Mountain Views News          Saturday, April 6, 2013

13

OPINION

LEFT TURN/RIGHT TURN

 Mountain Views News Saturday, April 6, 2013


HOWARD Hays As I See It

Mountain 
Views

News

PUBLISHER/ EDITOR

Susan Henderson

CITY EDITOR

Dean Lee 

EAST VALLEY EDITOR

Joan Schmidt

BUSINESS EDITOR

LaQuetta Shamblee

SENIOR COMMUNITY 
EDITOR

Pat Birdsall

SALES

Patricia Colonello

626-355-2737 

626-818-2698

WEBMASTER

John Aveny 

CONTRIBUTORS

Chris Leclerc

Bob Eklund

Howard Hays

Paul Carpenter

Stuart Tolchin

Kim Clymer-Kelley

Christopher Nyerges

Peter Dills 

Hail Hamilton 

Rich Johnson

Chris Bertrand

Ron Carter

Rev. James Snyder

Bobby Eldridge

Mary Carney

Katie Hopkins

Deanne Davis

Despina Arouzman

Greg Wellborn

Dr. John Talevich

Ben Show

Sean Kayden

Jasmine Kelsey Williams

STUART Tolchin..........On LIFE

Tonight I keep hearing a lyric in my head. 
When they say repent I wonder what they 
meant

 I’m pretty sure I heard the Leonard 
Cohen song that has this lyric in it over the weekend, as my 
family made a round-trip drive to visit my cousin in Phoenix. 
In fact, I’m sure I heard that song on one of the many albums 
we listened to during about 12 hours of driving. Still, I wonder 
why that song, really - that particular lyric - keeps playing in 
my head. I wonder, does the lyric have any particular meaning 
for me. Now that I think about it, I think I even attempted to 
explain the meaning of “repent” to my son. I told him it meant 
something about experiencing the errors one had made and in 
life and promising oneself to try and do better. My wife said 
that “repent” involved making a commitment to change and to 
become more aware. .

 On the news tonight I heard that the President intends 
to devote a significant amount of money to do research upon 
the workings of the mind. The specific purpose discussed was 
to learn more about Alzheimer’s disease and the deterioration 
of the mind that frequently accompanies ageing. Many older 
persons, and I certainly include myself, already experience a 
diminution of brain function. I have created the name nominal 
aphasia for my particular disturbance. I am increasingly 
unable to remember names and sometimes I can’t remember 
specific nouns. I gather that this is a fairly common experience 
for older people. Some people call it a “senior moment” and I 
have seen attorneys and judges stop in the middle of speaking 
and display a bewildered look as they fight to find the right 
word or to reconnect with their lost ideas.

 It is a devastating realization to become aware that our minds 
are not the trusted instrument we thought they were. Instead 
it becomes clear that, as individuals, we are instruments of our 
own minds - rather than the reverse. The question becomes - 
who or what is really in control? This, to me at least, is one of 
the great dilemmas of life. How does one control the contents 
of one’s own mind? I believe that our individual attitudes are 
what determine how much we enjoy our own lives. It is not 
what goes on outside that defines our day; it is what goes on 
inside our heads that creates our experience of life.

 I know this is probably no great revelation to anyone, but 
happiness has little to do with wealth or achievement. I think 
health is important, but I have meet many people who are in the 
midst of fighting serious disease and still manage to maintain 
a positive attitude and to enjoy their life in the most difficult 
of circumstances. Similarly I have met people who seem to 
have great reason to enjoy their lifem but instead consistently 
seem unhappy with their lot. I once had a girl friend who was 
always complaining about something or other andm when we 
tried to talk about itm she would trace her problems way back 
to growing up in a family that had the smallest yacht in the 
yacht club. I’m not making this up.

 I’ve taken all kinds of self-help classes and meditation classes 
and maybe it does help to try and stay in the present ands 
notice your breathing and the way your feet feel as you walk 
along. I have noticed that getting enough sleep has a great 
impact on how I feel but still I generally don’t follow my own 
recommendations. I think that education should spend time 
helping people to enjoy their lives rather than doing whatever 
it is that generally goes on in School. I don’t think that enjoying 
life requires one to feel more able than other people or to 
receive medals and awards. Life is not a race to the finish. It is 
not a competition; instead it is just about enjoying the journey 
and facing the fact that no one gets out alive.

 It is my great hope that money spent on brain research 
will lead to understandingsm which will assist all of us in 
controlling our own attitudes and enjoying the lives we live 
no matter what those lives look like to outsiders. Maybe we 
all gain sufficient awareness to examine our own attitudes and 
understand the consequences of these attitudes and to make 
beneficial changes. In other words

When We Say Repent

We Will Understand What is Meant

AND

How to Do It. 

