Are Fireworks Losing Their Bang?

I loved going to the fireworks when I was a kid. It was a huge event, the culmination of the Johnson City Fireman's Field Days, held every Labor Day weekend, and the harbinger of fall and the start of school the next day.

Fireworks at the Joe. (Photo by Matt Drobnik)

Fireworks were a big deal. We eagerly anticipated them all summer long. Oohed and aahed, shrieked and giggled with each boom and bang that rattled through us, leaving our pulses' racing. When they were done, we were both elated--riding on the firework high--and melancholy, knowing we'd have to wait a whole year to see such a spectacle.

Later, we'd drive to the next town over for the July 4th fireworks at Highland Park. Fireworks TWICE in one year. Imagine that?

I still get a thrill from fireworks, the percussive thrumming running through me. And so we went to the Charleston Riverdogs' last home game on Thursday, and that meant FIREWORKS!

Selfie: Me and Matt at The Joe. (Photo by Matt Drobnik)

Again.

With no Friday game this week, they did the big bang a day early. The Riverdogs put on a big fireworks display after every Friday night home game. That means 11 fireworks night at "The Joe" between April 1 and August 28. Less than half a year.

That's not counting the holiday fireworks--Christmas, New Years, and Independence Day. With a little forethought and planning, we can find one spot on the peninsula and see July 4th fireworks at Patriot's Point, Isle of Palms, North Charleston, Folly Beach, and Summerville.

There are fireworks to celebrate events one Daniel Island at the Family Circle Cup stadium and the Blackbaud stadium.

Photo by Matt Drobnik

It's hard to find a weekend between April and December 31 when there aren't fireworks somewhere in the greater Charleston area (the Charleston-Dorchester-Berkeley Counties.)

At the baseball games, most people stick around after the game to watch. But quite a few leave, too. There are a few oohs and aahs, but a lot of people texting, talking on their phones or with their friends, ignoring the light-and-sound show in the sky above. The kids mostly still seem enthralled with the show. 

But for how long? At what point do the fireworks become same-old-same-old. Oh, those again. Will this generation become sensitized from overexposure? Will the magic of the fireworks be lost on kids who've grown up virtually blowing things up and causing electronic fireworks on their video games?

I do love fireworks. But do you think we're overindulging our love of that thrill? Can they become...boring? Will the displays have to grow more grand and elaborate to satisfy us? And at what cost? (A good show can cost upwards of $20,000--or about $1000 per minute--more for something more elaborate.) What do you think? I'd love to know.

The finale. (Photo by Matt Drobnik)

THE FISCAL RESPONSIBILITY OF SECESSION, or Why We Should Let Them Go

Can you believe those damn bleeding heart liberal democrats—communists, socialists, and welfare recipients, the lot of them--won so big in this election? Always taking all our money, taxing us unfairly, then spending our hard-earned dollars on lazy, no-good welfare recipients! It's outrageous.

Are any of these recipients of our good-will and tax money appreciative? Hell no. And I for one don't want my tax dollars going to someone who is too lazy to earn their own money. Do you want to know what's wrong with our country? All you have to do is a little bit of math.

Just look at these numbers: In 2005 (most recent numbers available), out of the total taxes paid to the federal government, for each $1.00 we pay, only $0.91 comes back to us in our home states or territories. Those other $0.09? Gone: off to Washington, DC or to overseas military bases, or, sometimes, to help some foreign country that couldn't help itself, that expects us to bail them out.

Some people have decided that it's better to keep their tax dollars right at home, in their own states, and use the money to benefit themselves. "We don't need no stinkin' federal government taxing us then redistributing our wealth! SECEDE, I say! SECEDE!"

The secessionists don't want their hard-earned money going to some place that hasn't paid their fair share into the system. That's the equivalent of welfare and good, small-government, capitalist Republicans don't abide by that.

Well, I'm all for those states doing the fiscally responsible thing and seceding from the Union. Their secession can benefit quite a few states, especially those who receive back less than they pay into the system.

