Littlestuff Weekender-6-18-2011

To some degree the Weiner fiasco appears to be fading from the consciousness of the media. Although I believe that he is a perverted slug whose politics are dangerous, the fascination with his peccadilloes distracted attention from the ineptitude displayed by the President and the ethanol and patent/copyright matters in the Congress. His decadent behavior merely reflects the decaying nature of many career politicians. Although they may be paragons of rectitude in their private behaviors, their policies and dismissal of their Constitutional limitations are driving our nation to destruction. Read your oath, take your oath, and honor your oath, politicians. In addition, I suspect now that the little weasel has resigned and “done the honorable thing,” he’ll be back to complete his mission to destroy our country.

Our agricultural situation in Northwest Ohio is grim. Many acres of corn have been diverted to soybeans because of late weather-induced planting. Much of the corn that has been planted is small and at great risk when the heavy heat of deep summer arrives. The end result in this region could be many fewer acres and much lower yields. When President Bush signed legislation to dedicate 40% of the annual crop to ethanol production, he, in essence, placed volatile inflationary pressure on feed grains (for meat production) and corn sugars. Some feed product can be harvested from the residue of ethanol extraction, but less than one would expect if the entire crop were dedicated to more traditional usage. Too many people in our country take the agricultural sector for granted. I would each of you to set aside a little plot for growing food. It will taste better and will be less expensive.

Some counties in Ohio are receiving some grants for growing and harvesting miscanthus as a bio-fuel crop. Under the right soil and weather conditions it is a superb alternative to corn. Miscanthus is a perennial that reappears every year and may be productive for up to 20 years under the right conditions. The plant could produce up to 15 tons per acre, and after harvesting, the yield would be pelletized for burning. I’ve studied miscanthus as a potential biomass source and believe that it has merit…perhaps more than any known temperate zone plant. But grants? The USDA has chosen counties in Northeast Ohio for distribution of grant money to explore the efficacy of miscanthus production. Why grants? If it works, they’ll do it without taxpayer money and government meddling. Check out the history of canola production.

Grants are nothing more than transfers of wealth. Take from taxpayers and give to others. Distort the market by subsidizing unproven ideas and technologies. Someone should apply for a grant to study how often grant recipients apply for extensions or renewals of the funds…and how frequently the renewals are granted. New job description from the 20^th Century…Grant Writer.

Whew…the hockey and basketball seasons have finally ended. LeBron James jokes were vying with Anthony Weiner jokes on the water-cooler circuit. Good thing they’re over. The baseball all-star game is right around the corner, and if the NFL situation is rectified, camp will begin shortly.

It’s fair, festival and family reunion season. Good food (sometimes greasy), good fun and great friends highlight the all-too-short summer. Last year I attended 46 fairs plus three days at the Ohio State Fair. Also, there were numerous festivals and street fairs on my itinerary. Won’t be as many this year…elephant-ear overdose. I must admit that I do like them. When I was in my former phase as a broadcaster, my favorite events to cover were fairs and elections.

Our radio program is coming along reasonably well (Tuesday and Wednesday, 6:00-7:00pm. On 1370 WSPD, Toledo.   www.wspd.com ) It is rather uneven at times as I’m still adjusting to being at my peak for such a limited schedule. As much as I enjoy the medium, two hours per week is plenty. Too much work around the homestead, on the keyboard and advising clients to allow me to jump back on the radio horse.

To all you Dads and Granddads….Happy Fathers Day!!!! The greatest honor of my earthly life is to be called…”Dad”….followed closely by…”Grandpa (or Papa).” I pray that I am worthy. Back with Monday’s column.

Comment:   cearlwriting@hotmail.com       or     www.littlestuff-minoosha.blogspot.com

Needing Wants

If only I could remember where I first heard the phrase “we are a country of wants…who believes they are needs.” Yep. It is the entitlement mentality. That phrase represents the new movement for “rights” that are neither inalienable nor practical. How often have we heard a self-important politician or a “rights” advocate proclaim their rights to healthcare? Well, my poor misguided fellow humans, you have an inalienable right to life (which many deny to the unborn), its up to you to find a way to succor it. God has provided you with life. Do what you can to preserve it. All of us share the same inalienable rights, but we may have varying methods or preferences for preserving or enhancing our lives. One such method may be found by seeking the best most high-fallutin’ healthcare regime available. Others may prefer to follow more natural, herbal methods. And some of us may wish to roll the dice and live a totally debauched and gluttonous life. It seems, therefore, that YOUR healthcare is neither a right for you nor an obligation of mine.

