Author: Randall Reeder

As I write this on Sunday night, we should be preparing for a New Years’ Eve celebration. Instead, we are 24 hours from being shoved off a cliff.

Congress did agree on a farm bill, temporarily, because of a threatened spike in milk prices. Too bad the fiscal cliff that threatens the whole economy doesn’t get the same attention before we all get milked.

The big question in Washington is, “Who gets the blame?” President Obama WANTS the blame for new taxes on the top 2%. He has talked so much about that tax that the other 98% are ignoring the taxes and increased costs that almost everybody will pay in 2013, including health care taxes and Social Security. Meanwhile, the President is determined to avoid the blame for any real cuts in government benefits and programs that Republicans insist on.

While the President has repeated over and over that he wants between $0.8 and $1.6 Trillion over 10 years in new taxes on the rich, he is foggy on what to cut. Well, I dug up a list, and his cuts for 2013 add up to $0.001 Trillion. Over 10 years that would be $0.01 Trillion.

Washington Democrats do not know the meaning of the word “cut.” Tonight Harry Reid praised Republicans for “taking Social Security cuts off the table.” But Republicans never proposed a cut, only a possible reduction in the annual increase in payments.

The President is determined. He is “holding the course” hoping that eventually the spirit and determination of successful Americans will overcome all obstacles thrown in their path and put the country on solid economic footing again. He is counting on the big taxpayers to keep on working long hours to earn more, then investing productively whatever dollars they don’t send to Washington rather than squirreling them away.

Have we ever had a president so dependent on those he openly dislikes? Suppose the business folks that he put down when he said ‘You didn’t build that’ decided to pull back, relax, and become lackadaisical about turning a profit, hiring more people, and growing the business. Suppose the oil and gas and coal companies gave up drilling and mining in the U.S. and Canada, letting the price of gasoline and electricity double.

However, President Obama is a student of Franklin Roosevelt. President Roosevelt admitted he made a mistake by cutting spending in his fifth year (1937), which resulted  in a bump in unemployment and prolonged the Depression. So he could be right to insist on no cuts.

Historic quotes by Will Rogers:
“Congress meets tomorrow morning. Let us all pray. Oh Lord, give us strength to bear that which is about to be inflicted upon us. Be merciful with them, oh Lord, for they know not what they’re doing. Amen.”  DT #102, Dec. 5, 1926
“This country has gotten where it is in spite of politics, not by the aid of it. That we have carried as much political bunk as we have and still survived shows we are a super nation.” DT #1948, Nov. 1, 1932

Do you remember back a year and a half, when Congress couldn’t agree on a budget? But they did agree to set a date, January 1, 2013, when they would agree on a plan. It looked like a good plan, and it was, but they forgot it would be the same birds in there.
Now, your average fifth grader, in a year and a half, will pick up quite a bit of knowledge. And he’ll likely be a bit wiser.  But not Congress or the President. They drove us another Trillion in debt, learned nothing, and lost whatever wisdom they had, if any.
They should have set the date for Dec. 15 to get this mess settled before Christmas. Or even better, Nov. 1 so we would have known the damage before we voted for ‘em.
So here we are, 300,000,000 of us hanging on the edge of the cliff, and our leaders are on Christmas vacation.
Near as I can figure, this is what those birds expect from Santa Claus. Republicans want: reduced spending so the $16 Trillion national debt decreases; as a last resort, they’ll raise taxes but only if about $3 is cut for every $1 of higher taxes. Democrats want: higher taxes on the rich and spending cut no more than 1%; also ignore the Debt.
What will we get? If you pay taxes, you’ll pay more next year. If you’re worried about the debt, get used to it. Instead of 3:1, the ratio of cuts to income will be more like 1:1.

Congress is ready to allocate $60 Billion for storm victims along the coast of New Jersey, New York and Connecticut. That seems like a steep contribution from the other 47 states, considering those 3 are among the wealthiest in the country. My suggestion, if we’re forced to donate the money, is divide it among those who lost their houses, but with the proviso they have to build somewhere inland, and build on rock, not sand. Barrier islands are called barrier islands for a reason. They’re just piles of shifting sand and nothing should be put on ‘em except tents.

