The Press-Dispatch
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The Press-Dispatch D-3 Wednesday, December 21, 2022 HISTORY Submit history photos: Call: 812-354-8500 Email: news@pressdispatch.net or bring in a hard copy: 820 E. Poplar Street, Petersburg OPINION Submit Letters to the Editor: Letters must be signed and received by noon on Friday. Email: editor@pressdispatch.net SEVENTY-FIVE YEARS AGO The Petersburg Press Friday and Tuesday, Dec. 19 and 23, 1947 Victory Gardens Urged To Solve Food Crisis: Immediate revival of the victory garden program in order to relieve the serious food crisis and to avoid a breakdown of the national economy has been urged by Nation- al Garden institute. Marriages: Wanda Kirk and Bob- by Dale Willis were married on Dec. 16, by Rev. Grover Kreig of Glezen; Jason Enlow and Bertha Engle were wed; Allen Gray Silverton and Mar- jorie Dean Williams were wed. Deaths: William D. Crow, died Thursday, he was among the most widely know newspaper editors and businessman of the Southern Indi- ana; Bertha E. Coleman, 61, of Pe- tersburg, died Dec. 20 ; Matilda M. Bauer, 73, Sarah Belle Taylor, 80, died Monday, at her home in Spur- geon; Amanda Lou Whitehead, still born on Tuesday afternoon, daugh- ter of Ira and Olive Scott Whitehead; Japer Beck, 67, of Glezen, died from a heart attack while driving his wife, Stella, to Petersburg, Wednesday. SIXTY YEARS AGO The Pike County Dispatch Thursday, Dec. 20, 1962 Free Show for Kids: Mrs Lena Or- nbaun, manager of the Lincoln the- ater in Petersburg, has announced that the free show given yearly at the Lincoln will be Monday, Dec. 24. It will begin at 1 p.m. There will be one hour of cartoons and Three Stoog- es comedy. Mr. and Mrs. George D. Toler of Winslow will observe their 60th wed- ding anniversary Monday, Dec. 24. Due to their poor health there will not be an open house. A card shower is planned. Born to this union were three children: Herschel of Evans- ville, Bernice Dillion of Winslow and Earl of Princeton. They have four grandchildren, four great-grand- children and two great-great-grand- children. Oakland City Plastics officials an- nounced last week that the Oakland City plant facilities are practically completed. Work has been in prog- ress for the past week on machine installation with hopes of making preliminary start-up for equipment testing by approximately the mid- dle of this month. Procurement and installation of some special equip- ment required, has postponed start- up approximately two weeks and, consequently, delayed hiring plans accordingly. Oakland City manage- ment feels most problems have now been solved which should eliminate any major set-backs and is striving towards attaining a first shift mold- ing operation as quickly as possible. Deaths: Charity Battram, 84, of Oakland City, died Friday; Asbra ( Jack) Brittain, 84, of Otwell, died Sunday, at the home of a daughter, Mrs. Claude Colvin in the Iva com- munity; George W. Cox, 60, died Monday; Mr. Batchelor, 91, husband of the former Anna Crow Booth, of Pontiac, Mich., died Dec. 3. FIFTY YEARS AGO The Press-Dispatch Thursday, Dec. 21, 1972 Sells First Tree to City Hall: White River Lions Club launched its annu- al Christmas Tree Sale by selling the first tree to Petersburg City Hall. Mrs. Ruth Corten, Mrs. Goldie Lo- gan, and Mrs. Sharon VanMeter dec- orated the tree. The sale has been very successful this year and the club expresses appreciation to the community for its support. Several children from Pike county have ben- efited from the club's Sight Saving Program. Al Rund is club president. Births: To Mr. and Mrs. Everett Jones, of Winslow, a son, Dec. 13; To Mrs. William Joe Trees, of Hart- ford City, formerly of Oakland City, a son, William Joseph, Jr., Dec. 11, the widow of the late William Joseph Trees, Indiana State Trooper, who was killed in an automobile accident in June of this year; To Mr. and Mrs. Herschel Jones, of Winslow, a son, Mark Alan, Wednesday, Dec. 13; To Mr. and Mrs. Danny Brenton, of Pe- tersburg, a daughter, Saturday, Dec. 16; To Mr. and Mrs. Charles Crowley, of Smith Town, Ky., a daughter, Sher- ry Lynn, Monday, Dec. 11; To Mr. and Mrs. Charles Barr, of Winslow, a daughter, Tracy Lynn, Friday, Dec. 15. Marriages: Patricia Anne Thom- as and Michael Alan Swift were married on Saturday, Nov. 25; Lar- ry Allen Goodrid and Michelle June Dedrick were married; Dale Jeffery