to ever find myself in court for any reason whatsoever I had better hope for mercy and not justice. He advised that no one really wanted justice….everyone really wanted mercy.
I suppose he’s really correct, since it’s doubtful anyone would want to be judged by a jury of their peers. Or is that piers? Probably doesn’t matter does it? When you look at the sorry state of our nation’s educational system, you might want to think long and hard about ever coming to trial in any kind of an American courtroom.
Several years ago I was involved in a major law suit that was very complicated and involved. The longer it took to go to trial the more concerned I became. It was difficult enough for me to explain what the case was all about much less the group of attorneys on our side. The experience left me very leery of the entire judicial system. I was not at all comfortable thinking that a group of my fellow citizens who had barely passed high school would be the ones deciding whether I was a winner or a loser. Fortunately the other side settled and I missed the experience of a court room trial.
Do not get me wrong, I’m not saying that all juries are ignorant or dumb. But let’s look at the recent trial of former governor Rod Blagojevich of Illinois. This trial droned on and on for weeks and then was declared a mistrial due to the hold out of one juror. Later news reports came out with the information that the jury was unable to understand the legal jargon and thought the charges were simply too complex. One juror reported that they got hung up on the charge of ‘conspiring to commit extortion’. It seems they didn’t understand exactly what this meant.
I had no problem with this...the charge looks fairly simple……but then again I wasn’t in the trial so maybe I missed something. However I am under the impression that conspiring to do something means several people got together and discussed committing some type of action, like murder or theft or even extortion. Under the law, conspiracy means an agreement between two or more persons to break the law at some time in the future, and, in some cases, with at least one overt act in furtherance of that agreement. There is no limit on the number participating in the conspiracy and, in most countries, no requirement that any steps have been taken to put the plan into effect. So in Rod’s case, the act of discussing on the telephone what he planned to do about filling the vacant senate seat of one Barack Obama caused some confusion on the part of the jury. His discussion of what he planned appears to me to be conspiracy, but then again what do I know?
Folks come to me all of the time asking questions about various things. One of the most common ones I get is whether or not someone should sue someone for something. I’m not an attorney and generally tell them they should consult with a lawyer, but I’d rather get pecked to death by a duck (my friend’s favorite term) than to get involved in a law suit. Looking at the level of education in this country, who wants to spend lots of dollars for a courtroom filled with jurors who cannot read or write, much less understand business practices? If the case was a simple case of someone stealing an apple, perhaps that might not be so bad. However when if comes to complex finances and business issues, then how has our school system prepared our citizens to handle these kinds of challenges?
Simple…they haven’t.
This might sound cruel, but suppose you own a business and someone sues you for whatever…..the person suing you wants all you’ve got. You’re trying to explain that you aren’t wrong to a group of people who normally are asking questions such as … “do you want fries with that?” These people are in a position to judge your fate as well as your future. If it comes to this in your life, I suggest you throw yourself upon the court and seek mercy…you won’t get justice.
Sad isn’t it? But until we get an educational system that rewards achievement and promotes excellence from our teachers as well as our students, we’ll be stuck in the ditch with the rest of the third world countries of this planet.
Comments go to www.pearyperry.com
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