Elko Sky Fair Was More Than A Sentimental JourneyNevada is a right-to-work state. You’ve heard that countless times. The codicil to that is: Nevada is a right-to-work state, if your

Penny PressNevada, USA Volume 9 Number 1 SEPTEMBER 15, 2011

Elko Sky FairWas More Than A

Sentimental Journey

THE PENNY PRESS,SEPTEMBER 15, 2011 PAGE 2

PennyPressLogotype Pointedlymad licensed from: Rich Gast

Credits:Publisher and Editor: Contributing Editors:Fred Weinberg Floyd Brown Al Thomas Doug French Chuck Muth John Getter Pat Choate Tom Mitchell

The Penny Press is published weekly by Far West Radio LLC All Contents © Penny Press 2011

Letters to the Editor are encouraged. They should be sent to our offices at 335 W. 4th Street Winnemucca, NV 891445 They can also be emailed to: [email protected] No unsigned or unverifiable letters will be printed.

702-418-0433 Fax: 702-920-8215

www.pennypressnv.com

By THOMAS MITCHELLContributing Editor

Nevada is a right-to-work state. You’ve heard that countless times.

The codicil to that is: Nevada is a right-to-work state, if your employer can afford and withstand a withering legal onslaught from the unions.

This is the story of one such employer, the Elko-based general contracting firm Mach 4.

The name Mach 4 sounds like something you would call a high-flying, high-speed company, but it really is an acronym from the owners’ last name, Miller, and the first names of their three children —

Allyson, Cody and Hunter. Duncan and Angela Miller

established Mach 4 in 2007. Most of their work involves excavation and reclamation for mining and other firms and contracts with various cities. Shortly after starting up, they picked up a job in Beatty with Barrick Gold and needed skilled employees right away.

For weeks representatives of the local Operating Engineers had been pressing the Millers to sign a union contract. In May 2007 the Millers agreed to sign with Operating Engineers Local No. 3.

Angela Miller recalls the union agents telling them, “It’s usually a three-year contract but we are going to give you guys a one-year deal. No strings attached. No questions asked. One year, if you’re done, you’re

done. We guarantee you will be so happy at the end of that year you will want to re-sign.”

They weren’t. But the smiling assurances

and hand-shake deal have turned into a years-long, protracted and potentially devastating legal battle in federal court.

Mrs. Miller said the union sent the company unqualified workers and workers without the appropriate documentation showing they were drug-free.

One union worker ran over a porta-potty.

Fortunately no one was inside. She said her husband resorted to training on-the-job some of the union workers.

In December 2007, the Millers called a meeting in their office with Operating Engineers

representatives. “They came to our office and we had our legal counsel present because we just didn’t have a good feeling at this point,” Angela Miller recalled. “And we wanted to negotiate or the union would have bankrupted us, even in December, six months into it, bankrupting our company.”

But, according to Miller, the union agents refused to talk with the attorneys present and got up and left.

After several efforts to renegotiate, the following June the Millers notified the union of their desire to terminate the contract. Unbeknownst to them, buried in the original four agreements they signed, was a requirement that such a notice be filed not more than 90 days

Penny PressWINNEMUCCA, NEVADA 16 PAGES VOLUME 9 NUMBER 1 SEPTEMBER 15, 2011

Penny WisdomI respect the state workers and I respect their unions, but we simply can't afford to pay benefits and pensions that are out of line with eco-nomic reality. —Andrew Cuomo

The Conservative Weekly Voice Of Las Vegas

Inside:Maybe It's TimeTo Kill Post OfficeSee Editorial Page 6

FLOYD BROWN PAGE 5FRED WEINBERG PAGE 6DOUG FRENCH PAGE 7AL THOMAS PAGE 10THOMAS MITCHELL PAGE 11CHUCK MUTH PAGE 14PETS OF THE WEEK PAGE 15

Union Wants Elko Company Dead

Commentary

Continued on page4

before the expiration of the contract nor less than 60 days. They missed the 30-day window, thus triggering an automatic renewal.

But the contract also contained a rather standard clause saying either party could terminate the contract after giving a 60-day notice, which the Miller’s attorney contends means the June 2008 letter triggered an August 2006 contract termination.

Instead, three years later Mach 4 is tied up in protracted litigation in federal court against the union and its Trust Fund.

