YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR
You get what you pay for. That is true when buying tires, building a bridge, or running a country.
Americans demand first-class results while insisting on bargain-basement government. Then we act surprised when our roads deteriorate, families cannot afford health care, children live in poverty, and homeless people sleep on the streets.
The United States is one of the least-taxed wealthy democracies. According to the OECD, total American tax revenue amounted to 25.6 percent of our economy in 2024. The OECD average was 34.1 percent. Norway collected 40.2 percent and Finland 42.2 percent.
What do people in those countries receive for their taxes? They receive health coverage, stronger retirement security, better family assistance, affordable education and a far more reliable social safety net.
Taxes are not simply money taken away from us. Taxes are how we purchase together what most families cannot afford individually.
Consider health care. The United States spends approximately $14,885 per person on health care—more than any other OECD country. That is 17.2 percent of our entire economy. Yet American life expectancy is only 78.4 years. Life expectancy is 81.6 years in Finland and 83.1 years in Norway.
We spend more and die sooner. That is not frugality. It is failure.
The American infant mortality rate is about 5.5 deaths for every 1,000 births. Recent OECD figures put Finland’s rate below two deaths per 1,000 births. A baby born in the richest country in the world should not face a greater risk of dying simply because we refuse to build a better health-care system.
Poverty tells the same story. The OECD found that approximately 18 percent of Americans lived in relative poverty, compared with only about 5 to 7 percent in Finland. More than one in five American children was classified as income-poor. Government assistance and a fair tax system dramatically reduce poverty in countries willing to make that investment.
Homelessness is another bill we refuse to pay until it becomes an emergency. The Department of Housing and Urban Development counted 771,480 homeless Americans on a single night in January 2024.
Finland took a different approach. Its Housing First program gives homeless people stable housing before requiring them to solve every other problem in their lives. Finland reduced homelessness by roughly 80 percent between 1986 and 2023.
The definitions and counting methods differ between countries, but the lesson is still clear: homelessness is not an unavoidable act of nature. It is a problem that public policy can reduce.
We also need to be honest about who benefits from our tax system.
A nurse, mechanic or teacher has taxes removed from every paycheck. Wealthy investors can often delay paying taxes until they sell an asset. Most long-term capital gains are taxed federally at no more than 20 percent, while ordinary income can face a 37 percent rate. We have built a system that frequently treats income from owning wealth better than income from working.
The 2025 federal reconciliation law continued that priority. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office concluded that the law will reduce resources available to households near the bottom while increasing resources for households in the middle and near the top.
That is not an accident. It is a choice.
When children grow up hungry, schools lack resources, mental illness goes untreated, and working families cannot afford rent, we still pay. We pay through emergency rooms, shelters, police departments, jails, lost productivity and destroyed lives.
Our choice is not between paying taxes and paying nothing. Our choice is whether we pay early to prevent problems or pay much more later for the consequences.
We always seem able to find money for bombs, wars, tax shelters and political monuments. We can admire gold-plated ballrooms while telling working people that health care, housing and education are unaffordable.
Would I pay more in taxes for universal health care, good schools, safe housing and a country where children do not go hungry? Yes.
But the wealthy and large corporations should pay their fair share first. Working families should not be pushed backward, and public money must be managed honestly and efficiently.
I would rather pay taxes so a child can see a doctor than pay for an emergency-room crisis. I would rather pay for housing than a jail cell. I would rather hire a teacher than another prison guard.
Norway and Finland are not perfect countries, and taxes alone do not solve every problem. But they demonstrate what happens when people treat health, education, housing and economic security as investments instead of handouts.
America is not poor. We have the money. Our tax laws and budgets simply reveal our priorities.
For decades, we have excused wealth from much of its responsibility and sent the bill for the consequences to working people.
We are getting what we pay for—and what we refuse to pay for.
Sources: OECD Revenue Statistics 2025; OECD Health at a Glance 2025; OECD Society at a Glance 2024; U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development 2024 homelessness report; Finland Housing Finance and Development Centre homelessness report; Congressional Budget Office analysis of Public Law 119-21; IRS Topic 409 on capital gains.
The principal figures are supported by the OECD tax comparison, OECD health statistics, OECD poverty comparison, HUD homelessness report, and Congressional Budget Office analysis.
