posted November 1, 2009
We never seem to truly address the disease.
We have children and grandchildren who cannot read; then we complain about the new requirements being placed upon our schools and teachers.
In September of 1974 a two man crew broke the New York to London air speed record for air breathing jet engine aircraft. A week later another crew flew the same bird and set a new record from London to Los Angeles. Many of us only knew it rumored as the "Habu," named for a rather mean and deadly snake, but the proper designation is the SR-71 Blackbird. Back in those days they were kept in high security hangars, only brought out at night immediately prior to take-off. Armament? None. It was a reconnaissance plane. Defensive systems? One ... "hit the gas, Jack." Those speed records still stand in their class. Nothing could overtake them in the air.
The day before the first of these occurred a group of us stood on the roof of our barracks in Iwakuni, Japan. It was right at sunset as we watched two F-4J fighters take off in unison, lift off over the sea wall at the inland sea, pull the nose up and kick in the afterburners, taking them almost straight up into the sky, until they were out of sight. Man and machine, against a backdrop of the Big Dude's canvass. It just doesn't get much better than that.
What did the dudes and dudettes who designed the SR-71 have to work with? A blackboard, paper, a slipstick, their minds ... each and every person reading this probably has more computing power on their desks than the grandest of computers in that day. The first "desktop computer" I ever saw was a developmental model at the Tektronix factory in Beaverton, OR. It was as big as a desk, with a side wing, and in 1972 it had an amazing 16 kilobytes of random access memory (RAM). We laugh at mere megabytes these days. The first IBM compatible computer I bought had a 4.77MHz clock, 512K of RAM, a 10 megabyte hard disk, a color monitor, and an el spiffo dot matrix printer that would absolutely zip along at 180 characters per minute as it vibrated everything off the desk.
Those folks learned to read beginning with "look Jane, look, look." They had to sound out their words, and had weekly readers. They learned to cipher practicing with flashcards, and those of us who couldn't afford the store bought kind had to make our own. They learned to write with a pencil, and lord help you if you back-talked the teacher or caused a ruckus in class. So what's with all the spiff these days. It certainly isn't producing anything but lower results for the same basic subject matter. Play in the band or sing in the choir? Earn it. Play sports? Earn that too.
We're spending more and more money with fewer and fewer results, and the promises we're made aren't supposed to come to fruition until after those who make them are long gone from office. Where's accountability in that equation?
We complain about "corporate greed" and the high salaries of corporate executives, but who are the greedy ones?
Back in the early 80s, when my company started becoming stable, established, and we were making a profit, stock brokers began calling regularly. They wanted me to let them invest our liquid cash. One of them was a neighbor, and I believe for a fact he would have recommended his mother invest in a buggy whip factory if it meant he'd earn a commission. And the point? We turn our money over to strangers so they can play with it, companies have huge infusions of cash, boards of directors have no worries because nobody goes to shareholder meetings and even if they did, their votes would be swamped by large voting blocks or higher stock class shareholders. The result? High executive salaries, in the bazillions of dollars with additional deferred income and benefits, because those who make the decisions are isolated from the rank and file shareholder, not to mention the day to day operation of the business.
Who in the world is worth a several million dollar a year salary? No one. If those executives don't perform they get fired, and often leave with more than what they were paid when they were driving the company into the drink. There is no accountability.
If we don't like the salaries executives are paid, we need to stop giving our money to them.
Back in the mid 90s there was a trend of opening what were known as "dot-com" businesses. The plan was to hang out an online shingle, sell a product, and attract investors with no intention of ever showing a profit. Then came "the bubble," and it popped. Why? Because those businesses had all that money, spent it, were showing no profit, the economy was slowing, and people wanted to get liquid. The stocks went into a tail spin and a lot of people lost a lot of money. There was no accountability.
Why do we invest in companies whose stock is selling for several times what they pay out in earnings? I heard on the radio last week that one of those online search engine outfits, I believe the name begins with a "G" or something like that, was selling for either 180 or 1,800 times its earnings. Where's the wisdom of that, even if it's only 180 times?
We want to make that quick, easy money.
We complain about "government." What is government? Isn't it us and who we elect? How's that hopey changey thing working out right now? Are we happy with a $1.4 trillion federal deficit, just for fiscal year 2008, as was recently reported? Are we happy with an almost 10% "official" unemployment rate that's estimated, by the feds, to actually be more like 19%? Are we happy that the federal boys and girls, both those we've elected and their appointed functionaries, are spending not just our money but money our grandchildren and great grandchildren have yet to earn? There is no accountability.