Secretary of State Clinton got sick, fell and suffered a concussion. She postponed a talk with the Senate to explain the Benghazi massacre, because, like injured NFL players, she had to sit out a week or two. Maybe she can borrow a helmet from the Washington Redskins. I wonder who is running the State Dept. this week. If her mind is muddled from the concussion, she can’t be quarterbacking the team.

Good thing Mexico released that former Marine, Jon Hammar. Otherwise a bunch of Marines, led by Col. Bill O’Reilly, would have swooped in and rescued him. The whole operation would have taken less than an hour, to fit into his time slot on Fox News.

Historic quotes by Will Rogers:
“I didn’t know that Christmas did mean so much till you have to spend one away off like this one from home.” DT #1693, Dec. 27, 1931
“Spending when we didn’t have it put us where we are today. Saving when we have got it will get us back to where we was before we went cuckoo.” DT #1353, Nov. 24, 1930
“People have just got to get used to debt. If we just let the fellow we owe do the worrying, the United States will be the happiest land on earth.” DT #2421, May 7, 1934

The tragic murder of 20 first-graders and 6 teachers in Connecticut has put a damper over Christmas for the whole country. No one can explain such a senseless, cowardly act. We’ll depend on ministers and other religious leaders to bring comfort to the families and other students in Newtown. Ironically, if those same preachers volunteered to offer a prayer each morning at the school, that would be prohibited.

Naturally, guns are blamed for this massacre. And it’s doubtful if the killer would have done much damage armed only with a hunting knife. Now, I’m sure against banning guns. But for those folks who insist they need a semi-automatic military attack rifle and thousands of rounds of ammunition for self-protection, ask this question: how much good did it do the murderer’s Mom?

It’s not just about guns. These loner, mentally deranged boys and young men are over exposed to violence and mass killing in Hollywood movies and video games. Maybe the surprise is there aren’t more horrible cases, whether it’s a suicide, or murders of family members or random helpless victims.

News reporters said the murderer’s mom used to take her son to a shooting range for practice. If that is true, I wonder if she also took him to church. Or to Boy Scouts, or 4-H.

The Fiscal Cliff is still staring us in the face. Speaker John Boehner finally agreed to raise the tax rate, but only for those making at least a million dollars. He had already come up with about a Trillion in what he calls new revenue. Meanwhile, President Obama is still looking for a few Trillion in spending cuts to put on the table. He hasn’t found any, and neither has any other Democrat. I heard a Congresswoman from Texas on TV. She was asked at least twenty times if she could name even one expenditure she would offer to cut to reduce the $16 Trillion debt. Not one dollar was she willing to give up.

Can you imagine being married to a Democrat like that? You would say, “Honey, we have two mortgages, maxed out credit cards, and you got laid off. We’ve got to cut back on spending.” The spouse replies, “No, you’ll just have to make more money.”

The federal government has a slew of new regulations ready to spring on us. Here’s one I got wind of: rainwater is a pollutant. That will be a shock to farmers in drought-stricken Kansas and Oklahoma. They might say, “Maybe the EPA can force these excess rainfall states, where rain is illegal, to ship some of it our way.”  Ironically, a couple of years ago EPA wanted to rule that dust from farms is a pollutant. If Washington would just pass a law like the one on “share the wealth”, they could even out the rainfall and eliminate the dust.

Historic quote by Will Rogers:
“It must be marvelous to just belong to some legislative body and just pick money out of the air.” DT #2673, Feb. 28, 1935

This Great Recession that started 5 years ago is hanging on longer than any since the 1930s. Why can’t anybody in Washington figure out what it takes to get businesses to hire more people and produce more?

The President did figure out how to get the unemployment rate down: persuade more workers to drop out.  Last month 350,000 quit looking for work and only 150,000 others found a job. He got the unemployment rate under 8 percent, but by now it ought to be under 5.

The President is asking Congress for $1.6 Trillion in added taxes. And where are the $5 Trillion in cuts he promised earlier to help reduce the deficits? The only answer we get from his spokesmen is, “We’ve agreed on $0.023 Trillion cuts to farmers, and, trust us, we’ll come up with the other $4.977 Trillion later.”

