Page 4 - Reedley Exponent 9-27-18 E-edition

The Reedley Exponent A4 Thursday, September 27, 2018 Editorial & Opinions
Serving “The World’s Fruit Basket” since 1891
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
Early deadlines experienced by today’s community newspapers can, from to time, create some very real difficulties for those of us who strive to fill the columns of your newspaper with fresh and interesting news of fellow community members. Last week was one of those which was problematic for us.
Jon Earnest — Editor
Chris Aguirre — Sports Editor Juanita Adame — Panorama Editor Budd Brockett — Editor Emeritus
It may still feel like summer, but events show Fiesta time is near
The opinion piece which I wrote for Sept.
20 was about some of the seemingly malevo-
lent machinations of the California Agricul-
ture Relations Board against a local grower —
Gerawan Farms — who is a major employer
in the Sanger-Reedley area. The results of an
election conducted five years ago were finally counted, thanks to a court order, delivering an overwhelming victory to Gerawan in their struggle against all the forces the ALRB had aligned against them.
Frankly, the real winners of this governmental oversight fi- asco would be the employees of Gerawan. They made their wishes known through a genuine democratic process and finally, thanks to that court order, those wishes have vindicated and the workers — not the California government nor the United Farm Workers Union — have the final say in their futures.
After all of this, however, the malignancy remains with the ALRB’s skewed view of labor in its dealing with employers with this present board. Although there is no apparent need for its very existence, the original structure was at least seen as an honorable one. This board was to be a balance of labor and management when first conceived. That is no longer the case, and the current body seems to embody an agenda that is not fair to all. Something should and must be done to remedy the present miscarriage of what passes for honest oversight in such cases.
Farming is indeed an admirable, labor intensive vocation with the mandate of this fertile valley to feed much of the burgeoning population of our world. However, the farming profession with its perennial need of adequate water and sunshine is not the only business that is under outside pressures over which it has little control. Governmental control, restriction and regulation along with a special group of “bottom feeders” add to the uncertainties of surviving as a business in this high tax state.
For all of you in this area who operate small businesses, you must be very careful. An out-of-control law firm from San Jose, along with their “rainmaker,” are back in the Central Valley per- verting the good intentions of the Americans with Disabilities Act which was passed by George H.W. Bush. Having said that, it’s best to assume they never left and are always lurking about in search of some small retailer who is willing to pay their ridiculous and often scurrilous demand for punitive reparations, rather than shoulder the expense of going to court.
A rainmaker can best be defined as a professional client work- ing in collusion with a law firm to generate business or they can be someone affiliated with the firm who helps generate legal busi- ness. Standards established by ADA can be quite strenuous and are prone to change on a regular basis, such is the wont of our bureaucratic system. Many merchants make a good faith effort to comply with mandates before finding that some requirement may be off by as little as one inch. One can bet that Mission’s client Friday will be able to ferret out the “rampant’ malfeasance but is willing to settle for a few thousand dollars rather than go to court.
“Slip and fall” claimants have about the same degree of hon- esty as most of the cases filed by legal firms such as this one who have sprung up around the country. No wonder there is a veritable plethora of lawyer jokes. Guys such as this — who are obviously shameless — do a huge injustice to the honorable, hard-working members of the American Bar. It just seems that the justice sys- tem would do a better job of putting its house in order. Indeed, there are valid reasons for the disbarment of lawyers and their firms from around the country every year. They always remind me of the “creepy porn lawyer” of Stormy Daniels fame. Integrity, to them, is optional.
Bad lawyers add nothing to the economy of America since they produce nothing of value nor raise the standard of living for anyone but themselves. As a matter of fact, if one were to delve deeply, there probably should be state paid housing made available for their occupancy that always employs special security! Given the cavalier attitude of the Bar Association, it would seem that disbarment is not an option.
With the exception of New York State, California is already one of the least business friendly states in the country. Law firms, short of scruples such as this one, can make it extremely tough on little guys when they resort to these sorts of shenanigans. Perhaps it’s time for those members of our legislature step up and pass some law which would restrict this sort of predatory behavior by the legal profession. Wait a minute! That isn’t going to work be- cause most of the men and women who represent us in Sacramento are, themselves, lawyers.
