Danny Gardner

Guest Columnist

Jobs are key to moving our economy back toward prosperity for everyone.

Between now and November’s election savvy voters will seek information about JOBS, the economy, new and rising taxes, growing deficits and debt, and ideas about how to lead our nation back to prosperity.

Savvy voters will look for leaders who propose solutions, not politicians who look backward with nothing more than name-calling, blame-gaming ineptitude and poor judgment.

The Obama Administration predicts 9-percent unemployment or higher all next year, the longest period at this level since the Great Depression. They preach “jobs” and “the summer of recovery,” while playing race cards to distract attention from real unemployment and economic numbers.

Recently, some DC Democrats expressed reservations about allowing the Bush tax cuts to expire January 1, 2011, which will raise taxes on all taxpayers. This is anathema to the Obama-Pelosi-Reid consortium (OPR) dedicated to continually raising taxes and spending precipitously ad infinitum.

Of course, DC is not ‘spending’ tax dollars; DC is borrowing money to pay for more and more government handouts. That’s why the deficit will continue to skyrocket above $1.4 TRILLION by the end of September! The deficit is how many more dollars we borrow than we collect in taxes.

America’s businesses, anticipating coming tax hikes as well as new taxes, have resisted investing in their own businesses, i.e. they have laid off workers and stopped hiring. Unemployment numbers have zoomed to new heights during Obama’s tenure (according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics more than 4-million jobs have been lost since January 2009).

The economic debate in Washington revolves around how to balance revenue with spending. OPR argues we have to raise taxes to raise revenue to pay for increased government spending. Conservatives argue DC needs to quit spending more than we collect in taxes…or, really, stop borrowing.

If the private sector is taxed more, businesses will invest less than they would have by at least that same amount, and may spend even less because of the additional tax burdens imposed by the government, thus putting more people out of work, and reducing tax collections as well.

When businesses invest in themselves they hire more workers who pay taxes. Unemployed workers pay no income taxes; instead, they receive taxpayer handouts from the government. Nobody wants that!

Helping businesses increase profits means businesses will hire more workers. Raising taxes on businesses hinders businesses from hiring more workers.
Hindering businesses from hiring more workers smothers the economy.

Poor and unemployed Americans suffer more than anyone when DC smothers businesses with higher taxes.

OPR argues DC’s taxing businesses and redistributing those tax dollars to needy causes will improve the economy more than businesses investing profits and growing their own businesses and hiring more employees.

Do Americans want the government to pay increasing handouts to unemployed Americans? Or, would Americans prefer the government get off the backs of businesses and let them grow their businesses, hire more employees, and grow our economy back to prosperity?

Voters will decide in November.

Daniel L. Gardner is a syndicated columnist who lives in Starkville, MS.  You may contact him at PJandMe2@gmail.com

His column does not reflect the views of Starkville-Now.com.

R.J. Morgan

Guest Columnist

With every summer a young man spends in Mississippi, the threat of Hell holds less and less sway.
Eternal fire and damnation just aren’t that compelling after 6 months in Oktibbeha County under similar conditions.
Having grown up in this state and lived here for the entirety of my life, heat is just something that comes naturally. It’s as dependable as the changing of seasons that I’ve read occur in other parts of the country.
And the humidity!  It is not uncommon in the South to see – on a July day such as this one when the air is so thick with humidity it can cause choking – young children and the elderly wandering around outside with sweat just streaming from the edges of their diapers.

When Martin Luther King, Jr. described Mississippi as a state that was, “sweltering from the heat of injustice and oppression,” he failed to mention that it was also sweltering from the heat of… heat.
Naturally people of my demographic suffer the heaviest burden during these brutally hot times. The weather takes a toll on us as a people and grinds the weaker of our number to a halt. What’s worse, no government or media outlet seems to be sympathetic to our plight.
I’m referring of course to the Plus-Size population.
Fit people have no idea the effort level involved in mobilizing 350 pounds of mass to get up off the couch and go mow the lawn in 102-degree heat. Or what it takes just to trudge to the mailbox. Or move to the other end of the couch.
I thought when Mississippi elected Haley Barbour as governor, there might be relief on the way for “people of size.”
Surely the fattest governor of the fattest state would pander to his base? Moving sidewalks anyone? Fried Twinkie Week?
But no.

What does Barbour do? He launches “Let’s Go Walking, Mississippi.”
WALKING?!?! I certainly don’t see The Guv making laps around the Capitol on his lunch hour. No, he’s safely inside, being wheeled from meeting to meeting by his handlers in a tobacco-lined wheelbarrow with a full bar attached to one side.
It’s tantamount to party-swapping, so far as I can tell.
There are many things a person might do to escape the Mississippi heat. You could go sample the heat in Alabama or Texas, for one. My friends in the city tell me the New York heat is nice right now. Or, If you’re looking for prestige and have no problem with little things like loyalty or morals, I hear lots of people are heading to the Miami Heat these days.
Personally I have chosen to join a gym.
I visit it almost every day. I don’t actually exercise, but I do like to hang out there. See I had my cable cut off because it was too expensive. So for half what I was paying the cable company, I bought a gym membership and now get all the free cable, air conditioning, and tap water I want.

Management’s decision to clutter up the place with exercise equipment is an ill-advised choice of décor, in my opinion, but I manage to work my way around it.
Most of the televisions are connected to the fronts on the treadmills, which can be a bit tricky, but I just pull a reclining weight bench up onto one of the belts so I can watch my shows from a seated and comfortable position.
I get several glares from sweaty strangers when there’s a King of Queens marathon on, but most people are pretty accepting.
Most people.
There was this one old man in a brand new diaper who told me to, “Go to hell!” when I refused to give him my machine.
I just turned up the volume on my headphones and politely told him “I’m already there, that’s why I’m here.”

R.J. Morgan is a teacher and journalist in Starkville. He writes regularly online for www.thefriendlyfire.info, and all his humor columns are archived on www.rjmorgan.com.

His column does not reflect the views of Starkville-Now.com.