Hawk Bait 4

     Greetings, All -- We are having a grand time at our house as we carefully step out of the paths of several very skilled and clever people who are renovating our bedroom.  While this goes on, we are camped out in somewhat smaller quarters down the hallway.  It is all expected to come together by close of business three days from now.  So far, knock on wood, schedules have been met and we are very pleased with the work.

     To a serious matter, we turn again to the work of Michael Yon whom we mentioned in a recent post.  We stated, erroneously, that Michael is a former SEAL, but he was an Army Special Operations Soldier and became a distinguished embedded war correspondent.  Some time ago, Michael was on a night misson with an element of the 4/4 Cav (4th Battalion/4th Cavalry Regiment).  A Solidier, Specialist Chazray Clark, although grievously wounded by an IED, was conscious when airlifted to hospital, but he soon died.  Michael and others question the length of time taken to dispatch the MEDEVAC helicopter that evacuated Specialist Clark.

     Michael's report on this event has created a firestorm of communications from the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the Congress and, most recently, helicopter pilots questioning Army procedures.  The U.S. Air Force and Marine Corps as well as the UK arm their helicopters and omit the Red Cross since it is only a target to the Taliban.  A new post by Michael, "That Others May Live," is found at: http://www.michaelyon-online.com/13-military-pilots-rebuke-the-joint-chiefs-of-staff.htm.  We urge that you read it and take action.

     Have you ever wondered where U.S. Greenbacks come from?  We do not mean the Bureau of Engraving and Printing, but who pulls the trigger to start the printing presses.  The recent edition of The American Scholar Magazine has the answer.  End the suspense.  See"Bring Back the Greenback."  http://theamericanscholar.org/issues/winter-2012/.

     A recent publication, The Economic Value of Opportunity Youth, captured our interest.  First, what is an "Opportunity Youth"?  Largely male minorities, this is a cohort of 6.7 million youth, aged 16-24, who may be drop outs, family care-givers, incarcerants or others.  The authors have computed that "compared to other youth," each Opportunity Youth imposes "an immediate taxpayer burden of $13,900 per year included in an immediate social burden of $37,400 per year."

     The authors, Levin, Belfield and Rosen, from Columbia University and City University of New York, computed the total cost of this cohort to be an eye-opening lifetime tax burden of $1.56 trillion and social burden of $4.75 trillion.  This study was supported by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation for the Corporation for National and Community Service and the White House Council for Community Solutions.  Download the study from http://1.usa.gov/xwHHaO.  This appears to offer a serious opportunity, but one quite difficult to exploit.

     We have a great menu of problems, do we not?  This might be daunting to some, but to an old war horse with scars from the academic research and corporate worlds, problems equal challenges, challenges equal opportunity, and opportunity means money.  Let's get with the program and stop the "all is lost" whining!

     Best wishes, Billy Hawkfinder

    
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