Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/72665
2B Daily News – Saturday, June 30, 2012 Opinion DAILYNEWS RED BLUFF TEHAMACOUNTY T H E V O I C E O F T E H A M A C O U N T Y S I N C E 1 8 8 5 Greg Stevens, Publisher gstevens@redbluffdailynews.com Chip Thompson, Editor editor@redbluffdailynews.com Editorial policy The Daily News opinion is expressed in the editorial. The opinions expressed in columns, letters and cartoons are those of the authors and artists. Letter policy The Daily News welcomes let- ters from its readers on timely topics of public interest. All let- ters must be signed and pro- vide the writer's home street address and home phone num- ber. Anonymous letters, open letters to others, pen names and petition-style letters will not be allowed. Letters should be typed and cannot exceed two double-spaced pages or 500 words. When several letters address the same issue, a cross section of those submit- ted will be considered for publi- cation. Letters will be edited. Letters are published at the discretion of the editor. Mission Statement We believe that a strong com- munity newspaper is essential to a strong community, creating citizens who are better informed and more involved. The Daily News will be the indispensible guide to life and living in Tehama County. We will be the premier provider of local news, information and advertising through our daily newspaper, online edition and other print and Internet vehi- cles. The Daily News will reflect and support the unique identities of Tehama County and its cities; record the history of its com- munities and their people and make a positive difference in the quality of life for the resi- dents and businesses of Tehama County. How to reach us Main office: 527-2151 Classified: 527-2151 Circulation: 527-2151 News tips: 527-2153 Sports: 527-2153 Obituaries: 527-2151 Photo: 527-2153 On the Web www.redbluffdailynews.com Fax Newsroom: 527-9251 Classified: 527-5774 Retail Adv.: 527-5774 Legal Adv.: 527-5774 Business Office: 527-3719 Address 545 Diamond Ave. Red Bluff, CA 96080, or P.O. Box 220 Red Bluff, CA 96080 Editor: Today there was fire in my neighborhood. The response from all the agencies was fast and effective. They stopped the fire with minimal loss. Unfortu- nately one home that I know of was lost but our home and our immediately neighbors are safe. As fate would have it, my husband who is a Wildland Fire- fighter is off on assignment pro- tecting the homes of strangers. When he finally received my messages and text regarding the fire he said that I did the right thing by preparing to evacuate but I had little to worry about because we have taken the prop- er measures to protect our prop- erty and home. There was one home right Fire Next Door next to the home lost that was untouched by this fire. I credit the home being saved by the incredible efforts of the home- owners in keeping their proper- ty cleared of tall grasses and debris. They had at least the 100 foot minimum clearance required by the county as should I encourage everyone to eval- uate what they have done to pro- tect their homes and make sure that they have a minimum of 100 feet of clearance. Also, you need to have a list of important items to take with you. Don't wait until the last minute like I did today and try to figure it out in a panic. Make sure you have a friend or relative willing to take you in the event you need to evacuate. If you have ani- mals, make sure there is a plan in place for them too. Although we have wonderful agencies and resources to assist in such a need they become overwhelmed so being self sufficient helps stretch those resources. In closing I would like to once again thank all the agen- cies for doing such a great job today and encourage all home- owners to do your job to ensure their safety as well as the safety of you, your family and proper- ty. everyone. Christina Marie Stanley, Red Bluff Editor: It is difficult to understand the logic of those with underwater mort- gages, who feel it should not be their responsibility to fully pay off their legal debt, no matter how much underwater. Having inad- equate income to support luxu- ries and the underwater mort- gage is a no brainer. Live frugal- ly and repay the debt. You bought the home with that mort- gage load and it is now your responsibility to honor your debt. Mortgages It has been common to sell homes below the purchase price these past 50 years during reces- sions, following plant closures from union strikes, companies moving to another states with lower taxes and fewer regula- tions, sale of the company to another with many termina- tions, and of course global com- petition. The only difference is, when homes were sold at a loss during the 1960 through 2000 Your Turn era, the 20 to 30 percent down- payment, and a decade of equity growth, covered the losses. The home purchases during the hyper period of the mid 1990s through 2006 were usually with no downpay- ment, and the assump- tion that the temporary price bubble would last for decades. The reality is bubbles burst, and those who paid double the actual home value, with minimal down pay- ment made a bad choice that has consequences. Subprime borrowers should not be bailed out by taxpayers, just as they were never bailed out during the dozen recessions from 1960 to 2000. If you must sell at a loss due to long term unemployment, or a medical catastrophe, work with your lender for a "short sale" at the current value, with the borrower and lender sharing the perma- nent losses. That is the reality of home buying choices. Joseph J. Neff, Corning Your officials STATE ASSEMBLYMAN — Jim Nielsen (R) State Capitol Bldg., Room 6031 Sacramento, CA 95814 (916) 319-2002; Fax (916) 319-2102 STATE SENATOR — Doug LaMalfa (R) State Capitol Bldg., Room 3070 Sacramento, CA 95814 (916) 651-4004; Fax (916) 445-7750 GOVERNOR — Jerry Brown, State Capitol Bldg., Sacramento, CA 95814; (916) 445-2841; Fax (916) 558-3160; E-mail: gover- nor@governor.ca.gov. U.S. REPRESENTATIVE — Wally Herger (R), 2595 Cean- othus Ave., Ste. 182, Chico, CA 95973; 893-8363. U.S.SENATORS — Dianne Feinstein (D), One Post Street, Suite 2450, San Francisco, CA 94104; (415) 393-0707. Fax (415) 393-0710. Barbara Boxer (D), 1700 Montgomery St., Suite 240, San Francisco, CA 94111; (510) 286-8537. Fax (202) 224- 0454. Mud on the shore One of the problems with travel is that it takes time to catch up with the local news. Fortunately, now with the almost Daily News