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PAGE 4A — THE MADISON COUNTY (GA) JOURNAL. THURSDAY. JANUARY 8. 2009 Opinions Frankly Speaking frankgillispie671@msn.com By Frank Gillispie A way to solve our loss of manufacturing I talked last week about the real problem with our nation’s economy being the loss of manufacturing. Today, I will suggest a way to solve that problem. It is a very simple and productive plan which means that our politicians are unlikely to do it. I am not the first to suggest this idea, or one similar to it. It involves a totally new tax system that would bring back many of the manufacturing jobs that have been lost to low income nations. This plan would cause imports to pay exactly the same taxes as domestic products. If you want to buy a new tool for your kitchen, say a baker's rack. Someone will dig the iron ore out of the ground and load it on the dump trucks. That per son is paid a salary. Payroll deductions takes a chunk of his pay. The truck driver’s salary is also taxed, as are the workers at the refinery, the steel mill, the factory that converts the metal into the baker’s rack, then the warehouse workers and drivers who deliver it to the store, and the sales staff that sell you the rack. By the time the raw ore is converted to a use ful device and delivered to your home, payroll taxes have contributed a major part to its cost. A baker’s rack made in China only pays the last stages of these taxes. That allows the stores to sell the imported product for a small fraction of what a domestic product would cost. Now if we were to eliminate all payroll taxes, and apply a consumption tax on all merchandise to be collected at the wholesale level, then all products, imports and domestic, would pay the same taxes. The cost of domestic goods would drop dramati cally making it much more economical to buy goods made in the USA other than the imports. This would be a very fair tax. People who spend the most money would pay most of the taxes. Those who seek out and buy all the latest useless gadgets will be taxed accordingly. Those who save for the future would pay no taxes until they actually spend the money. Now combine this idea with a great reduction in the size and cost of government made possible by the boom in returning manufacturing jobs and the impact on our economy would be considerable. If we reduce the government to the level prescribed by the Constitution, thus eliminating about 80 percent of federal spending, then the tax rate would drop dramatically. That would be another boost to our economy. Everybody would be able to afford all the things they desire. Just imagine, all those empty factories that dot our industrial areas would be operating at full capac ity. Millions of unemployed and under employed people would have good, well paying jobs. Even the millions of former government workers would find plenty of work to do. And, of course, we the people would be able to ignore April 15. With no income taxes, the need to file tax returns would be eliminated. We could live our lives without fear of the IRS. Life would be good. Frank Gillispie is founder of The Madison County Journal. His e-mail address is frankgillispie671 @ msn.com. His website can be accessed at http:// frankgillispie. tripod, coin/ Letter to the Editor Public needs to get involved Dear Editor: This is an open letter to the citizens of District 4 and all the citizens of Madison County. I have been encouraged by the involvement of citizens in this county attending and participating in past county commission meetings. Government for too long has been lacking active citizen input. As the new year begins with a new chairman and board in Madison County, I look for ward to an increased level of citizen input. I encour age you all to attend meetings and see for yourself government in action and to give your input when you feel the same is needed. Sincerely, Dewitt (Pete) Bond II District 4 Commissioner The Madison County Journal (Merged with The Danielsville Monitor and The Comer News, January 2006) SUBSCRIPTION RATES: Madison & surrounding counties $19.75/year State of Georgia $38.85/year Out-of-state $44.50/ year Military personnel with APO address $42.50/year Senior rate $2 off all above rates College student discount rate $2 off all above rates POSTMASTER: Send address changes to: THE MADISON COUNTY JOURNAL P.O. Box 658, Danielsville, GA 30633 A publication of MainStreet Newspapers, Inc. The media and the economic downturn A friend of mine recently comment ed that if the media would stop push ing all the bad economic news, then perhaps the economy would rebound. He hit on an interesting quandary. On the one hand, a responsible press can’t very well avoid the bad eco nomic news that we have these days. The problems are real. And if you try to tell people a rose is beautiful, even if it’s obviously shriveled up and rotted, then you surely aren’t going to gain anyone’s bust as an objective observer, no matter how much every one loved the rose when it bloomed. You must be truthful, even if the truth hurts. Wouldn't it be ridiculous if you flipped through newspapers from the 1930s and found reporters cheerlead ing about how great the economy was? A press is supposed to document the time. And when times are bad, cover age should reflect that. But covering the economy is a tricky thing, because the markets are tied closely to our collective psychology, which is certainly unstable right now. And putting a