Sunday, August 24, 2008

Why does Norris let bureaucracy live?

John B. (not Chuck) Norris V of Oakworth Capital Bank up in High Jefferson gets ink in the Montgomery Advertiser with his Inefficient government a bigger woe than budget deficit. In last week's B'ham News he dared share, "You know things are bad when even the wealthy clients are cutting out unnecessary spending." In December he was covered by CNN Money suggesting his kids drink less milk so he can still drive about town. Cry me a river! Earlier in the month Norris noted The Misery Index shows unemployment and inflation are way up.

Obviously he knows how to generate coverage yet perhaps he feels like he needs to temper his remarks with a little conservative orthodoxy. At Oakworth, where Norris is Director of Wealth Management, you'll find Samuel E. Upchurch, Jr. and Luther Strange yet I have no idea on the exact politics of John Norris. I noted in today's piece he cited The Tax Foundation, that outfit at least leaning, if not being totally, to the right side of the spectrum. Despite my uncertainty on labeling, I'm thinking John Norris might be at least somewhat of a movement conservative when he closes as follows:

With disposable personal income where it currently is, higher taxes alone aren't going to solve the problem, as Americans won't have any money left to spend and propel the economy.

So that is the issue: the U.S. Treasury has to finance its massive deficit. As such, Washington is sucking money from consumers and investors that could go immediately back into the economy, and running it through the bureaucracy first.

In other words, Washington is soaking up big bucks, and the economy is losing efficiency as a result. That is about it, as the money is all here, somewhere, even if it isn't going to the highest, most efficient use.

That is a bigger concern to me for my grandchildren than the current budget deficit -- an inefficient economy based largely on government largesse. That type of economy hasn't been very successful anywhere.

I'm concerned about the deficit, that Republicans have largely once again ran up on their own, but more about a government that simply isn't working due to it being dominated by apparent conservatives like John B. Norris, V. These same tired right wing positions dominate our discourse, especially in Alabama, yet I'll hope that gradually they are losing their appeal. Good government is not the problem but rather required for a fair and prosperous society. I'm perfectly willing to "get serious about deficit reduction" or "spending" but I'll invite your team to go first by simply dropping the rhetoric. John Gunn

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