By: Thomas Sowell

The decision of the government in Cyprus to simply take money out of people’s bank accounts there sent shock waves around the world. People far removed from that small island nation had to wonder: “Can this happen here?”

The economic repercussions of having people feel that their money is not safe in banks can be catastrophic. Banks are not just warehouses where money can be stored. They are crucial institutions for gathering individually modest amounts of money from millions of people and transferring that money to strangers whom those people would not directly entrust it to.

Multi-billion dollar corporations, whose economies of scale can bring down the prices of goods and services — thereby raising our standard of living — are seldom financed by a few billionaires.

Far more often they are financed by millions of people, who have neither the specific knowledge nor the economic expertise to risk their savings by investing directly in those enterprises. Banks are crucial intermediaries, which provide the financial expertise without which these transfers of money are too risky.

There are poor nations with rich natural resources, which are not developed because they lack either the sophisticated financial institutions necessary to make these key transfers of money or because their legal or political systems are too unreliable for people to put their money into these financial intermediaries.

Whether in Cyprus or in other countries, politicians tend to think in short run terms, if only because elections are held in the short run. Therefore, there is always a temptation to do reckless and short-sighted things to get over some current problem, even if that creates far worse problems in the long run.

Seizing money that people put in the bank would be a classic example of such short-sighted policies.
After thousands of American banks failed during the Great Depression of the 1930s, there were people who would never put their money in a bank again, even after the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation was created, to have the federal government guarantee individual bank accounts when the bank itself failed.

For years after the Great Depression, stories appeared in the press from time to time about some older person who died and was found to have substantial sums of money stored under a mattress or in some other hiding place, because they never trusted banks again.

After going back and forth, the government of Cyprus ultimately decided, under international pressure, to go ahead with its plan to raid people’s bank accounts. But could similar policies be imposed in other countries, including the United States?

One of the big differences between the United States and Cyprus is that the U.S. government can simply print more money to get out of a financial crisis. But Cyprus cannot print more euros, which are controlled by international institutions.

Does that mean that Americans’ money is safe in banks? Yes and no.

The U.S. government is very unlikely to just seize money wholesale from people’s bank accounts, as is being done in Cyprus. But does that mean that your life savings are safe?

No. There are more sophisticated ways for governments to take what you have put aside for yourself and use it for whatever the politicians feel like using it for. If they do it slowly but steadily, they can take a big chunk of what you have sacrificed for years to save, before you are even aware, much less alarmed.

That is in fact already happening. When officials of the Federal Reserve System speak in vague and lofty terms about “quantitative easing,” what they are talking about is creating more money out of thin air, as the Federal Reserve is authorized to do — and has been doing in recent years, to the tune of tens of billions of dollars a month.

When the federal government spends far beyond the tax revenues it has, it gets the extra money by selling bonds. The Federal Reserve has become the biggest buyer of these bonds, since it costs them nothing to create more money.

This new money buys just as much as the money you sacrificed to save for years. More money in circulation, without a corresponding increase in output, means rising prices. Although the numbers in your bank book may remain the same, part of the purchasing power of your money is transferred to the government. Is that really different from what Cyprus has done?

Source: RCP

Prada – Prada is a black beauty who was left behind when her family moved away. She is three years old, and very shy. She lived primarily as an inside cat in her previous life, but spent a lot of time outside as well after her family abandoned her. Even though she may not be as expensive as the real Prada, she is well worth her $30 adoption fee! This includes her up-to-date vaccines, nationally-registered microchip, spay surgery, and a bag of food.

The Evansville Police Department will be holding a press conference at 8:00pm tonight to release more details about today’s officer involved shooting.
The press conferrence will be held at EPD Headquarters.

The Tenderloins Comedy Troupe, perhaps better known as the cast of TruTV’s Impractical Jokers, had their audience rolling in the aisles at the Victory Theatre on Saturday night. Stand-up comedian Tim Sullivan opened with a 20 minute set that amply warmed up a crowd that was ready to be entertained. When the Tenderloins, which consists of Joe Gatto, James Murray, Brian Quinn, and Sal Vulcano, took the stage, they were greeted with wildy enthusiastic applause and verbal encouragement. The jokesters, who have been friends since high school, spent the next one-and-a-half hours entertaining the audience with improv comedy, clips and behind-the-scenes glimpses of their television show, and a healthy dose of audience interaction. It was up for debate who was having the most fun with the performance… the Tenderloins, or their fans, some of whom had traveled more than eight hours to see the show.
“We are fortunate to be able to host events like this one at the Victory,” said General Manager Ben Bolander. “It’s always great to work with up-and-coming acts who genuinely enjoy putting on a show and taking time to make personal connections with their fans.“
Upcoming shows at the Victory Theatre include Rodney Atkins March 29, Chanticleer April 13, Little Big Town April 18, Here Come the Mummies April 19, SPANK! The Fifty Shades Parody May 22, and B.B. King June 5. The Evansville Philharmonic Orchestra will also present performances on April 6 & 7, April 27, and May 18 & 19.
The Victory Theatre is managed by VenuWorks of Evansville, LLC.