Trial is scheduled for Oct. 18. Mach 4’s attorney, Jeffrey Dickerson of Reno, said federal Judge Larry

Hicks has ruled the 60-day termination notice clause was an issue for a jury to determine at trial, but Dickerson is optimistic the judge will reconsider, which could allow the Millers to reinstate their claims against the union and its Trust Fund so they can seek damages, attorney fees and costs.

Miller also noted the company was harmed when the union Trust Fund “took it upon themselves to send letters to our customers and our insurance company stating they had a judgment and the insurance company was to forward our bond of $30,000 to them and my customers were told to forward all monies owed . . . to us or else we’ll sue you.”

Practically in tears, Miller said the letter “left a bad taste in our customers’ mouths. So it is really hard to do work. But the worst part is your insurance company gets word of this, whether it is true or not, and our attorney clarified, no, there is no judgment, well OK, still can’t get any new bonding because of this.”

She said the company lost a chance to bid on a city of Elko job recently because it could not get bonding. The day I spoke with Miller, she said workers approached her husband asking if they should look for new jobs because they heard the union would shut the company down. “They have families they have to take care of, we can’t guarantee them anything. I can’t get any breathing room to guarantee anyone anything at all.”

I asked attorney Dickerson about the letter claiming a judgment in favor of the union when there was none and asked whether such action sounded like tortuous interference — which is loosely defined

as wrongful interference with a contract or business relationship. He replied that the Millers are contemplating suing the Trust Fund and its law firm because “the collection effort is inconsistent with the judge’s order, claiming it is a judgment, when it is not.”

Mrs. Miller noted that the company in August made an offer to settle with the union and the Trust Fund, offering to pay $7,000 a month for a year in back benefits and put four of their workers in the union for a year, pay a balloon payment of $84,000 at the end of the year and put up land as collateral.

She said the union, the day before a settlement conference, came back with a demand for $21,000 a month and that company employees — all three dozen — be replaced with union workers. Additionally, the union demanded an audit from 2009 forward and that the company pay union benefits for that time, though none of its workers were union members. She said that would bankrupt the company. By the time interest and penalties and attorney fees are added, she estimated the Operating Engineers union and its Trust Fund are each seeking in excess of $1 million. She said the two entities are basically asking for the same thing, double-dipping.

She also said the union doesn’t mind if the company goes bankrupt, because it then would seek employee benefit payments from companies and cities for which Mach 4 has performed work.

“It’s really hard to go forward, really hard,” Miller said, her voice cracking. “But I have 36 families and my own family. I can’t quit and throw in the towel because even if I did they’d still come after me. It is legalized mafia, I swear to God. It’s the worst thing in the world right now. …

“How the hell do you get away from these guys? I’m so sick of everyone who is afraid of confrontation with them. It’s like this world needs to get on its feet right now.”

She concluded, “We’re a small town, family-owned business that employs 36 people who are going to be shoved in the unemployment line. That’s not right. And it’s a right to work state.”

Well, is it?Thomas Mitchell is a long-time Nevadan. You may share your views with him by emailing [email protected]. Read additional musings on his blog at http://4thst8.wordpress.com/


Union Wants To Shut Elko Mom And Pop DownContinued from page 3


Debate Moderators Carry Obama’s Message

Brian Williams must crave attention. In the latest Republican debate, instead of moderating, he personally debated all the participants. The actual discussion between candidates was more civil and constructive than the endless string of gotcha speeches foisted as questions on the panel by NBC’s Williams and his Politico sidekick, John Harris.

Question after question was an attempt to put each GOP candidate on the defensive. More accusation and White House talking points passed from the lips of Williams and Harris than legitimate questions looking to determine the ideas of the candidates and how they differed.

As a result the debate was next to useless for voters.

Newt Gingrich was clearly incensed by the tone. He responded by telling the media duo: “I for one and I hope that all of my friends up here are going to repudiate every effort of the news media to get Republicans to fight each other, to protect Barack Obama who deserves to be defeated. And all of us are committed as a team. Whoever the

nominee is, we are all for defeating Barack Obama.”

Gingrich caught the essence of the Williams/Harris strategy. Ask every question as if they were written by David Axelrod to maximize advantage by the Obama campaign. This debate was less about the primary campaign and more about generating video for Obama ads in the general election.

