July 2005
A Lesson from Nature - Labor News Article
The following article was published in the Fox Valley Labor News on July 21, 2005.
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A Lesson from Nature
by Adam Florzak, member
United Auto Workers Local 145 | About the Author
Some of my favorite childhood memories involve my experiences in the Boy Scouts of America. In fact, this is the time of year when our troop would head off to summer camp for a week filled with fun and adventure. While my knot tying skills are not what they used to be, I still remember many of the lessons that I learned as a Boy Scout. For example, I was taught that each creature has a profound impact on its environment, and that the conservation of our natural resources is vital to our long-term survival and success. With these thoughts in mind, I think that nature could teach America a lesson about sound fiscal policy.
The ring-necked pheasant did not originate in America; it is a Chinese immigrant bird. While pheasants are quite beautiful, they engage in the nasty habit of parasitic egg dumping. This means that a pheasant often lays its eggs in another bird’s nest and then allows that bird to unknowingly incubate the pheasant eggs. The principal target of this parasitic practice is the American prairie chicken. The average incubation period for a prairie chicken egg is 25 days, while a pheasant egg takes only 23 days to hatch.
“Whatever happened to our nest eggs?”
Unfortunately, a prairie chicken will typically abandon its nest immediately after the hatch in order to take the baby chicks to a safer location. Since the pheasant eggs hatch before her own do, the prairie chicken unknowingly leaves her unborn chicks behind to die. The mother hen is then tricked into raising the pheasants instead of caring for her own young. Because of these scheming pheasants, those poor prairie chicken eggs never even had a chance. As a result, the greater prairie chicken is now virtually extinct in Illinois. While other factors did cause significant population declines, the prairie chicken population was not completely decimated until the introduction of these immigrant pheasants.
I sincerely hope that the American people will not fall victim to the same practices that wiped out the prairie chicken. Americans already know that many of the goods we purchase are being manufactured in China. However, most Americans will be shocked to learn that China also holds a significant portion of our national debt. The U.S. Treasury estimates that China currently owns $230.4 billion worth of treasury securities. To put this in perspective, American citizens collectively own only $204.3 billion in U.S. Savings Bonds. Therefore, it seems that the Chinese government has made a larger investment in our future than we have. It cheapens the value of the American Democracy to be so heavily dependent upon foreign governments, and our forefathers would be extremely disappointed to know that we are now indebted to a Communist country.
I believe that once certain issues have been addressed, our two countries will be able to peacefully coexist. However, the American government cannot continue to cater to the needs of the Chinese people at the expense of the American people. It makes absolutely no sense for our taxpayers to pay high rates of interest on foreign held bonds when elderly Americans on fixed incomes are barely earning any interest at all on their savings. Unfortunately, these seniors have recently been forced to dip into their hard-earned savings in order to supplement their modest Social Security benefits. Americans need to realize that foreigners are placing their eggs in our nests. Our own nest eggs are being destroyed while other nations grow rich at our expense.
During the recent Social Security debate, there was one question that was neither asked nor answered. “How does Congress intend to pay back the money that it borrowed from the Social Security trust fund?”
Despite what several politicians have tried to claim, the Baby Boom generation will not bankrupt Social Security. Many years ago, these workers realized that their upcoming retirements would place excessive strain on the Social Security system, so they devised a plan to avoid burdening the next generation. They agreed to pay additional taxes over the course of their careers in order to establish the Social Security trust fund, and this money was to be used to help finance their eventual retirements. However, politicians decided that it would be easier to borrow from Social Security than to balance the budget, so Congress spent the entire $1.598 trillion trust fund.
Instead of addressing this issue, some politicians would rather borrow even more money from Social Security in order to invest in the stock market. Such drastic reform is unnecessary, and it will do nothing to solve the actual problem. After all, the only crisis facing Social Security is the fact that the trust fund must soon be repaid. We should not leave this all-important task to chance, nor should we ask the Chinese government to finance our retirements. Congress needs to start thinking about how to repay the Social Security trust fund, and they should stop asking stockbrokers for advice. Maybe they should just ask a Boy Scout, because he will tell them the simple truth: Be Prepared.