ELECTIONS - FIXING GOVERNMENT

When gridlock gets you down, in Washington and in St. Paul, go and find a candidate running for office in your community. Listen, and then tell him/her what's wrong with the way things are for you. Unemployment, recession, climate changes, banks that hold up customers, housing fraud, politicians serving themselves. I have found my candidate in Crosby, Minnesota. His name is Joe Radinovich, a fourth generation Ranger from the Cuyuna Range, where we used to mine manganiferous iron ore. Joe is running in the new House District 10B, which includes Eastern Crow Wing County and all of Aitkin County. There is no incumbent here. I was present at Joe's announcing speech at the west edge of Ironton on May 30th. Quoting from this speech, Joe advocates "Investing in the best possible education and job training for our people, rebuilding our roads, bridges and public works, and by allowing everyone the dignity of a fair wage for a fair day's work." His campaign theme is "Together. Rebuilding Our Future." We can fix our government. One legislator at a time. On August 14th in Minnesota we choose our political party nominees in the Primary Election. On November 6th in the General Election we choose a President, a U.S. Senator, a Member of Congress in the U.S. House, a State Senator, and a State Representative. When they take office in January perhaps the promise of American Democracy can be fulfilled again.

THE JOB CREATION MYTH

Some desperate politicians will say anything to win elections. In these troubled times of foreclosures and joblessness, the current promise of these electoral wannabes, with not much else to offer, is a "policy of job creation." Back in my engineering career, when the corporate boss wanted to increase our efficiency and pare costs down to the basic essentials, the search was on for "dead wood." By definition, the dead wood included those the Company could get along without. The 1980s and early ‘90s were a time of job reduction for many areas of the private sector. In the early years of the Clinton-Gore Administration, Vice President Gore was put in charge of "reinventing government," a process that resulted in widely-announced numbers of federal jobs eliminated. Any businessman who inflates payroll without an increased demand for his products and services doesn’t remain in business for very long. So how in the world does reducing income taxes for the wealthy bring about more jobs? It’s worse than a myth for the vulnerable and the gullible. It is a bald-faced lie.