Sadly, the moderators inflicted damage on all of the candidates. In particular Governor Rick Perry came under blistering attack from tweedledee and tweedledum.

Right out of the box Perry was hammered about the number of new quality jobs in Texas. Williams tried to imply all the new jobs in Texas were minimum wage. Perry’s record of job creation was denigrated as consisting of substandard jobs.

Perry responded by listing prominent companies moving operations to Texas that are certainly creating above minimum wage jobs.

Only dolts in the media and Obama White House would prefer no job to a minimum wage job anyway. I bet the 46 percent of black youth that are unemployed around the country would love a minimum wage job. In the Obama economy any job is better than the utopian idea about the ideal job which never materializes.

In addition, Perry was portrayed in questions as being anti-science. Perry is skeptical of the secular religion of radical environmentalists: belief that mankind is the cause of global warming. Interestingly, Perry has science on his side. Many climate and meteorological scientists believe the earth may actually be entering into a cooling cycle.

Next, Perry was skewered for not having more Texans on the government healthcare roles. The moderators repeatedly chastised candidates for being against the healthcare individual mandate; they did this by praising Mitt Romney’s

past support for the individual mandate in Massachusetts. Ironically, Romney responded by giving an impassioned speech on the dangers and need to overturn Obamacare because of its mandates.

But the most damage inflicted on Perry was for calling Social Security a failure in his book “Fed-up”. This was an attempt to portray Perry as attempting to end Social Security and preparing the way for the carpet bombing of older voters in the general election by the Obama machine.

As of right now, Social Security is a Ponzi scheme and actuarially unsound as Perry has suggested. It is headed for insolvency. Everyone that passed basic algebra can see the inability to pay the current benefits to the current premium payers in their youth. Money paid into the program today is squandered by the profligate leaders in Washington. Perry has shown courage by pointing this out even when others are afraid to do so.

But Social Security is the third rail, the one that kills your candidacy because over 65 year old voters come out and vote in mass. Younger voters don’t show up. Obama and the Democrats working hand in hand with the old line media stars like Williams, demagogue the issue and create massive fear in these older voters. So the program isn’t changed to improve it, fix it and hence secure it for current recipients.

At the end of the night Perry said in exasperation, “I feel a bit like a piÃ±ata.”

But before did, he looked ahead to the other major issue of the campaign, jobs. President Obama, Perry concluded, “has proven for once and for all that government spending will not create one job. Keynesian policy and Keynesian theory is now done. We’ll never have to have that experiment on America again.”FLOYD and MARY BETH BROWN


Commentary: Floyd Brown

The Penny Press Tips Its Cap To:Nevada Supreme Court Justice Nancy Saitta who was named the new chief judge of the state's high court. Saitta was elected to the Supreme Court in 2006. She was first elected as a Las Vegas Municipal Court judge in 1996. Two years later she ran and won an Eighth Judicial District Court judgeship.

The political board of the Southern Nevada Clean Water Coalition which put the needless and useless agency out of business last week. When was the last time you saw a government agency actually go out of business, especially one which was laden with so much pork. The team party didn't have that much to do with it except create an atmosphere where an outcome like this makes sense.

The Penny Press Sends A Bronx Cheer And A Bouquet of Weeds To:University Medical Center of Southern Nevada which sees activity shrinking while losses increase. This hospital is run by the government which wants to run your health care as well. They lost almost $90-million last year. If you want health care to be affordable, you have to make basic, structural changes and that included competition.

I spend a lot of time driving in rural Nevada and, when I am out of the range of one of our radio stations, I’ll admit that I have a satellite radio in my vehicle.

Three channels are preset. Fox News, NASCAR and C-SPAN.

Last weekend, I had a long drive and was able to hear, on C-SPAN, the entire Senate hearing dealing with the United State’s Post Office’s current difficulties. It was, frankly, more interesting than the Sprint Cup race for the chase this year.

In case you haven’t heard, Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe has asked Congress for help because, as he put it to the Senators, “any normal business operating in our condition would be bankrupt.”

Here are the facts.

The Post Office, which was designed in an era long, long ago, is broke. It is a $62-billion (with a B) a year enterprise which is running with one week’s cash on hand.

