MNPS gives no-bid $18 million contract to Meharry Medical Group

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WZTV) — In the name of emergency, Metro Nashville Public Schools quickly awarded Meharry Medical Group a contract worth up to $18 million for just four-and-half months of work. The work includes testing and monitoring protocols, creating a vaccination plan, and data transfers, all for the eye-opening sum of almost $1 million per week. 

“Don’t tell me there aren’t other people that are capable of doing this for less money,” said Metro councilman Steve Glover. The problem is, with no other bids, we don’t know. We don’t know if someone would have done it for $5 million or $50 million, because all we have is this one bid, unchallenged and blindly accepted by MNPS. (read more)

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SO, WHY DOES THE NATIONAL DEBT MATTER?

by Rod Williams- I recently posted an essay explaining why the $1.9 trillion stimulus bill was a disaster and puts our nation at risk. I don't want to sound like an alarmist but this is alarming.  This may be "the straw that breaks the camels back."  If this does not turn into a disaster, it is because we dodged a bullet and bad things that could happen, just didn't happen.  We have no margin of error in order to avoid a disaster. We cashed in the insurance policy. We only avoid a disaster if none of the several things that could go wrong, don't happen.  If someone is not concerned, they are not paying attention.

I am amazed that not a single Democrat senator was concerned about the consequences of such a move and voted against it. These are I assume, for the most part, educated and smart people. I find it hard to believe that they can be so at peace and unconcerned about the step they have just taken. Maybe they really do believe in modern monetary theory that debt doesn't matter.  It is hard to believe most would even know of this fringe theory, let alone embrace it. 

Remember when their used to be "blue dog Democrats," who advocated fiscal responsibility?  There weren't many of them, and even then they didn't often vote the way they professed to believe, but they at least paid lip service to fiscal responsibility. Even a recognition that we need to be fiscally responsible  has been tossed out the window.

This spending bill is different than anything else we have done before.  Not only because of how large is the price tag but because the circumstances in which we passed it are different than times at which we have engaged in massive spending before.

I am not sure on a personal level what one should do to protect themselves. For all of those who talk of buying gold and burying in the basement, I am not there yet, but they don't sound as crazy as I once thought they were. 

We may have an economic collapse that in turn leads to civil war and massive deprivation. We may live to experience a post apocalyptic world.  More than likely, we will have a declining economy, gradually lessening of economic growth and then no growth and a shrinking economy and more and more people falling into poverty. Instead of America being near the top as one of the wealthiest nations on earth, we will likely fall to the middle of the pack.  Without America's leadership, the threat of the ascendancy of aggressive authoritarian regimes grows. Famine and pestilence is likely in increase.  The future is not bright.

There is a lot of wealth in America and for maybe a generation we can live off of accumulated wealth.  Parents with assets will pass those assets onto their children, and government can tax wealth for a while.  Those without accumulated wealth will fall further behind. A shrinking economy along with wealth redistribution policies will overtime cause the accumulated wealth to diminish and our standard of living will fall and generation after generation will have it worse than the previous generation.

Even if Republicans can regain control of Congress in 2024 and the presidency in 2026 or 2030, I am not very confident that we can restore the economy to vibrancy and our country to solvency. The money is already spent.  If there was the will, a sizeable amount of it could be impounded and spending cancelled, but that would require a change in attitude of the American people.  Unfortunately, the Republican electorate is just as likely to elect populist who stroke resentment against "elites," as they are responsible economic conservatives.

Just as we cannot spend ourselves into solvency or prosperity, we cannot tax ourselves into solvency or prosperity or tax-cut ourselves into it either.  Democrat policies could make the coming collapse even more likely and sooner and Republican policies could slow the decline and maybe, over time, reverse the downward trajectory but we have rough sailing ahead, even under the best of circumstances.

The below from the Peter G. Peterson Foundation and explains why the debt matters:

SO, WHY DOES THE NATIONAL DEBT MATTER?

FISCAL RESPONSIBILITY IS ABOUT: PREPAREDNESS

None of us can say what the next major test of our nation will be — whether it’s an economic downturn, a national security threat, a climate disaster, another pandemic, or some other crisis. But as a wealthy nation, and with people’s lives and livelihoods in the balance, we must do more to prepare for the unexpected. 

