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PAGE 4A - THE COMMERCE (GA) NEWS. WEDNESDAY. TANUARY 23. 2008
mion
Editorial Views
Tax Credits A Placebo
For An Economic Crisis
When the economy falters, increase the national and
personal deficits. That's the prescription President
Bush, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and
both Democratic and Republican leaders in the
House of Representatives propose to keep America
out of a recession. But that's how we got into the
mess we're in.
America's economy has slowed to the point that
the term "recession" is being used. Wall Street's pes
simism, based on its view of the economy, has sent
stock prices plunging. How did we get here? With
reckless spending.
The sub-prime mortgage crisis is a direct result of
overspending on housing, creating debt loads and
payments that could not be sustained and building
unreasonable debt among people with poor credit.
The other shoe will fall when default levels on credit
card debt reach a tipping point. Flatly stated, people
are spending too much money — and so is the U.S.
government, which is racking up massive debt with
its wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, its previous tax cuts
and its abhorrence of fiscal responsibility.
We cannot spend our way out of debt. Whether the
debtor is the owner of a sub-prime mortgage loan
or the federal government, excessive spending has
brought it to this point. A $300 to $800 per person
tax credit is but a placebo designed not to solve
the economy's underlying problems, but to build
confidence so consumers will continue spending
carelessly. "Send them all some money, that'll keep
everyone happy," is the philosophy.
It has become public policy that the health of
the United States depends upon the nation and its
citizens spending more money than they make year
after year after year. It used to be that savings and
thrift were considered virtues; now our leaders view
them as threats to national economic security.
Increasingly, the American economy is built on the
false expectation that we can buy now and not pay
later, but just make the interest payments in perpe
tuity. Today's economic slowdown is a warning that,
if not heeded, will bring an economic disaster that
will make the sub-prime mortgage insignificant in
comparison. It calls for financial discipline at the
public and private levels, not another spending spree
sponsored by the federal deficit.
Is The Political Will There
To Manage State's Water?
It will be interesting to see how Georgia's new water
management districts manage the state's most pre
cious natural resource. Heretofore, the assumption
was that there's plenty of water for everyone. Now we
know that isn't quite true.
Clearly, Georgia needs to become more efficient in
its water use — in the home, in business, agriculture
and industry. It is equally clear that the state needs
more storage — reservoirs — to tide it through the
lean times.
It is also clear that even if those objectives are met,
Georgia does not have the water to continue to enjoy
rapid population growth indefinitely. When growing
demand comes up against static resources, there will
be tough choices to be made, and Georgia is not good
at making difficult decisions.
The good news is that efficiency and additional res
ervoirs can buy us some time. The bad news is that
the resistance to enforced efficiency is likely to be
greater than appointed or elected officials are willing
to suffer. Knowing how to best manage water resourc
es is the easy part. Having the political will to do what
needs to be done is the challenge these water district
members and the General Assembly must accept.
Editorials, unless otherwise noted, are written by Mark
Beardsley. He can be reached by e-mail at mark@main-
streetnews.com.
The Commerce News
ESTABLISHED IN 1875
USPS 125-320
1672 South Broad Street
Commerce, Georgia 30529
MIKE BUFFINGTON Co-Publisher
SCOTT BUFFINGTON Co-Publisher
MARK BEARDSFEY Editor/General Manager
BRANDON REED Sports Editor
TERESA MARSHALL Office Manager
MERRILL BAGWELL Cartoonist
THE COMMERCE NEWS is the legal organ of the city
of Commerce and is published every Wednesday by
MainStreet Newspapers Inc. Periodical postage paid at
Commerce, Georgia 30529.
Subscription Rates Per Year: Jackson, Banks
and Madison counties, $19.75; State of Georgia,
$38.85; out-of-state, $44.50. Most rates dis
counted $2 for senior citizens.
POSTMASTER send address changes to THE COMMERCE
NEWS, P.O. Box 908, Jefferson, GA 30549.
