Stan Geiger

No Good News for Working Folks

I had the opportunity to take a little walk through the Tulsa World yesterday. Bad news for average people was all over the place.

I hit the editorial page. That's always an adventure. It is an extremely rare occasion when I find anything written by World editors with which I agree. Yesterday was no exception. I read one of those unsigned, collective-view editorials that sang the praises of the Oklahoma Supreme Court's reinstatement of disgraced retired State Senator Gene Stipe's whopping $84,504 annual pension.

The Court came to the conclusion---in an 8-1 vote no less---that Stipe's illegal activities did not violate his oath of office. And, therefore, he is entitled to full pension benefits. How one comes to that conclusion is beyond me. I mean a lawmaker violates the law, yet does so without violating his oath of office? That's a nice load of bunk.

Nonetheless, World editors called the decision fair. They say Stipe was one of those dedicated "public servants" that simply made some bad choices. And the Court is right in giving him your money.

What the esteemed editors should be doing is calling the pension itself into question, legal issues aside. Stipe---a retired legislator---is getting paid twice as much as a "working" legislator. There is something terribly wrong with that picture relative to public finance.

The lead story in the paper was PSO's massive rate hike. They don't call it a rate hike, of course. They call it an adjustment in fuel rates. The company is simply passing the increased cost of nat gas straight through to the customer. Whatever the semantics, it's another $200 per year out of pocket for the average ratepayer.

Meanwhile, parent AEP's massive bottom line profits and lucrative cash dividends to shareholders go untouched.

This comes, as we are all aware, at a time when gasoline prices are at record highs and food prices are on the rise.

And if things aren't bad enough, the City of Tulsa is set to increase city utility rates. Our fabulous "leaders" say they need increases of 5 percent for water, 5 percent for sewer and a stout 10 percent for the bloated bureaucracy we call Storm Water Management.

Worse yet, the politicians say we need annual increases in these fees (taxes).

It's pretty obvious what is going on here. The politicians want more money to burn. But the outcomes of recent votes show the majority of people have had enough with the constant tax increases. The river tax failed; the junior college tax failed. So the politicians are moving to circumvent the public will. They are looking to increase taxes that don't have to be approved by voters at large.

There are forces at work in this land that seemingly will not be happy until half the population has all the money and the other half is penniless and living on the streets. Put another way, they seem bent on recreating the Great Depression.

I fail to see any economic logic in that approach. In fact, I see considerable dangers in that approach.

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