After a long flight from Phoenix to Pittsburg I went to the Budget Car rental counter to pick up a Toyota Tacoma. I needed the truck with four wheel drive because I was going to visit a difficult place to get to in the hills of West Virginia. My mission was to go to a memorial for my older brother who recently died.
When I arrived at the Budget counter there was a long line of frustrated people waiting to get cars. After about an hour it was my turn. The Budget people explained some employees did not show up for work, so they were understaffed. I was then told the truck I reserved was not available and I could not get a truck. Budget assigned me a car. After I made the trip to the garage where I was to pick up the car I again found people waiting. It was a warm day and everyones frustration was increasing with the poor service. After another frustrating wait the manager of the car dispersement system told another pissed off customer that he would award them two free days of rental. Next I asked him for the same treatment. He agreed.
I expected Budget to honor what he said, but later found out Budget had no intention of honoring what the man said. I corresponded with Budget and was told I needed proof the man made that deal. How in the hell would I prove it. I had no idea that at the time I should have told the man " Put that in writing". I was already two hours late because of Budget's poor service, now I have to fight them?
Budget has a simple way to get the proof they need. Budget can call Budget at the Pittsburg airport and ask the man who made the promise. Simple, but no the cheap bastards want to screw me.
Keep the Malibu Property for Payson’s Future
Payson’s newly elected council has an opportunity to look beyond short-term fixes and make decisions that will serve the community for generations. Fiscal responsibility is important, but saving money today can become very expensive when a temporary solution fails to meet tomorrow’s needs.
Repairing the aging Taylor Pool may appear to be the least expensive option, but it is a short-term answer to a long-term problem. Payson will continue to grow, and that growth will require additional recreational facilities, public services and infrastructure.
The town already owns approximately 21 acres along Malibu Drive next to the existing municipal complex. This property should not be sold or committed to private development. It should be preserved for a carefully planned civic campus.
A new aquatic center could be the first phase. Its parking could later serve an indoor recreation center and other public facilities. A shared building could provide locker rooms, showers and restrooms for the pool, recreation center and outdoor facilities. Water, sewer, utilities, maintenance and access roads could also be planned together.
Clustering public facilities is generally more efficient than scattering them across town and duplicating parking, utilities and support services at every location. Thoughtful planning now could save Payson millions of dollars in the decades ahead.
The new council is not obligated to continue every proposal advanced by the previous council. It has both the authority and the responsibility to reconsider those plans in light of Payson’s long-term interests.
The Malibu property is a rare public asset. Once it is sold or developed for another purpose, it may never be recovered. Payson should keep it, plan it carefully and preserve it for the community’s future.
Busted flat in Payson
Waiting for the rain
Steve Otto's hope for victory
Went down the drain.
Pornography at the library
another Jim Ferris dream
Things at the Tea Party
Are never what they seem.
KMOG sang every lie
The Tea Party knew
The red town
Up and voted blue
What in the hell
Could Charlie Bell do?
People smiled
Then they screamed
The Tea Party was gone
Is what they dreamed.
The Three Stooges Are Gone. Now the Real Work Begins.
Payson voters have spoken, and the political landscape has changed. With Brett Flaherty elected mayor, the town now has an opportunity to move beyond the divisions that have consumed so much time and energy.
For all the money spent and all the accusations that were thrown around, the Three Stooges ultimately could not convince the people of Payson. In the end, voters looked past the rhetoric and made their own decision about the direction they wanted their community to take.
If there was one turning point, it was the attack on the library. What may have been intended as a political rallying point became a rallying cry for those who believed the library should remain a place of learning rather than a political battlefield. Jim Ferris's angry outburst and dramatic exit from the council meeting only reinforced the impression that emotion had replaced reason. Instead of strengthening their cause, it became a self-inflicted wound that many voters remembered.
Elections are about choices, but they are also about accountability. Payson has now made its choice.
The challenge ahead is not to relive old political fights or settle scores. It is to restore trust in local government, encourage respectful debate, and focus on the issues that matter most—public safety, responsible growth, fiscal stewardship, strong town services, and preserving the quality of life that makes Payson such a special place to live.
Winning an election is only the beginning. Governing well is the real test.
