Newspaper Page Text
PAGE 5A
FORSYTH OPINION
Friday, March 9, 2018
ELECTED OFFICIALS
CITY COUNCIL
Mayor Troy Brumbalow, 100
Main St., Cumming, GA 30040;
(770) 781-2010
Christopher Light, 100 Main St.,
Cumming, GA 30040; (770) 480-
1396
Jason Evans, 100 Main St.,
Cumming, GA 30040; (770) 781-
2010
Lewis Ledbetter, 100 Main St.,
Cumming, GA 30040; (770) 781-
2010
Linda Ledbetter, 100 Main St.,
Cumming, GA 30040; (770) 781-
2010
Chad Crane, 100 Main St.,
Cumming, GA 30040; (770) 781-
2010
COUNTY COMMISSIONERS
R.J. (Pete) Amos, Post 1, 110 E.
Main St., Cumming, GA 30040;
(678) 513-5881; rjamos @forsyth
co.com
Secretary Dennis Brown, Post
2, 110 E. Main Street , Cumming,
GA 30040; (678) 513-5882;
dtbrown@forsythco.com’
Chairman Todd Levent, Post 3,
110 E. Main St., Cumming, GA
30040; (678) 513-5883; tlevent@
forsythco.com
Cindy Mills, Post 4, 110 E. Main
St., Cumming, GA 30040; (678)
513-5884; cjmills@forsythco.com
Vice Chairwoman Laura
Semanson, Post 5, 110 E. Main
St., Cumming, GA 30040; (678)
513-5885; losemanson @forsyth
co.com
BOARD OF EDUCATION
Chairwoman Ann Crow, District
1, 320 Dahlonega St., Cumming,
GA 30040; (770) 490-6316;
acrow@forsyth.kl2.ga.us
Kristin Momissey, District 2,
3310 Cany Creek Lane, Cumming,
GA 30041; (678) 250-4047; kmor
rissey @forsyth.kl2.ga.us
Tom Cleveland, District 3, 5225
Millsford Court, Cumming, GA
30040; (770) 844-9901; tcleve
land @forsyth.kl2.ga.us
Darla Sexton Light, District 4,
50080 Hopewell Road,
Cumming, GA 30028; (770) 887-
0678; dlight@forsyth.kl2.ga.us
- Vice Chairwoman Nancy
Roche, District 5, 7840 Chestnut
Hill Road, Cumming, GA 30041;
(770) 889-0229; nroche @forsyth.
kt2gaus—— —— ——
NATIONAL LEGISLATORS
U.S. Sen. Johnny Isakson, 120
Russell Senate Office Building,
Washington, D.C. 20510; (202)
224-3643 or (770) 661-0999
U.S. Sen. David Perdue, B4OD
Dirksen Senate Office Building,
Washington, D.C. 20510; (202)
224-3521
U.S. Rep. Doug Collins, Sth
District; 513 Cannon House Office
Building, Washington, D.C.,
2051 353;%02) 225-9893; fax, (770)
297-
U.S. Rep. Rob Woodall, 7th
District; 1725 Longworth House
Office Building, Washington, D.C.,
20515; (770) 232-3005; (202) 225-
4272; fax, (202) 225-4696
STATE LEGISLATORS
Sen. Steve Gooch, 51st District,
Suite 421-C, State Capitol, Atlanta,
GA 30334; (404) 656-9221
Sen. Michael Williams, 27th
District, Coverdell Legislative
Office Building, Room 323-B, 18
Capitol Square, Atlanta, GA
30334; (404) 656-7127
Rep. Kevin Tanner, 9th District,
Coverdell Legislative Office
Building, Room 401-E, Atlanta, GA
30334; (404) 656-0152 _
Rep. Wes Cantrell, 22nd District,
Coverdell Legislative Office
Building, Room 507-E, 18 Capitol
Square, Atlanta, GA 30334; (404)
656-0202
Rep. Sheri S. Gilligan, 24th
District, Coverdell Legislative
Office Building, Suite 612 F, 18
Capitol Square, SW, Atlanta, GA
30334; (404) 656-0325
Rep. Todd Jones, 25th District,
Coverdell Legislative Office
Building, Room 607-E, 18 Capitol
Square, Atlanta, GA 30334; (404)
656-0298
Rep. Marc Morris, 26th District,
801-D Coverdell Legislative Office
Bidg., Atlanta, GA 30334; (404)
656-0254
: Sfifilm to the editor to PO, Box 210 Cmnmfi%m 30028; fax it to (770) 889-6017; or email it to editor@forsythnews.com.
Three young people show positive
side of criminal justice reform
I try to live my life by two
simple rules: One, never eat
soup with a fork and, two, try
not to disagree with the coun
ty sheriff. The first one will
stain your tie something
awful. The latter will likely
get you in a heap of trouble if
you roll through their county
acting like you own the place.
