Something To Think About Archive

As Andrew Jackson once noted, “More is lost by the long continuance of men in office than is generally to be gained by their experience.”

Historian Barbara Tuchman once observed that “War is the unfolding of miscalculations.”

According to tech entrepreneur and columnist Andy Kessler, when it comes to tariffs, “Self-interested politicians never hit on the right price to clear markets or pick the right industries to win. Because of self-serving cronyism for dollars or votes, government industrial policy always glitches. Capital gets misallocated. Prosperity suffers.”

It’s been said that “The world of achievement has always belonged to the optimist.”

“Fishing” was once described as “a delusion surrounded by liars in old clothes.”

Louis Armstrong once noted that “There are some people who, if they don’t know, you can’t tell ‘em.”

Swedish Diplomat Dag Hammarskjold said, “Never for the sake of peace and quiet deny your own experience or convictions.”

Baseball great Jackie Robinson believed that “A life isn’t significant except for its impact on other lives.”

Given the extensive criticisms by the Grand Jury in its latest report, the current Board of Supervisors has its work cut out for it. Deferred building maintenance and unfunded liabilities from pensions and retiree healthcare amount to tens of millions of dollars with no clear plan or timeline to resolve. Also noted was that when the county hires someone under the financial umbrella of a grant, once that grant funding dries up, the employee is often, if not always, retained on the county payroll funded by taxpayers. When the grant is gone, the employee should be gone. Period. Otherwise, we run the risk that Staffing will continue to grow made up of people who were essentially hired for the “Project du jour” rather than providing essential services.

On this Memorial Day let us remember and honor those whose sacrifice lit the path for democracy.

According to clergyman Robert Schuller, “Spectacular achievement is always preceded by unspectacular preparation

Entrepreneur and publisher Malcom Forbes advised us that “When in doubt, duck.”

Automotive pioneer Walter Chrysler believed that “The real secret of success is enthusiasm.”

Filmmaker Frederico Fellini once remarked that “Nothing is more honest than a dream.”

There is currently $1.7 trillion in student loans outstanding. Nine million of those loans are in default or serious arrears. This is now all taxpayer money, as President Obama essentially nationalized student debt, taking it away from private lenders and putting it under the auspices of the Department of Education. He claimed, at the time and knowing that it wasn’t true, that the government would actually make money off of that move. Given the attempts to “forgive” those loans, it’s our opinion they never meant for them to be paid back and was nothing more than blatant vote buying.

Coach Vince Lombardi believed that “People who work together will win, whether it be against complex football defenses, or the problems of modern society.”

Pete Rose, known as “Charlie Hustle,” made the observation that “I’m no different from anybody else with two arms, two legs, and forty-two hundred hits.”

Ben Franklin once noted that “If the rascals knew the advantages of virtue, they would become honest.”

According to early American poet James Russell Lowell, “Not failure, but low aim, is the crime.”

Educator Booker T. Washington said: “Few things help an individual more than for another to place responsibility on him, and to let him know that he is trusted.”