Concerning deficits, Nancy Pelosi, who served four years as Speaker of the House, said, “You cannot cut your way to deficit reduction.” We hear that our school children don’t know arithmetic. Well, neither does Mrs. Pelosi. And even scarier, the majority of Americans seem to agree with her.

Our farmers are so efficient that 80 percent of the Agriculture budget is diverted to feed poor people. Can you imagine if 80% of the Defense budget was diverted to something other than protecting our shores?  Well, come to think of it, a huge chunk of it is used to protect Europe, Japan, and other countries; maybe we should bring our troops home from Germany and Italy and South Korea. Or send ‘em a bill. I rather doubt any country would pay us.

You probably know that the drought last summer reduced the amount of corn and other crops produced in the middle of the country. Well, now the dry weather is drastically lowering the water level in the Mississippi and Missouri rivers. Barges hauling grain, fertilizer, oil and coal are dragging bottom at St. Louis. If it doesn’t rain upriver, soon you may be able to walk across the Mississippi without Devine guidance.

The President and his family are eager get out of the White House next Monday. They want to fly to Hawaii for a 3-week holiday. Frankly, I think Air Force One should stay grounded until the Democrats and Republicans reach an agreement on the Fiscal Cliff. No progress in the past week. We hear about the tax increase on the rich, but there’s a pile of other things on the edge of that cliff that will cost all of us. There’s 300 million living under that cliff and we had better find a mattress to crawl under. And a mattress will protect you better if it has plenty of cash hidden in it.

Historic quote by Will Rogers:
“Glad Congress gave Mr. Roosevelt permission to spend that $4.8 Billion himself.  That would be an awful lot of money if you was paying it, but when you are just borrowing it, it ain’t so much.” DT #2644, Jan. 25, 1935

The melodrama in Washington continues. Since the election, folks have been wondering what budget cuts President Obama would propose in return for the tax increase on the rich. He gave us a hint this week: none.
The President was reelected with the idea he would raise taxes $0.8 Trillion on the rich and would propose budget cuts about $2 Trillion to reduce the deficit. But now he is asking for $1.6 Trillion in taxes, and says it is up to the Republicans in Congress, not him, to cut expenses.
Now, suppose the Republican, Mitt Romney, had been elected President. Would he have waited for the Congressional Democrats to propose cuts? Of course not. The President is the leader. Maybe he only wants to play Santa Claus, but if you’re $16 Trillion in debt, sometimes a President has to play Scrooge.
Instead of suggesting anywhere near $5 Trillion in cuts, he wants to ADD $300 billion in new spending. That reminds me of the old negotiating story: a farmer advertised a pig for sale for $10. A buyer offered $8. The farmer says, “Let’s compromise. $10.50.”  The buyer says, “How about $8.50.” Then suddenly he realizes, “Hey, you just raised the price, not lowered it.” The farmer chuckles, “You’re sharp. You got me. I’ll let you have the pig for only $11.”
House Speaker John Boehner said today, “We’re going to solve the Nation’s debt problem.”  Well, I’ve got my doubts. Our “debt problem”is $16 Trillion and it’s increasing a Trillion a year. Here’s how to check if Mr. Boehner is right. If you’re young, and an optimist, make a note on your calendar for December 2022 to see if the debt is lower or higher than $16 Trillion. For us old folks, if we can make it a year, we can check on it next December.
Solving our budget problem takes common sense. Find the common ground we can agree on. Ask what the Constitution requires, and what can we do without or get funded by state and local governments or privately. If you absolutely need more revenue, it’ll come from those that have got it. If you have to make cuts, those cuts will come from those who are getting it. As the President might say, that’s the balanced approach.
The college football season is winding down. Notre Dame and Alabama will decide the  championship Jan. 7, and a bunch of other teams will play in bowls before then. Don’t be shocked if you see the President battling the Republicans in the “Fiscal Cliff Bowl” on Dec. 31.

Historic quote by Will Rogers:
“Do you know I used to play a pretty good end, that is a substitute end. I don’t think they ever used me, but the rough way they were playing in those days, that didn’t hurt my feelings any, not getting in there. I played what you might call a Wide End. I would play out so far that the other 21 would be pretty well piled up before I could possibly reach ’em.” Will Rogers, WA #627, Dec. 30, 1934

COLUMBUS: Palestinians in Gaza were dancing in the streets after their government agreed to stop shooting rockets into Israel.  Why now? If they had told their elected Muslim leaders in 2007 to stop shooting at Jews, they could have become so proficient at dancing by now they would be finalists on “Dancing with the Stars.”

