Page 4 - Mid Valley Times 6-3-21 E-edition

Serving the Readers of the Reedley Exponent, Dimuba Sentinel and Sanger Herald.
A Mid Valley Publishing Newspaper
Founded March 26, 1891, in a two-story building on the corner of 11th and F streets, by A.S. Jones
Fred Hall — Publisher
In my OPINION A refresher on money
laundering and politics
Pay tribute to late Dinuba Sentinel editor-publisher Bob Raison on June 10
Jon Earnest — Reedley Editor Dick Sheppard — Editor Emeritus
Thursday, June 3, 2021 | A4 | Mid Valley TiMes Editorial & Opinions
Money laundering is the illegal pro- cess of concealing the source of money which was obtained scurrilously. The money is trafficked through a com- plex sequence of commercial bank- ing transactions in order to obscure the original source. Once it has been “cleaned,” the result is that the recipi- ent has been unjustly enriched via the transaction.
The Mid Valley Times fam- ily has suffered another loss of an iconic figure from its newspaper history with the passing of Bob Raison, former longtime editor and publisher of the Dinuba Sentinel.
Mr. Raison, who died May 25 at the age of 92, pretty much did it all during his 55 years with The Sentinel. Before his stint as editor and co-publish- er with his wife, Diane, Raison worked at the paper as a print- er, photographer and assistant editor. As his obituary on page A3 so eloquently puts it, "Bob was well known in the Dinuba community as the tall man with red hair and a camera around his neck who showed up at school functions, sporting events, City Council meetings and thousands of other commu- nity related events. He chroni- cled decades of Dinubans both in picture and word."
Not surprisingly, Raison received many honors and awards in recognition of his service to the city. Those in- cluded Dinuba Junior Citizen of the Year (1968) and grand marshal of the annual Raisin Harvest Festival Parade (2004). The Sentinel was named Large Business of the Year during his
time as co-publisher.
In addition to overseeing
award-winning editorial con- tent, Raison in later years be- came heavily involved and an authority on the history of the city, including the publication of a series of articles after studying archived issues of the paper.
Dinuba residents — and other people around the Val- ley who enjoyed reading The Sentinel over the years — can pay tribute to Raison on Thurs- day, June 10. First, a graveside service will be held at Smith Mountain Cemetery at 9 a.m., followed by a reception at 10 o'clock at the Alta District His- torical Society, 289 South K St. The public is welcome to both events, and anyone attending the graveside services is re- minded social distancing and face masks are required.
The Times will cover the re- ception and have more informa- tion on Raison's notable news- paper career. In the meantime, the family requests to consider as a tribute making a donation to the Alta Historical Society, Dinuba Open Gate Ministries or Rotary International.
•••
It was uplifting to see large
numbers of
people attend-
ing Memorial
Day ceremo-
nies at Sanger
and Reedley cemeteries,
along with a
good turnout
of people to
visit the replica Vietnam Vet- erans Memorial wall in front of Dinuba Veterans Memorial Building. It's another sign that people young and old alike are returning to gathering togeth- er for activities, especially for such an important cause.
I also notice when I visit the local cemeteries for these events that many people use the holiday to remember their loved ones, regardless of if they served in the military or not. Another feel-good Memo- rial Day story that's developed is in Reedley, where banners honoring past and present mil- itary members have been put up along Manning Avenue on the Reedley side of the river and in other parts of the city. It's a fitting tribute that hope- fully becomes a lasting tradi- tion.
Jon Earnest is news-sports editor of The Times.
Fred Hall
QUOTE
“I find television very educating. Every time somebody turns on the set, I go into the other room and read a book.”
— Groucho Marx (1890-1977)
Jon Earnest
We've all come to an awareness of this fraudulent ac- tivity because it's the way drug dealers and other crimi- nals hide untold millions of dollars every year. It may surprise you, but our government bureaucrats pull the same sort of shenanigans with taxpaying public money on a daily basis.
Money laundering, per se, is an attempt to hide the true source of the money.
An example would be the recent story of the Pub- lic Utilities Commission levying a fine of $102 million against Pacific Gas and Electric Co. because of their handling of the most recent fire season in California. Then, if one will watch closely, there will shortly appear a small legal advertisement on behalf of PG&E, petition- ing the commission for a rate increase for “emergency” expenses. That request — as always — will be rubber stamped by PUC. And the responsibility for repayment of that “fine” will be transferred to rate payers. It won't indicate such for the records, but the result is the same.
