The Press-Dispatch
Issue link: https://www.ifoldsflip.com/i/1432310
My So Called Millennial Life By Stephanie Hayes Here's one vexing moment in the coro- navirus milieu. Many of us, stuck in our homes for unnatural stretch- es, looked up and went: Ew. Ew! This home is Ew! The next step was to open Realtor.com, then realize that the real estate mar- ket had turned into an H.P. Lovecraft monster that feeds on innocent children. The next step was "fixing up the place." We decided to refinance and renovate our 1950 ranch home, which is full of "character," another way of saying "is that mold? " Over the past year, we have been lucky to repair things in desper- ate need, such as whole house re-piping. This is the most boring use of money. No host has ever said, "Grab your wine and I'll show you my new sink tailpiece." A fter a near electrical fire and 87 de- ployments of the phrase "Just checking in! " with COVID-19 weary reception- ists, we got to the big daddy: two pink bathrooms. I needn't explain "pink bath- rooms," need I? For emphasis, I will add that one of the walls was literally falling off. Years of renovation television pre- pared me. This would be a fun project! We would appear in jewel-tone sweaters, clutching our mouths. We might weep and say, "This will mean so much to (fic- tional family member with dramatic sto- ry of redemption)." Many months later, we have realized hard truths: There is no telegenic host. Even if you've hired labor, you are on your own. Design choices, budget, learning what a "Schluter" is — you figure it out. Each day buying grout at Floor and Decor, I prayed for a Proper- ty Brother. Just ONE Property Brother. He would show up in low-rise jeans and a too-small flannel and say things like, "Do you want the good news or the bad news? The bad news is, we've found on- ly fettuccine Alfredo in the wall, and fet- tuccine Alfredo is not up to code. The good news is, I think we can offset the cost by cutting three potted plants from the Big Reveal. Why don't you head back to the hotel? " There is no hotel. Wisdom is life lived, or something? Our demolition preparations for the mas- ter bathroom were to push the bed out of the way and do a dance like Michigan J. Frog. That's when the contractor men- tioned the word "uninhabitable." On T V, people move out and live with mysterious benefactors. In the real world, who can just move out? In the re- al world, you limply drape plastic around your stuff and sleep on the couch, or on a concoction involving an ottoman and a phalanx of throw pillows. Then you jolt awake when the crew comes in and turns on Journey's greatest hits. And there is no Big Reveal. A fter shipping delays, rescheduled in- spections and exploratory curse words, you'd think finishing would be electri- fying. But I don't even know if I like the bathrooms anymore. Objectively, they are beautiful. But I've looked at them too much now, like staring directly in- to the sun. When Chip and Joanna Gaines take someone into a room, I imagine an ecsta- sy of subway tile and ironic antique bicy- cles. Maybe after the crew leaves, home- owners hold a magnifying glass to the place where the Schluter meets the dry- wall and say, "Is our foundation crook- ed? " But it must be worth it for those minutes of bliss. In conclusion, my home renovation ad- vice is to get on television. Everything is better there. Stephanie Hayes is a columnist at the Tampa Bay Times in Florida. Follow her at @ stephhayeswrites on Facebook, @ stephhayes on Twitter or @ stephrhayes on Instagram. The Press-Dispatch Wednesday, November 24, 2021 C-5 you're the what I Newell-Da- people. worked for 20 talk never explained understand fami- ecstat- kids fo- "Respite" primary hours teach New- mas- work li- bureaucrats unless for an geo- appli- prob- conse- ac- not ma- regulate," makes it the Le- Newell-Da- the about says would entre- and need- is to replies allowed to de- fee, explained wrote crime help wasn't most kids "Reg- pro- helps regulators." pro- argued money to exams," legiti- but emails or went to gov- nice. I buildings called after again applications? saying, provid- informa- lat- anything. sim- laws" get cer- prove moving ambulance longer to Kentucky's HGTV is lies: Tales from pandemic renovation CON law makes it hard to of- fer an ambulance service. Louisiana is the only state that applies its CON law to re- spite care. Sure enough, "Consumers in Louisiana are less satisfied with their care," says Boden. "Complaints go up year after year." Why do these laws stay on the books? Because established busi- nesses don't like competi- tion. They lobby legislators, and legislators dutifully pro- tect them. Consumers get screwed. John