Picking up the garbage
Only 1,422 days to go...
It has now been five months since Hurricane Helene hit Asheville. In my little gated community, things are pretty much back to normal. However, this last week they are finally hauling away the logs that have been piled up all around the property. We had to contract truckers to move the logs down the hill to be stacked by the main road. The government workers are loading them up and hauling them away to … I don’t know where. Since there were hundreds of downed trees, the process has been taking over a week to get done. They’re still working on it. It’s has been a huge, time consuming job.
All this movement of trucks got me thinking about garbage.
I grew up in a house in a very small suburban village. I have also lived on a compound in the middle of the desert on the Navajo Reservation, an apartment building in a major city, and in a house and a townhouse in smaller cities. My grandparents lived in a small rural community in Missouri. Garbage has been handled differently in each place.
Take the small village, where I grew up. We had fairly high taxes but the bulk of the funding went to supporting the schools. The village made education of their children a priority, so I had a fabulous education attending the public schools. Although, we had small police and water departments, things like the fire department, public library and garbage collection were outsourced to either neighboring towns or private companies. For garbage, we would put our trash in big aluminum cans outside of the backdoor of our house. Once a week, these guys from a private company would come, lift the cans, carry them to the curb and empty them in their truck to be hauled away. Since it was hard and pretty unpleasant work, the residents of my town were quite willing to pay for that service.
My grandparents had a different routine. Their garbage was separated into two bins -- flammable (food scraps, paper products, etc.) and non-flammable (cans, plastics, etc.). When the flammable bin filled up, Granddaddy would haul the bin to the edge of their yard, empty the contents in a big metal drum can and set it on fire. When the other bin was filled up, Grandaddy would load it into the trunk of his car and take it to the town’s dump and empty it there.
What struck me when I first went to live on the reservation was how disgustingly littered it was. You can't believe the things my dog would drag home -- everything from dead cats to cardboard boxes to leg bones of sheep. I was shocked actually, but it all makes sense. They had no formalized garbage collection. I suppose when the Navajo lived off the land, everything was biodegradable, so it would dissipate in the desert. But today, they purchase the same packaged goods and consumer products like everyone else does, so things don't break down quite as quickly, which makes for quite a littered countryside.
Cities like Asheville and Chicago have a different system. People can't just throw things out anywhere nor should they burn things in their back yards. And you can only imagine how the traffic would back up for miles, if everyone lined up to dump off their own trash at the city landfill. So cities large and small tend to have full time sanitation departments with workers that come and pickup the trash somewhere in the city every day of the week.
I have a cousin, who is full-on MAGA. We haven't spoken in a while, because frankly, he insultingly ridicules me by calling me one of Lenin’s “useful idiots” and a brainless socialist. Since I don’t like being insulted and don’t choose to be insulting, I find it’s best to just avoid having conversations.
I don't consider myself an idiot. And I happen to think that socialism is a basic necessity in a civilized society. I'm more than happy to pay taxes to have someone haul away my garbage. I would have had zero interest in home schooling anyone, but I also think an educated population is extremely important -- so again, I'm more than willing to pay taxes in support of public education. I don't own a gun so would rather pay taxes to have the police, FBI, Homeland Security and the US military handle security matters. I like being able to check out books at a public library. I have neither the equipment nor the strength nor skills to put out a fire. I like having potable water coming out of a faucet — so I don’t mind my taxes going to a water department. I happen to think that public transportation is a good thing, it cuts down on carbon emissions — so I don’t mind subsidizing transportation, if it means there are less cars polluting our air.
I do understand that there are people, who have had less advantages in life than I have had, and have trouble making ends meet. I am willing to help them. I like the ability to have mail delivered to friends across the country - it would be better if it didn’t cost so much these days. I would prefer not to have toll roads, so I don't mind that my taxes are being used to construct and repair roads, streets, bridges and highways. I’m thrilled that I have Medicare and am finally paying an affordable amount for health insurance. I have no problem paying taxes to have air traffic controllers making sure my flights land safely or FDA inspectors to make sure my food is safe to eat. I love our National Parks and would heartbroken to see them closed due to lack of Federal funding. And for most of us in Western North Carolina, we were grateful for the services of the Army Corp of Engineers and FEMA.
You get the gist. I believe in socialism and I don’t mind paying for it.