Preparedness includes determining national priorities — and finding ways to pay for them. It means making smart investments that benefit our economy over time. It means investing in our national security so that we can address new global threats, like cyber attacks. It means having stockpiles of essential supplies, so we are prepared for the unexpected. It means strengthening our safety net to help support and sustain the most vulnerable in society. 

The truth is that we can’t adequately prepare for the future without a solid fiscal foundation. A sustainable budget will ensure that we have sufficient resources, in good times and bad, to meet the needs of our citizens and cope with whatever future challenges we may face.

FISCAL RESPONSIBILITY IS ABOUT: ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITY AND JOBS 

Today's debt threatens tomorrows economy. America’s fiscal health and economic strength are inextricably linked. We can’t have a strong economy over the long run without a stable fiscal foundation. Debt already exceeds the size of the entire economy and is on track to grow far out into the future, reducing our ability to invest in areas that provide the jobs and growth that define the middle class. 

Right now, we’re spending nearly $1 billion every day on interest on the debt. Over the next ten years, the interest tab will grow to total nearly $4 trillion—and it will more than double every ten years thereafter. So in many ways, instead of investing in our future, we’re paying for the past. Rising interest crowds out priorities like education, infrastructure and scientific research—key engines of growth and prosperity for our nation. 

A sustainable fiscal outlook is an investment in our future economy, supporting vibrant growth over the long term, with rising wages and greater opportunity, productivity and mobility. Putting our nation on a sustainable fiscal path creates a more positive economic environment, with increased access to capital, more resources for future public and private investments, improved consumer and business confidence, and a stronger safety net. 

FISCAL RESPONSIBILITY IS ABOUT: THE NEXT GENERATION 

A moral obligation to the next generation. The next generation will know debt like no other. Personally, they are burdened by record student debt. But they are also entering the workforce during a time of unprecedented economic uncertainty, in a nation with crumbling infrastructure, a climate in crisis, rising inequality and racial injustice. 

At the same time, they will inherit an unwelcome and costly legacy in the form of America’s $27 trillion — and rising — national debt. We are morally obligated to ensure the next generation is able to define their own path, to control their own destiny and choose their own policies, without the burden of forever paying for our own current needs. 

A just and moral America is founded on the principle that we leave the next generation better off — with the financial freedom to decide how to direct their own future resources in the most effective, equitable and prosperous way. Our fiscal capability is the foundation that creates opportunity for the next generation. 

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How will the $1.9 Trillion stimulus plan be paid for?

by Rod Williams, 3/7/2021 - The Senate passed the $1.9 Trillion stimulus bill yesterday with only minor changes from the House version. By anyone's calculations, $1.9 trillion is a lot of money. I contend the bill passed is not really a stimulus bills and not near that much is needed and that the bill is laden with pork that has nothing to do with the pandemic and may in fact, delay the recovery.  I explain my opposition to the bill in a  post you can read at this link.

This post is not to reargue points made in the previous post.  I am not arguing the merits of what is in the bill this time but attempting to explain how a $1.9 trillion price tag could be a disaster for our economy and drastically change the nature of America. This is pretty elementary economics, so if it this is too elementary for you and will bore you, you can move along.

Tax revenues are the primary source of funding for governments.  However, just like a household wants things it cannot afford with current income, government does to.  To have those things, like households, governments borrows money.  They borrow to build roads, fight wars, provide welfare, cover payroll, and lots of other things.  Any government spending not covered by tax revenues is financed by borrowing. Borrowed money, of course, is called debt. Debt is not free. When government borrows money it has to repay it. (This is mostly true, The exception is monetizing the debt.)  Issuing debt today means we will have to pay for it in the future.  When those who are critical of government debt say things, like "we are stealing from our children and grandchildren," that is what they mean.  

Deficits and Debt: Before going further it is time to clarify some terms.  The government runs a deficit anytime it spends more money than it takes in. Usually when the deficit is mentioned it is for a single fiscal year, but doesn't have to be; it could be any period.   Debt is the amount of total money the government owes.  The total of all of the budget deficits add up to the debt.

The total debt of the US government now is about $27.9 trillion dollars.  If one takes the total debt of the United States and divides by the number of people that comes to $84,683. To pay off the federal debt, would require each man, women and child paying $84,683. 