First Class mail is becoming extinct. People, for the most part, don’t write letters in longhand anymore and they pay their bills electronically. And companies would much rather bill you electronically than by mail.

I cannot tell you how many financial companies I do business with which won’t let you on their web sites until you agree to electronic billing.

That spells the end of first class mail as we know it.

Now, while the Post Office is broke, it happens to have a legal monopoly on physical first class mail. Just like IBM once had a monopoly on computers and AT&T once had a monopoly on land-line telephones.

There is a difference. IBM and ATT got their monopolies because of invention, innovation and ingenuity. The Post Office got its by force of law.

It really doesn’t matter how you get a monopoly, however because one thing eventually destroys all monopolies—technological progress.

Monks used to hand letter bibles until the printing press rendered them obsolete. And after years of progress, printing presses are having a tough time with electronic books.

So now, the post office is not only losing business to technology,

but, by its own admission, it has at least 120,000 more unionized employees than it needs, a $58-billion unfunded retire health care liability and it loses money every year.

Yet nobody in Congress is asking the basic question which is, if the Post Office disappeared tomorrow, would private enterprise pick up the slack?

Why, for instance, does the post office compete with Federal Express and UPS in the package business? If there was no monopoly in first class mail and no Uncle Sugar to prop up the post office, would a private company seize the business opportunity?

Of course, I have left out the issue of the Post Office’s most profitable customers—us.

Without bulk mail such as newspapers and magazines, could the post office even stay in business under any circumstances?

And, if they were gone, do you think that newspapers and magazines would go out of business or do you think a national delivery service might get into the business with non union employees?

Isn’t it a reasonable assumption that something styled after Federal Express’s ground operation where delivery people are independent contractors and buy their own trucks might come to life?

The post office is in trouble for the same reason many businesses get into trouble.

Technology has removed much of its reason for being.

Can private enterprise can do it cheaper and better than the better part of a million Federal employees?

Those are the real questions that the Senate needs to be asking.

Not whether or not they should market the art of letter writing as Missouri Senator Clair McCaskill actually asked.

The big question here is whether or not we need a Federal Agency to do what the post office does or should we just close it down and let private enterprise fill the vacuum.

FRED WEINBERG


OPINIONFrom The Publisher...Maybe It's Time To Replace The Post Office


Who Serves During Disaster?Mayor Mike Bloomberg’s plan for New York City with hurricane

Irene bearing down on the Big Apple was to evacuate residents and force businesses to close in low-lying areas. Move in with friends and relatives living on higher ground, stay out of the way, so government’s first responders can handle real emergencies was the message.

The result, as one of my friends who lives in Manhattan wondered, “They closed down the city, and all we get is a rainstorm?”

Meanwhile, as Irene ravaged other parts of the eastern seaboard, causing millions to be without power, the eatery of last resort, Waffle House, kept its doors open in many locations, using generators and serving a limited menu designed specifically for emergency situations.

“Hurricane Irene knocked out power in Weldon, N.C., on Saturday evening,” writes Valerie Bauerlein for the Wall Street Journal, “but as the sun rose on this tobacco-farming town at 6:30 the next morning, the local Waffle House, still without electricity, was cooking up scrambled eggs and sausage biscuits.”

The venerable Waffle House has learned a thing or two about responding to crisis, given their locations up and down the eastern seaboard. Panos Kouvelis, PhD, the Emerson Distinguished Professor of Operations and Manufacturing Management and director of the Olin’s Boeing Center for Technology, Information, and Manufacturing explains, “The companies that are most frequently exposed to supply-chain disruption are the ones that have the best risk management plans.”

Kouvelis instructs his students about the “Waffle House Index” first coined by Federal Emergency Management Agency Director W. Craig Fugate in the wake of the Joplin, Missouri, tornado in May this year.

If the index is green, Waffle House is open with a full menu. If Waffle House is only serving a limited menu, the index is yellow; and if Waffle House is closed, the index is red.

A red index is rare. Waffle House management will do anything not to close.

“They know immediately which stores are going to be affected and they call their employees to know who can show up and who cannot,” Kouvelis says.

“They have temporary warehouses where they can store food and most importantly, they know they can operate without a full menu. This is a great example of a company that has learned from the past and developed an excellent emergency plan.”

