About Fayette County news. (Fayetteville, GA) 2009-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 1, 2023)
Wednesday, February 1,2023 FAYETTE VIEWS A4 Fayette County News Nailing the Middle Class I was once a GOP local elected official. And the chair of the Association of County Commissioners of Georgia’s Tax Committee. I’m no longer a Republican. Here’s one reason why. The GOP has become a fiscally irresponsible group. It does not believe in paying the debts that the federal gov ernment has already incurred via spending already ap proved by the House and Senate and signed by this and past Presidents, like Donald Trump. That’s what “raising the debt ceiling” means. It has nothing to do with future obligations. It relates simply to paying off what the government al ready owes for military and non-mil itary expenditures. The GOP has gone from a fiscally conservative (cost-benefit based) party to something quite different. What, you may ask. Well, a party that simply does not want the wealthy and large corporations to pay taxes and develops its fiscal policies around that one aspect of budgeting (https://itep.org/fair-tax-plan- would-abolish-irs-shift-federal-taxes-from-wealthy). And that leads them to want to cut programs which Americans want and love, like Social Security and Medi care. Of course, GOP political types do not use these words. They say, “Entitlements are bankrupting the U.S.,” or “En titlements are why we have a large deficit.” Per the GAO, “entitlements” means “payments of benefits to any person that meets the eligibility required,” which “in clude Social Security, unemployment insurance, and Medi care,” (https://www.gao.gov/assets/122637.pdf). Say the words, GOP politicos! I recently attended a Georgia Budget and Planning In stitute conference where Democrat Bee Nguyen and Re publican Brian Robinson debated budget issues. Both are very sharp but have diametrically opposed budgeting phi losophies. Robinson made statements consistent with those above, avoiding defining “entitlements.” This tactic is consistent with other GOP figures who have made similar statements. For example, Rep. Buddy Carter (R-Ga) said, “Our main focus has got to be on nondiscretionary - it’s got to be on entitlements,” such as “Social Security and Medicare.” At least Florida Sen. Rick Scott has said, “We've got to start being honest with the public that - what's our plan? Medicare is going bankrupt; Social Security is going bank rupt," (https://www.salon.com/2022/11/07/rick-scott- called-out-for-wanting-to-cut-medicare-and-social-securit y_partner/). But Scott’s stated solution under his plan is to review those programs for cuts every five years. I was a top-level planning and budget person in govern ment and industry for decades. To put it simply, a financial statement, whether for government, NFP, or a business, has two key components, revenue and expenses, i.e., not just spending. Think about you own household budget. You don’t want to spend more than you bring in. If you want more things, you can get a better paying job or a second job to make more money. Or you can cut your wants and just address your needs. The government is the same way. It can reduce expen ditures and should, when it comes to “pork” (such as planes the generals say are unneeded or bridges to nowhere in Alaska). But when services are valuable, like Social Security and Medicare, the solution may be to increase taxes on corpo rations. And reversing the tax cuts that Trump and the GOP gave the wealthy in its 2017 giveaway law. JACK BERNARD Balancing Act B alance is just one of the many things in our daily lives that we take for granted. Sort of like breathing: you rarely give it a second thought when you can do it, but you’ll definitely notice when you suddenly can’t. Trust me; I know what I’m talking about. The last time I remember taking my balance for granted - and that’s only because I still had some sem blance of it - George Bush was in the White House. I can’t remember which Bush and I’m reluctant to guess, because it’s likely it was the older of the two. The first time I noticed I was losing my balance was when I was pulled over by one of Tyrone’s finest about 15 years ago. It was 1:30 a.m. after a very long day that began with a 20-mile run at 4 a.m. the morning before and ended with the annual office Christmas party that I had just left. Long story short: the police man asked me to step out of the car and walk a straight line, 20 paces, heel-to-toe. I had a better chance of running 20 more miles. As it was, I didn’t stand a chance. Speaking of stand, I could barely do that either, after being on my feet all day. That being said, I didn’t have a prayer of walking in a straight line. Then the policeman asked me to stand on one leg. I’ll spare you the details, but I will tell you that shortly after that, I was taking a breathalyzer test. Fortunately, I passed it with flying colors. Unfortunately, I realized my balance was long gone. Now, my balance seems to worsen by the day. Yester- SCOTT LUDWIG Falling Short of Perfection Is Not Due to Lack of Effort uccess, like most things, is rel ative. If a Major League Baseball player posts a lifetime batting aver age of .400 (meaning he failed three out of every five times he stepped to the plate), it is likely that he will be inducted into the Hall of Fame. In last week’s edition, Fayette County News ran a rather large, dis play notice announcing the 10th An nual Groundhog Day Breakfast for Thursday, Feb. 2, at the fair grounds. Un fortunately for FCN, those fairgrounds are in Fayette County, Ohio. We own that error, we regret it, and we apologize for any confusion it caused our readers. We also apologize for any inconvenience it created for the Fay ette County, Georgia Chamber of Commerce. We can only hope that some of the calls received by the chamber resulted in membership sales. However, the accuracy of the an nouncement cannot be denied: There will be a Groundhog Day Breakfast Thursday in Fayette County, Ohio. And for those who wish to travel, there also will be a popular celebration in Punxsutaw- ney, Penn, featuring a furry, little fel- I have a cardinal rule that I have obeyed for several decades of