Whining old people

When FDR signed Social Security into law in 1935, the age to qualify was 65.  When benefits were first paid in 1940, 46% of men didn’t make it to 65.  For those who did, the average life expectancy was less than 13 years, for women a bit more.

Now a large number of 65-year-olds are healthy.  They take trips, hike, travel, play sports.  Today at least one of a couple who make it to 65 can expect to live to 90.  Instead of raising the age to qualify for Social Security, it’s been lowered to 62.  Who is paying for all these healthy old people? Young people.  They must make up for the fact that many oldsters are drawing far more from Social Security in total than they paid into the system.

The number of young people, by the way, is declining.  In the meantime, the older generation whines about living on a fixed income and expects to pay lower “senior rates” for all kinds of products and services.  It is tiresome.

Letter to Arkansas Governor Sanders

Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders

Governor;’s Mansion

500 Woodlane St.

Little Rock, Arkansas 72201

Dear Governor Sanders:

I understand that Arkansas has passed legislation to make it easier for children to work, in some cases in rather dangerous jobs.  I thought you might be interested in a book by the  French author Georges Vigarello entitled Fatigue and translated by Nancy Erber.  

Vigarello notes that in the 19th century in France some working children were shod in tall metal boots.  That stopped them from kneeling to rest from the strain of their labor.  

I just wanted to pass that on for your information.

It's going in the mail on Monday.

Rural population in decline

The Center for Rural Pennsylvania, in partnership with the Pennsylvania State Data Center, has released projected population changes by county through 2050.  Population in the state’s rural counties is projected to decline 5.8% over the next 30 years.  Urban population is expected to grow 1.6%.  

Carbon, which had 64,744 people as of April 1, 2020, is expected to have 56,315 people in 2050.  That’s a decline of 13%.  Most of the state’s growth is expected to be in the Southeast; most of the decline will be in the northern tier and the west.

Of course, long range projections are always problematic.  If climate changes continues as dramatically as I think it will, we may see a pile of people from southern states moving north.  Plus, nuclear war can throw a major wrench into any predictions.  A civil war could also mess up the trends.  Well, it could.

Statistics are from “Rural Perspectives,” (Nov./Dec., 2023),. XXXII, No 6. (Published by the Center for Rural Pennsylvania.)

Animal crossings

A few years ago we were driving across Nevada on I-80, and we noticed work on a bridge across the highway that didn’t seem to have any roads leading to it.  It was an animal overpass to allow wildlife safely to cross four lanes of 75 miles-per-hour traffic.  In Wyoming when Highway 191 crossed a pronghorn migration route, an animal overpass reduced pronghorn deaths by 90%.  

Animals are definitely willing to use the crossings.  In Utah a long skinny overpass was used by moose, black bears, mountain lions, deer, porcupines, and more.  Some biologists thought it would never work, but the animals quickly took advantage of it.

You don’t have to go out west to see one of these.  I-78 in New Jersey has one.  Look for the overpass that is covered with trees and bushes.

Some of the information for this post was taken from Catrin Einhorn, “How Did the Moose Cross the Road?  On the Overpass of Course,” New York Times, (June 4, 2021), p. A11.

Warehouses in Kidder Township

Actually you aren’t supposed to call them warehouses.  They are “distribution centers.”  Kidder Township has approved two of them, and two are in the works, including one that necessitated the clear-cutting of a large area of trees.

The official website for Kidder Township says it has “beautifully wooded terrain” and mentions the Poconos, ski slopes, and golf courses.  Not a word about “distribution centers.”

We can’t really blame Kidder officials, however.  Under Pennsylvania land use laws, every local government must zone for every possible use unless it would be physically impossible.  So, for example, a small township simply might not have the space to host an airport.  The code also says that local governments have final decision-making authority.  So even if I live in the Lehigh River watershed, I can’t speak to the possibility that the impervious surfaces on the warehouse roofs in Kidder might impact the Lehigh.

Local governments are given only 90 days to review a plan.  When a company is proposing to build a giant building and does not know who will be contracting to use the building or what the traffic will be or what emergency services will be needed, the 90-day limit is simply not enough.  The state municipal planning code notes that if the municipality doesn’t act in the 90- day period, that “shall be a deemed approval of the application as presented.”

So, you end up with haphazard development, powerless local government, a lack of regional planning, environmental disasters, and giant distribution centers in a wooded and relatively pristine area.  

In the movie “Chinatown” Jake, after seeing terrible things, is told, “Forget it...it’s Chinatown.”  Here we say, when terrible things happen, “Forget it...it’s Pennsylvania.”

A threesome in the Sunshine State

I generally don’t post salacious material, but this was just too juicy to ignore.

The head of the Florida Republican Party, Christian Ziegler, has been accused of rape.  He has denied the accusation, but he did tell detectives that he had sex with the woman.  He said it was consensual.  He did not discuss his wife’s statement that she and Christian had group sex with the accuser, but only once.  

Christian’s wife, Bridget Ziegler, is the co-founder of the Florida Moms for Liberty, the book-banning anti LBGTQ group.  

Info for this post was taken from an article by Terry Spencer of the Associated Press, printed in the Allentown Morning Call, (Dec. 4, 2023), p. 16.

Undependable ally

If I were president or prime minister of a country allied to the United States, I would urge the scientific community in my country to develop a nuclear capability.  I would not trust the U.S. to honor its commitments and come to my defense, even if my country and the U.S. had a mutual defense treaty.  The U.S. is not a dependable ally.  

When the U.S. left Vietnam, we also left thousands of Vietnamese who worked for and with the U.S.  Some escaped by boat, but many were sent to “re-education camps” and horribly mistreated.  We again left thousands of Afghans who aided the U.S. military effort stranded in Afghanistan in our hurry to get out.  And now our Ukrainian allies are left in the lurch because our Republican legislators won’t honor our commitments and seem more interested in sucking up to Putin than in defending Ukraine’s right to independence.  We are simply not dependable.  

Taiwan, South Korea, and even Japan should take note.  Develop your own retaliatory capabilities.  Deter your potential enemies with your own weaponry.  You cannot rely on the U.S.