Something To Think About Archive

“We must believe in luck.” Noted French poet and playwright Jean Cocteau, “For how else can we explain the success of those we don’t like?”

We thought that the big, beautiful ballroom at the White House was supposed to cost “only” $200 million? Now it’s $400 million and still supposedly fully paid for by private donors; including the security enhancements that the Administration is now seeking $1 billion from Congress to finish the project.

Publisher Malcom Forbes said: “Those who enjoy responsibility usually get it; those who merely like exercising authority usually lose it.”

According to psychologist and author Susan Jeffers, “There seems to be an automatic assumption that negative is realistic and positive is unrealistic.”

Mark Twain once noted that “It is easier to stay out than to get out.”

Pliny the Younger wrote: “The popularity of a bad man is as treacherous as he is himself.”

According to the late Hawaiian singer Iz: “You don’t need to be a rocket scientist. You don’t have to have a college degree, to know what is right and what is wrong.”

According to former Reagan speechwriter Peggy Noonan, state socialism doesn’t create, it allocates by those that favor their own interests and network. “American free-market capitalism generates,” notes Noonan. It allows things to be brough to life. Socialism merely distributes what is.”

Automotive pioneer Walter Chrysler said: “I feel sorry for the person who can’t get genuinely excited about his work. Not only will he never be satisfied, but he will never achieve anything worthwhile.”

Helen Keller believed that “When we do the best we can, we never know what miracles may result.”

“Never mistake a short distance for a clear view.”

According to the late Ted Turner “When you do something that’s never been done before, sail on uncharted waters and don’t know where you’re going, you’re not sure what you’re going to find when you get there, but at least you’re going somewhere.”

“Poor eyes limit your sight; poor vision limits your deeds.”

The Wall Street Journal’s Richard Rubin reports that total U.S. government debt, all $31 plus trillion of it, now eclipses the size of the entire U.S. economy. “Don’t worry,” says Rubin, “you don’t need to be an economist to understand the math. It’s bad. Real bad.” Over the past several decades, leaders and lawmakers from both parties have aggressively added to the deficit by spending much more money than they have brought in through taxes. The deficit in 2026 is projected to add another $1.9 trillion to it. The government can only sustain this by borrowing more money and it has to pay interest to borrow that money, at a current cost of $1 trillion a year. Roughly $1 out of every $7 spent by the government this year is going toward interest on the debt. And no, you can’t raise enough money taxing billionaires to cover it…

It’s been said that “If you set the right example, you won’t have to worry about the rules.”

Its’ been said that “There is more to life than simply crossing things off our “To-Do” list.”

Howard Tucker was the “World’s Oldest Doctor” until he died in December at age 103. His three rules for a long and healthy life? Keep your mind engaged, Don’t carry hatred and, Enjoy everything in moderation

Columnist and former Reagan speechwriter Peggy Noonan recently noted that: “Political assassination… is an attempt to kill democracy itself. The people elect their representatives, but the assassin says no, only my vote counts.”

At 89 cents a gallon, California has the highest total state and federal gas tax in the nation, 75% higher than the national average of 51 cents and more than 300% higher than the lowest, which is Alaska at 27 cents.

The cost of California’s high-speed rail project has surged to $231 billion, up from an original $33 billion estimate, earning it the distinction of the “most wasteful government project in probably world history,” according to one lawmaker. The project, first funded in 2008, was supposed to connect San Francisco and Los Angeles by 2020. Its scope has since been scaled back to a 171-mile Central Valley corridor between Merced and Bakersfield, not exactly hot spots of travel. Expected ticket prices have nearly doubled while ridership projections have fallen by two-thirds, and that’s probably optimistic. GOP state Sen. Tony Strickland and Independent Rep. Kevin Kiley are among those calling for the project to be scrapped entirely. We can only hope that the next governor will abandon it completely given California’s ongoing budget deficits.