But, as always, that’s only one man’s opinion.
The high temperatures may be near 100 degrees this week, but an autumn tradition in Reedley is fast approaching.
The 53rd Reedley Fiesta is just two weeks away on Friday and Sat- urday, Oct. 12-13. There will be all the usual attractions — the annual Fiesta Parade, the morning Rabobank Fiesta Walk/Run, plenty of food and drink and craft and games. And, of course, the 50th anniversary of the popular Frog Jump.
There’s a big tie-in between the Frog Jump and the Fiesta Parade — Eddie Vasquez. The lone original member of the 1968 event still ac- tive in the competition, the popular 75-year-old local barber on Sept. 25 was announced as the 2018 parade grand marshal. It’s a fitting tribute to the man who has the knack of making
those frogs leap those extra couple of inches. Denny Mason, Reedley Rotary Club president, made the an- nouncement to a surprised Vasquez in his G Street barber shop.
Vasquez has the honor of riding at the front of the parade caravan and then helping judge the marching bands participating in the parade. Marching bands confirmed to attend are Orange Cove High School, Dinuba High School, Roosevelt High School of Fresno and Tranquillity High School. Of course, the host Reedley High School Pirate Marching Band will lead the parade and serve as the host band in a non-competitive role.
Based on his tear-filled eyes and smile after the announcement, it’s an honor he takes great pride and humil- ity in receiving. We’ll profile Eddie in our Thursday, Oct. 4, issue.
The next an-
nouncements will
be the 2018 Fiesta
King and Queen,
as selected by the
Reedley Lions
Club. We’ll have a
profile on that cou-
ple in our Thurs-
day, Oct. 11, is-
sue. The King and
Queen will be honored at the band- stand in Pioneer Park on Friday, Oct. 12, and also ride in the Oct. 13 parade.
Vendor booths will fill Pioneer Park from 4 to 10 p.m. on Oct. 12 and from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Oct. 13. And beginning on Monday, Oct. 8, artwork from Reedley students will be on display in the windows of downtown businesses on G Street between 9th and 13th streets.
Fred Hall
Fire Department urges to ‘Look, Listen, Learn’
By Jerry Isaak
Guest columnist
Today’s home fires burn faster than ever. In a typical home fire, you may have as little as one to two minutes to escape safely from the time the smoke alarm sounds. Knowing how to use that time wisely takes planning and prac- tice.
The Reedley Fire De- partment is teaming up with the national Fire Pro- tection Association — the official sponsor of Fire Prevention Week for more than 90 years — to promote this year’s Fire Prevention Week campaign, “Look. Lis- ten. Learn. Be aware. Fire can happen anywhere” which works to educate the
public about basic but es- sential ways to quickly and safely escape a home fire.
NFPA statistics show that the number of U.S. home fires has been steadi- ly declining over the past few decades. However, the death rate per 1,000 home fires that are reported to fire departments was 10 percent higher in 2016 than in 1980.
“These numbers show that while we’ve made sig- nificant progress in teach- ing people how to prevent fires from happening, there’s still much work to do in terms of educating the public about how to protect themselves in the event of one,” said Lor- raine Carli, NFPA’s vice president of Outreach and
Advoca-
cy. “This
is par-
ticularly
critical
given
the in-
creased
speed at
which
today’s
home
fires grow and spread.”
Carli also notes that al- though people feel safest in their home, it is also the place people are at greatest risk to fire, with four out of five U.S. fire deaths occur- ring at home. That over- confidence contributes to a complacency toward home escape planning and prac- tice.
This year’s “Look. Lis-
ten. Learn.” campaign high- lights three steps people can take to help quickly and safely escape a fire:
• Look for places fire could start
• Listen for the sound of the smoke alarm
• Learn 2 ways out of every room
This year’s Fire Preven- tion Week is Oct. 7 through 13. The Reedley Fire De- partment is hosting its 19th annual Open House on Thursday, Oct. 11th from 5:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. We invite you to bring your children to meet your local fire and rescue teams and learn how you can protect your family.