With the holidays out of the way, I can spend the rest
of 2008 looking for a way to pay for them.
What’s It Worth To You?
Where we stop when we
travel probably tells a lot about
us. I think of my father's sis
ter, Jane, who almost always
accompanied us on our annual
pilgrimage to Georgia from
our home-in-exile on Long
Island. Desperately homesick,
Jane could never make it past
Delaware before insisting that
we stop and try the barbecue,
even though Mother reminded
her that it wouldn't be any
good, since we weren't over the
Mason-Dixon line yet.
Some people check out golf
courses, or stop to read historic
markers, or can't drive past a
yard sale. For me, you will not
be surprised to learn, it's librar
ies. The closest I've come to a
severe attack of library envy
was on Hilton Head, where I
found a sign at the entrance
that said "Valet Parking
Available." (Turned out they
were having an author reading
that day, and the author was
John Grisham. I almost had to
breathe into a paper bag when
I heard that news.)
I can tell a lot about an area
by visiting its libraries. Are
they well-built? Well-stocked?
Well-maintained? A trifecta is
rare, and when you add the
crucial fourth question — well-
staffed? — the percentage drops
to the single digits.
During the past eleven
months, my family has lived
in a rental house and when we
moved to it, we did not unpack
all of our boxes because we
knew we would be moving
again. As we prepare to move
again, I am discovering many
things that I have not used
over the past year and am
excited about having them use
ful again. It's like Christmas all
over again!
Also during these eleven
months, my 3-year-old daugh
ter has been secretly stashing
away things that must seem
intriguing to her. I have recent
ly uncovered a hiding place in
her closet where she has stored
a variety of items.
Most of the items I can recall
the point of origin, and then
there are some about which I
am clueless as to where they
came from. Nevertheless, I am
somewhat worried as to what
this behavior means for her
future.
I am familiar with
Alzheimer's patients hoard
ing objects and how this is a
common characteristic for the
A Few
Facts, A
Lot Of
Gossip 2
BY SUSAN HARPER
This is strange, when you
think about it. Libraries are not
expensive. Ours is generously
supported by the city, but it
still typically comes in at well
under one percent of the city's
annual budget.
Jackson County's contribu
tion is about half of a hun
dredth of its budget — and this
contribution offsets less than
10 percent of our library's
operating costs, even though
more than 30 percent of our
library's users are county resi
dents, not city residents.
The return on these relatively
modest investments is tremen
dous. The Commerce library
logged more than 62,000 vis
its by library users in 2007,
and the seven Jackson County
libraries, taken together, had
more than 216,000 visits.
These folks are heading to their
library for many different rea-
BY TRICIA MASSEY
disease. I can accept that in an
80-year-old. But I am having
a hard time convincing myself
that my 3-year-old is hoarding.
I think it is closer to kleptoma
nia.
Here are some of her stashed
treasures: a plastic spider ring,
a peg from those games on
the Cracker Barrel table, poker
chips (don't ask), a padlock
with no keys, money, stamps,
Chuck E. Cheese playing cards,
a pencil sharpener, batteries, a
Christmas ornament from the
Spencer Park tree, a plastic bot
tle top, beads, rocks, a travel
sewing kit, leaves and a dead
ladybug.
During recent episodes of
sons: school work, job-search
ing, family-history research,
recreational reading, videos,
audios, meetings, cultural
programs, lifelong learning...
And that's the short list. That's
quite a bit of bang for not all
that many bucks!
Studies repeatedly show that
libraries are one area where
Americans will not accept a
decline in quality — because
they know that libraries are
a bargain. Philadelphia got
a reminder of this recently
when the city's legislators tried
to turn some of the branch
libraries into "express librar
ies" (modeled on Holiday
Inn Express, one supposes?),
with smaller staffs and shorter
hours. Citizens' vehement
objections were what got
"expressed."
