A sampling of recent editorials from Colorado newspapers:
NATIONAL:
Rocky Mountain News, Denver, Nov. 26, on the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier:
A polite but nonetheless intense dispute in the nation’s capital concerns a large stone, a block of marble 16 feet long, 9 feet wide and 11 feet high. The marble is showing the effects of having sat unprotected in the open for 76 years. It has two long, deep cracks, one over 28 feet long, the other over 16 feet, that will eventually go all the way through the stone.
The dispute is whether to replace it or patch it as best as possible. The answer might be simple except that this block of marble is the monument over the Tomb of the Unknowns, guarded night and day, 24/7, by elite members of the Army’s Old Guard. The changing of that guard has become a moving, must-see stop for Washington visitors.
There are pros and cons to what to do with the monument. Repairing the marble would require a distracting process of grouting, regrouting and polishing, none of which would permanently stop the deterioration.
Replacing the monument with an identical copy, done in identical marble, might seem the more logical course, but it doesn’t take into account the tremendous public sentiment and respect for that simple, weather-hallowed block of stone.
To use an analogy frequently invoked, we did not throw out the Liberty Bell when it cracked. It’s probably ascribing too much to what is basically just a large rock, but in its own way this weathered block of marble has served our country well.
Editorial: rved-the-nation-well/
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The Durango Herald, Nov. 27, on the value of money:
As the dollar loses value compared with other world currencies, nervous investors occasionally agitate for a return to the gold standard, in which the value of a dollar would be a standard (and currently very small) weight of gold. That decision is vastly complicated, and no one expects the United States to change the way it issues money any time soon. Beyond the manipulations of the Federal Reserve System, do not look for any agency to help safeguard the value of a dollar.
But a small and interesting part of any discussion of the “value” of money is the way the government physically creates it. Right now, the cost of minting a penny is a cent and a half, plus the cost of distributing a heavy commodity. The nickel, too, costs more than its face value, although the government “makes a profit” on higher-denomination coins. The costs will grow as the U.S. buys metals with shrinking dollars and continues to pay higher energy costs to turn them into coins.
U.S. consumers are creatures of habit. The costs of printing, and frequently replacing, dollar bills also renders their continued existence illogical, and periodically the government offers dollar coins to replace them. Just as frequently, spenders divert them into cigar boxes and piggy banks and spend paper money instead.
They receive their change in coins. When they get home, they toss those pennies in a crock or a milk can and keep them out of circulation. Why? Because they are bulky, mainly. They render handbags heavy and pockets lumpy, and are worth so little that there is really no reason to carry them around.
During the Christmas-shopping season, the rate at which pennies are pulled out of circulation is multiplied. Americans do not like to spend pennies. They do not respond to appeals to cash them in at their bank. But woe to the politician who suggests their change not include any more pennies for them to throw into the crock. That would raise prices, they say, and they cite all the items that have prices with a nine in the second place after the decimal. They remind everyone that gas prices used to be figured down to the tenth of a cent, although gas stations have dropped that last nine. A price of $.299 looked like less than 30 cents a gallon; $3.299 does not have quite the same effect.
The price of everything has gone up. That single “saved” penny does not amount to nearly as much as it used to, and the whole problem goes away when a customer pays with a debit card.
The problem of U.S. currency losing its value in a global market is not unrelated. The “worth” of a coin depends not on how much it cost to manufacture, not on how much the metal in it is worth, and not—except relative to other U.S. coins—on how much the federal government says it is worth, especially if it is to be used in buying something manufactured in a country whose currency is in its ascendancy. Essentially, consumers decide what money is worth when they decide what to buy with it.
Holding pennies out of circulation is perverse behavior because it costs taxpayers money. And yet, if the federal government cannot summon the discipline to make a penny that costs taxpayers only one cent—and do it without outsourcing the job to another country—it is hard to summon much hope for the U.S. economy.
Editorial: n&article—path/opinion/opin071127.htm
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STATE/REGIONAL:
The Pueblo Chieftain, Nov. 27, on the state Capitol dome:
Perhaps the most recognizable building in Colorado is the State Capitol, with its signature dome covered with 24-karat gold leaf.
The leaf itself is pitted from hail but otherwise is in good shape at present. But the dome structure itself is getting rickety.
The dome’s structure consists of cast-iron plates held together with bolts. Some of those bolts are corroding. Last year a chunk of cast iron broke away and fell to a stairway below.
That’s a real safety hazard.
Gov. Bill Ritter is asking the Legislature for $12 million to fix the problems, although an official with the Office of the State Architect says the price tag could go higher. If lawmakers approve, work could get under way next year and be completed in two years. We urge the Legislature to appropriate the money.
Coloradans are rightly proud of their state Capitol. Fixing the dome’s structure is a matter of pride—and public safety.
Editorial:
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The Daily Sentinel, Grand Junction, Colo., Nov. 26, on highway funds and the state severance tax:
Once again, some people in the state are casting covetous eyes on the revenue generated by Colorado’s severance taxes. And once again, we join Western Slope lawmakers in reiterating our opposition to efforts to tap the severance tax for new uses.
A report issued this month by a panel assigned by Gov. Bill Ritter to find ways of dealing with the undeniable highway needs in Colorado suggested part of those needs could be met if a portion of the severance tax on oil, natural gas and coal could be directed to the state Department of Transportation.
There are a couple of problems with that suggestion, however. First and foremost, the severance tax revenue is designed to help communities affected by mineral development. It should not be diluted in efforts to pay for highway improvements in places where there is little or no direct impact from such development.
Additionally, the severance tax, by its very nature, fluctuates with the fortunes of the energy industry. When the current natural gas boom inevitably slows, so too will the funds flowing from the tax. If the Transportation Department were dependent on some of that money for its needs, it would be left scrambling again to find new revenue sources.
The transportation panel, representatives of the Ritter administration and state legislators have an unenviable task in trying to find revenue sources that will adequately meet Colorado’s growing highway requirements and a host of other state needs.
But, like state Rep. Al White of Hayden and state Sen. Josh Penry of Grand Junction, we believe funds to meet those statewide needs ought to come primarily from statewide revenue sources, not from a tax designed to alleviate the impacts of regional energy operations.
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Editorial:
