ECONOMIC GOOD TIMES
HELP EVERYONE
The American Association of Fundraising Council says charitable donations jumped 15.8 billion dollars last year, marking the fourth straight year of growth. The total amount given leaped from 174.3 billion dollars, given to various charities in 1998, to 190.1 billion last year; that represents a 9.1 % increase in charitable giving. Russell Weigand, Chairman of the organization, said, "It is likely that this is not merely a monetary windfall for the non-profit sector, but rather, we might say it signals the beginning of a new age of philanthropy." The report conceded that overall increases were due, at least partially, to the nation's economic boom.
And, of course, it is. More people have more jobs and are earning more money than ever in the history of our country. People are basically decent, and are willing, within reason, to share the benefits of their labors. That is the way it should be, and thus, the strong economy-- which I believe will stay relatively strong-- should continue to help the less fortunate among us.
Speaking of money, have you noticed the new five and ten dollar bills? Yes, like the hundred, fifty and twenty dollar bills before them, the government has now issued new counterfeit-resistant five and ten dollar bills, and they will be making their way into cash registers and ATM machines soon, if not already. The bills are the last in a series of redesigned Federal notes, all in the attempt to daunt counterfeiting. The new bills have a number of new features aimed at foiling the easy duplication by "private money makers," who over the years have graduated from offset printing to sophisticated color copiers, computer scanners and other readily available technologies that make counterfeiting the old bills all too easy.
It is with a great deal of respect and sadness that this broadcaster/writer notes the recent passing of former Treasury Secretary William Simon. I first heard of Mr. Simon during the early days of Ronald Reagan's successful run for the presidency in 1980. He had new and thrilling ideas about how an economy could and should work, and how a government should act in relationship to its citizens.
I first met William Simon in 1982, when he came to speak to the West Bend Corporation as a favor to his friend Justin Dart. My friends at the West Bend Company not only got me in to hear the speech, but also, at the last moment, got the Treasury Secretary to grant me an exclusive interview for radio. Along with an interview several years earlier, with Nobel Prize winner economist Milton Friedman, the Simon interview will always stand out in my mind. His ideas were clean and clear, his steel-blue eyes riveting as he made his points. It was, for me, a hypnotic moment that actually lasted about 30 minutes.
William Simon wrote a book, "A Time for Truth," in the early 80s. For years I said that because of that book, I would never have to write one. Finally, I did, anyway. But his was better, more to the point. Simon's book is still worth reading almost 20 years later, especially if one remembers that the ideas as originally presented were thought, at the time, to be nearly revolutionary, although they have become, in many cases, state-of-the-art today.
In short, William Simon believed in people. He felt that America's strengths came from her citizens, not from her big, bloated government. He was a supply-sider, a budget-cutter, a tax-cutter, and an idea-man that helped the Reagan administration get itself off the ground. Many of the Reagan/Simon policies live on today, and are in large measure the reason for the long bout of prosperity that has blessed this country over the last decade.
William Simon, Treasury Secretary, patriot, and believer in the American people's strength, wisdom and will to succeed, leaves a void as we enter yet another political season where America must once again choose between Big Brother and their own personal energies and instincts. He was, by today's standards, a too-young 73.
(Tom Butenhoff is a First Vice President with J. E.
Liss & Company in Milwaukee. The views are his and not necessarily
those of Liss Financial Services or the Job Connection/Hiring
Network.)