The debts is paid back though collected taxes for the most part.  Paying off the old debt or just paying the interest on the debt is called "debt service."  Put simply, that is money earned or received today to pay on debt previously created.  Think of a household with credit card debt.  Each month, part of that household income goes to pay credit card bills.  So, paying today for money you spend in the past means you do not get to spend that money now.  Often households and governments keep borrowing more to pay for past borrowing. Currently interest on the federal debt paid out of current revenues takes about 10% of current revenue.

Some will say, "This is nothing new. When Trump was doing it, Republicans were fine with it."  To a certain extend that is justified criticism.  I was critical of spending under Trump but most Republicans were not.  However, Trump wanted his last stimulus bill to contain a $2000 per person payment and Republicans cut it back to $600.  Republicans did not stand up to Trump often enough, but they were for the most part more fiscally responsible than Trump. Trump was not a fiscal conservative. 

During Trump's time in office, the National debt shot up $7.8 Trillion. The Trump deficit was the third largest relative to size of the economy in our nations history. The Trump Tax cut was a contributing factor.  The tax cut was never going to pay for itself.  Some ideologues object to use of the terminology that "a tax cut pays for itself,"  but it is useful.  A tax cut "pays for itself" when the new lower tax rate, by putting money in the hands of consumers, spurs economic growth resulting in the lower tax rate bringing in as much revenue as the old higher rate.  The Trump tax cut did spur growth but not enough.  Economist who studied the issue said it wouldn't.  The tax cut combined with spending cuts could have been at least revenue neutral but Trump had no appetite to push for cutting spending. Trump ballooned the deficit. Part of this was spending in response to the Covid-19 pandemic but part was simply misstatement and no appetite for cutting spending.

Allowing that there is truth to the criticism that Republicans only recently rediscovered fiscal responsibility, that does not justify unconcern with what adding $1.9 trillion will do to the deficit and debt. If you are a houshold trying to balance a tight budget and the wife goes out and spends an enormous amount of money on hair care and beauty products, it is not wise to go out and spend money on a new fishing rod, just to get even.  

 Look at these numbers: 

• Federal Budget Deficit for January 2020: $33 billion
• Federal Budget Deficit for January 2021: $163 billion 

• Cumulative Budget Deficit through January FY20: $389 billion
• Cumulative FY21 Deficit through January 2021: $736 billion 

We are in much worse shape now than in the past.  Since we already have a year-to-day, as the end of January, deficit of $736 billion, spending $1.9 trillion will be all deficit and debt.

So how big is the debt? What do those numbers mean? The Congressional Budget Office recently said that sometime this year, the total federal debt will exceed the size of the entire U.S. economy. If nothing changes, before adding another $1.9 trillion, we are headed for for the second worst deficit since the wartime spending of 1945. If you take the total value of every single item produced in the county and ever service provided, the total value would not pay off the national debt. This is kind of a measure of a country's fiscal responsibility.  When the World Bank looks at helping out some poor country, this is a figure they consider in determining if the country is fiscally responsible. 

But we have had huge debt before, have we not? Because we survived the only other instance of when the total debt exceeded the GDP, some think there is nothing to worry about.  Coming off of WWII was not comparable to coming out of this pandemic. In WWII, we had stopped domestic production of cars and lots of other things and we had rationing of even lots of foodstuff.  There was enormous pent-up demand.  Also, we were the only major wealthy country that had not been destroyed by the war.  Another factor is that we did not have Medicare and Social Security that gobbles up a large share of available revenue.  The situation at the end of World War II does not provide insight into the current situation. 

Who owns our debt? So what is the threat of so much debt? First of all, look at who owns the debt. A lot of people think it is China and China holds enough of our debt to be a concern, but only a little over $1 trillion. Japan holds the most at $1.26 trillion, the United Kingdom, Ireland and Switzerland add up to about $7 trillion of America’s debt. 

Part of the debt is "intragovernmental debt" where the government borrows from other agencies. This comes to about $6 trillion.  Most of that is money borrowed from the Social Security Trust Fund. Some people sensationalize this as saying the government raided social security.  The debt of the United States is a concern, but the concern is the debt, not that the Social Security Trust Fund has its savings in the form of instruments the equivalent of U. S. bonds. 