As we attempt to draw the distinctions between wants and needs, rights and needs, we might use the following illustration: Harley avoids doctors and pharmacy counters whereas Farley goes to ER for a hangnail and takes a number of meds. Should Harley be forced to subsidize Farley’s medical addiction through punitive taxation, and should Farley cough up the money to pay for Harley’s natural multi-vitamins? If you have answered in the affirmative, then it isn’t much of a leap to insist that we should purchase Farley’s food for him because his vitamins supplement an extremely healthy diet. Because we agree to by Farley’s food in the previous illustration, we are socially, morally and equitably obligated to purchase the food for Harley. He prefers Big Macs, Big Boys, super-sized fries, and Dilly Bars from Dairy Queen. Food is food, after all.

The moral, economic and personal bottom line is that we NEED food. We NEED shelter of some sort during inclement weather, and most of us NEED clothing in certain types of climates. The Bible states  (paraphrase) that if we expect to eat, then we must work for our sustenance. Working will also produce resources for limited shelter and clothing. If there is no moral or theological basis for a collective effort for providing the basic needs, where can we find a universal imperative for meeting the wants of individuals…as varied as they might be? Any decision for provision by the state or the collective requires that some value be given to the item. Generic or brand? Cloth coat or fur coat? Prius or 10-year old Chevy? It is unavoidable that some wants (or perceived needs) will be satisfied while others remain unmet. Given the individual preferences and perceived needs, it follows that the distribution of the collective largesse will be uneven and biased. Besides, government will grossly underperform anyway.

As each person transforms personal “wants” into “needs” or “rights,” the social order moves closer to a breakdown. The new-found needs begin to ratchet higher and higher as the government redefines its role, and the level of satisfaction for the recipients sinks lower and lower. The end result is a government and economic structure incapable of providing the newly-defined “needs” while the frustration level of the populace swells because of their dissatisfaction. Redefining wants as needs leads to a disintegration of the economy and the social order. Everyone—government and individuals—live beyond their means….spend beyond their abilities to produce. Wants are unfulfilled, and needs are shortchanged. The benevolent Nanny State slips into chaos. The government yields to anarchy. The competent and resourceful will satisfy their own needs while their neighbors resort to violence or endure suffering. Expecting government to supply our wants leads us down a deadly to destruction. It is unfortunate that so many of our citizens have misinterpreted the “pursuit of happiness” clause to mean that they chase after government goodies while other taxpayers pay the bill.

Comment:   cearlwriting@hotmail.com    or    www.littlestuff-minoosha.blogspot.com

Seeking Significance

Many of us stumble through life with our days of joy, months of the routine and times of despair. Some of us are more reflective than others as we seek to make sense of it all…or merely a little part of it all. Some psychologists and business consultants inform us that in many cases recognition is a greater motivator than increased pay. Most people desire, at some level, to be significant. During my campaign last year, I encountered several of the tyrannical overlords of some our political forums. These “little kings and queens” conducted the programs with iron fists and airs of command. They relished their significance as they marched candidates and audience through the ceremonies of the evening. We can witness similar behavior in almost any group, organization or function that requires some organizational skill. People want to be significant….important….recognized.

In my view the desire for significance is the primary motivator for career politicians. If they were driven by selfless service, there are a multitude of opportunities for one to serve the community, state, nation or humankind without basking in the spotlight of political activity. Most of them are obsessed with the appearance of service (the image) rather than the actual tasks required for true serving. Why would anyone with her or his sanity intact want to spend their time continuously running for an office in an institution (House) that has lower than 10% public approval? Perhaps campaigning every six years for a Senate seat makes more sense, but the bombastic bloviating of most senators would become tedious after a day or two. There’s an old saying that “the Senate is composed of 100 egomaniacs who all believe they should be president.” That little gem says a lot about the joys of “serving” in the United States Senate. The desire to be considered a significant player would appear to be the impetus for running for the Senate.