and the absence of the SF Chronicle, it takes less time to catch up than pre- viously. As I was reviewing the various papers a pattern for the first day of the week emerged. The editorial page on that day has become infused with self defense or justifi- cation, counter attacks, and person- al vendettas rather than the discus- sion of the important issues we face as voters. It is like the tide has gone out and there is no depth to the water, just mud and stench on the shoreline. For example, I just read a local column from May 15 in which a writer has the chutzpah to recom- mend and essentially review an economics book he admittedly had not read. The book appeared to agree with his political/economic set of assumptions, but no facts were presented. I thought it might be good for all of us to look at some facts before the sputtering contin- ues, so I picked a book to read about which I had no preconcep- tions. less than half of the federal govern- ment's expenditure is discretionary. The projections are very clear that these programs will garner an increasing percentage of federal spending in the next several years, forcing serious decisions by Con- gress. We often read complaints about Whether or not we like it, our federal government has become one very large insurance carrier; Social Security, which is similar to an annuity you could pur- chase from an insurance company, big government. The facts put a dif- ferent spin on this claim. When measured as both a percentage of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and population, the size of the fed- eral government is actually smaller now than for the last fifty years. Here are the facts: Discretionary spending has fallen from 12 percent of our GDP in the 1960's to 7 per- cent just before our current reces- sion. "In 2007, before the recession began, primary spending other than those two programs [Social Securi- ty and Medicare/Medicaid] was just 11 percent of GDP. In other words, except for Social Security and Medicare, the government has been steadily shrinking. The government's civilian Much of the data in this column comes from that book by two econ- omists, Simon Johnson and James Kwak, two authors who do not appear to have a political agenda, but who are trying to describe the budgetary problems of the our fed- eral government; the book came out in April and is entitled White House Burning: Our Founding Fathers, Our National Debt, and Why it Matters to You. It can be dry, but it is not inflammatory, and it is very informative. Federal spending can be divided into "mandatory" and "discre- tionary" spending. In 2010 manda- tory spending programs like Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security consumed 59 percent of the federal budget. In other words workforce, which fluctuated between 0.9 percent and 1.1 per- cent of the population from 1954 to 1991, was only 0.7 percent of the population in 2010. Seen in this light, President Eisenhower, not President Obama, presided over a large and expensive federal govern- ment." The part of the Federal spending that has grown over time is the "mandatory" portion. At one time it was Social Security, then Medicare and Medicaid were added during the Great Society era, and then the Medicare Part D drug program was added during the G.W. Bush administration. The Bush adminis- tration low balled the cost of the drug program just as it did its esti- mates of the cost of the Iraq and Afghanistan invasions. Both parties seemed to support the Bush admin- istration's actions enough to pass them in Congress. Medicare/Medicaid are a kind of insurance. In essence we already have a great deal of what is deri- sively called "socialized" care. The Affordable Care Act, if upheld in the Supreme Court will just be an extension of something we have come to accept from our government. (The decision will take place after this was writ- ten.) and Joe Although it may be hard to believe around April 15th of the year, taxes are not as high as many would have us believe. According the authors, Johnson and Kwak, "individual income taxes have only fallen over the past thirty years, from 8.5 percent of GDP in the 1980s and 8.4 percent in the 1990s to 7.4 percent since the 2001 tax cut and 6.2 percent in 2010— the lowest level since 1950." Harrop The authors conclude: "Includ- ing federal, state, and local taxes, the total tax burden in the United States was 24 percent of GDP in 2009, the second-lowest level among the thirty-four industrialized countries in the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). Compared to other rich countries, we are not an overtaxed nation." The net effective corporate tax rate is not as high as portrayed by many, either. son and Kwak, "The current net effective corporate tax rate places us in eighth place among the world's economic leaders… While the corporate tax amounted to 4.8 percent of GDP in the 1950s and According to John- national debt; I sometimes think their control is like letting the inmates run the asylum. The hand- writing is clearly on the wall, how- ever, when considering that debt. The demographics of an aging pop- ulation, the economics of the cost of health care, and our relatively low tax rates all combine to make the cost of Social Security and Medicare/Medicaid grow to a larg- er and larger percentage of the bud- get. This issue has to be addressed. It will take a combination of reduced expenditures, increased revenues, discipline on the part of Congress, and time to bring down our national debt to the point it is a reasonable amount of money for us to borrow. While we may not like the government phasing out incan- descent light bulbs, or mandating clean air standards, pushing for fed- eral educational goals, or other pro- grams, big government is not the problem. 3.8 percent in the 1960s, it fell to 1.9 percent by the first decade of the 2000s and only 1.3 percent in 2010. Including state taxes, corpo- rate taxes in the United States are among the lowest as a share of GDP in the industrial- ized world." The authors also point out that cries to eliminate tax loopholes for cor- porations or to increase tax rates may be sub- ject to the laws of unin- tended consequences, like lower salaries, smaller dividends, etc. Congress, which "controls" spending, continues to perform a passion play about the Joe Harrop is a retired educator with more than 30 years of service to the North State. He can be reached at DrJoeHarrop@sbcglobal.net.