Garbage is a good example of why urban and rural citizens have a different take on where government should be spending their money. Rural folks will handle their own garbage. But, that said, they certainly want their farm subsidies and their postal services. They like the federal funding for building and maintaining vital infrastructure as well as for schools. They like having military bases near their small towns; towns like Lawton, OK or Rolla, MO or Gadsden, AL. These installations provide jobs and add tremendously to the local economy. Urbanites have different needs -- fire, sanitation, police, schools, etc. Cities have issues that rural communities don't have and visa versa. But both groups want socialism -- just their own kind of socialism.
Whether MAGA folks understand or not... the bulk of Federal taxes are actually going to the so-called red states. What Republicans Don’t Want To Say: Blue States Are the Ones Bailing Out Red States.
Before Republicans start criticizing Democrats about their dependence on federal dollars, a quick review of the facts may be warranted. For instance, while federal dollars to New York represented 38% of its state budget in 2022, Texas received the same proportion, and Florida received even more (40%). Similarly, much attention from the GOP is given to Medicaid funding in blue states such as Illinois, but they conveniently ignore the fact that Texas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, and West Virginia, among other red states, see a greater share of the cost of their traditional Medicaid programs covered by the federal government. A recent Wall Street Journal editorial called blue states the “wards of Washington” by questionably only looking at federal spending to blue states, ignoring the flow of federal funds to red states and oddly forgetting to analyze the other half the national income statement, matching expenses with revenues—that is tax revenues collected…Among the top 20 states realizing the greatest net flow of funds, calculated as federal contributions to states (inflows) less federal tax receipts from states (outflows), 14 were red states, while 13 of the bottom 20 states are blue states. Headliners of the top 20 include West Virginia, Mississippi, Kentucky, and Alabama. Leading the bottom 20 are states such as California, Washington, Massachusetts, and New York, all critical hubs of business, investment, and innovation.
Can the Federal bureaucracy be streamlined and programs eliminated? Probably. But it should be done with some thought and a scalpel — not with mindlessness and a chainsaw. When PINO (President in Name Only) lets the DOGEfather cut these programs and fire thousands of people, it’s more than likely that the red states are going to feel most of the pain.
Virginia, for example, has more than 340,000 Federal workers. Already about 145,000 of them are out of work. I would imagine that some of these people are highly educated and have specialized skills, knowledge and capabilities. I doubt many of them will want to work a call center for Capital One, which is the sort of employment Glenn Youngkin is offering them.
The Trump administration sets out to create an America its people have never experienced − one without a meaningful government. Socialism is neither brainless nor evil. And paying one’s fair share of taxes is the cost of having a healthy, well-functioning and civilized society. I’ve seen and traveled to places that don’t have the fundamental government programs that we take for granted in the US; where their citizens don’t have running water or clean food or decent schools or basic medical services or good roads and highways. I don’t choose that sort of life and am depressed that our psychopath president clearly doesn’t care about the health, safety and security of all Americans.
A friend of mine wrote something shortly after Hurricane Helene wrecked havoc on Asheville and much of the southeast. Something to think about…
Politicians are fond of talking about taxpayers and what the taxpayer is getting for their money. I wish they would talk first about citizens and what it means to be a contributor to the larger community. I wish they would demonstrate how taxes provide funding for the common good, in which all of us have a share.
Thought for the day in honor of his birthday…
“Do not let either the medical authorities or the politicians mislead you. Find out what the facts are, and make your own decisions about how to live a happy life and how to work for a better world.”
~ Linus Pauling
Boycott on February 28th
A grassroots movement is calling on all Americans to abstain from shopping with major retailers — including Amazon — tomorrow, February 28, as part of an “economic blackout.”
We have choices. Most Americans are struggling to keep up. Most live from paycheck to paycheck. From midnight tonight to midnight Friday night, please: No Amazon, no Walmart, no Best Buy, no Target, no Disney, no Google. Don’t spend on fast food, major retailers, or gas. Avoid using credit or debit cards to make nonessential purchases. Buy essentials such as medicine, food, and emergency supplies, of course, but make those purchases at small, local businesses.
Must Read Articles:
The hard truths about Trump tax cuts
This truism sits at the very heart of Republicans' fight over a grand budget deal. They're trying to convince their members, and the American public, that you can take in less money (taxes), spend more on defense — and somehow reduce deficits without touching the programs that cost the most.
Quote of the day:
“Trump campaigned relentlessly on the cost of living and made a big (and unrealistic) promise to bring down food prices on day one of his term. Now, it’s clear he has no realistic plan to lower the cost of groceries; eventually, even his most devoted followers are going to figure out that you can’t eat the culture wars.”