Stossel is author of "Give Me a Break: How I Ex- posed Hucksters, Cheats, and Scam Artists and Became the Scourge of the Liberal Media." LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Signed letters must be received by noon on Monday the budget window. Do they really intend for these "transformational" new initiatives to be can- celled after just one year? As with most congressio- nal gimmicks, this is an old one: Create artificial cliffs to underreport the costs and force future votes on whether to extend some government benefit or to abruptly pull the rug out from under people. This reminds us of the wis- dom of Milton Friedman: "Nothing is so permanent as a temporary government pro- gram." The tactic is something of a long con: ensuring many hard votes in Congress pro- vide many more opportuni- ties to expand programs and entrench them more deeply. In fact, the steady ex- pansion of government has brought us to where near- ly $4 out of every $10 of the goods and services produced by Americans are now redi- rected through a government program. This is the destination where gimmicks lead: an ev- er-expanding government that consumes more and more of the fruits of all our hard work. Perhaps the most egre- gious gimmick is Biden's sleight of hand to insist gov- ernment spending is a posi- tive "investment." Before the government can build anything, it needs to take the concrete and steel and the workers who could have been employed else- where. The only way the gov- ernment can invest is with money and resources tak- en destructively from some- where else. The truth these gimmicks attempt to obscure is that all government spending neces- sitates burdensome taxation or the crushing crowding out of a ballooning national debt. All government spending leads to reduced economic growth, diminished job op- portunities and wage lev- els, and declining purchas- ing power. This saps more than our material wealth. The less of our resources we con- trol, the less control we each have over our own lives and endeavors. It's an assault on the freedom and dignity of every American. This bill, as with all dra- matic expansions of govern- ment, demands that we each give up a little more of our la- bor, our freedom, and our be- lief in ourselves to an army of government bureaucrats. All legislation is, implicit- ly, a statement of the values of its drafters. The tax-and- spend bill's statement, broad- casted loud and clear, is that our problems are bigger than we can handle and that each of us is fundamentally inca- pable. Devised with a process lacking transparency and bolstered by budget gim- micks, the tax-and-spend bill would add yet more miles to the road that leads to expand- ing government control. For a quarter of the mil- lennia, our nation has led the world to unprecedented gains in the quality of life and access to freedom. They are one and the same. It's through freedom that we build strong communities and that our innovators find the resources to make good on the promise of tomorrow. No amount of government micromanagement can rep- licate this delicate and vital process. It's the duty of every law- maker to stop these abuses and to block more destruc- tive expansions of govern- ment. Just because the draft- ers of the tax-and-spend bill have given up on the prom- ise of what a free people can build, that doesn't mean that the rest of us should as well. Richard Stern is a senior policy analyst in the Grover M. Hermann Center for the Federal Budget at The Heri- tage Foundation. Court Report FELONY Pike County Circuit Court Shandi K. Loveless charged with count I possession of methamphetamine, a lev- el 6 felony, and count II possession of par- aphernalia. Jeremy Evans charged with resisting law enforcement, a level 6 felony. TRAFFIC AND MISDEMEANORS Pike County Circuit Court Bradley S. Fowler charged with pos- session of marijuana. Tiffany Perry charged with driving while suspended, prior. CIVIL Pike County Circuit Court Crown Asset Management, LLC sues Brent Miller on complaint. ADLP Investments, LLC Series 1, S.I.I. to Tim French Super Stores, LLC sues Anna Kell on complaint. Professional & Business Collections sues Brittney Simmons on complaint. Capital One Bank (USA), N.A. sues Gary Sloan on complaint. Professional & Business Collections sues Macy Heiple on complaint. Jordan Hill and Kayla Hill sues Ralph A. Holstine on complaint. Whitney B. Boger sues Loren W. Bo- ger for dissolution of marriage. INFRACTIONS Pike County Circuit Court Bailey N. Fowler charged with speed- ing, exceeding 70 mph. Curstie A. Elmore charged with speed- ing. Winter N. Woosley charged with seat- belt violation. Kyle A. Boling charged with