 “Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not his own facts.”

- Sen. Daniel Moynihan (D-NY)

 When bumping into Stuart Tolchin at literary gatherings (get-togethers at Susan’s 
place), I appreciate his compliments on my “research”. Not to engage in false modesty, 
but googling on the internet is a far cry from school nights at the library, with notepad 
and pencils.

 It’s so easy online, there’s no excuse for not checking to verify “facts” behind opinion 
blogs. I employed that “raw data” approach in my column last week addressing the 
“defense of marriage”; finding that strong marriages are most prevalent in areas that 
embrace marriage equality, while the highest divorce rates are found in areas that don’t.

 The problem is that I often come across research I’m unable to apply to a particular column, but 
that I want to share anyway before it gets old – especially when it conflicts with popular talking 
points. Here are some examples:

 With the Affordable Care Act due to kick in next year, there’s worry about how it might affect costs 
– but a new report from the International Federation of Health Plans shows us what we’re spending 
now. The average price of a routine doctor’s visit in the U.S. is $95. In both France and Canada, it’s 
$30.

 A hospital stay averages $4,287 a day in the U.S., while it’s $853 in France and $731 in the 
Netherlands. The average coronary bypass surgery cost is $73,420 in the U.S. It’s $17,729 in 
Switzerland and $14,117 in the U.K. The average cost for normal delivery of a baby (FedEx and 
UPS figures not available) is $9,775 in the U.S.; $3,541 in France, $2,641 in the U.K. and $2,669 in 
the Netherlands. Australia and the U.K. spend a little less than 10% of their GDP on healthcare. In 
Canada, Switzerland and France it’s a little more than 11%. In the U.S. it’s nearly 18%.

 The research firm 24/7 Wall St. compared per capita healthcare spending among the highest 
spenders: France spends $3,798 per capita, Canada $4,478, the Netherlands, $4,914 and for the U.S. 
it’s $7,960. As to what that gets us, the U.S. has the worst life expectancy in the group – and is the 
only one without universal coverage.

 Also in the news is the NRA’s push to have armed guards in schools. A 2012 study by the National 
Center for Injury Prevention and Control shows that 98% of violent death among youth occurs 
outside of school; schools remain among the safest places for kids to be, and their safety record is 
improving. The National Center for Education Statistics reports that schools with armed personnel 
have higher rates of violent crime than similar schools that don’t – and reminds us that armed guards 
at both Columbine and Virginia Tech did little to prevent those tragedies.

 There’s debate over what effect universal background checks would have on gun violence. In 2007, 
Missouri repealed their background check law (on the books since 1921). According to a recent 
Johns Hopkins Center study, from 2008 through 2012, gun homicides decreased by 10% nation-
wide and by 5% in other Midwest states. In Missouri, they increased by 25%, marked by a flood of 
newly-purchased guns.

 As Congress returns, there’ll be more scary talk of the impending debt crisis as baby-boomers 
retire. Economist Dean Baker crunched the numbers in an article for the Center for Economic 
and Policy Research. The situation is nothing new. The ratio of workers to retirees fell from 5 to 
1 in the early 1960s to 3 to 1 thirty years later, but living standards for both workers and retirees 
increased nonetheless. The reason is that along with changing demographics came increased worker 
productivity. Now, with the ratio projected to drop from 3 to 1 to two workers for every retiree over 
the next 23 years, all it would take to make up for it is a worker productivity increase of 1% a year – a 
rate far lower than at any time in the post-war era.

 Here’s more research to befuddle the right: the International Monetary Fund reports that at the 
end of 2012 the austerity-driven European economies shrunk by 0.2%, while following the stimulus 
under President Obama, ours grew by 2.9%. A study by the Institute on Taxation and Economic 
Policy shows that states levying personal income taxes “including the states with the highest top tax 
rates, have seen more economic growth per capita and less decline in their median income level over 
the last ten years than the nine states that do not tax income.” 

 There are talking points about what teens should and shouldn’t be taught, and there are facts. 
The Guttmacher Institute released a study of sex education by state, which compares with their 2008 
study on teen pregnancy rates. Nine of the ten states with the highest teen pregnancy rates mandate a 
focus on abstinence in sex education class. Only two of the ten states with the lowest teen pregnancy 
rates do.

 Tragically, another trend was brought to light in a recent study by the Centers for Disease Control 
– that new instances of HIV infection are concentrated in the deep south, in particular those states 
where there’s no requirement for education about HIV, and in some cases no requirement for sex 
education of any kind, in schools.

