America is not having an economic crisis; it’s having a vocabulary crisis. Obviously, our political leadership is not capable of using the word no – that must be why they can’t say no to anyone asking for money or proposing stupid ideas.
When I was growing up, no was one of the first words I learned, you’d hear it all the time. It usually came in a short sentence, “The word is no, N-O, NO!” If the sentence had to be repeated, a smack on the butt would be added to get your attention.
It was used as a command, an explanation, a spelling lesson and reinforcement – all at the same time. I was very familiar with the word no. I could say it, I could spell it and I knew exactly what it meant at a very young age, but the word no is now unacceptable for use in public life. Whatever happened to the word no?
I bet these people use the word no all the time in their personal lives – “Dad, can I borrow the car tonight?” “No.” Now take that same Dad and put them in charge of the bonuses at Fannie Mae, the raises or retirement benefits for public employees or stupid ideas at the White House or Congress and for some reason they freeze up – the word no can’t pass their lips. Here are some examples where the word no would have done wonders:
The city decided to sell Motorcycle Rally T-shirts to make a lot of money – they lost their shirts instead. They also raised sales taxes 1 percent to pay for more services, but instead they used much of the money to pay old debts and gave the city employees raises including retroactive raises – while the taxpayers were losing their jobs at record rates. No.
The county fired the director of public works; then gave him an extra $10,000 for doing a very bad job. They used $375,000 we received after the economic crash to buy buses for the agency that has very low ridership, is cutting back due to a lack of operating funds and is losing a fortune every year. The county has also run up $25 million in unfunded liabilities for its employee benefits. No.
The state bought half a billion dollars worth of electronic voting machines and then put them in warehouses to rot; they did not balance the budget and now they’re going to spend $100 million on an election to vote on how we are going to save money and raise taxes. No.
The White House gave AIG more than $30 billion in the middle of the night, but they did not make them agree to limit the bonuses to their managers. They have poured another trillion dollars into the economy, but they don’t know where it went or what anyone is doing with it. No.
Congress gave the Postmaster General a big raise and a bonus after the postal service lost $2.8 billion; they also proposed paying millions in bonuses to the public managers of Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae even though each lost about $200 billion. Congress forced banks to give mortgages to people who could not pay them and then changed the law so that regular banks and investments banks could take the same risks. No, no, no!
That needs to be the new test to hold public office; you must prove you can say no and mean it. If that doesn’t work, we should make sure we say no when those with the vocabulary problem come up for reelection – N-O, NO!
Marty Richman is a Hollister resident. His column runs Tuesdays. Reach him at
cw*****@ya***.com
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