Wools and Joyce Ellen Thornbrough were married. Deaths: Molly B. Nolan, 88, of Winslow, died Sunday, Dec. 17; Beth- any Ann Kammerer, infant daughter of Mr. and Mrs. George Kammerer, died Saturday; Albert "Bud" Wil- liams, 51, of Boonville, died Tues- Petersburg Track Team—1932 The 1932 Petersburg track team won the Tri State Relays which consisted of 16 teams, Southern Indiana Invitational which was 21 teams and the sectional which was 16 teams. Members of the team were, front row, Raymond Shandy and Elwood Warren. In the sec- ond row were Paul Kendall, Kenneth Knox, Emerson Sattler, Lemuel Britton, and Harry Weber. The third row consisted of Lyle Basing- er, Jesse Rumble, J. C. Wilson, Clyde Kinman, Bryon Fowler, Carson Cottrell, Horace Arnold, and Lyndon Robling. In the fourth row were Rudolph Grubb, Burdette Howard, Ward Davis, Carroll Burton, C. D. Manhart, Ray Fleener (coach), Don Wyatt, Delbert Minn- is, Frank Fine, and Raymond Burton. See HISTORY on page 4 There are plenty of post-mortems about Raphael Warnock's defeat of Republican candidate Herschel Walker in the runoff for the Senate seat in Georgia. Yet, in the same state, Republican Brian Kemp won a decisive victory in the race for governor. And, yes, to be kind, Walker was not a great flagbearer to draw vot- ers, particularly Black voters, to the Republi- can Party. But let's ask why voters, particu- larly Black voters, would send War- nock to represent them for another six years in the U.S. Senate. The Georgia electorate is around 30 % Black, and 90 % of them voted for Warnock. What are these Black voters think- ing about? Warnock is a boilerplate Dem- ocrat of the left, with an agenda of government spending as the answer to every problem, who is also the ad- dress to turn to keep the door open to abortion and the LGBTQ agenda. Atlanta, which is about 50 % Black, has a poverty rate of 18.5% compared to a national average of 11.6 % , and among Black adults in Atlanta, 75% are not married compared to 50 % of all adults nationwide. Is Warnock's agenda, pretty much the agenda of his party, really what these folks need? Let's turn to economist John Co- chrane of Stanford University's Hoover Institution. In an essay about the importance of economic growth, he notes that the U.S. economy av- eraged 3.5% growth annually from 1947 to 2000. Since then, the aver- age has hovered around 2 % . What if the average growth from 1947 to 2000 was 2 % instead of 3.5% , asks Cochrane. He answers that av- erage income in 2000 would have been $23,000 instead of $50,000. Taking 1.5% off the annual growth rate lops off roughly half the average earning potential of working Amer- icans. Democrats love to pitch their pro- grams as about rich versus poor, "haves" versus "have nots." But if we are doomed to slow, sclerotic growth, who will suffer the most? The "haves" or the "have nots"? Check out the latest long-term economic projections from the Con- gressional Budget Office. They forecast economic growth over the next 30 years averaging less than 2 % per year. This while the feder- al government bloats to levels unimaginable in healthier times. CBO projects nation- al debt, now 100 % of our GDP, something not seen since World War II, to 185% of GDP by 2052. Cochrane notes that the core of economic growth is "productivi- ty, the value of goods and services each worker can produce in a unit of time." But productivity is declining be- cause an increasing percentage of every income earner's reality is controlled by government. Transfer payments, taxing one set of Amer- icans to make payments to others, now amount to $4 trillion - - 80 % of the federal budget and more than 20 % of disposable income (four times high- er than in the 1950s). When people are rewarded for not working, they don't work. Today's labor force participation rate - - the percent of the population of working age that is either work- ing or looking for work - - is now 62 % compared to 67% 20 years ago. So, my fellow Black Americans, Warnock and his party may make you feel good that they will deliver more government money to you that the country doesn't have. But you buy into this feel-good mo- ment at the expense of the future of your children and grandchildren. Warnock is a pastor, so he surely read in his Bible that man's punish- ment for the original sin was work. The ship is sinking, folks. And the first to drown will be those low-income