And after almost a year, they're still trying to blame the Bush/Cheney administration ... while they've placed individuals who've never had to get out and work a day in their lives, real work, the kind that builds calloused hands, or had to make a payroll, or had to look in a man's, or woman's, eyes while telling him he needs to seek other employment, in positions of running companies with thousands of employees. These people haven't a clue how business runs, much less how to run one. There is no accountability, and we don't hold their feet to the fire.
Even the local boys and girls are playing with people's lives. Floy Pierce in Red Bank wants to spend tax payers' money on a building so she can have her name on it. Manny Rico thinks it's funny, from the smile on his face, to not only double people's taxes by annexing them, in a horrendously down economy, but to triple their rain tax. Isn't that what the city of Chattanooga is doing when they charge a fee for water quality, taxing them for the rain? What about all the migratory birds that pollute the river with, uh, well, that stuff and cause high levels of coliform bacteria?
Debra Scott is willing to annex county residents as a punitive measure for their use of city facilities. How about all those county schools Chattanooga residents send their children to? Or how about those city roads Larry Henry had to have repaired with his county discretionary funds in recent months? What city services do county residents use that they don't pay for either directly or indirectly? And Manny Rico calls himself a Republican? And the standard he's held to is? Even by the members of the political party to which he claims affiliation? When he states, on camera for the world to see, that the most recent round of annexations to the city of Chattanooga is nothing more than a grab for more money? "Pay it now or pay more later," my aching, uh, elbow.
A friend commented recently, "maybe that's why Littlefield was so hopped up about homeless shelters when he first took office, so Chattanoogans will have a place to live when he gets done with them." Where's Mr. DePinto when he's really needed, probably off trying to figure another way to force recycling.
Me ... me ... me ... it's all about "me" to some. "Hooray for me, to heck with you ... just give me your money" is their attitude. And then, we have those like Commissioner Richard Casavant who believes that if people can't afford property tax hikes when he thinks they're appropriate, well, perhaps they just shouldn't own property (as quoted two years ago on the Chattanoogan.com). How about it's because we don't want them raised? It's obvious he's learned a lot about business and the real world, what, with all those years he's spent in a classroom and all, isolated from the real world of profits and losses and returns on investment. Another claimant to a seat at the Republican table, but who is also never chastised for not adhering to Republican principles.
But they get angry with us when we call them out for poor stewardship of our resources, dress them down for inappropriately limiting our rightful activities, and stand up to them when they allow criminals more rights than working people.
Here's a serious problem; critical thinking skills. Some of us never learned how to use them and sometimes those of us who did, don't. We're expected to accept what's told us by those who attempt to ram things through and fool us with demands of immediate action. Then we, the tax paying and sometimes voting, citizens don't hold them accountable for their actions.
Some accuse those of us who point out problems, and even propose solutions, of being negative. I've spent the last 40 years as a troubleshooter, finding problems first then economical and workable solutions to them. When we're in the middle it, in the heat of battle so to speak, it's difficult to stand back, clinically analyze the situation, and determine a reasonable solution. But stand back we must, and be brutally honest with ourselves and our neighbors. The first step to finding a solution is always identifying the problem, the real problem. When we find ourselves in a hole, of course, the first thing to do is quit digging.
Wandering around humming "La, la la, la la, la la" doesn't get it. Gathering around for a group hug while everyone sings Kumbaya doesn't get it either, nor does blaming everyone and everything else for our mistakes.
Lead, follow, or get the heck out of the way of those who will. That doesn't mean doing the grab-and-run deal with our wallets either. Our children and grandchildren deserve more, oh so much more, than what we would lay at their feet right now, today.
Any fool can throw money at a perceived problem, but is he looking at the real problem? Is money the solution or is it just something to make everyone feel all warm and fuzzy and stuff?
The warthog told the lion king "Hakuna Matata ... it means no worries, for the rest of your days." That isn't reality. It's time for politicians to stop playing silly games with people's lives and livelihoods, stop spending our tax dollars frivolously, stop treating our wallets like their personal money trees, and begin listening to their constituents. Some of us aren't willing to accept "slimy, yet satisfying" when others try to control our lives.
For now, I'm listening to Ms. Suzzi tell me she hasn't had a steak in several days. Ms. Luci too. Since I'm about to go into chocolate withdrawal, we're headed off to spend money I earned without the sweat of any politician or his appointed functionaries. I'm out of cigarettes too.
Royce E. Burrage, Jr.
Royce@Officially Chapped.org
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