On Friday March 22, the Federal Emergency Management Agency notified an “Assistance to Firefighters Grant” (AFG) had been awarded to the Evansville Fire Department. The purpose of the (AFG) Program is to protect the health and safety of the public and firefighting personnel against fire and fire related hazards. The AFG, Firefighter Wellness and Fitness Program, provides funding for eligible expenditures listed below: (highlights are areas that are specific to this award)
• Procurement of entry level physicals that meet NFPA 1582
• Annual medical/ fitness health evaluations consistent with NFPA 1582
• Immunizations, as recommended by the department or law (e.g., NFPA)
• Behavioral health programs
• Implementation if IAFC/ IAFF peer fitness trainer programs
• Costs for personnel, physical fitness equipment (including shipping charges and sales tax, as applicable), and supplies directly related to physical fitness activities
EFD does provide applicant medical exams compliant with NFPA 1582 and the Indiana Public Employee Retirement Fund standards. EFD does not currently provide periodic NFPA 1582 compliant wellness and fitness exams. EFD will use these funds to implement the remaining three components of a complete wellness and fitness program: 1) Job related immunization program, 2) Annual medical/fitness evaluation and 3) Behavioral health programs.
With support from the AFG Program, EFD will implement the proposed firefighter wellness and fitness program- to ensure compliance with current standards and to provide the firefighters the education and resources to become healthy and resilient to continue to serve their community. EFD’s goal is to provide a safe and secure environment for families, businesses and visitors in the City of Evansville and Vanderburgh County, Indiana.
By enhancing the fitness and wellness level of its firefighters, EFD is confident in its ability to improve the safety of the citizens served – decreasing the risk of poor health outcomes among firefighters, especially when responding to emergency incidents.
Improvement in physical fitness needs to happen in our city and county, and we believe the Evansville Fire Department must take an active leadership role.
• The Performance Period of the grant is from March 15, 2013 to March 14, 2014.
• Project total $233,688
• Federal share $186,951
• EFD share $46,737
• NFPA 1582: Standard on Comprehensive Occupational Medical Program for Fire Departments
• Updates will be provided to the media as the project moves forward.

What parts of America have been growing during these years of sluggish economic growth?

Answers come from comparing the Census Bureau’s just-released estimates of metropolitan area populations in July 2012 with the results of the Census conducted in 2010.

The focus here is on the 51 metro areas with populations of more than 1 million where 55 percent of Americans live, most of them of course not in central cities but in suburbs and exurbs.

Two growth champs stick out — Austin and Raleigh. A half-century ago, neither of them amounted to much.

The counties now in metro Austin had 300,000 people in 1960. Those in metro Raleigh had 260,000. Now metro Austin is 1,834,000, and metro Raleigh is 1,188,000.

Austin’s population grew by 6.9 percent and Raleigh’s by 5.1 in 2010-12. That’s huge growth in just two years.
Both are high-tech centers with major universities. They had the biggest rate of domestic in-migration of any million-plus metro areas in 2010-2012.

They both have reputations as cool cities. More important, they both have creative and vibrant private sector economies, fostered by relatively low tax rates and sensible regulation.

Raleigh’s taxes and cost of living compare favorably with those in most states in the Northeast. Austin is attracting a lot of people from California, where the top income tax rate is now 13.3 percent. Texas’s income tax rate is zero.

Next on the growth list are Texas’s three other million-plus metros, Dallas, Houston and San Antonio, which grew by 4.3 percent in 2010-12.

Their populations increased by 622,000 people. That’s 12 percent of the entire nation’s population gain during that period.

It’s more than metro New York, Philadelphia, Boston, Baltimore, Hartford and Providence combined. Texas is making a huge contribution to the nation’s demographic and economic growth.

Not far behind are Orlando, Fla., with its tourism industry; Denver in healthy Colorado (the nation’s lowest obesity rates); Metro Washington, D.C., which has the advantage of federal tax dollars pouring in; Metro Miami, where growth is greatest in farther-north Broward and Palm Beach counties; Charlotte, N.C., the nation’s No. 2 banking center; Oklahoma City (natural gas); Phoenix, Ariz. (though immigration is way down); Nashville, Tenn. (health care and music); Salt Lake City (high birth rates); Seattle (high-tech, despite the rain); and Atlanta.

Lagging somewhat is California. The combined Los Angeles-Riverside metro area is growing just slightly above the national average. More people have been migrating from California to other states than moving in from other states since 1990, and immigration there is sharply down.

And despite wonderful weather, domestic in-migration is negligible in the San Francisco Bay area and metro San Diego.

Although most of this growth is driven by the private sector, one disquieting thing is how many of these cities are state capitals. It looks like government is generating growth, while the private sector in most places languishes.

On the other end of the growth list, metro Cleveland, Detroit and Buffalo, N.Y., are continuing to lose population, as their central cities empty out and inner suburbs age.

There is very slow growth in what were booming interior cities in the 19th century — Rochester, N.Y., Pittsburgh, Cincinnati and St. Louis.

None of the metro areas in the Amtrak corridor from Washington to Boston is growing as fast as the nation, and some — Providence, R.I., and Hartford, Conn. — are barely growing at all.

But 2010-12 population growth exceeded the national average in some Midwestern metros — Columbus, Ohio, Indianapolis, Minneapolis and Grand Rapids, Mich. (which just made it over the 1 million mark).
Of course, it’s still possible to live a comfortable and productive life in a city that is not growing.

Many point to Pittsburgh, the only million-plus metro area with more births than deaths, as an example. Its “meds and eds” economy — health care and higher education — is stable, and the air is a lot cleaner than when the steel mills were belching smoke.

But a great nation needs growth to give people opportunity to move upward and to allow the downwardly mobile to live as comfortably as they did growing up. Population trends give us clues as to what works and what doesn’t.

Not every metro area can be a high-tech center like Austin or Raleigh. But the continuing rapid growth of Dallas, Houston and San Antonio, unendowed with great natural beauty and scorched during five-month summers, suggest that others should take the Texas example seriously.