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SATURDAY/OCTOBER 1, 2011
10am-4pm at Downtown Union Point
* UNION
juNcm
JAMBORE
Fun for the
whole family*
NEW THIS YEAR
Pumpkin Bake-Off • Civil War Living History
'Wayside Home Ladies Speak in Wisteria Cemetery"
• Classic Tractors
• Fun Zone for the Kids
• Live Music All Day
• Arts & Crafts Market
• Food! Food! Food!
• Model Trains
• Kids' Bike Ride ^
• Union Point Museum
Brought to you In: Union Point Better Hometown (706) 486-4128
www.unionjunctioniainbof.ee.org
Krazy Horner
Congressman Broun, Jr. recently took to the Athens Banner-
Herald's editorial page to offer yet another bizarre rendering of
trickle-down economics. Railing against "central planning," Broun
offered a radicalized trickle-down economic program as an alterna
tive. His idea is to lower taxes even more, down to nothing in some
cases for the rich, and to further lessen regulations on corporations.
Exactly what Ronald Reagan tried 30 years ago.
It’s getting sort of embarrassing to trot this stuff out. The trickle-down
economic ideal Broun presents is a failed theory, as the experiment of the
decades since Reagan’s inauguration have shown. The upper marginal tax rate in
1980 was 70 percent; it is now 35 percent. The banking industry during the last 30
years was deregulated so that profits trumped stability. Labor regulations were weak
ened and unions destroyed. Regulations on trade were decimated, opening up the
spigot of profits for corporations moving factories to Mexico, China and elsewhere.
And look around: the results are in. It’s failed. It’s a failed experiment. None of the
promises of Reagan-era conservatives have materialized. The deregulated banks col
lapsed. The good jobs are gone. Incomes for middle-class and working-class earners
are stagnant or declining. Families now need two incomes instead of one. More than
one in five American children is in poverty. Infant mortality rates approach third-world
levels. Meanwhile, the rich are doing better than they’ve done since the 1920s, and
the disparity between the superwealthy and the rest of us is widening daily. Broun is
asking us to continue and intensify these trends by redoubling our adherence to a
thoroughly debunked ideology. Thirty years ago, Reagan and conservatives like Broun
promised “morning in America.” How come it feels like dusk? [Matthew Pulver]
THenaca
HALF MARATHON
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ATHENS NEWS AND VIEWS
Day of Reckoning: Quickly, try to think of a
musical group or artist and a city more pow
erfully and prominently linked than R.E.M.
and Athens. The Beatles' relationship with
Liverpool is about as close as it gets: for a
lot of people, and in a lot of ways, R.E.M. is
Athens, and vice-versa.
That's the way it's
been for most of the
past 31 years, like it
or not, and to some
extent, it will continue
to be so for the foresee
able future, despite the
band's "calling it a day"
last week. These kinds
of associations don't
fade away overnight
(see above examples).
But what about R.E.M.'s
direct, tangible, more-
or-less quantifiable
impacts on this city—
namely, the band's con
tributions to the wide
variety of local charities
it has so actively and
generously supported
over the years? Few cit
ies Athens' size have
been able to claim such
a benefactor; now that
R.E.M. is no longer a
band, will it stop being
a philanthropic force here, as well?
The short answer is "no." While the band
has never established a foundation to man
age (or perpetuate) its charitable enterprises,
neither has that work been done solely in the
name of some remote, corporate entity that
will now cease to exist. It's the band's mem
bers themselves (and associates like Bertis
Downs) who have always made the decisions
to give their support to local causes, and it's
likely they'll continue to do so, at least to
a significant extent. Of course, without new
albums or tours, the band's income streams
are going to be considerably more modest, and
its outlays will necessarily
Students gathered at the Arch late Wednesday,
Sept. 21 to light candles in remembrance of
Troy Davis, who was executed that night de
spite doubts about his guilt in the 1989 mur
der of Savannah Police Officer Mark MacPhail.
reflect that. But R.E.M. is still a going con
cern, and it's pretty tough to imagine Stipe,
Mills, et al., turning their backs on Whatever
It Takes and the Athens-Clarke Heritage
Foundation just because they're not writing
songs together anymore.
Tough Week: Last week's
local development news
wasn't exactly inspiring
to those (like the afore
mentioned) who sup
port the cultivation and
preservation of Athens'
unique historic and
economic character.
Monday saw the opening
of the new downtown
parking deck, which
will dominate the area's
skyline and contribute
a Waffle House and two
more chain restaurants
to the local mix of culi
nary options. Tuesday,
UGA President Michael
Adams announced his
decision to raze and
rebuild Rutherford Hall,
rather than renovate
it. And Wednesday,
Flagpole's Kevan Williams
reported that rumors
about Wal-mart's interest
in being the "anchor tenant" in a very hush-
hush—at least as far as our elected officials
are concerned—development project on the
Armstrong 8. Dobbs property, once touted as
the potential centerpiece of a vibrant new
river district, appear well founded.
Next week, we expect confirmation of
the sale of the 40 Watt to the Walt Disney
Company, which will improve the venue into
a spotlessly clean, family-friendly, Athens
music-themed "amusement center," generating
perhaps a dozen new minimum-wage jobs.
You heard it here first!
Dave Marr news@flagpole.com
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4 FLAGPOLE.COM • SEPTEMBER 28, 2011