Presidential politics is another ballgame. The egos are similar, but larger. The spotlight is brighter and bigger. The power is phenomenal. Even in this age where Civil Service has theoretically replaced the patronage system, Presidents can create staff positions out of the thinnest of air. Clearly a presidential wannabe must be very confident and self-assured. Extreme egomania, however, can lead to gross missteps and miscalculations. The range of issues that impact the Presidency are so great that the officeholder must seek out and listen to wise, experienced counselors. An ego-driven approach will drive serious advisors away and attract genuflecting sycophants. Nevertheless, a presidential hopeful must have the drive to be considered significant. All presidents, some more brazenly than others, want to have a “legacy.” Whether a monumental achievement or some element of policy that fundamentally changes our direction and our ways of doing things, the President desires to leave office having crafted a significant element that succeeds him (so far it’s only men).

It seems logical to conclude, therefore, that politicians, particularly career politicians, yearn to be seen as significant. Why else would so many have post offices, bridges, highways and buildings that bear their names? For the most part they do not have the servant’s heart, but crave the lights of the stage and the clamor of the crowd. This aspect of their personalities is something that is a product of the two-party system, the mass media, and inattentive citizens. The two-party system is partly at fault because not enough dissenting voices are present in the political process to demand accountability from the two old parties who have controlled the process and the discourse for more than 150 years. The mass media, news and entertainment, carry much of the blame because of their emphasis on glitter, glamour and “gotcha” programming. Boring policy discussions do not sell even when they inform and enlighten the audience. Citizens can and should demand that political candidates and their parties discard the shallow for the specific, but they revel in the show-biz and reward politicians for being good speakers (who say nothing) and good looking (with nothing between their ears). In the end the citizens have attracted and encouraged the mindless political class that we have today. We are burdened with significantly insignificant politicians who lust for significance. Be careful what you wish for.

Comment:   cearlwriting@hotmail.com     or    www.littlestuff-minoosha.blogspot.com

Transfering Wealth

The lefties of our nation and the globe as well, insist that “fairness” can only be achieved by transferring wealth from the “haves” to the “have-nots.” As one can expect from most socialist reasoning (an oxymoron…emphasis on MORON), the holes in their policy are massive. Bernie Madoff sits in a jail cell as police, prosecutors, and plaintiff’s attorneys confiscate every remnant of his former ill-gained fortune. Now he appears to be broke. Should someone be required to share their wealth with the former prince of ponzi? I suspect that when we speak of transferring wealth from the “richer” to the “poorer,” we are in reality discussing transferring earned wealth from producers to socialist-voting looters. A person’s “right” to the wealth of others is determined by her or his likelihood of voting a certain way.

Transferring wealth is more complex than merely dropping a dollar into the bucket of a curbside beggar. The various governments, non-government agencies (NGA’s), non-profits, churches and other elements of the society employ a number of coercive devices to generate wealth-sharing. First, there is the direct tax, direct payment method. Welfare, Social security, Medicaid and Food Stamps are the most brazen examples. Some transfers are more indirect. They might include tax credits for munchkins (children), subsidies for behaviors (education) and massive industry and corporate subsidies or tax breaks. Straight forward foreign aid is direct. Sweet trade deals for preferred countries are an indirect form of the share the wealth mentality.

The transfer of wealth may also involve some subtlety (or sneakiness, if you prefer). Laws that include certain prohibitions may create a competitive advantage for one or another industry or company. For example, when I served in the legislature, there was a representative who introduced an absolutely devastating axle tax for the trucking industry. And….he introduced a similar bill every session…year after year. As I fielded the calls from truckers in my district and notes from lobbyists representing independent truckers, I sought to discover why he would introduce such a job-killing piece of   legislation. My older colleagues informed me that the offending representative was “in the pocket” of the railroads. No one took his legislation seriously, and it would not go anywhere, but just like biennial elections, he introduced it every session to earn his campaign check. When those pieces of legislation are taken seriously and passed, then a law-induced transfer of wealth is the result. Wait, there’s more.