Is it fair that those poor residents of New York only receive back $0.24 of every dollar they pay to Uncle Sam while South Carolinians get back $1.31 for every $1.00 they pay? Is it fair that the red states, those who voted Republican, get back, on average, $1.38 for every $1 they pay—a 'welfare benefit' of $0.38 per dollar—paid for the most part by blue states? Is it fair that for every tax dollar those damn Yankee, liberal, democrat states in the northeast pay, the southeastern states, those that want the Federal government to stay out of their business, receive an average of $1.69, while the Yankees only get back an average of $0.74?

http://capitolfax.com/2010/04/12/todays-maps-for-thought/ 

This map shows how states fare on their tax dollars. Those in red receive more than a dollar back for every tax dollar they send the federal government. Those in blue receive less than a dollar. Funny how the states most opposed to taxes and big government, those who vote "red" (GOP) are the ones benefitting the most from the "socialist" redistribution of wealth, isn't it?

Hell no, it's not fair!  If the recipients of federal government largess don't appreciate it, continue to deprecate our great country and the duly and fairly elected President, if they don’t like our generosity, screw them. Let's let them secede!

There are a number of states that agree that they should be allowed to secede (mostly ones with poor public education so their citizens are bad at math.) These states are sick of the "socialism" and want to secede from the Union.

Fifteen states have filed petitions to secede since the election last week. With few exceptions, I think we should not only allow them to secede, but thank them for doing so! Fiscally, letting these states go would be the responsible thing to do. It will be to the country's financial benefit. How?

Those states that stay in the Union and grant secession to the petitioners will get to keep their hard earned dollars. Right now, the reason most true-blue states get back less from their tax dollars than they pay into the system is because it's being redistributed to the very states that want to secede (see what I mean about them being bad at math?) Cut loose the states that want to secede, and the remaining states get a windfall profit.

We can only hope the petitioners to secede don't actually ever learn their numbers and renege on their effort to leave the country and go it alone. If they do, Louisiana will figure out that they'll lose the extra $0.78 they get back for each dollar paid in taxes (they get $1.78 back to their state for every $1.00 they pay in Federal taxes)—money that those  bleeding heart liberals in the blue, northeast states will be able to keep! True, Louisiana might struggle a bit as an independent country, but let's five them a well-deserve a round of applause for wanting to practice what they preach. Given their history of cronyism and backroom politics, I'd expect they'd become a third-world country in very short order.

Alabamans, who now get back $1.66 for every $1 paid, will have to do some belt-tightening, but it works out well for the states that are currently supporting them. Kentuckians can kiss good-bye their $1.51 for every $1.00 paid in Federal taxes, freeing up those 51¢ for the states who are now bearing the burden of Kentucky's vehement opposition to welfare and socialism. North Dakota (gets back $1.68 for every $1.00 paid) and Montana ($1.47/$1.00) also complain about socialism and welfare and would like to secede, thereby saving the states that remain in the Union a big chunk of money once they no longer have to support those welfare-recipient states.

Letting Mississippi go is the real money-maker and budget-balancer for the rest of the country: for every $1.00 they pay in taxes, they get $2.02 back! Considering they're almost always dead last in education and healthcare rankings, it makes you wonder what their state government is doing with that money, doesn't it? But hey, "states' rights"--you go, Mississippi.

North Carolina will lose out on their net gain of $.08 per dollar paid ($1.08 back), Indiana will lose 5¢ that they get  back in addition to each $1.00 they pay, and Georgia will lose out on the $1.01 back per dollar paid in federal taxes--not too bad of a drain on Federal tax-payers, but welfare nonetheless, and every penny returned to the coffers of the states whose generosity is so little appreciated is a good thing. So, to these states, I say, "B-bye!"

Florida and Texas might be about okay, once they raise taxes. They get back $0.97 and 0.94 for every dollar they pay, respectively. Maybe they'll continue to help out some of their southern secessionist neighbors? No. Probably not. They don't believe in "socialism."

I just have to wonder, though: If these states are so hell-bent on living according to their principals, of opposing big government assistance and social-welfare programs, why do they accept the welfare from the rest of the country to begin with? Why don't they just give back the money that isn't rightfully theirs?

 

FOR MORE INFO:

To see which states are the biggest drain on our taxes, and which are carrying the greatest share of the load, go to:

http://taxfoundation.org/article/federal-spending-received-dollar-taxes-paid-state-2005

http://capitolfax.com/2010/04/12/todays-maps-for-thought/