The Press-Dispatch
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The Press-Dispatch Wednesday, April 25, 2018 B-7 OPINION Submit Letters to the Editor: Letters must be signed and received by noon on Mondays. Email: editor@pressdispatch.net or bring in a hard copy: 820 E. Poplar Street, Petersburg Rarely, a day goes by that either the word karma pops up on a Face- book post, email, commentary, or in a news item. Karma as used means a person's got one's come- uppants," or they got what they de- served: i.e. bad karma. Karma is a religious concept found in Hinduism and Buddhism and is connected to reincarnation. In the Hindu religion, karma is the sum total of a person's actions in life and in previous lives; it is a force that determines the fate of the in- dividual in the next life [reincarna- tion]. Karma is not a reactionary spir- itual force that in real time punish- es or rewards a person based upon his/her actions towards others. It does not impact the person in this life! The fate or destiny of the indi- vidual is futuristic as karma is ap- plied after death. Unfortunately, the concept of karma has crept into our vocabu- lary and also into the concept of morality and the church. Karma has become applicable to daily life and has become enmeshed with the concept of sowing and reaping, but still in that use it [sowing and reaping] is misapplied because Jesus and the disci- ples used the concept in a future and spiritu- al sense. The law of sowing and reaping is found in the natural and spiritu- al world. Jesus makes this point clear by us- ing an analogy of a fruit tree: "Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit." Likewise, the apostle Paul wrote the church at Galatia: "Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows." Sowing and reaping implies that the harvest is in the future, and time must pass before the seed planted will mature into something eatable, or it is choked by weeds. Sowing and reaping as an analo- gy is deeply rooted in the spiritual aspects of the Kingdom of God, and at harvest time [the fu- ture], the fruit of the tree is made known. Jesus again makes this abundantly clear: "Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire… Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or else make the tree bad and its fruit bad; for a tree is known by its fruit." Sowing and reaping is not kar- ma because interjected into the law of sowing and reaping is the mercy and grace of God. This interjection of grace completely negates any ef- fect of karma. If we received what we deserved [sowed], then there would be no faith and no future. Furthermore, if reaping what one sowed was instan- taneous, many of us would have cashed in this life long ago, or we Minority View by Walter E. Williams The Weekly by Alden Heuring Mayor's most important job Points to Ponder by Rev. Ford Bond Choose faith Rescissions are important first steps toward getting spending under control Heritage Viewpoint by Edwin J. Feulner When President Trump signed the 2,232-page, $1.3 trillion omni- bus spending bill last month, he was emphatic that it wouldn't hap- pen again. Referring to the fact that no one could possibly have had time to read this mammoth piece of leg- islation, he said, "I will never sign another bill like this again." The implication, of course, was that nothing could be done about this latest round of massive over- spending. Like it or lump it, there it is. But that's not exactly true. The president can, in fact, do some- thing. He can pursue what's known as a rescissions package. Don't let the wonky word cause your eyes to glaze over. "Rescis- sion" simply means to revoke, cancel or repeal a law, or at least part of it. A rescissions package would basically rescind part of the spending that Congress re- cently passed. But wait, you may say. The Con- stitution gives the "power of the purse" to Congress, not the president. What's he got to do with initiating such an action? Article I does stip- ulate that "no money shall be drawn from the Treasury but in consequence of ap- propriations made by law." But Article II says the president "shall take care that the laws be faithfully ex- ecuted." So Congress provides the fund- ing, but the president is responsi- ble for how the appropriations are executed. That doesn't mean he can de- cide how it's spent unilaterally, or do so in a vacuum. Congress still has an important role to play. Presidents from Thomas Jeffer- son on down had been submitting rescissions for years with relative- ly little trouble. But things came to a head during Rich- ard Nixon's presiden- cy. He broke with pre- vious presidents by impounding larger amounts (nearly $15 billion in 1973, out of a total budget of $245 billion) and ignoring Congress's intent that the funds be spent. The legislative branch responded to this chal- lenge with the Congressional Budget and Impoundment Con- trol Act of 1974. "Title X of the act limited the power of the pres- ident to withhold funding and put into place a formal procedure for when the president tried to do so," writes budget expert Justin Bogie. This