seatbelt violation. Matthew W. Blackgrave charged with speeding, exceeding 55 mph. Dianna L. Wamsley charged with speeding, exceeding 70 mph. Devin H. Tegmeyer charged with speeding, exceeding 55 mph. Colt R. Walker charged with disregard- ing stop sign. Marjorie A. Walker charged with speeding, exceeding 70 mph. Eriek M. Collins charged with count I driving while suspended and count II speeding, exceeding 70 mph. Narda-Miel Herimalala charged with count I operating a motor vehicle with- out financial responsibility and count II speeding, exceeding 70 mph. Aristides Navarrete Huezo charged with speeding, exceeding 55 mph. Alan C. Friz charged with speeding, exceeding 55 mph. Ryan M. Rowlett II charged with speeding, exceeding 70 mph. Andrew R. Weaver charged with speeding, exceeding 55 mph. Patrick K. Sullivan charged with speeding. Robert A. Caines charged with speed- ing, exceeding 55 mph. William P. Keena III charged with speeding. Holly M. Melton charged with speed- ing, exceeding 55 mph. Robert J. White charged with count I throwing burning material from a mov- ing vehicle and count II speeding. Jennifer M. Fuhs charged with speed- ing, exceeding 55 mph. NEEDED Continued from page 4 mine is being taken by poli- ticians to wastefully spend. Hopefully the $2 trillion won't make it into law. Star Parker is president of the Center for Urban Renewal and Education and host of the weekly television show "Cure America with Star Parker." WASTE Continued from page 4 GIMMICKS Continued from page 4 Dear Rusty: What determines the amount of the cost of living increase for Social Security as compared to the cost of living increase for Congress? Last year So- cial Security got less than two percent, while Congress got a 10 percent cost of liv- ing increase. Why the dou- ble standard? What items are used to determine the cost of living increase? Signed: In- quiring Mind. Dear Inquiring Mind: I'm happy to explain how the annual Cost of Living Adjustment (CO- L A) for Social Security is computed and, although it's outside the realm of Social Security I usually deal with, how mem- bers of Congress get raises in their pay. The normal COL A formula affecting Social Security uses the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Cler- ical Workers, known simply as the "CPI- W." The CPI-W measures changes to con- sumer prices in several categories such as food, housing, transportation, etc., as computed monthly by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The formula to compute COL A each year compares the average CPI-W for the third quarter of the current year to the average CPI-W for the third quarter of the previous year. If there is a sufficient difference, that difference (expressed as a percent- age) becomes the COL A in- crease percentage for next year. If there is no differ- ence (or only a tiny differ- ence) no COL A increase is awarded because no infla- tion has occurred from one year to the next, but there have only been three years since 1975 that no COL A has been given. The 2021 COL A increase was 1.3 percent and the 2022 COL A increase will be 5.9 percent, the latter reflecting high inflation we've experienced this year. Increases to Congressional salaries are different. Although there is a statute allowing for automatic salary increases for members of Congress, that law can be overruled by legislation which suspends those automatic increases. Through such superseding legislation, Congressional pay has been frozen since 2009. The last salary increase received by members of Congress was 2.8 percent in January 2009, when each general member's an- nual salary became $174,000. Congres- sional salaries have not increased since that time so, with dollar amounts adjust- ed for inflation, pay for members of Con- gress effectively declined by 17 percent between 2009 and 2020. But don't feel sorry for them. They have plenty of oth- er perks to sustain them, and Represen- tatives who already collect Social Secu- rity get the standard COL A increase to their SS benefit (as we all do). While Congressional salaries have been frozen for years, there has been much recent debate about whether the CPI-W is an accurate measure of inflation for elderly Americans who rely on Social Security benefits. A commonly heard ar- gument is that instead of the CPI-W, a separate Consumer Price Index known as the "CPI-E" (Consumer Price Index for the Elderly) would more accurately measure inflation for seniors and, thus, should be used to compute COL A for So- cial Security beneficiaries. Studies have shown that the CPI-E would provide a slightly improved COL A for SS benefi- ciaries, but there are other formulae be- ing considered too. It