The people's voice of reason
The people's voice of reason
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The Alabama Gazette welcomes its newest contributor: John M. Taylor: Married (Susan) with two sons and two grandchildren, most know me by my nickname “Johnny.” After graduating from Benjamin Russell High School in Alexander City and then attending Central Alabama Community College, I earned a B.S. in Transportation from Auburn University. During most of my college years, I worked at Russell Corporation then upon graduation, the majority of my career was spent there in various management posit...
Falsehoods and myths attacking my friend, Jeff Sessions, need to be dispelled. I have known and worked with Jeff for 27 years. Loyal Trump supporters in Alabama have been torn for 3 years over his verbal assaults over the Jeff Sessions recusal from the Russian investigation into the 2016 election. Yesterday, Senator Sessions set the record straight and wrote an open letter to the people of Alabama, making a compelling heart-felt argument, detailing why he recused himself. I encourage all GOP...
As I am writing this (mid-May, 2020), the American people are still suffering from the sanctions that our governors, mayors and other authorities have imposed onto them and the U. S. economy. Unfortunately, most of us are still ignorant of the catastrophic, long-term consequences. At this time, it is impossible to calculate the final cost. But people who are knowledgeable about economics can understand that this three-month shutdown of much of our business will total in the trillions of...
Our Federal and state governments implemented unprecedented measures beginning in March to stem the spread of COVID-19. Informed consent provides a foundation of medical ethics. Did our elected officials and public health experts get our informed consent for policies that have put 30 million Americans out of work? Medical experiments have often been performed on unsuspecting subjects, like the infamous Tuskegee Experiment. The U.S. Public Health Service in 1932 began studying the health effects...
There are many unsung heroes in Alabama’s fight against the Wuhan novel Coronavirus-19. 175 of them are working tirelessly in the Unified Command center, a “war room” set up by the Governor to lead Alabama’s 24/7 response to the pandemic. Located in the RSA Tower in downtown Montgomery, Alabama’s Unified Command for COVID-19 Response is a team comprised of four state agencies – the Alabama Department of Public Health (ADPH), Alabama Emergency Management Agency (AEMA), Alabama National Gu...
In times of crisis every day Americans become heroes. They put their talents to work to serve their neighbors. They truly become their brother’s keepers. A Brooklyn Physician in the Epicenter of the virus in New York may have said it best. She served her mandatory quarantine period after being exposed to the virus and told Time magazine: “I am a mother of three children. I have an 11-year-old, an 8-year-old, and a 5-year-old. I chose medicine to really help people. My husband, my parents, my...
I was recently awakened early one morning at 4:00 am with a horrific dream about America. When we were having coffee, I told my wife about the dream, which shook me to the core. The first thing that came to her mind was the New Testament scripture found in Acts 2:17 – “And it shall come to pass in the last days, says God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams.” I gue...
Toward the end of last year (2019), a new strain of flu erupted in Wuhan, China, spread very rapidly, and soon began killing people. Rumors circulated that it escaped from Wuhan’s level-4 bioweapons research laboratory. Other sources suggested it came from unsanitary preparation of meat from dogs, cats, bats, and pangolins at Wuhan’s world-famous Huanan seafood market—a “wet market” where live animals are bought and sold. The pangolin is an anteater-like creature prized for its scales and Chine...
America needs billions of masks to protect against the Coronavirus, particularly high-grade N95 masks for healthcare workers. Nonetheless, fear of litigation delayed delivery of millions of construction masks to healthcare workers. Should the law be slowing our emergency response? America’s largest mask producer, 3M, will soon be producing 100 million a month. The company normally produces more construction than medical masks; while similarly effective, the medical masks must meet more stringent...
Wednesday on the steps of the Supreme Court Democrat Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer threatened Supreme Court Justices Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh. Schumer said the following: “I want to tell you, Gorsuch. I want to tell you, Kavanaugh. You have released the whirlwind, and you will pay the price...You won’t know what hit you if you go forward with these awful decisions.” Sounds like Michael Corleone in the Godfather, not the Leader of the Democratic Party in the Senate. He didn...
Trumps ability to fill stadiums and maintain an unshakable base of support is defined by his adversarial opponents as a cult. To the contrary, in the face of a daily tsunami of hostile incoming artillery, Trump has stared them down and marched full speed ahead championing an over achievement in his delivery of campaign promises. In my lifetime, since working the grass roots in 1980 for Reagan, we have never seen ANY elected official deliver beyond expectations surpassing campaign promises like...
Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders contends we should not allow billionaires. His view produced interesting debate exchanges with Michael Bloomberg, who has a net worth of $53 billion. Are billionaires good for America? A first consideration is the source of the riches. Were they earned from a successful business, or by stealing from or swindling others? Bank robbers and con artists do not benefit our economy. For those who inherited their wealth, we should consider the original...
Bernie Sanders’ pursuit of the Democratic presidential nomination continues to bring popular attention to socialism. Polls continue to reveal socialism’s considerable appeal to many Americans. Opponents of socialism often offer up the horrors of 20th Century Communism as a rebuttal. Is this history relevant today? Received wisdom holds that young Americans know no history. So here’s the history lesson: communist regimes in the 20th Century produced over 100 million deaths, numerous famines, gula...