Egyptians were surprised to wake up this week and find out they elected a Dictator. Last year they threw out Mubarek, then they turn around and 52% of them voted for a man that lied to ‘em. Imagine that. Now it appears we are paying this Dictator Morsi to keep the peace between Gaza and Israel by preventing Iran from sneaking rockets across Egypt into Gaza. The success of this arrangement may depend on whether these Gaza folks prefer dancing to shooting.

The Fiscal Cliff is still looming over us. Last week I asked, exactly what budget items is the President willing to cut. Since then he flew to Burma, defended Susan Rice, and pardoned a couple of turkeys, but nary a mention of any suggested cuts in his budget. Democrats are kinda hinting that if Republicans will agree to raise taxes by $100 Billion a year on the rich, they will agree to cut expenses $250 Billion a year. But no one will say where the cuts are coming from. They seem to know, just like an old turkey gobbler, if you stick your neck out when someone is holding an axe, it’s liable to get chopped off.

Well, the President is about the only one immune from the chopping block so it’s up to him to take the lead. Since 40 percent of the total budget goes for Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, and those three are rising rapidly, that seems like a good place to start. Defense takes 20 percent and while a lot of folks want to cut that drastically, we’ve got to remember that defense of this country is in the Constitution. The other three, no matter their great value, are not in the Constitution.

I think the President could come at this Trillion dollar deficit from a different angle. We have about 25 million Americans either unemployed or underemployed. Suppose he asked the question, “What can my administration do that would encourage business and industry to employ half of those people full time?”

If he got 12 to 15 million more people working, and paying taxes instead of collecting them, why the deficit would cut itself. The Lame-duck Congress could go home and enjoy Christmas. And the President could play golf without criticism. Well, not as much anyway.

Historic quotes by Will Rogers:
“The lame ducks met Monday… they are lame because their constituents were thinking faster than they was.” DT #1974, Dec. 1, 1932

“Everybody is knocking this Lame-duck Congress, but do you know those fellows have a chance to make a real name for themselves and make us ashamed that we fired ‘em?” DT #1976, Dec. 4, 1932

COLUMBUS: By now you’ve all heard that Gen. Petraeus had to resign from the CIA because of a sex scandal. Soon as the election results were announced, all the TV stations jumped on this story about the “other woman.” It turns out the only reason we learned about the “other woman” is because she thought there was another “other woman.”
Because of this General’s affair, some of you are just now learning that our Libya ambassador was killed Sept. 11 by a planned terrorist attack. The CIA knew it immediately and so did the State Department, FBI, and Defense Dept. About the only ones that didn’t know it were the President and U.N. Ambassador, Susan Rice.
The President said last week that Rice knew nothing about Benghazi, and that’s why he picked her to explain it to the country on television Sept. 16. That’s like asking me to explain Mozart and Beethoven. “They both liked music, but not the words. Let’s see, they’re not from around here, and anyway they’ve been dead a long time.”
Since the election’s over, folks are learning more about this “Fiscal Cliff” in Washington. Because the capital gains tax is supposed to double on January 1, anybody whose business has appreciated greatly in the last few years (and there aren’t many) is trying to sell so he can cash in at the lower rate and keep more of his dough. Here’s a word of caution for these newly minted millionaires: the estate tax almost doubles in 2013 so keep an eye on the next of kin around Christmas so you don’t get knocked off, accidently of course.
The President met with the leaders from Congress on his tax plan. He wants to raise tax rates on the wealthy and John Boehner says he’s willing to raise tax revenue from the same folks, but not their rates. So the big argument these two are having over the top 2% is rate vs. revenue. Obama wants to raise the rate so he can brag about it to the other 98%. Republicans will accept raising revenues so they can brag that they held the line on rates. The top 2% already pay about 60% of the total income taxes, so why not let ‘em pay 70%. Seems logical to everyone else as long as no one loses their job.
The problem is we’re hooked on the wrong argument. The important question is: Where is the President willing to cut expenses? How many bureaucrats and regulators in Washington is he willing to let go? Medicaid, Medicare and Social Security are the elephant in the room. What can they agree on to keep those three from going broke? Let ‘em do some horse trading.
And don’t tell us what an agreement will do over ten years. Nobody knows. Just show us what it will do next year compared to this past year.