Social Security is not a retirement system like a pension but a transfer payment system like welfare.  Current retirees get their money from current workers who are paying into the system. Social Security is projected to grow at a rate greater than the GDP for the foreseeable future. The Social Security Trust Fund will run out of money in 2031 and then, if only revenue funds the system instead of revenue plus money in the trust fund, social security payments will have to be cut by about a third.  People will not stand for that and politicians will not allow massive cuts of that magnitude to Social Security. That is a problem and will put more pressure on the Federal government to run even higher deficits but that is an issue of the structure of Social Security and is not relevant to the current discussion beyond noting who owns the debt and the pressure for more debt. The balance of our national debt is held by individuals, pension funds and the Federal Reserve. 

So what is the problem?  One, has already been mentioned.  As we borrow more, it takes more of current revenue to pay interest on the debt.  If there is any bright side to this much debt, it means there is less debt availability to fund things like Medicare for All or The Green New Deal.  Also, however it means there is less available funds to modernize our crumbling infrastructure and engage in other desirable spending. 

 It also means there is less to modernize our military to confront a growing Chinese threat and keep the peace. In hearings before Congress members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and foreign policy experts routinely say the national debt is one of the major US security concerns. China is on an aggressive policy of expanding their influence in Asia as well as Africa and other places in the world.  We are slow to counter this threat.  India is being neutralized and Taiwan is under greater threat. Allies such as South Korea and the Philippines are nervous. South East Asia is kowtowing.  At a time when we need to be showing greater strength and showing  greater resolve to keep the peace, we are failing.  Some, isolationist and Pollyannaish pacifist may be pleased if we withdraw from world affairs and give up our leadership role.  I see it as a disaster if we do so.

Another problem with this level of debt is that when savers, either pension funds or individual investors or foreign governments, buy American government debt that is money that was not invested in new technologies, and research and development, and job growth.  Government debt pulls money out of investments that would grow the economy.  For a long time America has been the richest county in the world and a leader in economic growth.  We are slowing.  If we someday envy the economic vitality of countries that are out performing the US, our debt will not be the only thing to blame but lack of investment due to government debt squeezing out investment in the private sector will be one of the major causes.

Another problem is that debt held by our adversaries weakens us in relationship to them. If China were to dump the American debt they hold onto the market, US bond prices would drop and this would force the government to increase yields. That would make borrowing more expensive for the government. That would also make loans for US corporations and private borrowers more expensive, slowing US growth. That means lost jobs of course, but also less revenue for the government.  If is not wise to let your adversary have that kind of control over you. 

The last reason for concern is the big one. There may be a catastrophic event that causes a debt spiral and an economic collapse. Now, savers world wide view the US as a safe place to put their money.  We may be the wellest man in the sick ward, but by comparison we look pretty strong.  Now, the world believes America is the safest place to keep its money. Assume something happens like the financial crisis of 2006, or assume a combination of things happen like the financial crisis of 2006, a pandemic out of control, and a 9/11 type terrorist attack.  We have already eaten up our debt capacity. Debt greater than GDP is already a sign of unhealthy borrowing.  That is what sick countries do that the World Bank puts on an austerity diet. With a cataclysmic financial event, we would have to greatly increase interest rates to attract new investors and that would increase debt service and we would have to borrow more just to meet payroll and keep the lights on.  This is not far-fetched. It is hard to predict but we have no margin. We have already cashed in the insurance policy. The next time we need debt to meet a crisis the cost will be much higher. 

This essay purposely simplified things and I did not talk about what happens when we borrow from the Federal Reserve which is called "monetizing the debt," or sometimes euphemistically called "printing money."  That carries its own risk of higher interest rates and slower economic growth and the risk of run away inflation if it is a practice in which we overindulged .  It is not a solution to the problem of a large national debt. 

For some of the source material and to learn more, see these links:  link, link, link, link, link.

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Nashville is not one of the cities with a serious potential mortgage foreclosure problem.

By Rod Williams- Good news is no news so this is not news, but those in the banking, real-estate or housing counseling field can breath a sigh of relief for now.  Nashville is not on the verge of a serious housing crisis.

Here is the list of metropolitan areas most at risk of a foreclosure crisis. 

Here are the stats for the Nashville MSA:          64, 063       9,699       15.1         9.9%          13.2%  

I have had the fear that the Cova pandemic would lead to another housing crisis like that of 2006.  The loss of income and the moratorium on foreclosures, I feared, would lead to more people not paying their house payment. While the stimulus payments did not cover everyone's loss of income, for many it did.  And, people are being more responsible than I had expected.

While this data only covers FHA loans, those are the loans of more first-time homebuyers and people who had little down payment when they bought their home. If these loans are performing well, other loans are probably performing well also.

In 2006 there was an active subprime market that allowed many people to buy homes who should not have bought homes.  Credit standards were relaxed and all kinds of creative financing such as no down payment loans, graduated interest rates, and variable interest rates, and graduated payments, and loans that allowed negative equity to occur were common. Also, many of the people who bought homes with these risky type financing terms were what we would deservingly call high risk borrowers.  Not only was their income not stable, many had poor money management skills and had not learned delayed gratification or setting priorities or balancing a budget. Thankfully, those kind of loans are rare now and those high risk borrowers are not getting loans. 

There is enough bad news now; good news that it looks like we are not going to have a housing foreclosure crisis is welcome.  For those wanting more information and to see the data for the 168 largest metro areas, follow this link. 

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Young Republicans March Meeting, Tuesday, March 9.

 

For Facebook page follow this link. 

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Proposed constitutional amendment which would give legislature a hand picking attorney general advances.

By Rod Williams - The bill proposing a change in the way Tennessee appoints it's Attorney General has passed the Senate Currently in Tennessee, the state's chief law enforcement official, the attorney general is appointed to an eight-year term by the Supreme Court, behind closed doors in secret session. This is the way it has historically been done. However, for most or our history, the Supreme Court was elected which at least resulted in some degree of making the process democratic. Now, the Supreme Court is appointed, yet the process of selecting the attorney general has not changed. 

Under a proposed change which would require amending the State constitution, the Supreme Court would make the appointment to a six-year term but it would be made in open court with a recorded vote. Then, the appointment would be subject to confirmation or rejection by the state legislature within 60 days of the appointment.

I tend to favor this change. For more on this issue follow this link. 

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Tax dollars to mismanaged cities and states is like giving crack to a crack addict.

by Rod Williams - There is a lot to not like in the Biden $1.9 trillion stimulus plan. The plan calls for sending another $1,400 per person to eligible recipients. This would be in addition to the $600 payments that was approved by Congress in December and would make for a total of $2,000. The new payments would go to adult dependents over the age of 17. So a dad, mom and a couple dependents over the age of 17 could mean one household gets $8,000. That is money the government borrows.

Also, now, illegal aliens could also get the money if the illegal alien is married to a citizen. In my view we should not be giving any of this funding to illegal aliens.

One of the worst things that luckily will not be in the bill is increasing the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour. The Senate parliamentarian ruled congress could not do that through reconciliation.  That makes what is still a terrible bill only a little less terrible. 

There are various things in the bill to increase government dependency, such as increasing by 15% the food stamp allowance, increasing the federal addition to a state's unemployment benefit from the current $300 a week to $400 a week, $25 billion in new rental assistance for low- and moderate-income households on top of the $25 billion approved in December. It also includes a lot of money to help people pay utility bills and extends the moratorium on eviction. These generous benefits may slow the recovery. If people are better off not working than working, they may not be in a hurry to return to work. 

There is something for almost everybody in the bill. There is money for schools, for small business, more subsidy for health insurance, Indian tribes, NASA, the military, money for transit systems, $75 million for the National Endowment for the Humanities and the list goes on and on.  Congress just kept hanging shiny ornaments on this Christmas tree.  A lot of the money will not help with economic recovery because much of it will not have to be spend until years in the future.  For a detailed list of what is in the bill, follow this link.

In my view, one of the worst things in the bill is $350 billion for states and cities to meet budgetary shortfalls. "To meet budgetary shortfalls," means a city or state has to need the money to get the money.  Essentially, this is a bailout for failing red states and big cities dominated for years and years by Democrats.  Republican ran cities and states are not having the same budgetary shortfalls as Democrat cities and states.  Many of the cities in dire financial straights are in that condition as a result of many years of spending more money than they were taking in. One of the worst failures is to adequately account for pension fund deficiencies and unfunded retiree health care obligations. Most of these cities and states were deep in debt before the coronavirus ever hit.  This bill will in essence make well managed city and states bail out mismanaged cities and states. 

In an article from Taxpayer Education Foundation titled Let Illinois State Government Fail, the authors examine this issue using Chicago and Illinois as the example. According the Truth In Accounting’s (TIA) analysis, Illinois ranks 49th in the country with a grade of “F” for health in finances, while Tennessee is the fifth highest ranked state with a grade of "A."  Illinois did not get their "F" overnight and neither did Tennessee earn its "A" overnight. 

In economics, there is the concept of "moral hazard." That is the likelihood of investors to take greater risks because of the knowledge that losses incurred as a result of those risks will be covered by another. Why act responsibly if I know the government will bail me out if I act irresponsibly?

In the article referenced above a Chicagoan is quoted as saying, "Like any kind of addict, the worst thing you can do is continue to feed the addiction. If the federal government bails out city and state governments, those governments will get away with their outright abuse of the taxpayers they purportedly represent.”

You don't help a crack addict by giving them more crack. 

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Did mainstream Republicans becoming captive to "extreme Libertarian ideology?"

by Rod Williams, 3/1/2021- Commentary in Nashville Star says mainstream voters in both parties feel that neither major party represents them, and that their opinions and wishes hold little sway over government policy.  "Establishment Republicans failed the average American by becoming captive to extreme Libertarian ideology," says the article.  

What??? I didn't notice that. Mainstream Republicans, nor Trump Republicans, did much to reduce government dependency, to legalize marijuana, to end civil asset forfeiture, or do much else that I would consider "extreme libertarian." If anything, I see mainstream Republicans as insufficiently libertarian.

Trump eased some burdensome regulations by executive order and got a tax bill passed that cut taxes and instituted some minor criminal justice reform,  so if that was "libertarian," that was Trump Republicans; not mainstream Republicans. 

Can anyone give me an example of mainstream Republicans becoming captive to "extreme Libertarian ideology? " I can't think of any.

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Analysis: Nashville should ban facial recognition technology

by Coleman Harris, Nashville Outlook - In 2017, the Metro Nashville Council overwhelmingly passed an ordinance 25-2 taking steps to limit the use of surveillance technology by the city government. The resulting law, Section 13.08.080, requires council approval when placing surveillance devices onto public rights-of-way, with “surveillance” covering technology from biometric software to RFID scanners. 

In short, the law does not prevent the use of technologies like facial recognition. ... does not apply to the Nashville Electric Service, the Metropolitan Nashville Airport Authority, the Metropolitan Development and Housing Agency, and the Metropolitan Transit Authority. ... does not apply to surveillance conducted by law enforcement... it is often inaccurate and biased (read the article)

Rod's Comment: Technology can be helpful in catching the bad guys but so can illegal searches and seizures, beating confessions out of suspects, and violating due process. I am not willing to sacrifice liberty for the sake of more efficient law enforcement. This issue needs to be revisited and debated.  

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The Davidson County Election Commission spent $214,000 to keep the the Nashville Taxpayers Protection Act off the ballot.

by Rod Williams - The Davidson County Election Commission spend more than $214,000 in 2020, to keep the Nashville Taxpayers Protection Act off the ballot. The Commission hired Bill Koch, a former Tennessee Supreme Court justice, to make their case before Chancellor Ellen Hobbs Lyle, who ruled that the proposed referendum was “facially unconstitutional.” Instead of using Metro legal for this purpose the Commission hired Koch on a no-bid contract.

Since then, the anti-tax measure has been reworded to address the concerns of the court, yet still accomplishes the same thing. The measure would revert the property tax rate to its 2019 levels before the 34 percent increase. Other things it would do are these:

• Hold property tax increases to 3% per year
• Make it easier to remove Metro officials by reducing the number of signatures needed to force a recall election. 
• Abolish lifetime health insurance benefits for Metro Council members and other elected officials. 
• Preserve voter-approved charter amendments by changing the charter itself to say those amendments could only be repealed by future voter referendums. 
• Make it harder to give away Metro property by requiring 31 Metro Council votes to approve land conveyances instead of the current requirement of 21 votes. 
• Revert pro sports stadiums and the surrounding developments back to taxpayers in the event a team leaves town or fails to play in its venue for 24 straight months.

Currently the sponsor of the anti-tax measure is gathering signatures to get the measure on the ballot. The last effort generated over 21,000 signatures, which was more signatures than needed. This time, the bar is higher. More than 32,000 good signatures are needed. Copies of the petition have been mailed to voters to sign and return. Time is running out. All petitions must be returned by March 5th. 

If you have a petition and have not signed and returned it. Please do so now. Do it today! 

Despite making the changes necessary to satisfy the court, if enough signatures are gathered to get the petition on the ballot, we will likely see the Commission make new arguments to try to keep the proposal off the ballot. A spokesman for Mayor John Cooper has indicated such would be the case. Metro charter experts allege that the renewed proposal remains legally flawed. I am not an attorney but I have spoken to Jim Roberts who is behind the proposal effort and he has assured me, the new language satisfies every objection of the Court. Also the new proposal is severable, meaning if one part of the proposal is ruled invalid the other provisions are not automatically thrown out. 

For more on this issue and source material see link, link, and link. 

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The danger of an Article V convention and why term limits are a bad idea.

by Rod Williams - There is a bill introduced in the Tennessee House that makes application to Congress to call an Article V convention to propose an amendment to the U. S. Constitution setting term limits for members of Congress. This is something that some on the right brings up from time to time.  I oppose both and Article V convention and term limits for Congress.  

My primary objection to term limits is that it would empower and strengthen the bureaucracy at the expense of the voice of the people.  We already have a problem with unelected bureaucrats having too much power. I wish we had a smaller government with less authority, but that is not the reality.  For any member of Congress to become an expert on all of federal governance is simply too much to expect.  For new congressmen there is a demanding steep learning curve.  

The staff on an agency of government who understands all of the nuances of a policy can "snow" a new member of congress. We need members of congress who have institutional knowledge and know how policies came about and why things are done the way they are done.  Fewer members of Congress with time on the job means a greater reliance on bureaucrats and a greater reliance on lobbyist. Also, where tried, as an example at the local level with our own Metro Council, I do not think term limits has resulted in better governance. 

The below analysis and suggested reading on this topic come from Tennessee Eagle Forum. Many of you may know Bobbie Patra the long-term president of the organization.  Tennessee Eagle Forum is a source I look to for trusted information and analysis of what is going on in the State legislature. They are an organization deserving of one's support. To subscribe to the Tennessee Eagle Forum newsletter or make a contribution follow this link. 

 ARTICLE V CONVENTION FOR TERM LIMITS:

HJR 0008 by *Todd ,  Eldridge, Mannis, Garrett, Zachary, Doggett, Calfee, Williams, Ogles, Bricken, Hurt 
Constitutional Conventions - Makes application to Congress for the purpose of calling an Article V convention to propose an amendment to the United States Constitution to set a limit on the number of terms to which a person may be elected as a member of the Congress of the United States.

Looking around at the world in which we are living today, this sounds like a great idea. But.....an Article V convention is completely  uncharted territory and there really are important things to know about:

 THREE CONSIDERATIONS:
1. In today’s political climate, with the way this election cycle played out, with Sen, Chuck Schumer and Cong. Nancy Pelosi in charge of the US Senate and the US House and the main stream media being their allies, do we really think it is a good idea for Congress to ‘call’ for a Constitutional Convention and think they can be controlled beyond what they want to see happen???
2.  Problems with calling an Article V Constitutional Convention
3. Problems with Term Limits - we have Term Limits - they are called elections, every two, four and six years.

Eagle Forum has long opposed taking this risky action in spite of the assurances that everything would be all right - that is speculation since we have never had one since the convention to amend the Articles of Confederation. This is a very important subject with significant consequences.  Please look at the articles linked below to learn the details. 

States Likely Could Not Control Constitutional Convention on Balanced Budget Amendment or Other Issues

Don’t Be Fooled by Article V Conventions

TWENTY QUESTIONS ABOUT A CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION

The Problems with ARTIFICIAL Term Limits

Five reasons to oppose congressional term limits

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Bellevue Breakfast club meets March 6. Special guest speaker State Senate Majority Leader, Jack Johnson

Greetings Breakfast Club Members, 

We have another pandemic month behind us as we inch closer to normalcy in the great state of Tennessee. 

We have a great guest speaker this month, as State Senate Majority Leader, Jack Johnson, has agreed to join us this month. We will be meeting back at River Art Studio, at 8329 Sawyer Brown Rd., in River Plantation, next to Plantation Pub. Unfortunately we will not have refreshments, and we will be following CDC protocols. 

Please join us. March 6, at 830 am. as we welcome Spring and Senator Jack Johnson.  

See you then, 

Lonnie

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