I am doing OK with the
soup thing but it looks like I
am going to have a bit of a
problem adhering to rule No.
2 '
Sheriff Howard Sills of
Putnam County recently
referred to Gov. Nathan Deal
as Lucifer, as in the Devil.
The sheriff doesn’t like the
governor’s efforts in crimi
nal justice reform, telling his
colleagues, “This governor
has done more for those who
perpetrate crime than Lucifer
and his demons combined.”
From where I sit, I think
the governor has done — to
trade on the Lucifer analogy
— a helluva job. And I sit as
a member of the board of the
Georgia Department of
Juvenile Justice.
Seated around me are a
district attorney, several law
enforcement officials, a
retired prison warden, child
advocates, three judges and
some of the most dedicated
employees on God’s Green
Earth. All under the leader
ship of a commissioner,
Avery D. Niles, who
approaches his job with the
zeal of an evangelist.
The Department of
Juvenile Justice deals with
Eliminating trade deficit pays for wall |
Last June I published an
article entitled, “Trump Goes
After the Fed — Attacks
Trade Deficit.” In that article,
I explained how the U.S. trade
deficit has been funded not by
any equitable arrangement,
such as trading real value cre
ated in America for value
from other countries, but by
the petrodollar system:. ———
And since 1976 when the
petrodollar began in earnest,
the private banks of the
Federal Reserve System have
been able to print dollars with
impunity, loaning them into
the American economy, where
Americans have borrowed
them only to send them over
seas to import goods produced
cheaper abroad than we can
produce them here at home.
Since 1976, there have always
been more dollars leaving
America to import goods, than
returning to buy our exports.
Consequently, American jobs
have gone with the dollars to
other countries. The measure
of the difference between the
dollars leaving and the dollars
returning is the “U.S. trade
deficit.”
The year 1976 was a hinge
point world trade history. That
was the year the nations of the
world found themselves not
choosing or agreeing, but
coerced to using U.S. dollars,
issued by private Federal
Reserve Banks, to buy the
OPEC energy products neces
sary to run their economies, a
great arrangement for the
- but a nightmare for
everyone else. Since that year,
private banks have been flood
ing the U.S. economy with
worthless paper, the American
people have been borrowing
it, signing onto debt as they
Letter policy : )
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include full address and a daytime and evening phone number for verification. Names and hometowns of letter writ
ers will be included for publication without exception. Telephone numbers will not be published.
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mit one letter per month for consideration. »
Letters must be submitted by noon Wednesday for Sunday publication. We do not publish poetry or blanket letters
la”nd wgnehr:‘erally do not publish letters concerning consumer complaints. Unsigned or incorrectly identified letters will
eld.
Mail letters to the Forsyth County News, PO. Box 210, Cumming, GA 30028, hand deliver to 302 Veterans -
Memorial Bivd., fax to (770) 889-8017 or e-mail to editor @forsythnews.com.
Xy ‘ .
!
DICK YARBROUGH
Columnist
young offenders charged
with felonies or misdemean
ors up to the age of 21. The
department holds these
young people accountable
for their actions, but also
works to turn their lives
around by providing them a
variety of support systems,
including a chance to get
quality education.
We — meaning the depart
ment — have our own
school, the Georgia
Preparatory Academy, a
fully accredited facility with
its own faculty and its own
Board of Education on
which I proudly sit as a
member.
Last year, GPA enrolled
more than 6,300 juvenile .
offenders, most of whom are
two to three years behind
their peers in academic
achievement.
A couple of days after
Sheriff Sills launched his
broadside, I sat in a board
meeting and saw the positive
side of criminal justice
reform. Appearing before us
were three young people
who have taken advantage of
the second chance they have
been given and as sure as |
am of anything, are going to
become good productive cit-
HANK SULLIVAN
Columnist
do, and sending them out of
the country in exchange for
cheap stuff produced abroad,
lately at a clip of S4OO to SBOO
annually. What the “free
trade” proponents don’t want
you to know is that each dol
lar accounted in the annual
trade deficit is one more dollar
of debt the American people
and their government must
borrow to maintain the same
liquidity in the U.S. economy.
The trade deficit is a debt-cre
ation machine. And whereas
the cheap stuff Americans
import generally depreciates,
the debt they accrue appreci
ates exponentially.
That is why Trump wants to
eliminate the trade deficit, the
silent killer. Were America to
achieve a trade balance each
year, as it did prior to 1976,
that would eliminate S4OO to
SBOO billion in domestic bor
rowing annually, S2O to S4O
billion in interest, or more,
and importantly, add that
same amount back into the
U.S. Gross National Product.
Those dollars would be invest
ed and promote savings in the
U.S. economy. Want to know
why Americans can’t save?
Why the American economy
is stalled? The trade deficit is
one big reason.
