Reason for optimism, trepidation in ’18
Well, here we are in 2018. Some things have changed, some have not. Some of the change is clearly for the better and some... well, time will tell.
2018 will see the new federal tax laws go into effect. Judging by the number of people referring to them in last minute funding pleas in the final days of last year, there will definitely be changes there. I’m figuring some will win and some will lose. It’s probably true that in a county as big and diverse as this one you really can’t please everyone.
The highway tolls the State of Rhode Island is building to fund its deficit by charging a toll to trucks (at first) and if you listen to most observers eventually everyone will be paying tolls. Lying in wait, lawyers representing truckers are poised to file legal action against the state challenging the tolls and the way they target truckers.
This is why I find it so easy to believe those who say the tolls will be charged to for everyone. It’s not that I’m being cynical. It’s simply that I think the singling out truckers will not survive the court challenge.
I also believe that the legal fees the state will spend defending the governor’s plan will completely consume all the revenue from the tolls and in order to get any revenue at all (and probably by legal decree) the state government will have no choice but to charge tolls of all drivers. I am being cynical, however, when I suggest that our governor is not concerned about this because she has plans for higher office in the next few years (based upon how much money she’s been raising) and will not need to deal with the fallout. Neither will the General Assembly because no matter how much people across the state hate them, they still are reelected. This lack of accountability makes me nervous for the future.
One of the ways the world is changing is how people use the Internet.
The Uber ride-sharing service is nothing new anymore. But the fact that they want to get into the business of bringing your food and groceries to your door is new. While I am very supportive of new ideas, I cannot forget and I want to remind all of you that we have gone down this road before in this country and we found that the previous model, actual taxis with specially licensed drivers and specially registered and insured vehicles, became the law for a good reason, to protect the public from unscrupulous drivers and to protect them in the event of a road crash involving the taxi. You no longer have those protections with Uber and Lyft and companies like that. History has proven that when untrustworthy people have little to lose, they act like it. You could get caught in the crossfire. Now they’re going to deliver food to your door? Let’s be careful out there.
And now from our “But ‘Stupid’ Lives On” Department:
You’d think that after all these centuries there would be more common sense in the world. This guy in Brooklyn, New York wanted to roast a pig for New Year’s Eve. So, he bought a 26-pound dressed pig, enough for himself and his guests. The problem is his house in Brooklyn had no place to safely roast it. Undaunted, he set up a roasting pit in the basement of his tenement building. After a few hours the fire from the pit ignited several apartments and it took more than 100 firefighters to put out the flames. Thankfully, all the residents got out on time, but they’re all homeless now and nobody got to eat any roast pig anyway.
Finally, no New Year’s message would be complete without including something ominous to worry about.
Our “old pal” North Korean leader Kim Jong Un volunteered to supply us with that ingredient this year as he wished the world a Happy New Year from his office in the capitol. He told all listening that they had nothing to fear because he now had the capability of wiping out with nuclear missiles any city in the USA. In fact, he had the button right there on his desk, he said. So there’s nothing to fear... right. This bears watching, I think. I remember a far more mentally-stable U.S. president some years ago wiped out Saddam Hussein for far less reason than that with largely fabricated evidence.
That’s what I think. What do you think? Comments to: dave@onworldwide.com or postal mail to Dave Richards, WOON Radio, 985 Park Avenue, Woonsocket, RI 02895-6332. Thanks for reading.