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Cost of Government Day (COGD)
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Title:
FLOTSAM AND JETSAM
Date:
August 2, 2003
Source:
The Virginian-Pilot, Page B8
Words:
424
Price
of victory: The Wall Street Journal calculated the payroll
cost of each Major League Baseball victory this year - nearly
$1 million. The total payroll this year will be $2.4 billion.
It's really something when baseball salaries total in the
billions and next year's federal deficit is set at half a
trillion. Imagine how big the numbers would be if we had inflation.
Speaking of the
deficit: Grover Norquist, a prominent Republican proponent
of tax cutting, issues an annual "Cost of Government"
index that tells how many days Americans must work to pay
for U.S. government spending. During Bill Clinton's two terms,
the total dropped 10 days, to 176. But federal spending has
risen sharply under George W. Bush, so Americans now must
toil 193 days.
Carving out an
unprecedented half-trillion-dollar budget deficit three years
after a budget surplus is not easy. It requires massive tax
cuts, huge spending hikes, a couple of nations to rebuild
and a bad economic slump.
The cruelest cut:
Seeking to improve the desirability of their members, some
dating services are rejecting applicants if their personality
tests reveal faults. When a dating service rejects an applicant
as a total loser, isn't that like a hospital turning someone
away for being too sick?
What the world
needs now is a dating service for rejected applicants. Its
name might be, "Losers in Love."
Norfolk ag program:
Who knew that Norfolk had an agricultural program? Norfolk
firefighters dousing a small blaze in a two-story bungalow
discovered a marijuana crop. Can federal farm subsidies be
far behind?
Who loves you,
baby? The two Republicans seeking the party nomination for
the 3rd District state Senate seat on the Peninsula last June
spent $95 a vote, a primary record. Most single men spend
less than that on a date.
While it's nice
to feel wanted, the downside of expensive elections is that
the candidates have to raise those dollars, and in doing so
they incur obligations, whether they admit it or not. There
are reasons that legislators are far more eager to kill the
inheritance tax than the tax on food.
The devil's music:
A hundred years ago this week, ragtime music was banned from
several naval installations and ships. Sailors were supposed
to listen to classical and patriotic music, not the devil's
foul sounds. Throughout history, it has always seemed, at
least to older adults, as though young people's tastes were
getting worse. Imagine what a Navy captain would have thought
of hip-hop in 1903.
LOAD-DATE: August
4, 2003
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