Jerry Isaak is chief of the Reedley Fire Depart- ment.
By Richard D. Kocur
Guest columnist
In the fall of 2017, when Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) unveiled his vision for the future of the U.S. healthcare system (Medicare for All), I wrote a piece for the Center for Vi- sion and Values titled, “Medicare for All is Good for None.” In the piece, I argued that using the Medicare tem- plate as a model capable of absorb- ing quadruple the number of current enrollees was flawed from the start. Obviously, Senator Sanders did not read my piece.
Now, in the fall of 2018, Medicare for All has become the litmus test for the early field of potential Democratic presidential nominees and a key pol- icy platform among Progressives. In addition, a recent Reuters poll showed a majority of Americans, 70 percent in fact, in favor of Medicare for All. Receiving “free” healthcare from the government sounds promising until one digs into the details related to the impact the plan would have from a dollars-and-sense perspective.
Over the past year, the cost of Sanders’ proposed socialization of the American healthcare system, representing nearly 18 percent of the total U.S. economy, has been ex- tensively studied. Both left-leaning and right-leaning estimates price the plan at approximately $30 trillion. A recent study by the Mercatus Center at George Mason University esti- mates Medicare for All will cost the
federal government at least $32 tril- lion over 10 years. For some sober- ing perspective, the total of all indi- vidual and corporate taxes collected by the federal government over the next 10 years is projected to be ap- proximately $30 trillion. The federal government would have to more than double its tax revenue in the next 10 years to pay for Medicare for All. In order to cover just a portion of Medi- care for All, Senator Sanders’ plan would mean an increase in the top marginal tax rate to 52 percent and a dramatic increase in the tax on capi- tal gains and dividends. Even if that’s the case, a significant gap in funding still exists. Where does the rest of the nearly $32 trillion come from?
Supporters of a socialized health- care system like Medicare for All point to the administrative cost sav- ings a single-payer system would generate as a means to help cover the approximate $32 trillion dollar price tag. Unfortunately, on a per-patient basis, Medicare administrative costs are no better than those of private insurance. This despite a greater number of private insurance provid- ers, variability in their administrative efficiency, and higher marketing and promotion costs. Is it even feasible that the bureaucratic machinery in Washington could come close to being able to drive down costs via adminis- trative efficiency?
Another means of paying for Medi- care for All according to its backers is to reduce provider fees. Currently,
Medicare pays providers significantly less than they receive from private in- surance. According to estimates in the Mercatus study, Sanders’ plan would reduce provider reimbursements by nearly 40 percent. Payments below the cost of doing business would likely result in fewer providers and limits on access to care as physicians and hos- pitals are forced out of business. It would also mean fewer new providers entering the market.
The above rationale for why Medicare for All is unrealistic and impracticable from a dollars-and- sense perspective doesn’t even take into account the actual experiences of patients in socialized healthcare systems around the world. In many countries, an increasingly strained national healthcare budget has to be addressed by increasing revenues via higher taxation or decreasing costs via the rationing of care.
The methods by which Medi- care for All proposes to pay its bills all have unintended consequences or downstream effects that would do more harm than good to the U.S. economy, the individual taxpayer, and the patients within the system. Amer- icans want, and deserve, a cure for a sick U.S. healthcare system but Medi- care for All is the wrong prescription.
Richard D. Kocur is an assistant professor of business at Grove City (Pa.) College. He specializes in mar- keting and business strategy and has more than 25 years of experience in the healthcare industry.
Jerry Isaak
QUOTE
“It takes only one drink to get me drunk. The trouble is, I can’t remember if it’s the thirteenth or the fourteenth.”
George Burns (1896-1996)
Jon Earnest
‘Medicare for all’ still is
the wrong prescription
Have an opinion? Want to share it?
Weigh in. Let your voice be heard.
Send us your letter to the editor (limit of 300 words) for publication on this page in print and our e-edition.
email to jon@midvalleypublishing.com