The company even has a mobile command center that looks to be a rolling Waffle House restaurant. The RV is known as EM-50, named after Bill Murray’s urban-assault vehicle in the 1981 movie Stripes. When bad weather looms, EM-50 is mobilized. Sales volumes can double after a storm, when cooking a hot meal at home is often impossible. So company managers have every incentive to be staffed up, supplied up, and open for business. At the corporate level, items such as eggs and ice will be shipped to warehouse staging locations outside of harm’s way, ready when stores need them most.

Bauerlein says that the Waffle House hurricane playbook explains how to reopen a restaurant and what to serve if there is gas but no electricity, or a generator but no ice. An important element is limiting the menu so the company’s supply chain can focus on keeping certain items stocked and chilled or frozen.

Because of this planning, district manager Chris Barnes had the only restaurant along I-95 in North Carolina that was open after the storm.

“They closed down the city, and all we get is a rainstorm?”

What professor Kouvelis leaves out is the Hayekian insight that Waffle House gains its knowledge through market mechanisms for discovery, communication, and use of knowledge in the allocation of productive resources. Waffle House can only serve customers and make money if they are open. The company does little advertising and doesn’t hold press conferences. The secret to its success is serving good food and always being available. This may involve being open but only serving a few items. By narrowing their focus, the company can more effectively ensure that it can push a limited number of ingredients through a disrupted supply chain. The company would only breed dissatisfied customers if it remained open only to run out of eggs or hash browns.

According to Pat Warner, a member of the Waffle House crisis-management team, in the short-run, the profit motive is secondary to building customer good will.

“If you factor in all the resources we deploy, the equipment we lease, the extra supplies trucked in, the extra manpower we bring in, a place for them to stay, you can see we aren’t doing it for the sales those restaurants generate.”

Customers appreciate it and depend upon it. “I hadn’t had a hot meal in two days, and I knew they’d be open,” Nicole

Gainey told the WSJ.Meanwhile, Mayor Bloomberg has no market mechanism to punish

him or his city government if he overreacts. While private citizens were inconvenienced and local businesses lost revenue, the mayor frequently mugged for cameras during the storm, issuing warnings in English and Spanish. City hall didn’t lose a thing and now pats itself on the back for being prepared.

Two kayakers who were rescued after their boats capsized off Staten Island during the storm were issued summonses by the city. The mayor told reporters that being in the water was “reckless” and their needed rescue had “diverted badly-needed N.Y.P.D. resources.” City government was only interested in herding people and stopping commerce prior to and during the storm, not “protecting and serving.”

And while Irene did much less damage than expected to Manhattan on Sunday, subway service did not resume until 5:40 a.m. the following Monday. Evidently, that’s close enough for government work.

“Today government worked,” Governor Andrew M. Cuomo is quoted in a press release from the governor’s office.

“Days of preparation and coordination prevented much injury and loss. The MTA will begin resumption of subway service Monday morning. I applaud the good work of the thousands of MTA professionals, National Guard and first responders for their advanced planning.”

Ludwig von Mises held the view, as summarized by Murray Rothbard, that even if Mayor Bloomberg had the knowledge that Waffle House has gained over the years, “they still would not be able to calculate, for lack of a price system of the means of production. The problem is not knowledge, then, but calculability.”

Either way, with no market to compete in, New York City government doesn’t worry about developing good will. Waffle House, on the other hand, “has built a marketing strategy around the goodwill gained from being open when customers are most desperate,” writes Bauerlein.

Government monopolies have the incentive to provide the least amount of service for the highest cost. So, the government brass suspends services and tells their constituents to go away and come back when it’s more convenient. Meanwhile, Waffle House fires up the generators, eager to serve their faithful customers in the worst of conditions. DOUG FRENCH

Commentary: Doug French




Commentary: Albert ThomasVelocity Of Money

You thought I was talking about how fast money flies by you before you can get a good grip on it and keep some for yourself.

Not this time, but I am going to try to explain in simple language why this is one of the reasons our economy is not doing well. Not in banker language; in plain country.

Washington keeps saying they need to give the banks more money so they will have it to loan out to us plain folks for new mortgages and to found or expand our businesses. As usual another Washington lie.