practic ing criminal (defense) law: When I take on a client, whether the charge is murder, mayhem, or jaywalking, I strongly, without exception, tell them, “Do not talk to anyone except your counsel about your case. If you are a high-profile defendant, do not give interviews, no matter the remu neration offered for an exclusive. Just SHUT UP!” Well, Alec Baldwin would not shut up and is now charged with invol untary man slaughter. I digress. Below is the law in Georgia that defines “involuntary manslaughter.” It is the same as New Mexico, except the pun ishment. The Official Code of Georgia pro vides the following: “A person com mits the offense of involuntary manslaughter in the commission of a lawful act in an unlawful manner when he causes the death of another human being without any intention to do so... And upon conviction thereof, shall be punished as for a misdemeanor,” (Italics are mine) His actions do not fit that fact pat tern. But wait, it gets even better for this SNL Trump impersonator. He also has the defense of “accident.” Accident is defined: “No person shall low named Phil. Despite his celebrity and per ceived success, Phil’s weather pre dictions are accurate less than 50 percent of the time. Also in last week’s edition, my business partner, Debbie McClain, and I announced our recent pur chase and current management of Fayette County News. We were less than pleased that we allowed an error to appear in print so early in our ownership. One would think, with almost 70 years of media experience between us, we could have achieved perfec tion by now. We have not, and we will not. Ohio Groundhog Day was not our first mistake, and almost cer tainly will not be our last. But we will continue to strive for that unattain able goal. What we can assure our readers, however, is this: We and our staff will work tirelessly to improve FCN. We believe an attainable goal is to provide quality, comprehensive, local news, presented accurately and objectively, along with features and opinions relevant to this area. We intend to regain and build the trust, confidence, and respect of the Fayette community, and we wel come the challenge. We also wel come feedback - both good and bad - from residents, readers, and adver tisers. We are passionate about what we do, and we take pride in our See Turner, A5 be found guilty of any crime com mitted by misfortune or accident in which there was no criminal scheme, undertaking, or intention (or crim inal negligence).” Determined, as is the wont of lib eral dotards who are caught with their Pampers down, Baldwin seeks a total purgation, an ablution, and re instatement to his former position of cinema’s finest. So, he trots over to Good Morning America and chums up with George Stephanopoulos, a fellow traveler, for an explanatory aperCus, a chat and a chaw, if you will, about the shooting. Stephanopoulos is giddy for an exclusive one-on-one interview with Baldwin and eggs on the Hollywood eidolon for a primetime expose from Baldwin’s perspective. Baldwin is bubbling with an effervescence of in nocence that only a trained actor or seal can muster and asserts (straight faced and against his lawyer’s advice of silence), “I never pulled the trigger.” Just in case his vast national au dience did not hear it the first time, Stephanopoulos asks Baldwin to re peat the trigger remark. Baldwin, now in his chevalier mode, repeats, “I never pulled the trigger.” Little did Baldwin know that mere minutes before the oral billet- doux with Stephanopoulos, the gen tleman over at the forensic lab published his findings and conclu sions that the weapon in question could not be fired absent a trigger See Studdard, A6 When is a Surplus Not a Surplus? F or the second year in a row, the State of Georgia’s fiscal coffers are overflowing. Literally. The state’s rainy-day fund is at its legal limit. Funds from tax reve nues are still coming in above pro jection. There is still some federal covid relief money yet to be spent. It’s an unusual problem, in so much as having money in the bank can be consid ered a prob lem. Oddly, if you’re an elected official who must rely on public opin ion to remain in office, man aging a surplus can be as diffi cult as working through a deficit. Normally, at this point in a legis lative session, this space would be dedicated to explaining the major is sues beginning to work their way through the legislature through the prism of the limited funds available and the constitutional requirement to balance a budget. This year, we need a preamble for that. When an extra $6 billion shows up when the state was only expect ing roughly $30 billion of revenue, some detail is required. For this explanation, we’ll look to a presentation made during the legislature’s “Budget Week,” which doesn’t quite have the same viewer- ship as Shark Week on the Discov ery Channel but affects more of our lives than great whites or hammer heads. The state’s fiscal economist, Dr. Jeffrey Dorfman, is responsible for forecasting the state’s annual reve nue projection, on which the budget is set. As such, Dr. Dorfman spent quite a bit of time explaining why revenues were significantly higher than expected, and why legislators should approach this surplus with caution rather than glee. Last year, 22 percent of Geor gia’s revenues came from capital gains taxes. That’s beyond an aberration, at more than one out of every five dollars of taxes collected. While most of us were expecting the economy to begin slowing down last year with the end of covid sti mulus programs, including ex tended unemployment benefits, the Federal Reserve’s decision to keep interest rates at zero well after the economy had rebounded from covid helped to inflate prices of stocks and real estate. When those assets were sold at profits, the government gets a cut of those profits as capital gains. Corpo rations and individuals pay these taxes. Now, let’s look at how housing prices and the stock market have fared in 2022. While the rest of the economy has been humming along in Georgia, generating income and sales taxes without any anticipated slowdown, most indexes that repre- See Haper, A6 Alec, Just Shut Up JAMES STUDDARD CHARLIE HARPER See Ludwig, A6