 On a local level, a report from the NYC health commissioner showed teen pregnancy in the city 
dropping by 27% over the past decade, and he explains, “It shows that when you make condoms and 
contraception available to teens, they don’t increase their likelihood of being sexually active. But 
they get the message that sex is risky.”

 One more finding: Articles in “liberal” sites (“Think Progress”, “Media Matters”) are filled 
with links encouraging you to check out original source material, studies, reports, etc. Articles in 
“conservative” sites (“Newsmax”, “Daily Caller”) don’t have those links – hoping you’ll just take their 
word for whatever. That’s from my own research – you can draw your own conclusions.


I WONDER ABOUT 
THE FUTURE

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You won’t hear this announcement from the White House, but last week’s 
unemployment claims shot up by 385,000 new claims – well beyond 
expectations. The statistic is just another in a growing sea of statistics 
evidencing the anemic rate of this recovery. Historically, there more severe 
the recession, the more pronounced and rapid the recovery. This one is not 
fitting the historical norm, and one of the reasons is Obamacare.

Obamacare is being rolled out in phases, but the affects of the rollout influence 
behavior in advance. Companies that know they’re going to have to pay 
more start to make adjustments to raise the cash needed to meet the extra 
payments, or, as is often the case, they make adjustments in order to avoid the 
extra costs. 


Hiring behavior is one such activity that can be adjusted, and we are seeing some significant and 
long-term negative affects of this ill-conceived law. Job-sharing used to be a relatively obscure 
occurrence, but it is growing in popularity because is allows employers to avoid some of the more 
burdensome costs that Obamacare would impose. 


The Obamacare law states that employers that have fewer than 50 employees do not have to provide 
health insurance and will face any penalties. Traditionally, our restaurant industry has been a place 
where people could get a start in the work force, and it’s been a place where minimum wage was 
paid and few benefits were offered. This suited many a first-timer since it allowed them to get that 
all-important first job. But if the restaurant owner exceeds the 50 employee threshold, he either has 
to provide health insurance to all his employees or he has to pay a fine on every uncovered employee 
beyond the first 30 employees. It’s a little weird, I know, so here’s the math. 


The penalty is $2,000 per uncovered person. So if you have 49 employees, there’s no fine. But if 
you hire that 50th worker, then you immediately are liable for a $2,000 penalty on 20 employees (50 
employees minus the first 30 that are exempt). The total penalty would be $40,000 ($2,000 X 20).

That’s a pretty hefty penalty for hiring that extra person. Guess what? Many restaurants and other 
entry-level businesses aren’t hiring those extra people. In fact, in order to make sure they have 
sufficient bench strength to cover absences and vacations, but also stay under the law’s threshold, 
they’re looking downstream into their labor ranks and moving lots of full time employees to half 
time. Because of the law, it’s better to have 100 half-time employees than to have 50 dedicated full 
time employees. 


This means that workers are often taking on two jobs – a part time job at one restaurant and another 
part time job at a second restaurant. The total affect has been to decrease jobs in the low labor rate 
industries. Hence, we’re seeing unemployment tick up at a time when the economy is supposed to 
be improving. 


Add to this the other uncertainties of the law – the myriad pages of regulation that haven’t been 
“interpreted” yet by the bureaucrats, and you create a fairly large number of employers who are afraid 
to make business investments and long-term hiring decisions. 


The law, like most well-intended regulations, has more negative consequences than positive ones for 
the very people the regulation is meant to help. As difficult as it is in this environment for a freshly 
minted college grad to get a job, it is geometrically more difficult for someone with just a high school 
degree. Those that are least able to afford a stint of unemployment are the very people who are being 
terminated first, and they will be the last to be re-hired. 


Obamacare implementation has just begun. Stay tuned for more unsettling and negative news. As 
bad as it’s going to be, the one thing we won’t be able to say is that it was a surprise. Conservatives of 
all stripes – from Tea Party members to the old Eastern-establishment types - warned of the dangers 
of this particularly stupid effort of the U.S. government to take over 1/6th of the economy.

Sadly, greater unemployment may be the least of our worries. Just wait until bureaucrats start telling 
doctors how to practice medicine. Who knows, someday we may be able to go to one government 
office to get a medical check up AND a driver’s license. Won’t that be fun. 


About the author: Gregory J. Welborn is a freelance writer and has spoken to several civic and 
religious organizations on cultural and moral issues. He lives in the Los Angeles area with his wife 
and 3 children and is active in the community. He can be reached gregwelborn2@gmail.com 

GREG Welborn

THE PLOWHORSE STRUGGLES 
ONWARD


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