Currently most banks have more than enough to meet capital requirements and reserves. The Fed wants to give them more with another “stimulus”. Can you see what good either stimulus ONE or stimulus TWO did? None of my friends got a smell of the trillions of my tax money they wasted. All I see so far is higher taxes and more expensive regulations.

So the banks still have the money. Why aren’t they loaning it out? Two reasons. First is smart business people don’t want to commit to a big loan until

they know what the idiots in Congress are going to do on a long term basis. Any one with two brain cells to rub together is not going to take out a 10-year loan until he knows what new regulations and taxes Washington is going to put in front of him.

Second. The bank doesn’t want to loan out money when he can go to the Fed window, borrow money at ¼% and buy Treasury Bonds yielding 3 ½% with no risk whatsoever. The bank doesn’t need to hire any loan officers, do any business analysis, appraisals, etc. No overhead. Three percent at no

risk. What a deal! Is money moving? NO. There is zero velocity. When a transaction takes place that is money movement, velocity.

When you make a car payment there is movement and there is velocity and someone makes a profit. The simple charge by the bank of $2.00 for a statement is velocity, a transaction and a profit is made. Money moves.

Because of the uncertainty caused by our current administration the velocity of money has slowed. Yes, we see companies making bigger bucks than last year. How? They are laying off workers and making those that remain carry the same burden. Work longer, take on more responsibilities. They are NOT selling more goods or services because Joe Sixpack (you and me) are being more careful with our expenditures. Less velocity.

Now you see the importance of why economists look at velocity of money.

Never mind what they say. Look at what they do. Washington is very unfriendly toward helping new businesses get started and old businesses expand.

If the economy is to grow and expand the velocity of money must grow and expand. That will only happen with a pro-business political climate and that is up to you. AL THOMASAl Thomas’ new book, “If It Doesn’t Go Up, Don’t Buy It!”, 3rd edition, has helped thousands of people make money and keep their profits with his simple 2-step method. The method made 10% during 2008. Read the first chapter at mutualfundmagic.com and discover why he’s the man that Wall Street does not want you to know. Copyright 2010 Williamsburg Investment Co. All rights reserved.

Protecting Radio’s Ability To Protect Us

When public safety is threatened by natural disasters or other crisis situations, where do you turn for information? What if you have no electricity? What if your cell phone can’t get a signal and the Internet is down? What if you’re in a car? The answer: you turn to a local radio station.

Radio is widely recognized as a reliable source of information during times of crisis. Members of the public safety community – including the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, American Red Cross, FEMA, Nevada Sheriff’s and Chiefs Association and the Nevada Department of Public Safety – recommend having an emergency preparedness kit that includes a battery-powered radio. Additionally, at a recent forum on earthquake communications preparedness, FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski recognized the “significant role” radio played when Japan was hit by a tsunami and earthquake this spring: “[R]esidents who lost power could turn on the radio in their cars and receive essential information.”

A more recent disaster that hit closer to home reminded us of the public safety role radio plays during times of crisis. When the deadliest tornado to hit our country in the last 56 years swept across the Southeast in late April, people turned to local radio stations to get lifesaving information and have continued to rely on radio as the recovery and clean up efforts go on. This reliance on radio is well documented by media that covered the tornado, with many outlets reporting that battery-operated and car radios were their only form of communication.

Radio stations go above and beyond to make sure listeners can get the information they need in a timely manner. This includes coordination with local public safety officials and other local radio stations. It also includes working extra hours to make sure listeners’ needs for information are met. It should be noted that this dedication doesn’t end when public safety is no longer threatened. Instead, radio stations donate time, equipment, and other resources to support many causes in communities in Nevada and across the United States; not because they have to, but because they are a part of the fabric of our local communities.

Unfortunately, the recording industry is pushing for local radio stations to pay a performance tax for the use of sound recordings. If the recording industry succeeds, this could result in a crisis for our local radio stations. The unintended consequences could include staff reductions, fewer radio stations, and fewer resources for disaster relief.

According to the Free Radio Alliance, Nevada is home to about 100 radio stations. These radio stations collectively have over 1,000 employees and made over $45 million in charitable contributions – including over $2.3 million for disaster relief.

