Government cooks turkeys

As the economy heaves, causes to give thanks persist, including a fact Americans can be forgiven for neglecting but one that evinces itself as crucial in the current hour: This is not Iceland. Some conditions there are familiar. The country’s financial system has been harpooned and is critically wounded after piling up debt that now cannot be paid. The government has splashed in attempting a rescue, taking over three banks, with coolly efficient effect, like placing an anvil on the shoulders of a drowning man. Amid the bubbles, the people stir.

Icelanders have an idea elected officials so far have not considered. Get out. Protesters have taken to the streets demanding that government – which is to say, every federal elected officeholder – resign. A sampling of that which rankles: Inflation has surged past 17 percent, unemployment has skyrocketed and the value of the krona, the country’s currency, has been halved in the past year. Something else: fuel costs have increased, too. A fillup can require thousands of kronas, or more than $100. Half of that money pays government taxes.

That protesters have gone to the bother of venturing out of their homes to shake fists at the establishment is a testament to the severity of the crisis and the red-hot heat of their anger, needed to keep warm while clashing with cops on an island cruelly slapped smack in the middle of the North Atlantic. The temperature in Iceland at this writing is 25 degrees headed toward 10 after nightfall. By Friday, the high is expected to inch only to 17.

So give thanks. America’s financial system is crumbling. Government’s attempts at rescue have swelled the federal debt while failing to steady a staggering stock market. Businesses are reeling. Jobless claims are increasing. But here in the central Shenandoah Valley, by the time the turkey, cranberries and stuffing reach the table and the first NFL game kicks off, the mercury should be working its way past 50. Conditions will be the same Friday. Which means it will, at the very least, be a beautiful day for a protest.

But there’s more.

Property owners in Augusta County and Waynesboro should be warmed by gratitude when they write checks for their tax bills next month. After all, they will have an additional year to prepare for higher payments based on total reassessments that increased by a third in Augusta and 10 percent to 15 percent in Waynesboro. Those numbers also indicate that property owners could sell at a sizeable profit, a sharp contrast with the rest of the country. Of course, selling now might be slightly difficult since both credit and the local housing market, like free-standing water on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, are substantively frozen.

Doubtless, taxpayers in Waynesboro also are cheered by the chance to give – to Mayor Tim Williams and the City Council. Williams wants to more than double his pay to $13,000 and that of the council to $12,000 starting in 2010 for part-time jobs presiding over the city and its dormant downtown core. Williams reminds us that everyone has something more to contribute, whether they like it or not.

This is a message not lost in Richmond, where special interest groups are racing toward the state revenue trough in the manner of Thanksgiving feasters scrambling for the last slice of pumpkin pie. They are not foolish enough to be daunted by talk of a $3.5-billion budget gap and the seeming necessity for all to forgo the ordinary extra budget fixings. Tomorrow, after all, will care for itself.

Of course, one group might have more cause than any to be thankful. The Tennessee Titans, coming off their first loss of the season, face the winless Detroit Lions at 12:30 p.m. today. The Lions represent for teams looking to rebound what governments here and beyond have struggled to produce: a bailout that works. Happy Thanksgiving to all!