didn't mean the end of the road for rescissions. From 1974 It's the natal countdown Journey of emotions Continued on page 8 Continued on page 8 Continued on page 8 Continued on page 8 Invisible harmful consequences of high minimum wage Lucid Moments by Bart Stinson The kiosk made its debut in our McDonald's this week, or at least I saw and used it for the first time. It is almost, but not quite, idiot-proof. There were no cashiers up front, but a kind assistant manager came out from behind the counter and talked me through the navigation. The big takeaway was that whether you order a large tea for $1.19 or a large coke for an even dollar, they hand you the same empty plastic cup to go serve your- self on the honor system. No, that's not actually the big takeaway. The big takeaway is that McDon- ald's and other fast food chains are almost, but not quite, at the mer- cy of pandering Progressives who impose their will to enact a high- er minimum wage. It appeared that no more than four or five employ- ees were running the whole oper- ation when we visited during the lunch rush. Thank goodness workers have valiant Democrats protecting us from greedy employers. Unfortu- nately, that requires protecting some of us from employment itself. It's a sad story when a young person never gets that first job, never gets a chance to demon- strate a strong work ethic and punctuality. It corrodes their self- image, and often leads to substance abuse and criminal lifestyles. It's hard on families and relationships. As Allie Beth Stuck- ey has said, work is not a necessary evil. It's a necessary good. The ab- sence of honorable work creates a vacuum, and that vacuum will be filled by something. If not crime, perhaps political extremism. Or maybe both. Somebody will pay for creat- ing a class of unemployed and un- employable young people, but it won't be the cynical Progressive politicians. Unemployed, unskilled young people are unlikely to diag- nose the cause of their unemploy- ment unless they've taken some upper-level economics in college, and this is the genius of the Dem- ocrats' position. They'll demand and receive lavish praise from the beneficiaries of a higher minimum wage, but they'll nev- er be held accountable for the devastating im- pact of their legisla- tion on new, unskilled workers and their families and commu- nities. That will be attributed to racism, underfunded public edu- cation or the ever-popular "greedy corporations." There was a 2012 fast food strike in New York City, but it got limit- ed traction at the time. I would say that the minimum wage ground- swell launched from the Progres- sive precincts of the Pacific North- west a few years later. Ballot ini- tiatives imposed some of the min- imum wage increases, and some were imposed by city councils. My Point of View by Dr. H. K. Fenol, Jr., M.D. When World War II ended, Wash- ington, D.C.'s population was about 900,000 ; today it's about 700,000. In 1950, Baltimore's population was almost 950,000 ; today it's around 614,000. Detroit's 1950 popula- tion was close to 1.85 million; to- day it's down to 673,000. Camden, New Jersey's 1950 population was nearly 125,000 ; today it has fallen to 77,000. St. Louis' 1950 population was more than 856,000 ; today it's less than 309,000. A similar story of population decline can be found in most of our formerly large and prosperous cities. In some cities, population declines since 1950 are well over 50 percent. In addition to Detroit and St. Louis, those would include Cleveland and Pittsburgh. During the 1960s and '70s, ac- ademic liberals, civil rights advo- cates and others blamed the ex- odus on racism — "white flight" to the suburbs. However, since the '70s, blacks have been fleeing some cities at higher rates than whites. It turns out that blacks, like whites, want better and safer schools for their kids and don't like to be mugged or have their proper- ty vandalized. Just like white peo- ple, if they have the means, black people can't wait for moving com- panies to move them out. At the heart of big-city exodus- es is a process that I call accumu- lative decay. When schools are rot- ten and unsafe, neighborhoods be- come run-down and unsafe, and city services decline, the first peo- ple to leave are those who care the most about good schools and neigh- borhood amenities and have the re- sources to move. As a result, cit- ies lose their best and ablest peo- ple first. Those who leave the city for greener pastures tend to be re- placed by people who don't care so much about schools and neigh- borhood amenities or people who do care but don't have the means to move anywhere else. Because the "best" people — those who put more into the city's coffer than they take out in services — leave, politicians must raise taxes and/ or permit city services to deterio- rate. This sets up the conditions for the next round of people who can do better to leave. Businesses — which depend on these people, ei- ther as employees or as customers — also begin to leave. The typical political response to a declining tax base is to raise taxes even more and hence create