Beanie Babies and stuff - IMO Janice Koweek

This time of year I think of Jan. She owned the world's best toy store during the year's my daughters were growing up. Each year's presents were kept on the third floor until we picked them up Christmas Eve. The Barbie dolls; the Barbie cruise ship; the Princess Leah doll; the games; the kids' table and chairs. Her store had them all.

Walking into The Town Fair, the girls entered a "kid friendly" place. A place of wonder and wonderful surprises and displays. In our small town, all the kids were familiar to Jan and her employees. Every birthday, every Christmas, every time the girls had saved up enough to buy that special Barbie outfit or Star Wars figure, we headed for the store.

And Jan would slip something into our bags of purchases we had not chosen. Something she knew I loved. A beanie baby toy. Soft, cuddly, adorable. She warned her customers that these were not investments, they were toys. Today they are worth about the same or less than they paid for them then. But I have a small collection of them that I treasure. Tiny reminders of a woman who always gave full value to her customers. A woman who gave generously to every local service organization that petitioned for a donation. A woman who knew her customers by name. A woman who was one of the greatest friends I have had in my life.

Every Christmas Eve our family would march into The Town Fair to pick up that year's Christmas gifts and to give Jan and her husband Art our homemade gifts of baked goods, ornaments, and cookies. It was a major part of our Christmas celebration.

Unfortunately, The Town Fair closed its doors before my granddaughters (now 10 and 6) were able to experience its delights. But my daughters treasure the memories spawned there. And I? I have a small collection of Beanie Babies that Jan slipped into our bags. It is hard to believe Jan left us over five years ago.

IMO Jan Koweek
For her myriad acts of kindness to my family and myself, I give thanks.
For her attentive involvement in the large and small matters of my life, I give thanks.
For her sound counsel, advice and unflagging support, I give thanks.

For her steadfast example of how to grow a worthwhile life, I give thanks.
For her keen, often irreverent sense of humor, I give thanks
For her warmth, hospitality, generosity and caring, I give thanks.

By her incredible fortitude in the face of suffering,
Most remarkable expressed in her unfailing kindness and her famous and atrocious puns, I am awed.

For the greatest gift of all, knowing her as friend for thirty-six years, I rejoice and give thanks to God.

Farewell dear friend, you are most sorely missed.

IMO Janice Koweek.

Payroll Taxes and Funding Social Security - A Contrarian Viewpoint

Another December and once again payroll tax cuts are "on the table." I opposed them last December. I oppose their extension beyond the end of the year and I adamantly oppose increasing the payroll tax cuts.

"But why?" You ask. "We thought you were a big liberal. All the liberals support the payroll tax cuts."

I oppose the cuts because:

1. In 2011 they cost roughly $120 billion that did not go to support Social Security benefits and accellerated Social Security's inevitable arrival at "cash flow negative" and the depletion of the Social Security Trust Fund.

"That's what the Social Security Trust Fund is for," proponents argue.

True. But the cuts increase demands on the Trust Fund and decrease the number of years it will last.

2. Social Security has succeeded because it was NOT an unfunded entitlement program. It was fully funded. It is threatened because it will, at current levels of contributions, cease being funded when the Social Security Trust Fund runs dry. Contributions should be increased - by crashing through the ceiling on contributions (currently $106,800 of earned income).

"The shortfall will be funded by other taxes or the general fund," my fellow liberals retort.

Right. How long do you expect THAT to last if Obama loses in 2012 and Republicans gain control of both houses? 5 minutes sounds optimistic to me.

3. Tax cuts have NOT proven to be terribly effective tools for economic recovery. More jobs is the best way to raise government revenues and support safety net programs.

Many of my fellow Americans, liberal, conservative and libertarian have been convinced the population demographic dooms safety net programs like Medicare and Social Security. I believe the greatest threat to these programs is not aging baby boomers, but the ever increasing concentration of our nation's wealth in the hands of a shrinking minority of its citizens and the eroding income of the 99 percent.

I am not sure I am a Progressive. I believe our government should pay for what it spends, not borrow to cover operating expenditures. On the other hand, capital expenditures (i.e. infrastructure, education, research and development) can be amortized over time.

For now, it looks to me like it is the liberals who may in the end be responsible for putting the final nail in the coffin of this country's hard-won safety nets. The radical right must be licking their lips in anticipation.

Too Much Stuff

I clear off the dining room table, disseminating the mail to: business, home, my spouse, myself. But there is still that hand-embroidered holiday tablecloth I have to find a place for. The drop-leaf table that serves as a credenza in my home office stubbornly refuses to let me clear it to the point I can put that leaf down that is SUPPOSED to elevate ONLY for the day I do my household accounts. Medicare stuff for me and my spouse. The camera with pictures still not uploaded to the computer. The Cd's I have yet to copy onto my IPod. The odd notes, forms and notices I don't dare to file until I am absolutely sure they are no longer needed. If I can't clear it off, where the HELL am I going to wrap holiday gifts?

My computer desk is covered with notes on pending matters. Charges on my debit card that have not yet come through. Notices from my health insurance company that have to be matched against invoices from my health providers to guarantee each charge is correct and balanced.

The cards for my current health care coverage and the cards for the coverage that begins January 1. The notices from Medicare for me and for my spouse whose coverage will begin in February. The coupon from JC Penney that is only good until Christmas. The receipts for all those online Christmas gift orders. The note on the electrician's visit - oh right, he came last Thursday. I can toss that one, but where the hell is the invoice?

Three books I am currently in different stages of reading. Four small yellow pads with important notes on the first page that I do not DARE to discard. The binder containing "Medicare and You."

I have way too much stuff and way too little space in which to store it. Every time I try to clear some of it out, it seems to say "Wait, you might need this later."

Time for a bonfire in the backyard?