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Page 4A, The Lee County Ledger, Wednesday, July 28,2021 Our Young Shall Inherit The National Debt Special to the Ledger By Kate Scarmalis The little man sits behind the screen, his hands tugging and pull ing levers in total secre cy. Inner workings only fathomed through dusky mirrors, his miracles are performed. The Munch- kins in this Land of Oz, staunch in their belief in their Wizard’s awesome power, remain aloof and unquestioning. How disquieting it must have been to learn that he was just a man, an ordinary man with no particular power to evoke even the smallest of miracles. Such men and women as this reign untouched in the bowels of our governmental agencies. Ours is a world run by our betters. At least that is the unshakeable belief of the leftist elitists. Just as the Wizard of Oz was able to continue to perform his fraud behind a fragile curtain, so our government reg ulators continue to forge their crafty sham in near secrecy. Except. .. these mis creants perform their deeds, hiding in plain sight. The game is econom ics, a messy gordian knot of an unknowable world. The shroud of bureaucracy remains secure in the knowledge that the very compli cated nature of their enterprise will ward off all but the most rabid investigator. There is a game afoot. Don’t ask to play along. The rules are so obscure that hours spent with the playbook will not shed light on the rules. The faint-hearted will wisely keep his distance, preferring to trust in our Fruit on a black cherry tree. Black Cherry Trees The University of Georgia • Cooperative Extension Service Black Cherry Trees Doug Collins, Lee County Extension Coordinator 6D Putting Knowledge toWorLl ^ Black cherry trees are now in bloom. These trees have pretty clusters of small white flowers. These trees grow easily in our area. They are often seen in the yards of houses built in wooded areas. They are fairly abundant in woods in our area. Just because they grow well in our area doesn’t mean that I recommend them as landscape trees. Black cherry trees are suscep tible to a disease called black knot that, as the name suggests, produc es knots or cankers on the trunk and branches. In addition to being unsightly, these cankers weaken the affected trunk or branch. Black cherry trees grow to fifty or sixty feet tall and sometimes much taller. They do best on deep fertile soils with adequate moisture. This tree is valuable for its wood. My broth er cut black cherry trees and had them sawed for flooring in his house. For more information, call the Lee County Extension Office at 759-6025 or email me at collinsd@uga.edu The Lee County Ledger Established August 24,1978 lcledger@bellsouth.net P.O. Box 715 (126 4th Street) (229) 759-2413 Leesburg, Georgia 31763 USPS 470-310 Official Organ of Lee County SUBSCRIPTION RATES Lee and surrounding counties $20.00 year Elsewhere $25.00 year Publisher Derryl Quinn Editor Jim Quinn Layout and Design Zan Twiggs Advertising Manager Tina Maples (USPS 470-310), is published weekly for $20.00 per year in Lee and surrounding counties, and $25.00 per year else where by its offices at the May Office Building, 124 - 4th Street, Leesburg, Georgia 31763. Periodicals postage paid at Leesburg, GA. POST MASTER: Send address changes on Form 3579 to, P.O. 715, Leesburg, GA31763. o Printed On Recycled Paper MEMBER OF GEORGIA PRESS ASSOCIATION appointed experts to that inevitable migraine. The reality is that we live today at the expense of tomorrow. Simply put, the powers that be are leveraging our fu ture to stimulate today’s economy. The United States has become a creditor nation, owing debts that can never be repaid. The unwitting taxpay er is akin to the parent who hands a platinum card to a teenager. The average teen will contin ue to spend until some agreed-upon credit limit has been met. Or, when the credit card company cuts them off. The predicament in which we find ourselves now is that our govern ment, like an out-of- control teenager, refuses to recognize any limit on spending, especially when it meets a party’s political needs. When a cutoff point is finally reached, the un bearably spoiled teenag er and our liberal/leftist lawmakers simply throw a tantrum to get the debt limit raised. In the same way that the profligate teen “needs” a new sweater to match her new socks, wanton congressmen/ women continue to justi fy out-of-control spend ing as essential national expenditures. With hands on their hearts, both parties promise to curb their spending in the future. Mark your calendars for Saint Nevers Day. What if Magic Money Fairy came by and sus pended the debt limit? With a glint in her eye, Little Girl would pester her spineless parents for a shiny new red car to set off her new sweater and sock set. Let’s not have Congress hear about something like doing away with a limit on the amount that they can allocate to . . . anything they want. Too late. America has crossed a fiscal red line. Congress has begun spending money like a drunken sailor. In theory, there is a mechanism to put the brakes on governmental expenditures. The debt ceiling is the maximum amount of debt that the Department of Treasury is allowed to issue to the public or to other agencies. It is a firm amount that is set by law. Across the years, the debt ceiling has been allowed to increase to fi nance the government’s operations. However, as of August 2019, there has been no statutory limit on the new federal debt, with the passage of the Bipar tisan Budget Act (Public Law 116-37). This statute has its good side as well as its bad. When the pan demic hit our people, shutdowns killed em ployment. Unemploy ment pay ments went through the roof. Naturally, our govern ment took things too far. Paying people not to work has and will continue to result in the bankrupt cies of multiple small business concerns. “No problem,” says Joe Biden blithely. He wants to force business es to increase employ ees’ salaries. Biden’s idea is that employees will return if these greedy capitalists would