Ch-Ch-Changes....

 

 

"Ch-ch-Changes
Where's your shame
You've left us up to our necks in it"

 

Changes

David Bowie

 

 

 

I will say this much for our President - his word is good on one issue. He promised us change, and boy do we have change. I have said for years now that some change is good - not all change is good - however, some change is good. History will determine how many of the changes we have seen in the past five years are good or not.

 

My purpose right now is to discuss the changes which have NOT occurred. These are changes which I believe were needed five years ago and remain needed today.

 

TAXES - It does not take a PhD in thinkology to know our tax code is a mess. Under ObamaCare it will get even messier. The code is thousands of pages long, convoluted, and many times an audit just waiting to happen. It is used as a political tool, or a weapon in other cases. Recently, we found out the IRS is used as enforcers for an Administration that does not like patriots. It should be scrapped and replaced with a flat tax, ten pages or less, where everyone pays something.

 

WORKPLACE - Our workplace environment is a mess. We have not changed anything for the positive. First off, the majority of people in most metro areas live in one quadrant and work in another. In the Twin Cities for example, most work in one suburb and live in another. There is no mass transit available. We have world class traffic jams during rush hour. For the most part, we have eschewed logical changes such as flex time, flex days and telecommuting. Benefits need to be more portable, so in this fluid work environment, where you work may change, but you benefit package will not. If we don't make radical changes to our work environment, many will have to work until they drop.

 

WATER - It seems odd to talk about our planet, which some refer to as "the water planet", having a shortage of potable water. This topic should have been front and center with Congress this session. Our aquifers are being depleted at an alarming rate, and our regeneration nowhere matches our depletion rate. Every year we have trillions upon trillions of fresh water that falls on our country ending up in run off. In addition, we have decades old technology which would allow us large scale desalination of sea water (which we would never run out off). For centuries we have taken our abundant water resources for granted - very soon, we will not.

 

ENERGY - While very few were paying attention, we have become the Saudi Arabia of energy. In fact, we have more energy resources than the entire Middle East. Besides our natural resources in fossil fuels, we have emerging technologies that will look more like science fiction than science. Our gas prices should be closer to $2/gal than $4/gal. We have only one enemy in keeping us from being totally energy independent - us. In addition, we have so much natural gas, we should be an exporter. The fact we import one drop of oil or natural gas from anyone is a mystery to many.

 

What we have done instead of working on changes that matter is further complicate our tax system, infringe upon our Second Amendment rights, develop an amnesty bill for illegals, and promote non-traditional marriage. Oh yes, we also really hosed up our world class heath care system.

 

Some change is good. Not all change is good. Changes needed, and not made, are bad - very, very bad.