incentives for more businesses and residents to leave. Of course, there's also mayoral beg- ging for federal and state bailouts. Once started, there is little to stop the city's downward spiral. Intelligent mayors could prevent, halt and perhaps reverse their city decline by paying more attention to efficiency than equity. That might be politically difficult. Regardless of any other goal, mayors must recognize that their first order of business is to retain what econo- mists call net positive fiscal resi- due. That's a fancy term for keep- ing those people in the city who put more into the city's coffers, in the form of taxes, than they take out in services. To do that might require discrimination in the provision of city services — e.g., providing bet- ter street lighting, greater safety, nicer libraries, better schools and other amenities in more affluent neighborhoods. As one example, many middle- class families leave cities because of poor school quality. Mayors and others who care about the viabili- ty of a city should support school vouchers. That way, parents who stay — and put a high premium on the education of their children — wouldn't be faced with paying twice in order for their kids to get a good education, through property tax- es and private school tuition. Some might protest that city service dis- crimination is unfair. I might agree, but it's even more unfair for cities, once the magnets of opportunities for low-income people, to become economic wastelands. Big cities can be revitalized, but it's going to take mayors with guts to do what's necessary to reverse accumulative decay. They must en- sure safe streets and safe schools. They must crack down on not only violent crimes but also petty crimes and misdemeanors, such as public urination, graffiti, vandalism, loiter- ing and panhandling. Walter E. Williams is a professor of economics at George Mason Uni- versity. Soon and very soon, we are go- ing to meet our second daughter! We've spent all weekend getting the house ready for a new baby, and one trip to the hospital from now, she'll be here. Flannery has been practicing being a big sis on her baby dolls and is doing great - we just need to work on the part where she drops them on the ground after she feeds them or hugs them. This is our second, and a lot has changed since Flannery was born. Some of the mysteries from the first delivery are gone now—we know what labor is like, we know the room will be comfy and have a great dine-in menu, and we know how to anchor a car seat, unlike last time. But there's still so much that will be a surprise, whether this was our second baby or our seventeenth. All the little things that happen during delivery, hold- ing the new baby for the first time, the first few days are all things no one can predict. I wouldn't be any- where else. Of course, we also were able to figure out what to prepare more accurately this time. Flannery's old clothes have been brought up from the basement and sorted by number and type of stains; two car seats are now installed in both cars (oof, my wallet); and we have a bassinet already built for setting up next to the bed, complete with a cat-shaped night light. Plenty of spit-up rags, but despite my best efforts, not a single baby bathrobe to be found. They're just useless, no matter how cool they are in the- ory (family bathrobes, and cook- ies and milk night! Come on peo- ple! ...But it's just not realistic). And, instead of quitting my job this time, I have enough vacation days saved up to take a good two weeks off work to be with Jill and In the journey of life, we always share stories. Sometimes the sto- ries we hear or read are uplifting and joyful, but sometimes they can be sad or sorrowful. This past week, we had a journey of both emotions. We attended the funeral of Rose's beloved uncle. For many of those who will read this article, his name may have no connection to their own lives. But his story might relate to similar ex- periences many go through in life. Lets go back to the year 1973. Rose and I just migrated from the Philip- pines to our neighbor up north Can- ada. Before starting work for liveli- hood in the new country we trans- planted ourselves into, we thought of visiting Rose's relatives who lived in St. Louis, Missouri. So we were able to secure a cou- ple of Greyhound Bus tickets and headed to St. Louis. Being new to the life of North America, we had no idea how long and how challeng- ing those trips can be. At that time of course, Geryhound bus travels were pretty good and comfortable and safe. Being young those days, we were both in our early 20s, seat- ing in a bus for a two-day trip was not that bad. So arriving in St. Louis at 6 a.m. after a two-day travel was finally over with. We made a call to his uncle who was to host us for our three-day vis- it. His name is Dr. Arturo Montes MD. He picked us up from the Grey- hound bus terminal and brought us to his home where we experienced a wonderful time with his family. Now from 1973 till 2018 which is a span of 45 years, we became re- al close. Montes and his wife Mary Continued on page 8