The Three Stooges have had their day. Now it is time for Payson to look forward instead of backward and build a future that benefits the entire community.
Kadizzle took a strange journey yesterday into the hills of Ritchie County, West Virginia. One thing kept catching the eye over and over again—the trees.
West Virginia is slowly becoming what it was when the first settlers arrived. For nearly a century, the forests have been reclaiming the land. Fields that once grew corn, hay, and cattle are now swallowed by towering hardwoods. Nature has quietly taken back what man once cleared.
Kadizzle stopped at the old farm where so many summer days were spent growing up. It sat a hundred miles from our home in Wheeling, yet it felt like a second home. Trees that we planted as tiny seedlings are now giants—seventy feet tall and nearly two feet in diameter. In many places the forest has become so thick it rivals a jungle, hiding old roads, fence lines, and memories beneath a blanket of green.
But the drive down the Ohio River brought another surprise.
Contrary to the image many people have of West Virginia, the communities along the river did not appear trapped in poverty. The chemical plants were operating, coal country still showed signs of life, and what struck Kadizzle most were the homes. Yards were neatly trimmed. Houses were well cared for. The towns looked cleaner and more orderly than they did decades ago.
It was a mystery.
What had changed? Had people simply taken greater pride in their communities? Or perhaps those endless forests were hiding the abandoned places that once seemed to dot every hillside. Whatever the reason, it wasn't the West Virginia Kadizzle remembered.
While waiting in Harrisville for the rest of the family to catch up, Kadizzle wandered into the Ritchie County Courthouse to look up old mineral rights records. Walking through the courthouse felt like stepping back in time. Very little has changed since the building was completed in the 1920s. While browsing through historical displays, Kadizzle stumbled onto an unexpected fact—the courthouse was designed by architects from Wheeling. It's a small reminder of how connected the communities of West Virginia once were.
Then it was on to Hazel Green.
The old country store now stands abandoned, another casualty of changing times. But just up the hollow, the Bird family was sitting on the porch.
That stopped Kadizzle in his tracks.
His nephew Kevin mentioned that Roger Bird wanted to talk. Suddenly decades melted away. Roger remembered playing ball with Kadizzle and his brother. Kadizzle couldn't recall those games, but Roger could.
Back then, we were the city kids from Wheeling, and to the Bird family we must have seemed as out of place as visitors from another planet.
The Birds are living pieces of Appalachian history. Roger and his brother grew up in the old house high in the hollow, without electricity and largely cut off from the outside world. Somehow, someone eventually managed to gravel the road to their home. Beyond that point, however, the road to our old farm has surrendered to time. Today it is little more than a rugged trail. Unless you have a capable four-wheel-drive vehicle—or better yet, a side-by-side—you aren't making it very far.
Standing there, surrounded by towering timber and old memories, Kadizzle couldn't help but feel that he had traveled much farther than one hundred miles.
He had traveled back in time.
More later...
Old Kadizzle will soon be heading back to the hills of West Virginia, and it has me thinking about the colorful characters and even more colorful language I grew up with.
My brother and I spent many hot summer days putting up hay for an old hill farmer named Lutrel Davis. Lutrel owned the kind of country store you hardly see anymore. There was a pot-bellied stove where the old-timers gathered to swap stories, solve the world's problems, and invent a few new ones. If you wanted to learn the mountain vocabulary, all you had to do was pull up a chair.
Lutrel had a favorite word that always made me laugh.
"Whistledick."
He used it to describe someone who wasn't exactly blessed with an abundance of common sense. Nobody seems to know where the word came from, but folks in the hills always knew exactly what it meant.
That sent Kadizzle down the rabbit hole looking up old Appalachian expressions. Along the way I stumbled across another classic: conniption fit—a dramatic outburst of anger when someone doesn't get their way.
Then it hit me.
Those two old mountain expressions came together perfectly at the last Payson Town Council meeting.
Councilman Jim Ferris threw what can only be described as a first-class conniption fit after his latest attempt to defund the library went nowhere. When the votes didn't go his way, he stormed out of the meeting and slammed the door behind him.
Back in Lutrel Davis's country store, the old-timers would have smiled, nodded, and said, "Looks like that whistledick just had himself a conniption fit."
Some words never go out of style.
