Senator John Boozman campaigning at Grady Fish Fry in August of 201o. Here seen with Sherwood Haisty Jr.
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My sons Wilson (on right) and Hunter went to California and visited Yosemite National Park with our friend Sherwood Haisty Jr. (Sherwood on left) They were there from March 21 to March 27.
In his article “Harry let us down,” (Arkansas News Bureau, April 4, 2011) John Brummett observes:
If you want to start an argument between a liberal and a conservative, you need only open for discussion the question of whether Social Security is part of our federal deficit and debt.
I have been in the median on this issue and can tell you there is danger there from flying debris.
The heck of it is that both sides are absolutely right. Social Security is not part of our debt and deficit problem. And it is.
The liberal is correct when he says Social Security is a separate insurance program that is solvent. Alas, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid let us down in this regard the other day.
He spoke the truth that Social Security is fine. Then he declared with the liberal’s harmfully stubborn polarization that he wanted Social Security left alone in the ongoing debt and deficit discussions and that he would worry about it in a couple of decades (when he would be in his 90s.)
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I have to differ with Brummett concerning the condition of Social Security right now. Everything is not “fine.”
Groups such as Social Security Works and MoveOn.org claim that Social Security is “fully funded.” But MoveOn.org then notes that “after 2037, it’ll still be able to pay out 75% of scheduled benefits—and again without any changes”[3] without noting the real implications of its argument. Moreover, their numbers are wrong—the Social Security Administration says that after 2037, the program will be able to pay 78 percent of promised benefits. Social Security Works makes the same argument[4] (and also uses the wrong numbers). However, the truth is that, while Social Security may have a legal claim on assets in the trust fund to pay full benefits until 2037, after that come the inevitable across-the-board benefit cuts.
And “fully funded” is an interesting phrase. For instance, MoveOn.org claims that “the Social Security Trust Fund isn’t full of IOUs, it’s full of U.S. Treasury Bonds. And those bonds are backed by the full faith and credit of the United States.”[5]
Technically, that is correct, but as Bill Clinton’s Office of Management and Budget noted back in 2000, “These balances are available to finance future benefit payments … only in a bookkeeping sense. They do not consist of real economic assets that can be drawn down in the future to fund benefits. Instead, they are claims on the Treasury that, when redeemed, will have to be financed by raising taxes, borrowing from the public, or reducing benefits, or other expenditures.”[6]
In short, the excess Social Security money was spent years ago on everything from schools to aircraft carriers to bureaucrats’ salaries, and it is now gone.[7] There is no huge warehouse full of dollar bills just waiting for Social Security to start sending out bundles of cash to future retirees. Those bonds will be paid back, but as Bill Clinton’s OMB noted, the money will come from raising taxes, cutting spending of some sort, or borrowing yet more money.
This repayment mechanism also shows that MoveOn.org’s contention that “by law, Social Security funds are separate from the budget, and it must pay its own way … [meaning] that Social Security can’t add one penny to the deficit”[8] is less than fully accurate. It is true that Social Security has its own funding (at least until 2037), but that funding relies on the government repaying the bonds in the trust fund—an action that will require hundreds of billions of dollars of additional taxes or borrowing each year.
If those bonds are repaid by borrowing, that action would increase the deficit. Unfortunately, those payments have already started: Social Security is expected to run a $41 billion deficit in 2010, a smaller deficit next year, and permanent annual deficits starting in 2015.
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Grady Fish Fry
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Free-lance columnist Rex Nelson is the president of Arkansas’ Independent Colleges and Universities. He’s also the author of the Southern Fried blog at rexnelsonsouthernfried. com.
Rex Nelson wrote in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette on April 2, 2011 a great article called “Arkansas Bucket List.” The readers of his blog http://www.rexnelsonsouthernfried.com came up with a list of things you must do at least once in your life to be considered a well-rounded Arkansan. Nelson asked others to add their suggestions at his website. I am going through the list slowly.
1. Make it a point to be in the Hardin pecan grove on the third Thursday in August for the Grady Fish Fry. Dance to the prison band.
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I had the opportunity for the first time in my life to attend the Grady Fish Fry for the first time. I saw Rex Nelson there and introduced him to my good friend Sherwood Haisty. The article below was written as a result.