Nearly every regulatory initiative passed by nearly every legislative body or agency impacts some industries more than others…a subtle transfer of wealth. Within given industries some companies may be more adversely affected than their competitors by new rules because of their size, location or any number of intervening factors….in essence a transfer of wealth because compliance costs are not fairly assessed. The great dream of the socialist agenda, ObamaCare, is the epitome of a wealth transfer mechanism at every level. The more than one thousand, one hundred (1,100) waivers granted so far to corporations and labor unions with the “correct” political leanings is the epitome of an indirect and sometimes subtle transfer of wealth. As you can detect, wealth transfers involve much more than simply “robbing Peter to pay Paul.” They also include subsidizing Paul and giving him tax breaks. They may involve regulating Peter at a much greater level than Paul so that Paul gains a competitive advantage. Think of coal, oil and natural gas rules and regulations versus the subsidy packages for wind power, solar systems, and bio-fuels. And yet…the “green” technologies are not competitive on the open energy market.

Licensing and registrations are another form of wealth transfer that operates outside the public view. In my early days as a broadcaster, there were no licensing fees for stations to operate once they had paid the initial start-up licensing amounts. Now stations must pay annual fees based upon their transmitter power, their markets and their gross revenues. In other words the more successful stations must pay a penalty for their efforts while the ones that are not so successful get by with lower fees. Stations that have made the effort to attract topnotch on-air talent and hire competent sales people must subsidize the regulatory administrative costs for less popular stations.

Transferring wealth by force is how the government functions. Government by its very nature is the definition of force. In a world where liberty reigns, wealth would be transferred unfettered by government coercion. A series of voluntary transactions wherein quality, productivity and service would thrive is the model for free commerce. While government stacks the deck and enforces its preferences, wealth is transferred….and we’re all much poorer and less free.

Comment:   cearlwriting@hotmail.com     or    www.littlestuff-minoosha.blogspot.com

On Watch

Our federal government has become a huge unworkable monstrosity while we were napping. There are bureaus, departments, agencies and offices for every imaginable activity designed in the human imagination. So what’s the government solution when agencies proliferate faster than rabbits in heat? Why, add more, of course. Because our government is so bloated and inefficient, we need oversight agencies and inspector general departments. We pay thousands of bureaucrats to watch over many hundreds of thousands more. If the rate of growth continues, we may require many more thousands of overseers to watch the watchers who watch the “doers…” who watch us (and Oprah). Geeeesh!

It is natural for some people to be shirkers. We all know individuals who for whatever reason refuse to be productive and reliable, but to dedicate entire government departments and bureaus to ferret out sloth and slackers is the epitome of waste. Certainly civil service law and public union contracts should be changed or repealed if workers have to be overseen, watched and evaluated on a continual basis by an outside governmental entity. The same holds true for those “public servants” who cheat or steal. If we didn’t have the union contracts and antiquated civil service restrictions, we would not require constant monitoring for employee misfeasance or malfeasance.

Oh my, I nearly forgot to address the multiplicity of Congressional oversight committees. They watch the watchers who watch the watchers watch. That is why we pay our career politicians $174,000.00 per year to watch the supreme watchers. And yet, waste, fraud and abuse are common in the realm of government’s spending. Taxpayers must fund inefficiencies, foul-ups and crime. The career politicians are like any other middle-manager in a corporation. They seek to enhance their power and their resumes. By adding more people to the government payrolls and more responsibility for government offices, the political class can insure that their committees and oversight committees will have increasing responsibility and budgets. The taxpayers must dig deeper to pay for their illusions of grandeur, and suffer the consequences of a meddlesome bureaucracy. They win, we lose.

If our federal government were to function within the enumerated powers of the Constitution, we would not need the legions of watchers, checkers and overseers that now collect government paychecks, benefits and pension funds.  If the federal leviathan adhered to its constitutional limits, the state and local governments could drastically reduce the huge numbers of employees who are required for compliance and for implementing unconstitutional mandates. We could severely reduce the hordes of watchers. We would pay lower taxes and have more for charitable giving. We could expand our small businesses and maybe hire out-of-work former federal, state and local government employees. We might hire some out of work “watchers,” too, because all those ex-feds might be tempted to loaf, to cheat….and whatever. Massive numbers of government workers resemble those Styrofoam packing peanuts that so many shippers use these days. They’re everywhere and magnetically attach themselves to nearly every object near the unpacking site. Small, constitutional government is much better than bloated monster we have today. We should try it sometime. Maybe our $174,000 watchers will get a clue. Then again…….

Comments:   cearlwriting@hotmail.com      or     www.littlestuff-minoosha.blogspot.com