The Comforts Of Denial

Are you still working? Are you getting a raise next year? Have your retirement investments made the big turn around?

I ask these questions because everybody running the governments around Clatsop County thinks these are boom times.  It's just amazing to me that nobody running the Cities, Schools, or the County for that matter has taken any action to ease the burdens of those they represent.  When I think about people making the very low average income in this county and the many who make far less, I wonder why it seems all these councils and commissions are talking about spending more money on unnecessary luxuries like parks or talking about far less important matters like whether the new grass will be ready for the new ball field we all ended up paying to build and patting themselves on the back for paying one guy $200-grand a year to save $300-grand a year on that worthless aquatics center.  The cost of   government services has increased because we have governments focused on nice amenties rather than simple survival. Check your water and sewer bill, or take a good look at your property tax statement. Shouldn't we be discussing ways to decrease this burden? Shouldn't we be seeing projects delayed or halted altogether?  Please don't tell me I paid to take down the Darigold building (both Darigold buildings) to say nothing of that miserable downtown Astoria block.  What a mistake it was for the city to get involved in that.

Now our government servants are planning to pile on even more by spending money to study a jail...again, by having discussions about how nice the city hall will be once that work is done, that is, once the taxpayers finish paying for it.  How do they do it?  The county has even found a  "new" way to figure out how much to stick you for the right to live on the property you think you own.  Why should anyone have to pay the government for the rest of their lives to live on a piece of property you have already paid for in the first place?  Property taxes are the lowest form of scam.  It's  right up there with paying 100 times the actual cost to have water in your house and a sewer to flush it to when you're through.

Your elected leaders need to hear from you.  If the Port of Astoria can retire it's debt and provide private sector jobs in the process why can't all the other governments do the same, or at very least show some self control acknowledge that times are really tough and try hard not to make things worse?

I can absolutely guarantee you just one thing.  Until the people put their collective foot down there will be no change because there is no mandate to do so until YOU speak up.

Many Don't Get It

Lars Larson summed it up pretty well yesterday when he commented on the OCCUPY protest in Portland asking what result the protesters are seeking.  What is it they want exactly? Fair question.

They are calling themselves the 99%.  They say they represent the vast majority of Americans who are deeply in debt, lost their homes, lost retirement or have huge student loans owing or medical bills that would require the treasury of a small country to satisfy and just don't think that's fair.  They say this is about fairness.  They point to "evil" financial institutions and the other 1%  of the population who have benefited by their positions in those institutions, who are rich and getting richer.  There are others who have joined this protest about fairness.  You read me right. it's not about economics so much as what these people expect in terms of fairness.  I assume from this they would like student loans forgiven, they would like to have the homes back they could not afford to own in the first place. They want retirement savings that melted away to be magically replaced by someone, most likely the investment firms that could not foresee the global collapse.  The OCCUPY protests are the ultimate expression of "misery loves company".

OCCUPY Wall Street, OCCUPY Boston, OCCUPY New York, OCCUPY Portland, OCCUPY Seattle..etc...Is an expression of the need to do something, anything,  to gain attention for the multiple social issues that this country and countries around the world are deeply mired in. As is usual with these protests the motives of all those who join are not exactly the same and not pure in every case. 

Some clearly don't understand personal responsibility and the fact that for every action you take there will be a consequence. The actions you take directly determine the nature of the consequences. If you want to go to College it will cost you money. How you pay for it leads to consequences of their own. Decide upfront how important it is to you, buckle down and move forward.

  Some just enjoy being part of something they hardly understand and make it their own by introducing their own issues.  I put some self-styled community activists in that group.  The end justifies the means for this group and they crave the attention that comes with being dragged off by the authorities screaming about the right of free assembly all the way to the paddy wagon. If you will be a community activist then, by all means, go after solutions, form coalitions, work the process and make your point for change. Standing in a public right-of-way daring police to put the cuffs on you rarely works and is least effective long term.

Change in America comes at the ballot box.  It's not just those elected to sit in Congress either. Change comes from finding people who are able to affect change in the both the Executive and Judicial branches of both state and federal government.  Our system is only as good as the character and commitment of those who lead it, those who regulate it, and those who have oversight.  May I suggest OCCUPY THE BALLOT?