This past February 18, under the watchful eye of Montgomery’s Mayor Steven Reed, five of the city’s nine city councilmen, spearheaded by Councilman Glen Pruitt, quickly voted their final approval of a 1% city occupational tax. Three others voted “no.” Councilman Tracy Larkin, who was ill and absent, did not vote. Reed claimed it would bring in $45 to $55 million in extra revenue every year, beginning in 2021. This tax is essentially an income tax on everybody who works and earns his living...
In 1987, I sold my portion of Giles Enterprises and did a little real estate development in 1988 and in 1989 joined the Hunt Administration as Small Business Advocate for the State of Alabama. Also in 1988, on a scratchy low powered AM radio station in Montgomery, Alabama, a strange, but different kind of radio talk show was launched, “The Rush Limbaugh Show.” I was 34 then, and now 31 years later, I am 65 and still mesmerized by the depth, insight, revelation and the almost prophetic sense Rus...
It was President Trump at his finest. Trump highlighted the booming economy, articulated his foreign policy, and tied his vision for the American future to its heroic past. He awarded a scholarship in real time, bestowed a Medal of Freedom in real time, and dramatically reunited a family with their soldier husband and father, making for the most emotional State of the Union address since President Reagan first began highlighting American heroes in the gallery during his annual address. But...
Back in the day, in the 1800’s, the Democratic Party in the United States stood solidly for our fundamental Constitutional principles—liberty, justice, and free enterprise. But as the 20th century rolled around, many of our Democrats slipped over toward statism, socialism, and even communism. During that time, the American people suffered under the administrations of three of our most terrible presidents—Woodrow Wilson, Franklin Roosevelt, and Lyndon Johnson. The only decent Democrat was John...
The only two sure things in life, according to the saying, are death and taxes. Should businesses profit when one of their employees dies? They can avoid taxes, and this reduces our prosperity. I first read about “Janitors Insurance” or “Dead Peasants Insurance” in Harvard Professor Michael Sandel’s What Money Can’t Buy. Professor Sandel used the case to criticize how this affected businesses’ view of workers: “Creating conditions where workers are worth more dead than alive objectifies the...
As a young 20 year old budding entrepreneur, I vigorously studied leadership. I was attracted to the vogue readings of the day on leadership, managing and goal setting. I learned that if you put 100 people in the room, 15 would emerge as leaders and only 3 will set goals and measure their success. My greatest lessons were real life examples of watching the management style of others. After years of observation, I deduced that true leadership is recognizing the ability to execute alone and one...
By ordering the airstrike that killed Iranian General Qassem Soleimani, President Trump has demonstrated to Iran's leaders and to the world, that he will take "swift, decisive" actions to protect Americans. This is in stark contrast to Obama’s numerous lines in the sand where he was all talk and no action. Soleimani was the architect of Iranian’s strategy to extend the regime's influence across the Middle East. He directed global terrorist attacks, targeted U.S. troops in Iraq, aided Bashar Ass...
Every year, we continue to hear the same old song from our public officials—“Our infrastructure is falling apart…. We need more revenue…. We must have a tax increase.” The rational answer, of course, is “No way” in nearly every case. Most of the time they ask for money to fund projects and programs that are patently unconstitutional—“public” education, “public” housing, Medicaid, victimless crime enforcement, abusive regulations, etc. But among these is one item we actually need—our roads...
An asteroid could wipe out all life on Earth, so yes. But what if we mined and brought an asteroid’s valuable metals to Earth? NASA’s plan to send a probe to an asteroid generated some out-of-this-world economic claims. The asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter may be the remnants of a proto-planet that broke up long ago. NASA plans to visit 16 Psyche, a heavy metal asteroid, which astronomers believe is mostly nickel and iron, but may contain precious metals like gold and platinum. The reporte...
From our very beginning, we the people of the United States have honored and fought for the right to live free and support ourselves without government interference under a sacrosanct principle called “The American Dream”—to live and let live.” This is the bedrock that provided the opportunity for all citizens to create the greatest nation on earth. But over the last century and especially the second half of it, numerous agencies have been created that violate that ethic. The taxes, regulat...
The field is set for the college football playoff. Good sportsmanship often involves wishing, “May the best team win!” But the best team does not always win, which illustrates an important element of economics. Either LSU, Ohio State, Clemson, or Oklahoma will be crowned champion on January 13. I will not prognosticate about the winner. Football fans know that many small things affect a game’s outcome. The football can take funny bounces. Passes can get deflected or dropped. A player can slip....
This past November 3, we all ran our clocks back one hour to switch from daylight saving time back to standard time. From then until next spring, we lose an extra hour of daylight every afternoon. As I’m writing this, more than a month before the winter solstice, darkness is already covering our state by 5:00 pm. For people who work from 8:00 am until 5:00 pm, there is no daylight for any outdoor afternoon activities. Of course, daylight saving time does not actually provide more daylight. A d...