One won't be able to find anyone, on either side, who would be willing to admit what is going on, but the re- sults remain the same. The big guys — and California utilities could certainly be included — don't pay tax in- creases or fines. That bit of heavy lifting is left up to the ratepayers.
The next time a piece of huge pork-filled legislation comes out of either Washington or Sacramento, take a hard look at those who are the greatest beneficiaries. Invariably, a huge part of that largesse winds up back with politicians through campaign donations from that which was our money originally. Big quasi-government and government unions always seem to come up win- ners, with really big bucks being funneled to Democrat candidates and re-election campaigns.
Maybe it's the certainty of where the money is going is the reason Washington is so cavalier about spending some else's money.
Now, we are being asked to show just how short our memories are and get behind a Biden multi-trillion dol- lar package to stimulate the economy. Remember 2009 when Biden and Obama pushed through a $787.2 billion stimulus for “shovel ready” jobs and infrastructure re- pair? Making a long story short, almost all the money was wasted and squandered on pie-in-the-sky projects such as Solyndra. Essentially, that “green job” money served no real purpose except the construction a marble memorial of a building and a handful of solar panels.
Remember that, in 2009, much of the money was dedicated to infrastructure but did little more than bail out cities and unions from the severe recession we were suffering. The good news was that a number of union positions were saved, but most of the money made its way back into Democrat coffers.
When our government is busy reallocating taxpayer money, it's good to know that all money is fungible. Al- ways remember that, when some politician tells you that everything is for benevolent purposes and a good cause, your money is going to wind up in the hands of some special interest group.
The best-equipped fiduciary of the people's money has always been the people! On the other hand, the most wasteful will always be the politicians who inhabit either side of the aisle.
But, as always, that's only one man's opinion.
The worst time to revive Medicare for All
By Sally C. Pipes
Guest columnist
Medicare for All just won't die. More than 100 House Dem- ocrats have signed onto new legislation that would outlaw all private insurance and put all Americans on a federally-run insurance plan within two years.
The bill's chief sponsor, Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., says Medicare for All is the "solu- tion" to the COVID-19 crisis and will improve access to quality care in the long run.
She could hardly be more wrong. A complete government takeover of the U.S. health insur- ance system would deprive Amer- icans of the private coverage the vast majority of them like — and force them to endure long waits for subpar care in exchange.
Jayapal believes the disparate impact of Covid-19 on low-in- come Americans, many of whom lack comprehensive coverage and are in poor health, is proof of the need for Medicare for All.
But look at the outcomes posted by patients on Medic- aid, the government health in- surance program for the poor. Nationwide, Medicaid covers more than 70 million people.
In 2008, Oregon expanded its Medicaid program by lottery. It was a natural experiment that
allowed researchers to evalu- ate the impact of Medicaid on a person's health. They found that Medicaid "generated no sig- nificant improvements in mea- sured physical health outcomes" for the program's beneficiaries, compared to those with no in- surance at all.
Another population hit hard by Covid-19 is seniors. They're also already covered by public insurance, in the form of Medi- care. The fact that they had government coverage had little bearing on their susceptibility to the virus.
The transition to a single- payer system would most di- rectly impact the majority of Americans with private insur- ance. According to a recent Gallup poll, 63 percent of these Americans are generally satis- fied with their health coverage. That figure actually increased last year during the pandemic.
Medicare for All's champi- ons are fond of pointing out that a majority, albeit a slight one, of Americans supports the idea, according to polling from the Kaiser Family Foundation. But they change their minds once they learn more about it. Just 13 percent support Medicare for All if it means abolishing private insurance, according to a Hill-HarrisX survey.
The public is right to be skep- tical of a government takeover of health insurance. Single-payer health care has yielded tragic re- sults everywhere it's been tried.
In the United Kingdom's universal coverage system, life-threatening wait times and rationing of care were routine even before COVID-19. They got significantly worse during the pandemic.
Early in the pandemic, Cana- dian hospitals had to postpone more than 350,000 surgeries, procedures, and consultations. It'll take months — and cost more than $1 billion — to clear that backlog.
Such waits and rationing are bad enough. But Jayapal and company envision spend- ing north of $3 trillion a year on Medicare for All. That's not much less than the government takes in taxes each year — in total.
Supporters of the House's new Medicare for All bill insist that COVID-19 has added urgen- cy to their cause. In reality, the pandemic has left our country less willing — and far less able — to endure the hardship that inevi- tably accompanies single-payer.
Sally C. Pipes is president, CEO, and the Thomas W. Smith fellow in healthcare policy at the Pacific Research Institute.