Mr. Haisty’s son Sherwood Jr. has known our family since 1984 when he moved from Grady, Arkansas to Little Rock after graduating from high school. In 1996 Sherwood moved to Memphis to finish his college education and to get a degree from Mid-America Baptist Theological Seminary. Currently he is working on his Masters Degree at the Masters Seminary in the LA area.(Below you can see Sherwood during the Question and Answer time with a former muslim who is now an atheist.)
Sherwood joined the First Baptist Church in Little Rock and we have been good friends ever since. Now Sherwood is street preaching at the Santa Monica Promenade every week.
Back to Grady (and other Arkansas favorites)
At the first of every year, I mark the annual Grady Lions Club Catfish Supper on my calendar.
It’s always the third Thursday in August. Always.
It’s always in the Ned Hardin pecan grove.
And it’s almost always hot.
Commonly known as the Grady Fish Fry, it’s among my favorite annual events. I’ve written about it before.
In an election year, the politicians flock to Grady. Among congressional and statewide officeholders and candidates, I saw Sen. Blanche Lincoln, Sen. Mark Pryor, Rep. John Boozman, Jim Keet, Shane Broadway, Mark Darr and Beth Anne Rankin there last night.
There likely were others who left before I arrived or maybe I just just missed seeing them. The event begins at 4 p.m. and ends at 8 p.m. As I said in a post at this time last year, the Grady Fish Fry marks the unofficial end of summer for me. Bring on football season.
I also mentioned last year (but must mention again) what is perhaps the most fascinating contraption in the state — the famed Grady hushpuppy machine, constructed decades ago from pieces of equipment found on area farms. One after another, the huspuppies come out of the machine and are put into the hot grease. If they ever stop using it, it should be donated to the Smithsonian as an example of American ingenuity.
I had a great visit last night with Sherwood Haisty, 85, a Lions Club member who has been a part of 40 of the 55 fish fries. He told me how the members of the Lions Club once worked for days in the hot sun setting up tables, bringing in the products, etc.
Then somebody had the bright idea of asking the Arkansas Department of Correction for help. For years now, it has been a mutually beneficial relationship.
For the Lions Club members, there’s a captive workforce, if you will.
For those who work at the nearby state prisons, there’s a carrot they can dangle in front of inmates – in exchange for good behavior, you can get out for one night and receive a great meal in the process.
Those men from around Arkansas in their white prison garb who are handing out slices of watermelon, filling glasses of iced tea and cleaning off the tables are now just as much a part of the event as the giant pecan trees in the Hardin grove. And the prison band sounded better than ever last night. The lead vocalist has true talent.
Think about it. There are politicians shaking hands. Inmates wearing white and guards wearing blue. A pecan orchard. People cooling themselves with the funeral home-style fans handed out by the politicians. Catfish. Hushpuppies. Watermelon. It just doesn’t get more Southern. It’s like something out of a movie.
Sadly, as the population of rural southeast Arkansas grows older and smaller, we lose members of the Lions Club each year. Rev. Clyde Venable passed away in 2009. Earlier this year, charter members Bill Blankenship and R.C. Johnson died.
Hopefully, there’s some young blood in the area to keep this landmark event going.
A lot of people help out. Hardin Farms supplies the watermelons. Simmons First supplies the plates. St. Michaels Farms supplies catfish. I could go on and on.
Money raised from this annual event (it’s $12 each for all you can eat) allows the Grady Lions Club to provide college scholarships, pay for eye exams and pay for glasses for those who could not otherwise afford them.
The fact that I’ve attended the Grady Fish Fry for almost 20 consecutive years got me to thinking about favorite places and activities in our state, many of which I’ve written about on this blog before.
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Grady Fish Fry August 2010
I got a chance this year to eat with Mark Darr who had lost about 80 lbs before the Fish Fry this year. I commented to him about all that weight he lost and he said he did it in order to enjoy this fish!!
All the politicans come by your table while you are eating and they tell you that they hate to stop you while you are enjoying that good meal but they wanted to just say hi.
It is always a good time.
My sons Wilson (on left) and Hunter (on right) went to California and visited Yosemite National Park with our friend Sherwood Haisty Jr. They were there from March 21 to March 27.
The Daily Hatch 