Polk County Enterprise (Livingston, Tex.), Vol. 129, No. 1, Ed. 1 Sunday, January 2, 2011 Page: 4 of 16
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I HOPE I
PONT TALK
TO MYSELF
WHEN I GET
THflTOlD.
ECONOMY DEBT
HEALTHCARE GULF
OIL SPILL 551070
RECESSION WAP
IN AFGHANISTAN
TAX CUTS. MIDTERMS
W/idL
OPINIONS
PAGE 4A
THE POLK COUNTY ENTERPRISE
SUNDAY. JANUARY 2.2011
Satire is very serious
Commentators blast Stewart's
support of 9/11 responders bill
P
people understand
"comedy like they
understand electric-
ity. They utilize it. enjoy it.
know it comes from some-
where - but fundamentally
don’t know much about it.
And judging by the reaction
to "The Daily Show" host
Jon Stewart’s championing
the Zadroga 9/11 responders
hill to a successful passage
during the lame duck session
most of the media doesn't
understand comedy either.
On Fox News Channel. Fox
and Friends' reflective co-
host Gretchen Carlson com-
mented. "Stewart decided to
have a serious show about
it - that's like mixing apples
and oranges." No. that’s like
mixing your simile.
F.ven the far more repu-
table Brian Willtaiau^anchor
of “NBC Nightly News."
told the .Ven York Times this
week. *‘His audience gets to
decide if they like the serious
Jon as much as they do the sa-
tirical Jon."
"Serious" is not the op-
posite of ‘"satire." Satire is
especially serious to the sati-
rist. Ask anyone who pokes
fun at power for a living if
they're serious (that's if you
can stvmach the moroseness),
and they'll tell you what they
do is solemn. They will de-
scribe their plight in life like
others describe their Type 2
diabetes. "It's not as bad as
it seems. I’ve found a way to
live with it."
People who. are not sati-
rists hear "comedy" and think
of Jackass 31). They think
vaudeville. They think rubber
chickens They think light.
They think whimsy. Tt
think goofy. They hear "corn
edy" and think “clown."
So what is satire'.’ Satire is
a kissing cousin of comedy.
Yes. they're related, but not
one and the same. Comedy
is the more familiar cousin
who the press will automati-
cally bring up Jo demean the
satirist. Especially when, like
Gretchen Carlson, they them-
selves have been easy prey
for satirists.
For example: Satirists
won’t distract hulls at a ro-
deo. but they will point out
how the event has tons of hull
crap. Zing.
And , just being funny
doesn't make you a satirist.
Stewart, during an interview
with the cute and quirky
Rachel Maddow, tried to ex-
plain, "I feel more kinship
to Jerry Seinfeld than I do
to. you know, what you guys
do...in that he is able to co-
medically articulate an intan-
gible for people." Maddow
didn't understand how her
using humor to tell a story is
different than what they do
on The Daily Show.
The difference between
reporting and satire? Bad
reporting is still reporting,
while there's no such thing
as bad satire. If it’s not true
TINA DIJPUY
- if it doesn't work - it’s not
satire.
Satire is much more deli-
cate than telling a story.
Stewart also pointed out in
that same interview the lega-
cy of the satirist - he referred
to it as “the box ."
"You know, there's been a
form of me around forever, a
comedian who.'with political
and social concepts, criticizes
them from a haughty yet ulti-
mately feckless perch, throw-
ing things, like, that - the box
that l"m m has always exist-
ed relayed Stewart.
The court jester is an of-
ten-used example: the only
guy who could tell the King
the truth and keep his head.
The Babylonian Talmud says
Elijah the Prophet told a man
named Rabbi Beroka of. all
the people in a marketplace,
comedians are the only ones
who are God’s servants.
And if you think NASCAR
crashes arc tragic - try watch-
ing one of God's Servants
bomb on Friday second show.
Fep.
vrters compile the first
cl raft ol history. They’re sup-
posed to he shortsighted - fo-
cused oil the small picture.
It's their job: what happened
today. Commentators create
the second draft. Historians
after that. Satirists catch folly
whene’f&r it occurs. All are
important — but all are not
the same.
Jon Stewart had on his show
four9/11 first responders who
are all sick with cancer. The
Zadroga (paid-for) Bill could
help them not bankrupt their
children with their medical
bills. It was being filibus-
tered by a party who likes
to use 9/11 for punctuation.
Stewart’s role is to point out
silliness. Sometimes silliness
surrounds a New York fire-
lighter with inoperable Stage
4 throat cancer.
What Stewart did \va**both
satire and serious. Congress
ended the joke when they did
the right thing.
A modest proposal to reward volunteers
S
eems there are al-
most as many theories
about how to change *
the tax laws as there are citi-
zens to whom the laws apply.
Here’s one simple idea - a
modest proposal that would
help Americans at all income
levels pay a hit Jess, while also
providing sorhe benefit to the
unemployed.
(iive the nation's nonpaid
volunteers a tax credit for their
service.
Unlike charity in the form
of money and goods, the truly
benevolent volunteer efforts
by Americans who donate
their time is not acknowl-
edged by the IRS. I'm speak-
ing of volunteers who receive
no compensation whatsoever,
as opposed'to paid volunteers
such as those who serve in the
military.
According to The Bureau of
Labor Statistics, volunteering
among Americans has climbed
each of the last two years af-
ter three successive years of
decline. This suggests that
volunteering tends to follow
patterns of economic hardship
and unemployment, as more
citizens respond to the need to
pitch in.
Roughly 63 million people
volunteer for charitable causes
in the U.S. each year, at the
rate of about an hour per week
Almost all of this donated
PKTKR FUNT
sweat - delivering meals'to the
|KHir. coaching youth s|iorts
teams, etc. - is targeted at fun-
damental human needs, yet
none of it is tax deductible.
Ironically, the IRS allows
volunteers to deduct the cost
of transportation to their non-
paying jobs, blit not the value
of the work itself How could
this value be computed?
Currently. the average
hourly wage for all civilian
American workers stands at
$22.75. A reasonable formula
wjiuld take 25 percent of this
figure. $5.69. as the allowable
per-hour tax deduction for
documented volunteering.
Volunteer workers should
be allowed to carry the cred-
its forward for. say. five years.
This would allow unemployed
volunteers to benefit in the fu-
ture. while inspiring them to
make productive use of their
available time in the present
Yes. participating organiza-
tions would have to quality
as non-profits, just ns they
must to receive tax-deductible
cash (.Inflations. Yes. charities
would have to provide writ-
ten' records for workers, w hich
is what they already db for
monetary donors. And. to be
certain, there would he abus-
es. But whom should the IRS
worry about more: the billion-
aire who bends the rules when
claiming a five-digit .deduc-
tion, or the Meals on Wheels
driver who adds 15 minutes to
his time sheet? /
Granting a tax deduction for
volunteer service would be a
step toward.correcting serious
inequities among paid and un-
paid workers performing the
same functions. For example,
many IJ.S communities have
the means to employ fulltime ,
fire fighters, while other lo-
cales rely on strictly volun-
teer forces. Why shouldn't the
volunteers be entitled to a tax
deduction? Hospital workers,
school employees and other
professionals often work side-
by-side with unpaid volun-
teers who deserve a tax break
for their service.
Based on current levels of
volunleerism. the cost of such
a deduction would be about
$825 million |x.*r year if Used
completely by all who are
eligible. More likely, some
volunteers would not lake the
deduction, w hile others would
he motivated to add volunteer
hours, leaving the price tag
under $1 billion annually.
At a time when tax-deduct-
ible monetary donations in the
U.S. are falling last year by
3.8 |x*rcenl to roughly $303
billion and unemployment
is rising - currently at 9.8 per-
cent. or about 15 million peo-
ple - it makes complete sense
to inspire and compensate vol-
unteers for their service.
Presidents have long advo-
cated volunleerism. from John
Kennedy 's "ask not what your
country can do for you." to
George H. W. Bush's "a thou-
sand points of light.” to George
W. Kush's “new culture of
responsibility " As Barack
Obama put it. “The need for
action alway s exceeds the lim-
its of government."
Most nonpaid servants give
their time without any thought
whatsoever of receiving any-
thing in return. And that’s
precisely why acknowledging
them with a modest tax reward
makes perfect sense.
Peter Hint is ti writer mid
public speaker wlw nun he
reached at www.emulideam-
ern.com. < 2010 Peter Punt.
This column is distributed ex-
clusively by Coyle Cartoons,
Inc. newspaper syndicate.
Politicians need incentive to fix Social Security
E
Copvriylit 2010 TmaDupuy.
coin
Tina Dupuy is an award-
winning writer and fill-in
host at The Young Turks.
Tina can he reached at
tiiuidupuy® yahoo .com.
This column has been edited
by the author. Representations
conomists are the real
"party of No." They
keep saying that there
is no such thing as a free lunch
— and politicians keep on
getting elected by promising
free lunches.
Such promises may seem
to be kept, for a while. There
are ways the government can
This particular scam has kept
going for generations by the
fact that the first generation
a small generation — that paid
into Social Security had its
of fact and opinions are solely juggle money around to make
those of the author.