mirror to the problem, while necessary, makes us shriek. The way we perceive ourselves, and our In the Meantime zach@ mainstreet news.com By Zach Mitcham time, is part of the economic stoiy. And the media — though they may tty to be dispassionate observers — ultimately play a part in shaping that perception. Another complication is that when it comes to the economy, we are herd animals. One good clap of the hands can make a herd tun, even if there's no real threat. Or, a herd can follow its leader straight to the lions’ den, oblivi ous to warning signs. We can now recognize that we were oblivious to the fiscal warning signs for many years. On the flip side, now that things have gone bad, we're hor ribly skittish and ready to jump at anything that moves. The press is right to report on the nation’s fears and uncertainty. But in doing so, the media also generate anxiety. That's obvious, too. And we must recognize that the national press is, itself, like a herd, a massive bunch following a few leaders. Just because a story has national attention at the moment doesn’t mean that it is being covered in a thoughtful way. In fact, the more a story is covered, the lazier some organizations get, particularly on television. Think about it, a storyline gets established, and then much of the press clings to it for as long as they can squeeze commercial minutes out of it. The incessant repetition carries a palpable desperate quality. Cable networks, in particular, abandon actual news gathering in favor of open laptop, round-table forums to determine “what does it all mean?" We all know they don’t know, but we watch anyway. Solid reporting is desperately needed now. But the big papers are dying out. And TV has become the home of fiery demagogues, whose ultimate putpose is not their sanctimonious political rants, but simply to hold the atten tion of their target audiences for the advertisers. When it comes to today's harsh economy, this type of pontificating and soothsaying news culture is not helpful. So, it’s important to recognize what constitutes good journalism in these tough times. The best media outlets present statistics soberly. They offer some historical context, but they avoid the ciystal ball. Instead of predicting what’s next with the markets, they look in detail at what is happening now, focusing on how individuals are affected by market changes. They put faces to the stories. And while financial advisers always encourage investors to have a diversi fied portfolio to weather market down turns, it also seems appropriate to have a diversified portfolio when it comes to getting your news. If you're just looking at one source, you're only looking at one animal in the herd. If you settle for this, you're going to have a tough time seeing the herd’s movements. Zach Mitcham is editor of The Madison County Journal. Letter to the Editor Gracious Gator responds to Munro’s bile toward Florida Dear Editor: I am a Gator fan! However, I take every opportunity to cheer the Bulldogs to victory when not competing against Florida. The notion that Bulldogs fans should not cheer for the Gators in the national championship is ridiculous! (Editor's note: comments are pertain ing to sports editor Ben Munro’s Jan. 1 column. “Georgia fans: To heck with conference loyalty.'') Why would any fan of Georgia, an SEC team, want to see another SEC team get beat by the Big 12? The SEC is the most underrated conference in the nation. For years, we have heard of the strength of the Big 10 and PAC 10. Their teams were always ranked high in the BCS stand ings. Their schedules, however, are not nearly as tough as the SEC. The SEC was involved in five bowl games. We have won two — Georgia vs. Michigan State (I was there) and Vanderbilt vs. Boston College. (Editor's note: The SEC actually has three more wins. Kentucky also beat East Carolina. Ole Miss topped Texas Tech and LSU beat Georgia Tech). However, we have lost two — South Carolina vs. Iowa and Alabama vs. Utah. We need another win! I can understand the frustration that Bulldog fans feel. I personally expect ed the Dogs to go to the national cham pionship. Sadly, they did not have the season they expected. Dawg fans were convinced that the tide was changing in the Georgia-Florida series after last year’s humiliation of the Gators. Well, the favor was repaid this year. The 49-10 beating that Georgia took was hard to accept. I cheered for the Dogs in the Capital One Bowl. But my fellow Gator fans have been called the most obnoxious in the SEC. Have you ever been to a Georgia game? I think that the Gator chomp is very mild mannered com pared to Georgia’s famous song: “Hey, Gators, how’d you like to bite my a—?’’ Please, as Bulldog fans, you are a fan of the SEC. You support the strongest conference in the country. Cheer against it and we will return to the underrated state the SEC was in four years ago. The debates will be between the Big 12 and the PAC 10. Let the toughest conference stand up and prove its worth. We can all hate each other next fall. So cheer for the Gators. If you do not, you are a traitor to the SEC. Sincerely, J.S. Fielding Danielsville Weather wise By Mark Jenkins Sorry, the drought is not over Despite some news articles and recent rains to the contrary, Georgia’s long and severe drought is definitely not over. While rainfall across the state and local area was better in 2008, it was not nearly enough to end the three-year (or 10-year from one perspective) drought across sev eral southeastern states. Here in Madison County we ended the year still down nearly 13 inches. Atlanta finished 2008 down about nine inches, while Greenville, Asheville and Athens were all behind about the same amount as we were. The good news is that the drought did shrink in coverage and intensity. One year ago, the drought held a strong grip in an area bounded by a Nashville to Roanoke to Raleigh to Columbia to Tallahassee to Tuscaloosa back to the Nashville line. But now the drought has shrunk to an area roughly centered over the border areas of Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina and outward about 100 miles. Oddly, the bull’s eye of the drought is normally one of the wettest areas of the eastern U.S. and is at the head of many large and important river systems and hydroelectric lakes. I believe it is only a matter of time before this drought area shrinks further and finally disappears. It may take two or three more years, but one of these days we will be writing about high water and flooding instead. Weather averages for December, 2008: Avg. low:38. Avg. high: 56. Lowest: 18. Highest: 70. Mean: 46.8 (+2.0). Total rainfall: 4.49’’ (+0.62). 2008 total precipi tation: 38.71’’ (-12.80’’). Mark Jenkins is the cooperative weather observer for Madison County. He provides a monthly weather column to The Madison County Journal. Letter to the Editor Assessor submits resignation letter Dear Editor: (This letter was submitted to the Madison County commissioners and the BOC Chairman.) It is with great regret that I hereby tender my resignation for my seat on the board of assessors effective Feb. 1, 2009. I have tried very diligently for the past three and a half years to serve you and the citizens of Madison County to the best of my ability. I am proud of some of the accomplishments that have been made. I leave holding my head high and with a clear conscience of what I have tried to achieve and have no regrets. However, the conditions that now exist on the board of assessors and the assessors office make it impossible for me to continue. I have too much respect for our citizens to continue to be a part of this sham against them, as I am a person of honor and integrity and cannot serve any longer under these conditions. It is hard enough to do the job we are called to do without having to tolerate that kind of environ ment. I have seen a great travesty and great ineq uity against the citizens of Madison County only to have it fall on deaf ears. If the citizens of this county knew what was being done to them, there should be a rebellion. Alas, they are too busy trying to make ends meet and spend time with their fami lies to know and understand what it happening. It is with a very heavy heart that I must tender this resignation and I wish my successor, whoever they may be, God speed and good luck. Sincerely, Larry Stewart Too busy to think My View When your schedule is packed, sometimes you just don’t have that “down” time to think. I mean, really think. Just think about stuff and what it all means. My thinking time seems to come while Pm driving. Even with the radio turned on, that’s where the thoughts come flowing. I think about my daughter, my husband, my job — and occasionally just little random things come to mind. And it’s become the norm that I use my driving time to make “notes to self.” Instead of writing a note while driving, I pick up my cell phone from the center console, press a speed-dial button to either my house or office and leave a “note to self’ about what ever is on my mind. Sometimes, it’s a reminder about a work- related item. Other times, it's a reminder to get something from the store or send something to someone. It’s whatever random task comes floating through my head. And then, there are the sticky notes. The little pieces of paper are plastered around my computer screen at work. That's where my eyeballs stay focused on for many hours of the week. So it makes sense that my little reminders would always be on my mind, right? The reality, however, is that the more sticky notes around the screen, the easier it becomes to ignore them. With a choice of yellow or pink sticky notes, they seem to decorate my working - K By Kerri Testement space. Each sticky note represents a task: Follow-up with this story. Call this person. Do this thing. E-mail that person. It feels good to take down a sticky note when a task is completed. But, one — if not two more — sticky notes around the screen usually follow it. An even more pathetic tac tic? Notes on the back of my hand. Yep, if I’m away from the sticky notes — and I fear I may forget to ask someone about something — I write a note on the back of my hand. The other day, the red ink on my hand said, “Store!!" It was a reminder to get some medicine at the store before it closed. My day was busy, and it was possible that I'd forget to go to the store between all of the things on my schedule. The problems with notes on hands is that they rub off easily after a few washes (what if you haven't completed that task yet?) and they make you feel like a forgetful second grader who needs such an obvious reminder right in front of them. This Christmas, I'm not asking for much. Just time with my family and a personal digital assistant (PDA) — to keep up with the busy schedule. Kerri Testement is news editor of The Braselton News, a sister publication of The Madison County Journal. Her e-mail address is kerri@ inainstreetnews.com.