I watched “Dust Bowl” on public television tonight (Sunday). Two more hours tomorrow night. Ken Burns did a great job with it.

Historic quote by Will Rogers:

“(The dust storms) are a terrible thing, and it’s going to bring up some (peculiar) cases in law. If Colorado blows over and lights on top of Kansas, it looks kinder like Kansas ought to pay for the extra top soil. But Kansas can sue ‘em for covering up their crops.” Radio, March 28, 1935

The election is finally over. It did not end in a tie. And as it turned out, Ohio, Florida and Virginia did not matter. Wow, look at the millions of dollars and days of campaigning they all wasted there.

President Obama was reelected by a huge margin in the Electoral College by folks that want four more years like the last four. It seems that a lot of men and women who don’t have a full time job and are on food stamps have kinda gotten used to it and voted to keep it that way. With that attitude, who can fault ‘em for not taking a chance on Romney.

Mitt Romney was gracious in defeat and John Boehner said the Republicans are willing to work with the president to raise revenue if they can reduce expenditures. President Obama said he has a pen ready to sign a bill to raise tax rates, but didn’t say anything about budget cuts.

The Republicans are in deep trouble and I have a suggestion, if they choose to accept it. See, young single women voted overwhelmingly for the Democrat. Men, including young ones, voted for the Republican. Married women voted for the Republican. So, the future of the entire Republican Party depends on persuading these young successful Republican men to marry young Democratic women and convert ‘em.

In California they voted to raise taxes because they’re $55 Billion in the hole. Can’t wait to check back in four years to see what the number is. No matter how much they take in, that bunch in Sacramento will figure out a way to spend it all.

Historic quote by Will Rogers:
“We ought to split this country up, anyhow.  Let the Republicans have the East, and then let ’em run it just like they want to.  And then the Democrats take the West.
If a person wants to be a Republican, why let him go east, and if he wants to be a Democrat, why come west.
It’s got some possibilities at that.  I know a lot of you will say, “We must preserve the Union.”  Well,  the Union is over preserved right now. It’s pretty near pickled.
Of course  the Republicans would have all the money, but the Democrats would have all the fun.
If the country split that would naturally do away with the national debt.  Both sides would start in owing nothing.  And the Republicans would perhaps continue the same way, but the Democrats, it wouldn’t take them long to dig up a deficit.
And then the Democrats could take whatever they’re using for money, and they could inflate or do anything they wanted to with it.  And the Republicans, who say we should never have gone off the gold, well, if they had their own country they could go back on it if they want to.
I can’t picture, personally, a more ideal existence all around.  The only trouble would be neither one would be happy because they wouldn’t have nobody to lay anything on to. So I doubt if the plan will ever get very far, because this is not a time for common sense.”  Radio, June 9, 1935

Nov. 4, 2012

CLAREMORE, Okla.: If you think we spend too much on Presidential election campaigns, I read that we doled out $2.6 Billion for Halloween candy. That compares to about $2.0 Billion for Romney and Obama. (And it seems like $1 Billion of that was TV ads in Ohio.)

We still don’t know who will win Ohio. But Oklahoma made up their mind months ago. In fact the Tulsa World today wrote that most Oklahomans “made up their minds about Barrack Obama four years ago”, and nothing he has done since has “remotely tempted a change of heart.”

Since Ohio is supposed to decide the general election, why not let ‘em decide the primary too. It’s just common sense. Ohio can hold a primary in November 2015, then the other states, like Iowa and New Hampshire, will know who to vote for in theirs. Ohio can even hold a meaningless straw poll in July, maybe during the State Fair so the candidates can fit right in with the corndogs, clowns and carnival barkers.

Of course this is just my idea; I haven’t discussed it with anyone in Ohio. They may be less enthusiastic and say, “We just finished months of political bombardment, and you want us to wake up the day after the election with a dozen candidates for 2016 knocking on the front door?”

