I heard a lot of familiar blather out there after Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., unveiled his latest plan to fix the nation’s long-term budget problems and provide an alternative to the sequester. Jonathan Capehart of the Washington Post said the plan “ought to be burned.” Really? This is how we negotiate toward a compromise? I’m guessing Ryan realizes his plan, “The Path to Prosperity,” has no chance of becoming law in its present form. No, I’m sure of it. He said as much in his press conference. This is meant to be the starting point in a negotiated settlement, just as his earlier plans were meant to be. Finally, the Democrats are unveiling a plan of their own, too. Until now, it seems Ryan has been a lone wolf, presenting his plans and getting little in return from the other side
To watch Calvin Coolidge is to marvel that, even in a day when, compared to today, people were media novices, such a person could rise to power in a democracy. Watch the YouTube video below, if you don’t believe me. He’s there, in black and white, reading a speech, his eyes looking more at the papers in his hands than at the camera, his voice a high-pitched monotone and his right hand coming up awkwardly from time to time to lend emphasis.
Have you built your backyard, underground shelter yet to help you ride out the nuclear winter that starts this Friday when the “sequester” kicks in? I thought so. Truth is, the closer we get to the deadline, the more I think it would be a good thing to jump over the cliff. For a long time now, Americans should have known that the only way to stop the nation’s long-term trajectory toward insolvency — the same trajectory that led Standard & Poor’s to downgrade America’s credit rating in 2011 — is to enact cuts and/or revenue increases that cause real pain. Other than the Simpson-Bowles commission — an Obama-appointed group that came up with a remarkably sound plan that spread the pain equitably and was quickly dismissed by everyone in Washington — has there been such a proposal? Of course not. Sequestration — the random cutting of about $1.5 trillion over 10 years — at least gets the job done.
When Jack London wrote “Call of the Wild” he wasn’t thinking about a ring tone going off in the pocket of one of Buck’s owners. And when Dr. Brewster M. Higley wrote the words we associate with “Home on the Range,” with its line about “where the buffalo roam,” I’m pretty sure he wasn’t thinking about those critters incurring roaming charges. But if some of the folks putting pressure on the National Parks Service have their way, more and more national parks and
I’ve learned through experience that people tend not to believe me when I tell them they pay more in sales taxes each year than they do in property tax. That’s true in Utah. It’s true in a lot of states, although not all. How much more depends on what you buy during the course of a year. The Tax Foundation has come out with a report that details the percentages of various taxes that make up each state’s tax
Now that the Utah Legislature is back in session and a new Congress is in full swing in Washington, I thought it might be instructive to pass along an interesting quote I came across recently while reading Booth Tarkington’s “The Turmoil,” a novel first published in 1915. In this quote, Tarkington is describing the way things work in the fictional Midwest city that is the setting for the book: “Law-making was a pastime of the people; nothing pleased them more. Singular fermentation of their humor, they even had laws forbidding dangerous speed. More marvelous still, they had a law
Coming to work on the train this morning, I overheard two male university students talk about how they intended to purchase firearms later that day at a local store. In hushed tones, they talked about Obama and the coming of laws that would rob them of their Second Amendment rights. They are badly misinformed, but not quite to the same extent as the folks who are trying to convince the rest of us that the Newtown, Conn., school shooting was an elaborate hoax using professional actors, all in an effort to
As an old saying goes, anyone who knows all the answers likely has misunderstood the question. Or, as Richard Nixon famously said, “Solutions are not the answer.” And yet, when it comes to mass murdering maniacs, we are ever searching for the quick fix. I haven’t been to Spring City, but I’m guessing not too many folks there are fans of Obamacare and
Washington saved us all from the fiscal cliff just in time to throw us in the path of a looming debt ceiling. Think of being trapped in a room with floodwater rising, choking off the air supply. Unless someone comes along and raises the ceiling soon, you’re a goner. It’s like some sort of weekly serial from your childhood, only the modern version of the Lone Ranger or whoever the superhero is supposed to be seems only half-hearted in his interest to save anyone.
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The author
Jay Evensen is the Senior Editorial Columnist of the Deseret News. He has nearly 40 years experience as a reporter, editor and editorial writer in Oklahoma, New York City, Las Vegas and Salt Lake City. He also has been an adjunct journalism professor at Brigham Young and Weber State universities. Archives
November 2023
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