The City of Commerce is
a good friend to its library,
and what we need is a simi
lar approach from Jackson
County, which currently allo
cates two-tenths of a percent
of its budget to libraries, and
has not increased its support in
four years. This neglect, if left
unchecked, will begin to show
— and tell. And what it will say
about our area might not be so
nice.
Susan Harper is director of the
Commerce Public Library.
Stash
laundry, I have found small
trinkets in her pockets. When
I question where she has
obtained these items, she
shrugs her shoulders, smiles,
rolls her eyes and tells me
"don't worry about it."
It is hard not to worry when
your daughter obviously is a
collector of things and some
of those things clearly don't
belong to her or us. There are a
lot of new hiding places in our
new house, and I'm positive
she will be quick to find them.
If you happen to be missing
any of the above mentioned
items, please don't call the
police. We will work with you
in recovering them. I have
hope that one day she will
become a productive, law-
abiding citizen; in the mean
time, we are watching her very
closely and making sure things
don't just fall into her pockets.
Tricia Massey is a stay-at-
home mom, a member of
the Commerce Downtown
Development Authority and
chair of the Commerce Public
Library's capital campaign fund
drive.
A 3-Year-01d , s Troubling
f it's Gospel
According
To Mark
BY MARK BEARDSLEY
Time To Retire
‘Stakeholders*
From Vocabulary
Ladies and gentlemen, today I pro
pose that a five-year moratorium be
placed on the word "stakeholder"
so that it may rest from overuse and
return one day to productivity.
A stakeholder describes one who
has an interest and concern in some
thing, a noble concept, perhaps, but
the word has been co-opted by every
government agency, committee,
panel, nonprofit entity, and all of
their consultants, who toss it about
carelessly like bread crumbs to a
flock of pigeons to covey the notion
that the user gives a damn about
building a consensus among every
possible person or group of people
who should be interested in or be
affected by whatever plot is afoot.
Why, identifying the stakeholders is
the obligatory first task when adviso
ry committees huddle in their initial
meetings; it often requires its very
own meeting. Next is getting "input
from all stakeholders," the primary
reason for which is, when whatever
task is completed, to be able to say,
"hey, you had your chance to speak,
don't complain now."
Stakeholders must be identified
when Jackson County updates its
comprehensive plan, the words
"citizens" and "taxpayers" being
too plebian and negative respect
fully. Stakeholders must be included
and consulted when the chamber
embarks on a new program, as
a new high school is designed,
when a water council is formed or
when a library is to be expanded.
Stakeholders are summoned to craft
"mission statements" and "vision
statements" for each new endeavor.
(How America achieved greatness
before we knew about stakeholders
and vision and mission statements
is beyond me, but when historians
look back on the decline of America,
its beginning will coincide with the
insidious growth of stakeholders and
the use of vision and mission state
ments to keep productivity at bay.)
We are awash in calls for the repre
sentation of stakeholders, no doubt
because in a democratic republic like
ours, the power is allegedly vested
in the people, except in presidential
elections, when a group of unelect
ed people known as the Electoral
College can overturn the collective
will of the people. "Majority rules,"
we are told, so the real business of
America is to convince the majority
that what the rich and powerful want
is what's best for we lesser stakehold
ers.
Let's give "stakeholders" a five-
year hiatus, a vacation if you will,
and make those addicted to its use
find other less high-falutin but more
accurate words — "citizens," "taxpay
ers," "schmucks," "members" — to
describe the people to whom lip ser
vice must be paid or at least appear
to have been paid.
Give it a rest. Then we can return
it to use in five or 20 years, and nur
ture it back to respectability with
cautious and infrequent application.
Millions of committee members,
boards of directors and people
caught in conferences will thank us.
Next, we'll take up the word "gay,"
as in "don we now our gay apparel,"
and will attempt to understand and
rectify years of misuse of a word
meant to depict "lighthearted and
carefree" or "bright colored, showy,
brilliant."
Mark Beardsley is editor of The
Commerce News. He can be reached at
mark@mainstreetnews. com.