Americans who think they will be saved by short- term government fixes served up by the Democratic Party and their faith- ful servants like Pastor Warnock. This doesn't let Republicans off the hook. I appeal to Republicans to belly up, finally, to the task at hand, and get these truths to all Ameri- cans, and particularly those low-in- come Black Americans whose votes you so badly need. Star Parker is president of the Cen- ter for Urban Renewal and Education and host of the weekly television show "Cure America with Star Parker." Heritage Viewpoint By EJ Antoni Race for the Cure By Star Parker Why no one should rejoice over Biden's still-awful inflation numbers Why did Black Georgians vote for Warnock? If you listen to the White House, the latest inflation data is cause for celebration, like an early Christmas gift to America. Yet nothing could be further from the truth. Inflation is still crushing American families, and there's no financial cause for re- joicing—a sad situation during the holiday season. The administration's claims to be winning against inflation fly in the face of their own data. Since Biden took office, prices have risen 13.8 percent. In fact, prices have risen so much faster than wages that the average family has lost $5,800 in re- al annual income (i.e., what their in- comes can actually buy). Converse- ly, real incomes rose $4,000 under President Trump. Add on to that the increased bor- rowing costs resulting from higher interest rates, and the average fam- ily is effectively $7,100 poorer today than when Biden became president. The administration's fiscal and monetary policies are literally crip- pling people's livelihoods, but you wouldn't know that from the presi- dent's speeches. He now cites a 7.1 percent inflation rate as an achieve- ment. Those same speeches never acknowledge the fact his policies drove inflation from 1.4 percent at the time of his inauguration to 9.1 percent in less than two years. Yes, 7.1 percent inflation is better than 9.1 percent, but it's surely noth- ing to brag about. At the current 7.1% pace, prices will still double in about a decade. That is a horrific rate of in- flation, and it's breaking the back of the middle class. Now the same president who told us inflation was transitory is predict- ing that it will be gone by the end of next year. Biden is always wrong, but never in doubt. The statistics from his own administration do not sup- port that prediction at all. In every month of Biden's pres- idency, wholesale inflation (the price increases paid by business- es) has run hotter than retail infla- tion (the price increases paid by con- sumers). Businesses will pass those higher prices on to consumers in the coming months, and that will contin- ue to drive inflation. Meanwhile, the president has no plans to curtail Washington's profli- gate spending, which is the ultimate driver of inflation. When the federal government spends more than it col- lects in taxes, the Treasury must sell bonds to make up the difference. If the Treasury sells too many, it even- tually runs out of people willing to lend it money at low interest rates. At that point, the Federal Reserve liter- ally creates the money out of nothing and gives it to the Treasury. That devalues the dollar. While it gives the politicians more money to spend, a devalued dollar hikes prices for businesses and consumers alike. Inflation serves as a tax, but it's a hidden one. That's why many pol- iticians don't want it to go away. If you're wondering where the govern- ment got the trillions and trillions of dollars it spent over the last two years, look no further than your fam- ily budget. Every time you pay more for groceries or gasoline, you are paying the hidden tax of inflation. Democrats have displayed no de- sire to get the nation's fiscal house in order. And despite their political rhetoric, it's unclear whether incom- ing Republicans in the House will have the political will to tell their Senate counterparts 'no' when it comes to massive deficit spending. Nevertheless, we have to have hope, especially at this time of year, that those in Washington will be per- suaded to act responsibly so that this time next year the American people won't still be tormented by this infla- tionary nightmare before Christmas. EJ Antoni is a research fellow for Regional Economics in the Center for Data Analysis at The Heritage Foun- dation.