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The Human Zoo/August 28, 2011
By Gaylon Kent
The Writer's Shack
Notes from around The Human Experience...
LEADING OFF: Earlier this summer, while Congress and the president spent a lot of time posturing and farting around with the debt ceiling mess, while managing to accomplish absolutely nothing, noted billionaire Warren Buffet was asked his thoughts about this nation's fiscal imbroglio, and how he would solve it.
He said the answer was easy: pass a law that not only limited the yearly budget deficit to three percent of our gross domestic product (GDP), but also included a clause stating that if this figure is exceeded, no one in the Congress that passed it could be reelected.
Food For Thought: All right. We're open to solutions to this problem. Congress and the president aren't, all they can be bothered to do is to provide temporary, stop-gap fixes, but we're open.
You should be open, too, because assorted government agencies agree that we are about 20 to 30 years away from reaching a point where all of our income will be spent on entitlement programs. This means that money for everything else, from an army to air traffic controllers to anything else we spend money on, will have to be borrowed.
Get Your Official Writer's Shack Policy Right Here: This nation will not be able to handle that. It will lead to catastrophe.
So we got thinking about Buffet's suggestion and did some figuring.
Numbers Racket: In fiscal year (FY) 2010 this nation had a GDP of $14.5 trillion. Three percent of that would have allowed a deficit of $435 billion, about $1 trillion less than the deficit we actually ran, which was a bit more than 9.5 percent of our GDP for that year.
Get This: If this plan had been in place since 1982, about the time we started racking up really staggering deficits, our national debt would be, more or less, $8.2 trillion, still a lot of money, of course, but about $6.5 trillion less than what our national debt is as we right this.
Broad, Historical Perspective: Between 1983 and 1986 our deficit averaged a bit more than 6 percent of our GDP and there were times in the Clinton Administration when we actually showed a surplus.
Now You Know: On average, over the past 29 years, our deficit has been about 5 percent of our GDP.
Bottom Line: You know, a little debt isn't too bad, and the 3 percent solution is better than what we've been force fed the past generation, but we're not entirely sure it's the best solution. The $8.2 trillion in debt we mentioned earlier is still an awful lot of debt and would give this country a debt as a percentage of GDP of about 57 percent.
FYI: Historically, that's not too bad. Since 1940 the worst debt as a percentage of GDP that we've had was after World War II when it was over 100 percent for a couple of years, and the low was 23.9 percent in 1974.
DOUBLE DUTY: Cleveland's Emil Levsen becomes the last player to pitch two complete game victories in one day on this date in 1926 as the Indians defeat the Boston Red Sox 6-1 and 5-1.
Great Moments In Race Relations: Emmett Till, a 14-year-old black young man is murdered on this date in 1955 in Mississippi. Till, from Chicago and visiting relatives, had allegedly flirted with a white woman a couple of days earlier.
This Will Surprise You: The two men arrested for the crime, the woman's husband and his half-brother, were acquitted, though they admitted to kidnapping Till. They insist, though, they released him unharmed.
More Great Moments In Race Relations: US Senator Strom Thurmond begins a filibuster on this date in 1957 to prevent passage of the 1957 Civil Rights Act. He would yap for 24 hours and 18 minutes, the longest filibuster by a single person in Senate history.
Thurmond was eventually quited, and the bill passed the Senate and was signed into law by President Eisenhower in September.
Strom, Could You Repeat The Part About All Men Being Created Equal? Thurmond killed time by reading, in alphabetical order, every state's election law, then read the Declaration of Independence, the Bill of Rights and George Washington's farewell address.
Still More Great Moments In Civil Rights: Martin Luther King gives his I Have A Dream speech in Washington, D.C. on this date in 1963.
Dry, Technical Matter: The speech was part of a march on Washington, D.C., of course, and aides to King said King was so involved in the planning of the march that the night before King still wasn't entirely sure what he was going to say.
More Let's Screw The Blacks: Two young white women are murdered in New York City on this date in 1963. The man arrested for the murders, George Whitmore, Jr, didn't really commit the crimes, though he confessed to it without a lawyer present.
You Sure Watched A Lot Of Dragnet: This case would be cited in the US Supreme Court's 1966 decision Miranda vs. Escobedo, which mandated the accused be informed they have the right to remain silent and that they have the right to an attorney and if they desire an attorney but cannot afford, one will be appointed without charge.
I Guess We Can't All Get Along: Race riots begin in Philadelphia on this date in 1967. The riots would last until August 28. No one was killed, over 700 were arrested, and over 200 business were damaged.
Thought For The Day: As we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall always march ahead. We cannot turn back. - Martin Luther King, Jr., the I Have A Dream speech, August 28, 1963.
Answer To The Last Trivia Question: Since 1900, the three dictators who served longer than Muammar Gadaffi are Kim Il-sung of North Korea (45 years), Chiang Kai-shek of the Republic of China (46 years) and Cuba's Fidel Castro (49 years).
Today's Stumper: How long did Strom Thurmond serve in the US Senate? - Answer next time!
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