remains to be seen whether future legislation will change how COL A is computed. To submit a question, visit website (amacfoundation.org/programs/so- cial-security-advisory) or email ssadvi- sor@amacfoundation.org. Computing COLA and Congressional pay increases Social Security Matters By Rusty Gloor sponse should be to rising gas prices. She said she would need "a magic wand" to bring prices down. It didn't help matters that Biden re- versed a Trump administra- tion directive to allow drill- ing in oil-rich Alaska a few weeks ago. Biden seems clueless, and he may need a lifeline of call- ing a friend to figure out how to combat this alarming infla- tion trend, which is now any- thing but "transitory." By far, the most urgent step to stop the stampede of higher prices is to kill his $ 3.5 tril- lion social welfare spend- ing bill, which would be paid for in part by borrowing and printing even more dollars. You don't have to have an ad- vanced degree in econom- ics to understand this will worsen inflation. Yet he and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi keep insulting the people by saying the Godzilla bill they are pushing "will cost noth- ing — it's free." And while we are on the subject of Biden's false claims, he continues to as- sure the public that he won't raise taxes on those who make less than $400,000. But, Mr. President, inflation is a tax. It is the unfairest tax of all. You don't have to be Bill Gates or Warren Buf- fett to realize that you're pay- ing this Biden tax every time you fill up your gas tank. Stephen Moore is a senior fellow at FreedomWorks. He is also a co-founder of the Com- mittee to Unleash Prosperity and a Washington Examiner columnist. LESSONS Continued from page 4 regular part of many people's cultures as a way of giving thanks for a successful bounty of crops. Native Americans such as the Pueblo, Cherokee, and Creek orga- nized harvest festivals, ceremonial danc- es, and other celebrations of thanks long before Europeans arrived in North Amer- ica. Americans no longer struggle for dai- ly survival or live a nomadic life. Pioneer days are long gone, and most people live in houses and have a steady income. The government's response to Covid has af- fected everyone and hit many Ameri- cans hard in the wallet. Despite many hardships people are still being chari- table. Even during the dark days of the depression of the 1930s, there weren't masses of people in America starving to death, or rioting, or misbehaving. Peo- ple shared what they had with each oth- er. Charity is the answer to Cain's self- ish, haughty statement to God: Am I my brother's keeper? The answer is yes! God knew people needed to be remind- ed that covetousness is a state of faith- lessness and thanklessness. Moses said: "When you reap your harvest in your field and forget a sheaf in the field, you shall not go back to get it. It shall be for the so- journer, the fatherless, and the widow, that the LORD your God may bless you in all the work of your hands... You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt; therefore I command you to do this" Deut. 24:19 -22. Notice that this was to be done "in re- membrance" of a time when they had nothing! It is The LORD who gives beau- ty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, and the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness (Isaiah 61:3). If Boaz would not have followed after charity (1Co 14:1) there would be no book of Ruth in the Bible! Christians are pilgrims' journey- ing with God. A pilgrim is a steward of what God has entrusted them with. Na- tive Americans thought it somewhat odd that the "white man" wanted to pur- chase and own land. Native Americans viewed themselves as "stewards" as they believed God owns the land, animals, makes the rain, and so forth. We should take a lesson from them and remember the words of Jesus when he said… "take heed, and beware of covetousness: for a person's life consists not in the abun- dance of the things which they possess" Lu ke 12:15. As God causes the rain to fall from heaven and the grass to grow in the field, let us give thanks for God's unspeakable gift (2Cor 9:15). St. Paul encouraged us… "do not be anxious about anything, but in every- thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God" Philippians 4: 6. He continues by saying that whatever state we find ourselves in to be content and that we should "give thanks in all cir- cumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you" 1Thes 5:18. I can- not recall a time in my life where God did not supply my need. Give thanks when the barrel is empty and watch God fill it. Happy Thanksgiving. THANKSGIVING Continued from page 4