Last week, Donald Trump
announced the first of possi
bly many more tariffs on
imported items. “Free market
ers” decried the move saying
This is a page of opinion — ours, yours and
others. Signed columns and cartoons are the
opinions of the writers and artists, and they
may not reflect our views.
izens in our society, thanks
to dedicated staff members
working within an enlight
ened juvenile justice system
focused on reclamation and
rehabilitation. *
Camillia Thompson, an
11th-grader and Keywanna
Kaigler, a ninth-grader,
attend the Bibb County
Educational Transitional
Center. The ETC, one of
three in the state, serves stu
dents who have been
released from juvenile facili
ties but are still under com
munity supervision.
They were chosen to be
pages at the Capitol for a
day by House Minority
Leader Rep. Bob Trammell,
D-Luthersville. It was the
first time young people from
the Georgia Juvenile Justice
system or from any juvenile
system in the nation had
received such recognition.
Kudos to Rep. Trammell
Camillia, who plans to
become a nurse practitioner,
called the experience an
“eye-opener’’ and said, “We
were welcomed with open
arms by everyone we worked
with that day. The experi
ence made me feel valued
and important.”
Keywanna aspires to
become a doctor. She told
the board, “There was never
a dull moment throughout
the session. The whole expe
rience was exceptional. It
inspired me to fight for the
things I believe in and make
positive changes in the world
I live in.”
that Trump will stall the U.S.
economy, forcing the prices of
imports to rise. They even say
tariffs are un-American.
Friends, the most vibrant
economy the world has ever
known, the American econo
my, was built on protection
ism. The very second piece of
legislation George
‘Washington-signed under the
Constitution was the Tariff
Act of 1789, a date which
coincides with the birth of the
American Industrial
Revolution. The American
government was designed to
operate off of tariffs, excise
taxes and interest on the
money supply — not income
taxes. Trump understands that
for a domestic economy to
grow and invest in itself, fair,
level trade practices with other
countries must be the rule.
When they refuse to compete
fairly, tariffs are really the
only answer. The effective use
of tariffs to promote and
expand the American econo
my has been an American
economic principle from day
one. And all that competing
foreign countries must do (0
lower or halt the use of
American tariffs is raise their
standards of production to
approach those of the U.S.,
and drop their own trade barri
ers.
Importantly, eliminating the
trade deficit with Mexico, as
Trump intends to do, would
pay for the wall on the
Mexican border and dividends
beyond. Last year, for exam
ple, the Mexican trade deficit
was S7O Billion. Let’s just say
the wall would cost S2O bil
lion. That means it would take
28.6 percent of the annual
Mexican trade deficit to build
Then came Armoni Boyd-
Strozier, a 20-year-old from
Fayetteville who is currently
in his fifth semester at Fort
Valley State, thanks to a pro
gram called eCore, which
allows DJJ graduates to take
online college-level courses
accepted by all colleges in
the University System of
Georgia. He talked about his
plans to major in business’
administration and complete
his MBA and work in Artist
Management. Do not bet
against this young man. He
is the real deal.
Commissioner Avery says,
“These three youths are a
testament as to whyswe can
not give up on the youth in
our system because when we
set expectations, given the
right tools and support many
of our youth can and will
rise to the occasion.”
I respect Sheriff Sills’ right
to object to Gov. Deal’s crim
inal justice reform efforts, but
I must play the devil’s advo
cate here (that Lucifer thing
again.) -
From where I sit and from
what I saw last week, I am
pleased to say that things are
going exceedingly well in
that area. Thank heaven.
You can reach Dick Yarbrough
at dick@dickyarbrough.com; at
P.O. Box 725373, Atlanta,
Georgia 31139 or on Facebook at
www.facebook.com/dickyarb.
the wall. If America thinks
nothing of sending over S7O
billion borrowed by the
American people to Mexico
each year, and being saddled
to pay on that debt forever,
then S2O billion spent for the
wall is not that much. But
that’s not even the point.
Let’s just say we cut that
trade deficit in half. That’s
$35 billion annually that
Americans do not have to bor
row at interest to replace, and
$35 billion America no longer
pays to Mexico. That is a $35
billion cost to Mexico annual
ly. Get it?
If we take that $35 billion
annual trade deficit reduction
to Mexico, and multiply it by
the present velocity of money,
1.43, a conservative estimate,
that means that those dollars
would contribute SSO billion
more toward US GDP. That’s
SSOO billion in business reve
nues over 10 years. Assuming
15 percent of that is taxable
income ($75 billion), and
assuming a 21 percent corpo
rate tax rate on that $75 bil
lion ($15.75 billion), our $lB
in 11.5 years. And guess who
will have paid for the wall?
Mexico, like Trump said.
Now if we achieve a trade
balance with Mexico, the wall
would be paid for in six years,
less time than it would take to,
build. This is why the trade
deficit is so important, and
this is how Trump thinks. He
is so far ahead of some, they
think he’s stupid.
Hank Sullivan is a Forsyth
County resident, businessman,
author and speaker on
American history, economics
and geopolitics.