only pay them a whole lot more. It saves the Biden administration from the trouble to force a federal minimum pay scale of $15/hr on the small business person. The problem is that many businesses can’t meet this expense and will be forced to close their doors. No skin off Biden’s posterior. Much to the dismay of the Green New Deal Big Spenders Club in Congress, the statutory suspension of the debt limit will come to an end, as of July 31, 2021. On August 1 (this com ing Sunday), the debt limit will be reset to the previous debt limit of $22.0 trillion, plus the cumulative borrowing that occurred during the period of suspension. While the media sleeps through this debt deba cle, the national debt has risen to $28.5 + trillion dollars. (Check it out. Go to “U.S. national debt clock” on a Google search to see the debt increase in real-time.) Expect that the issue of the debt limit will rear its ugly head in Con gress this week. How can our country reset a statutory debt limit back to $22 trillion, when we already owe much more than that figure? Is it any wonder that the Democrats want to ram their new spending package through? This is insane. Will the debt ceiling issue give Republicans enough leverage to keep the Democrats in check? Likely not - they are as spineless as Little Girl’s dad. Kate Scarmalis, retired and loving life, is cur rently working on her novel, “TellNo Tales”. Kate Scarmalis Sharing the Word By Harry R. Martinez, Ph.D Little Words The importance of words containing just a few letters must be considered when study ing the Scriptures. They appear as conjunctions or prepositions. For ex ample, Dr. Luke records the arrest of Paul and Silas. “Once when we were going to the place of prayer, we were met by a slave girl who had a spirit by which she predicted the future. She earned a great deal of money for her owners by fortune-telling. This girl followed Paul and the rest of us, shouting, “These men are servants of the Most High God, who are telling you the way to be saved.” She kept this up for many days. Finally, Paul became so troubled that he turned around and said to the spirit, “In the name of Jesus Christ I command you to come out of her!” At that moment the spirit left her” (Acts 16:16-18 NIV). However, those merchants who were using this young for tune-teller possessed of a demon had no concern for her well-being. They were involved in evil, motivated by Satan. How different that is from God’s thinking and love toward mankind. Nahum wrote ... “The LORD is good, a refuge in times of trouble. He cares for those who trust in him” (Nah 1:7 NIV). The Apostle Peter expressed a similar thought ... “Cast all your anxiety on him be cause he cares for you” (1 Pe 5:7b NIV). Luke continues the narrative of Paul and Silas in prison. God would honor the witness of these two men in a dramatic way. “But about midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns of praise to God, and the prisoners were listen ing to them; and sud denly there came a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison house were shaken; and immedi ately all the doors were opened, and everyone’s chains were unfastened. And when the jailer had been roused out of sleep and had seen the prison doors opened, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself, suppos ing that the prisoners had escaped. But Paul cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Do yourself no harm, for we are all here!” And he called for lights and rushed in and, trembling with fear, he fell down before Paul and Silas, and after he brought them out, he said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” Their reply was short... “So they said, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household” (Acts 16:31 NKJV). The jailer had to cast his faith on the fact that Christ was the Savior, the One who died, was buried and resurrected. It is noteworthy that Paul and Silas used the word “on” instead of “about.” Many in that day and even now, know about Christ as a histor ical figure. There is the observance of His birth and of His crucifixion. The resur rection of Christ is celebrated at Eastertime. In fact, Christendom has a year long liturgical calendar that relates to the life of Christ. It is good to have knowledge “about” Him. However, it is believing by faith that His work on the Cross paid one’s debt for sin that brings salvation. When that fact is embraced person ally by faith, the result is the gift of eternal life. It is not a matter of human effort but of faith. Paul wrote ... “he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy...” (Titus 3:5 NIV). “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith — and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast” (Eph 2:8-9 NIV). One’s faith must be directed to an object that has worth. There is only One who is worthy. John records the lyrics of one of the songs sung in heaven ... “Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise” (Rev 5:12 NIV). Words like “and,” “in,” or “on” contain few letters but have great eternal benefit. Editor’s note: Dr. Martinez is an ordained minister and was a professor and head of the music department at Florida State University School from 1975 to 2003. He is the father of five adult children and resides in Lee County with his wife, Sara. Letters Policy The Lee County Ledger welcomes - indeed en courages - letters from our readers on matters of interest for the community. Have a complaint? See a problem that needs correcting? Have the solution to a problem that others haven’t seen yet? Feel some person or group deserves praise and isn’t getting it? Please write us and let everyone share in your viewpoint. We do request that all letters be signed and accompanied by the writer’s street address and telephone number. We reserve the right not to print any letter. Letters not signed will not be printed. Letters may be edited for space. Address your letter to Editor, The Lee County Ledger, P.O. Box 715, Leesburg, Georgia 31763 or bring them by our office. Harry R. Martinez