~ Arwa Mahdawi, The Guardian
What I’m reading today…
Reality Counts: Markets Do Not Lie
President in Name Only (PINO) Donald Trump and acting president Elon Musk might be able to bamboozle some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you cannot bamboozle all of the people all of the time (to paraphrase Lincoln). And, hard as they may try, not even Fox News or the rest of the captive MAGA media can hide inflation, layoffs, and consistently bad economic news. That is a problem for a president who misled the voters by campaigning on how easily he would “bring down” prices…And so here we are. Remarkably, we have gone from an economy that was the “envy of the world” to “a scary place to invest” in the brief time the Musk-Trump administration has been in power…Unfortunately for the American economy and all of us who rely on it functioning, Trump’s illiteracy on tariffs, lack of management acumen in running the executive branch, and his utter greed (for himself and for his oligarchs, who are all licking their chops over another round of taxes) may well propel our economy into a ditch. If so, not even Trump’s Fox and Friends will be able to disguise who drove us right into it.
Federal layoffs hit North Carolina's national parks
With a smaller staff, visitor center hours and ranger-led programs may be reduced. The custodial staff has been laid off in some areas as well, meaning trash might not be picked up as frequently or restrooms may not be cleaned as often.
Farmers, green groups sue USDA over ‘unlawful purge’ of climate data
This lawsuit challenges the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s unlawful purge of climate-related policies, guides, datasets, and resources from its websites, without any advance notice as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act, without engaging in reasoned decision-making as required by the Administrative Procedure Act, and in violation of its obligation under the Freedom of Information Act to publish certain information proactively…By wiping critical climate resources from the USDA’s website, the Trump administration has deliberately stripped farmers and ranchers of the vital tools they need to confront the escalating extreme weather threats like droughts and floods.
Tax Season Just Got More Confusing
After receiving tens of billions of dollars from the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), the agency’s customer-service wait times went down, its tech initiatives helped simplify tax filings for some, and its audits led to the recovery of more than $1 billion in unpaid taxes from wealthy Americans and corporations. That progress may now be imperiled. As part of the Trump administration’s plan to downsize the federal government, the IRS has been ordered to start firing as many as 7,000 IRS employees in the middle of tax season, including 5,000 people who work on collection and enforcement; the total cuts represent about 7 percent of the agency’s workforce. More layoffs could come: Today, the Trump administration released a memo ordering all federal agencies to submit plans to eliminate more positions, including those of career officials with civil-service protection. The IRS’s acting commissioner, Doug O’Donnell, announced his retirement this week, and Billy Long, Donald Trump’s pick to replace him, has previously backed legislation that would abolish the IRS.
VA pauses billions in cuts lauded by Musk as lawmakers and veterans decry loss of critical care
The Associated Press has obtained the full list of 875 affected contracts, which shows the cuts would affect everything from cancer care to the ability to assess toxic exposure. The list underscores how the Trump administration’s approach to broad spending reductions has immediate and potentially unintended consequences, generating significant concern not just among Democrats but also Republican lawmakers.
A Step Toward Trump’s ‘Big, Beautiful Bill’
In addition to calling for $4.5 trillion in tax cuts and $2 trillion in spending cuts over the next decade, the budget resolution asks for a $4 trillion increase in the debt ceiling. The package will effectively extend the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA), Trump’s main legislative achievement from his first term, for 10 years. But Manhattan Institute Senior Fellow Jessica Riedl pointed out earlier this month in our pages that the net effect will be to add more than $3 trillion to the national deficit over the next decade.
A Project 2025 author carries out his vision for mass federal layoffs
In President Donald Trump’s first term, Russell Vought was a largely behind-the-scenes player who eventually became director of the influential but underappreciated Office of Management and Budget. He is back in that job in Trump’s second term after being the principal author of Project 2025, the conservative governing blueprint that Trump insisted during the 2024 campaign was not part of his agenda…In Project 2025, Vought wrote that OMB “is a President’s air-traffic control system” and that “the Director must view his job as the best, most comprehensive approximation of the President’s mind.” OMB, he wrote, should be “involved in all aspects of the White House policy process,” becoming “powerful enough to override implementing agencies’ bureaucracies.”
Another Asheville restaurant shutters as $500M Helene relief bill moves through Raleigh
Five-hundred-million dollars in Helene relief is now one step closer to being finalized after the first Disaster Recovery Act of 2025 passed through the House in Raleigh Tuesday. This announcement was made just hours after Rhubarb, a popular Appalachian farm-to-table restaurant in downtown Asheville, closed.
What I am listening to…
The president is changing the aim of the Department of Justice. It’s no longer about the rule of law, it’s now about the rule of Trump.