Letters to the Editor Policy
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letters expressing their views and opinions. The letters will
be published in the Enterprise's "letters to the editor" col-
umn on Thursday or Sunday. The letters may be written on
any subject or issue of general interest, letters must be ac-
companied by a name and mailing address and will be sub-
ject to editing for grammar, punctuation, spelling and length.
Letters must include a telephone number for verification.
We will not publish the telephone number.
Readers should keep their letters brief and to the point. Each
letter should contain no more than 650 words, letters exceed-
ing that length will be subject to editing or withheld, letters
w ill also be subject to editing for libelous statements and com-
mercialism. letters may be submitted in person: mailed to
P.O. Box 1276, Livingston. TX 77351; sent by fax to (936)
327-7156 or sent via e-mail to polknews(<* gmail.com.
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To report j damagtH mtsxinu paps t or to rtport a broken tending machine call e\l 105
everything lixik OK. but it is
only a matter of time before
that money rqns out and the
ultimate reality hits, that there
is no free lunch.
We are currently seeing what
happens, in fierce riots raging
in' various countries in Europe,
when the money runs out
and the brutal truth is finally
revealed, that there is no free
lunch.
You cannot have generous
welfare state laws that
allow people to retire on
government pensions while
they are in their 5()s. in an
era when most people live
decades longer.
In the United,States.that kind
of generosity exists mostly for
members of state government
employees' unions — which
is why some states are running
out of money, and why the
Obama administration is
bailing them out. in the name
of “stimulus."
Once you buy the idea that
the government should be a sort
of year-around Santa Claus,
you have bought the kinds of
consequences that foUow.
pensions paid by the money
that the second and much
bigger“baby boom" generation
paid in.
What the first generation got
back in benefits was far greater
than what they themselves had
paid in.
It was something for nothing
— apparently.
this is the wav a Ponzi
T he results arc not pretty.as scheme work's, with the first
wave of "investors" getting
paid with the money paid
Yi'
THOMAS SOWEIJ,
we can see on TV. in pictures
'in
of rioters in the streets,
smashing and burning the
property of innocent neople.
who had nothing to do with
giving them unrealistic
hopes of living; off somebody
else, or with the inevitable
disappointing of those
hopes with cutbacks on the
giveaways.
Nothing is easier for
politicians than to play Santa
Claus by promising benefits,
without mentioning the costs
— or lying about the costs and
leaving it to future governments
to figure out w hat to do when
the money runs (Hit..
In the United States, the
biggest and longest-running
scam of this sort is Social
Security. Fulfilling all the
promises that were made, as
commitments in the law. would
cost more money than Social
Security has ever had.
in by the second wave. But.
like Social Security, a Ponzi
scheme creates no wealth but
only an illusion that cannot
last. That is why Mr. Ponzi was
sent to prison. But politicians
get re-elected for doing the
same thing.
As the baby boomers begin
to retire, and there are now
fewer working people per
retired person to pay for Social
Security pensions, this scam,
is likewise headed for a rude
revelation of reality — and
perhaps riots like those in
Europe.
All the incentives are for
politicians to do what they
have done, namely to promise
benefits without raising enough
taxes to pay for them. That way.
it looks like you are getting
something for nothing.
When crunch time comes
and politicians are either going
to have to tell people the truth
or raise taxes, the almost
inevitable choice is to raise
taxes.
If the people think they are
already taxed too much, then
the taxes can be raised only
for people designated as “the
rich."
If "the rich" object, then
demagogues can denounce
item for their selfishness and
"greed" for objecting to turning
over ever-growing amounts
ol what they have earned to .
politicians.
Economists often make
stronger objections than
the high-income people
themselves. That is because
history has show'n repeatedly
that very high rates of taxation
lead to all sorts of ways by
which those very high rates
ol taxation do not have to be
paid.
No matter how high the tax
rates are. they do not bring in
more revenue when many of «
the people subject to those tax
rates do not in fact pay them.
The scams inherent in welfare
states are not only economically
counterproductive, they tum
group against group, straining
the ties that hold a society
together.
7 homos Sowell is a senior
fellow at the Hoover Institution,
Stanford University, Stanford,
( A V4J05. His Web site is www.
tsowelljcom. COPYRIGHT r
2010 CREATORS.COM.
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Reddell, Valerie. Polk County Enterprise (Livingston, Tex.), Vol. 129, No. 1, Ed. 1 Sunday, January 2, 2011, newspaper, January 2, 2011; Livingston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth659450/m1/4/: accessed July 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Livingston Municipal Library.