Recent Opinions

Opinion: Maybe Cheap Oil Isn’t Such a Good Idea

liz.flowers — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 10:07:37 -0700

Right now as I write this—and there is a long delay between the written and the printed word—gas prices have fallen below $4 a gallon. Everybody is euphoric. Me? I’m not so sure.

"Do you mean to say you want gas prices above $4 a gallon?" When you think about it, yes.

It’s not about people cutting back on driving. The country needs just the opposite. Folks have to get to work and to the store and to school. And there are whole industries that depend on people being on the road, like tourism and travel.

Opinion: To Print or Not to Print

liz.flowers — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 19:14:46 -0700

Comedian Dennis Miller once said if your job requires you to wear a plastic nametag, you’ve made a serious vocational error.

Miller’s mid-90s shtick was about flight attendants, but one can’t help but notice that journalists wear plastic nametags, too, and right now there are many, many newspaper employees wondering whether or not they’ve made a serious vocational error.

Business: Mid-Year Economic Update

lydia.senn — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 09:02:54 -0700

In January of this year I wrote an article for this publication titled "What to expect in '08". Now that we have reached the half way point of 2008, I thought it would be a good idea to see how the economy is doing compared to what we expected to happen this year.

Are things going as predicted?

Opinion: What's a Lowly Commuter to Think?

liz.flowers — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 06:47:17 -0700

So you live in North Fulton, and you are one of those poor drones who schleps long distances back and forth each day. Gas prices have eclipsed four dollars per gallon, and short of switching to a Vespa, you feel helpless to do anything about it.

If you watch the talking heads on news shows you are hearing from one side that we need to open up as much federal land as possible – on and offshore – to increase domestic oil reserves.

The other side says that is poppycock. They say it will take a decade or more to create new reserves, which will do nothing to help short-term prices.

Opinion - Four-Day Work Weeks:

liz.flowers — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 18:31:53 -0700

When I turned sixteen, I received my driver’s license the very same day. There was nothing else more important in my world than going to the DMV and obtaining my laminated ticket to freedom. No greater birthday gift was to be had. A driver’s license meant I could take myself where I wanted to go – provided, of course, I could garner permission to borrow the family car.

A driver’s license was, and remains to a large degree, a right of teenage passage. The cost of that passage was a lot less back then. Gas was about 50 cents a gallon.

Connecting the Dots

lydia.senn — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 11:32:32 -0700

For moment we thought Newt Gingrich had reformed. There was our ex-congressman and former Speaker o the House on C-Span agreeing with Sen. John Kerry on the need to sharply reduce our greenhouse emissions. And then he was on a public service announcement with no less than the current House Speaker Nancy Pelosi with the same message.

The Time For Action is Now

lydia.senn — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 07:18:36 -0700

President Bush recently issued an executive order to lift the prohibition on oil exploration on the Outer Continental Shelf. With this action, the executive branch’s restrictions on this exploration have been cleared away. This means that the only thing standing between the American people and these vast oil resources is action from the U.S. Congress.

Tax Freedom Day Demonstrates the True Cost of American Tax Bill

lydia.senn — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 06:34:27 -0700

Tuesday April 22 marked the 113th day of the year, otherwise known as Tax Freedom Day. This is the day until which Americans work simply to pay their taxes in 2008. For the average American taxpayer, all earnings so far this year have gone only to meet tax obligations.

On Tax Day, Americans See the Cost of Democrats’ Big Government Agenda

lydia.senn — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 07:48:54 -0700

More American taxpayers will file their returns today, April 15, than any other day this tax season.

Hard-working Americans are facing the stark realization of how much their government costs.

Already stretched by rising food, energy, and medical costs, Washington’s take of the paycheck is deeply straining family budgets.

The American people are tired of being overtaxed and need leadership to provide meaningful relief. Instead, Democrats in Congress only continue to seek massive tax increases to fund a big government agenda.

No Time Like the Present to Think About Dying

lydia.senn — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 14:19:00 -0700

As most people will attest to in these harried times, there is little time in any given day to think about much else beyond the crisis in front of you. Making deadlines, getting the kids to all their activities and homework, trying to get ahead at the office and having some semblance of a social life means we are spending far more time than ever trying to keep all the balls in the air.

Americans surpassed the rest of the world in 1999 for the longest work hours; Japan fell to second place that year.