You may know that today, Nov. 4, is my 133rd birthday, and that’s why I’m in Claremore. Oklahoma spent the last four days celebrating it, probably just as an excuse to eat more cake. I was in the parade Saturday afternoon; it went down Will Rogers Blvd., across Route 66, past the old Will Rogers Hotel and the Claremore Daily Progress, ending at the Baptist church. We crossed 4 or 5 railroads and didn’t lose a single float to a train. I walked along behind a passel of politicians riding in a dozen convertibles. I joked with folks along the parade route, “Following all these politicians, I’ve got to be careful not to step in something.” I was carrying a lasso but what I needed was a scoop shovel.
You might ask, “Weren’t there any horses in the parade?” Yes, but they were behind me. You can’t blame the horses.
Right in front of me was a delightful District Attorney and she had five pretty girls walking along handing out candy. For a while I was taking credit, saying they were doing it for me, not her. Then I asked one of ‘em, “Exactly what is it you are giving these voters to impress ‘em?” She reached in her plastic bag and pulled out a handful, “Suckers and Dum Dums.” Gee, there’s no way that could insult their intelligence.
Of course, I’m kidding. I know personally most of these folks; they’re mayors of local towns like Oologah and Catoosa, the Rogers County sheriff, Cherokee council members, and they get along fine. Now, if any of ‘em decide to run for Governor or Senator or even President, they might get feisty.

Historic quote by Will Rogers:
“It’s going to be mighty hard next Wednesday after it’s over to tell which one to congratulate. If this depression stays with us, the loser Tuesday is going to be the winner.”  DT #1951, Nov. 4, 1932

COLUMBUS: Hurricane Sandy is raising havoc along our east coast. As I write this on Sunday night, folks from North Carolina to Maine and as far west as Ohio are expected to get clobbered. Damage could add up to way over a Billion dollars.

President Obama canceled some campaign trips to stay in Washington and take charge of the  hurricane response. Unlike September 11, he took quick action. He ordered federal employees in Washington to stay home Monday.

If this storm causes as much damage and long term interruption to civilization as predicted, some folks are saying that the election could be affected, maybe even postpone it. If they delayed the election a couple of weeks, we might even know the details of the storm that hit Benghazi before voting.

Here in Ohio, pollsters say the election is dead even. Romney and Ryan have set up a base camp for the rest of the campaign. They may sneak out to Wisconsin or Iowa for a quick visit, but you can bet they’ll zip back here before they are missed.

Our Columbus Dispatch newspaper says the battle for Ohio boils down to coal miners vs. car makers. The coal miners think Obama wants to eliminate their jobs, and the united auto workers say Romney wanted GM and Chrysler to go bankrupt. The President has an advantage because unemployment is lower here, and gasoline dropped fifty cents this month. The gas and oil drillers have tapped into untold millions of dollars worth of energy.

I’m heading to Oklahoma this Thursday, just to get away from all the campaigning. Voters there made up their minds early and therefore avoided the annoyance of all the ads.  I’ll fill ‘em in on what they have been missing. Shucks, half of ‘em may have forgot who’s running.

The World Series is over. Even though the Detroit Tigers finally learned how to hit and score a couple of runs, they were swept in four straight by the San Francisco Giants.

Historic quotes by Will Rogers:
“Well, it won’t be long now… If the boys haven’t corralled the votes by now, why they just as well figure that the ones that are out yet are out for the money. The (voters) that haven’t decided by now are waiting for the best offer. From now on till Tuesday is where dough counts. You don’t win these late deciders by arguments. You got to lay it on the line for them. They have all, perhaps, collected from one side already and are laying for the other one… I guess it’s been what they call a clean campaign. A clean campaign is one where each side cleans the other of every possible vestige of respectability.” WA #515, Nov. 6, 1932
 “Neither one of ’em is going to save us. Neither one is going to ruin us. Should Mr. Hoover [Obama ?] lose, I don’t think there is a person that wouldn’t feel downright sorry for him, for he certainly has meant well and did all he could, and I expect it won’t be long till we will be feeling just as sorry for Roosevelt [Romney ?]. This President business is a pretty thankless job.”  DT #1951, Nov. 4, 1932