A resolution in opposition to the imposition of any new performance tax on radio stations was introduced in both the U.S. House and Senate in February. It has bipartisan support – including the support of Representatives Shelley Berkley (D-NV-1) and Joseph Heck (R-NV-3). Senator Dean Heller (R-NV) has expressed support as well. We firmly believe radio is essential to our public safety and hope this resolution passes so we can be confident that Nevada’s radio stations will be there when we need them. MIKE McGINNESS, Nevada State SenatorEditor’s Note: Senator McGinness is the manager of Fallon radio stations KVLV-AM and FM.


Commentary: Mike McGinness




Congress Tries To Rob Banks, Consumers Hit In Wallet

Congress, without a doubt, is the anti-Midas: Everything it touches turns to that stuff you scrape off the bottom of your shoe after walking blindfolded though a cow pasture at the stroke of twelve on a moonless night. Here’s the latest example:

As we all know, banks are as popular today as the bubonic plague. Big banks. Little banks. Nationwide banks. Community banks. Investment banks. Any banks. All banks. Heck, in this environment, probably even Ernie Banks.

As such, banks are fat targets for opportunistic politicians who love to portray themselves as champions of the little guy. So Congress, in its infinite wisdom, decided it would be a good idea for the government to impose a cap on the fees banks can charge retail stores for purchases made with debit cards.

The new rules take effect on October 1 and will, by federal edict, cut the merchants’ current fees from around 44 cents per transaction to no more than 21 cents per transaction.

Now, if you think retailers are gonna lower their prices and return this congressionally mandated windfall savings to consumers rather than pocket it, you’re smoking crack. And if you think banks — which are businesses that are in the business of earning a profit for their stockholders — are gonna

just grin and bear it, you’re smoking crack while dropping acid.Indeed, thanks to Congress sticking its busy-body nose where it has no

business, many banking customers in Nevada are about to be hit with a new $3-per-month fee for the privilege of using their debit card at Smiths, Wal-Mart, CVS, Costco and every other retail outlet. And, oh, free checking? Say sayonara, ol’ chap.

“This is a predictable reaction to what is essentially an attempt at government price control — implemented despite opposition from both banks and credit unions,” opines the Albuquerque Journal. “While the change may have been well-intentioned — punish the big bad bankers and help out merchants and, in theory, consumers — the result is likely to be the opposite, as opponents had predicted all along.”

Yes, in its effort to stick it to the banks, Congress has instead given the shaft to consumers without even the courtesy of cab fare home in the morning.

And in what has to qualify as a finalist in 2011’s “Understatement of the Year” contest, the paper concluded with the following: “This government intrusion is unlikely to boost consumers’ investing, savings or spending.”

Politicians, of course, will point the finger of blame at banks for the end of free checking and the imposition of monthly fees to use your debit cards. But the ones who really deserve to be given the finger are members of Congress who brought this on. Please, will you people stop trying to help us! CHUCK MUTHChuck Muth is president of Citizen Outreach and publisher of NevadaNewsandViews.com. He may be reached at [email protected].


Commentary: Chuck Muth


Pet Of The WeekAdopt This Pet !

Sage was found wandering in the desert. This sweet, abandoned Doberman deserves a better life! She is a mature red and tan lady about 8 years old, but active, playful, full of life and wanting desperately to have a family. She is very social and gets along well with other dogs. She is spayed, up to date on all of her shots and microchipped. If you are interested in giving Sage a forever home, fill out an application.

Billy is a sweet blue Doberman about 3 years old. His expressiveness is punctuated by a striking wrinkle in the middle of his forehead. Just watch the dreamy look on his face when you rub his ears. This active youngster weighs 70 pounds and will need obedience training that his previous owners neglected to provide. He is eager to learn and once his high energy is properly managed, Billy will be a loving addition to any family. Billy gets along well with female dogs and could easily share his home with one.

SAGECall

702-672-7204

BILLYCall

702-672-7204

702-418-0433


Shopping, Dining, And Real EstateNorthern Nevada Guide To September 2011

Winnemucca • Battle Mountain • Lovelock • Surrounding Areas

NOW AVAILABLE FREE ON NEWSSTANDS

Documents

Elko Sky Fair Was More Than A Sentimental JourneyNevada is a right-to-work state. You’ve heard that countless times. The codicil to that is: Nevada is a right-to-work state, if your