Here are excerpts from recent editorials in Arkansas newspapers:
Texarkana Gazette. April 15, 2019.
People have varying views of technology, It’s safe to say that most of us take our cellphones everywhere and appreciate the convenience. There are others, though, who see them as a necessary evil in today’s world.
One thing everyone agrees on, though: robocalls.
Those annoying automated phone calls - often with the originating number masked so it looks like it’s coming from a local person. But when you answer, you find a recording offering you a deal on an extended car warranty or home security or something else you don’t want.
Politicians use them. So do charities. Lots of scammers use robocalling technology, too. Threatening but fake calls from crooks pretending to be IRS agents or debt collectors are common. According to the Federal Communications Commission, Americans received nearly 48 billion - that’s billion with a “b’’ - robocalls in 2018.
The U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Communications, Technology, Innovation and the Internet recently held a hearing on robocalls. And the consensus from industry and government testimony is stronger criminal enforcement is needed.
The TRACED Act aims to do that. The bill would require telecommunications companies to adopt call authentication technology and make it easier to file civil charges and even criminally prosecute those who violate telemarketing regulations.
The sheer volume of robocalls and the fact that many behind them are located outside of U.S. jurisdiction means they will probably never stop. But maybe, just maybe, they can be cut down if the TRACED Act passes.
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Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. April 16, 2019.
The crowded conditions at the Washington County jail are certainly no figment of anyone’s imagination.
When the $23.75 million jail opened in 2005 with a stated capacity of about 750 inmates, its population barely broke 200 the first week. County officials had crammed about 240 into its previous jail, originally built in 1988 to hold 88 inmates. So Washington County has a bit of a history with jails: Build it and it shall be filled.
Believe it or not, the 14-year-old jail is not now capable of holding all the people local law enforcement agencies send its way. By 2008, Sheriff Tim Helder had begun talks of expanding, but over the last decade, other demands have prevented that idea from moving forward.
Most recently, however, Helder has again pushed for more space. In October, the Quorum Court asked Helder to return early this year with a $30 million expansion plan potentially funded with a sales tax increase, but its members have seemed skittish about embracing an opportunity to ask voters for a new tax and a major new capital expenditure. Helder has called the expansion, now estimated around $38 million, “the responsible thing to do” that should not be delayed any longer.
To this mix add a robust discussion of late about alternatives to a costly expansion of the jail. About 50 people showed up at a recent Jail/ Law Enforcement/Courts Committee, with several speakers urge committee members to look at ways to reduce crowding without expanding. They propose bail reform to reduce instances of people remaining in jail solely because they cannot afford bond; using more electronic monitoring instead of incarceration; expansion of drug and alcohol treatment programs; and more use of mental health treatment programs.
The sheriff and Prosecutor Matt Durrett have both said the county has already implemented many of the suggestions to the extent they can be. Other inmates need to be in jail due to the nature of their crimes or their history of not following court orders.
It is, of course, the Quorum Court that has to be convinced that all measures to reduce the jail population have been tried. If there are alternatives to jail time that have not been attempted, it’s important to realize they will not succeed if they’re motivated solely as a way to avoid a tax increase. Rather, such programming must be inspired by a drive to make a difference in people’s lives to the extent that crime and drugs are resisted.
The avoidance of sending someone to jail will hardly ever change behaviors, so the problem persists.
If the Quorum Court is reticent to embrace a jail expansion, its answer cannot just be “no.” It’s got to be “Here’s another solution.”
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Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. April 16, 2019.
“Oh, freedom! (freedom!)
Freedom! (freedom!)
Oh, freedom! Freedom!”
- Aretha Franklin
What a coincidence, this. Monday was April 15, and We the Procrastinating People went to the post office to send Uncle Sam his cut of our hard work. That is, those of us who didn’t give him an interest-free loan for a year, thus getting back refunds.
T.S. Eliot called April the cruelest month, mixing memory and desire. But throw in Tax Day on April 15, and the month is expensive, too.
Tuesday, April 16, and what a coincidence, was Tax Freedom Day as calculated by The Tax Foundation.
It was the day when Americans as a whole have earned enough to pay their taxes for the year - federal, state and local. Nearly a third of the way through the year, Americans will finally begin working for themselves. A third of the year! God only asks for 10 percent.
For those of us lucky enough to live in Arkansas, Tax Freedom Day came a little earlier, on April 8. Be thankful for that. In New York state, folks will be working into May before they’ve paid off the government.
Now imagine how long we’d have to work if we really wanted to pay the government for what it spends in our name. That is, if we included this year’s federal borrowing, too. It’s strange how the Republican Party will complain about government spending, and claim to be the party of deficit scolds, when it’s only the opposition party. But give it control of the government, and its leaders spend like good Democrats.
This year, the federal government is running a deficit 15 percent higher than last year. The Treasury projects the deficit will go over a trillion dollars this year. That’s the deficit, not the debt. Gosh, we may have to work until summer to catch up with what the government actually spends.
But that’s an editorial for another day. Tuesday we celebrated.
Sort of.
It’s doubtful there’ll be many fireworks. Because if Tuesday was a day of freedom, we’ve still had the cuffs on much too long.
Go back to 1900, and Tax Freedom Day came on Jan. 22. And the way things are going, this day might come much, much later. Just look at those who are applying for President Donald Trump’s job:
- Bernie Sanders wants to make college tuition-free and debt-free, which is impossible. There’s one lesson the Vermont senator has yet to learn: There is no free lunch. “Tuition-free” and “debt-free” means taxpayer-funded. Somebody is going to pay. College will never be free as long as professors are paid, books are sold and students still eat.
He’s also pushing Medicare for All, a plan that would cost anywhere from $25 trillion to $35 trillion over a decade. Guess who’d pay for that?
- Kamala Harris wants to reverse the Trump tax cuts and supports Medicare for All, too. Cory Booker wants reparations for slavery, or at least a government study of it. And who knows what idea Elizabeth Warren will want to “have a conversation about” tomorrow.
And now the candidates for the 2020 Democratic nomination have to walk across this minefield concerning the Green New Deal - which, if actually implemented, would cost the economy trillions more. If they want the progressive vote, and every Democrat does, they might have to talk a good game about the GND, else be considered too moderate.
This year, Americans will pay $3.4 trillion in federal taxes alone. And nearly $2 trillion more in local and state taxes. We will pay more in taxes than we will on food, clothing and housing combined.
As of Tuesday, however, we can start putting money back into our own food and housing. And into life. Maybe Americans will figure out a way to celebrate this one day. Maybe we can send flowers to ourselves.
The next paycheck you bring home will be yours. After withholding, of course.
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