Vanishing snow brings hint of springtime

"If you don't like the weather, just stick around; it'll change." That little aphorism has been around for a long time in a lot of different places, but seldom has it been more apropos than around here the past few days. Just two days after a day in which the temperature never rose above freezing, it's warm and spring-like again. At 1 p.m., it's 62 degrees with a high predicted at 65.

Earlier this week Wilson had its second measurable snowfall of the year. That in itself is unusual. The last two years, if I remember correctly, we had no measurable snowfall. Even when we have snow in eastern North Carolina, it's frequently gone in a day or two as temperatures return to winter "normal," which means well above freezing. But a moderate day turned suddenly chilly late Tuesday, and snow began falling in some areas of the state about sunset. Temperatures stayed low enough to keep snow on the ground here until the weekend. Even now, on a day that feels like spring, some patches of snow remain in the deep shadows.

Our earlier snow two weeks ago also stuck around for more than the typical day of whiteness. Cold temperatures lingered, and a lush, beautiful snow stayed pretty for a good while.

Having seen two decent snowfalls and having worn gloves and heavy coats more than I wanted to, I'm about ready for some springtime. Unfortunately, the calendar says it's still early February, and the vernal equinox is more than a month away. We might even see a third good snow in 2009. We could also see warm days that coax the daffodils out of the ground.

I vividly recall a year when I was in college (that was way back before Al Gore discovered global warming or invented the Internet), sun-bathing on the dormitory lawn before my March 2 birthday. I also remember that same year the heavy snow that fell at the beginning of spring break a few weeks later.

If you don't like the weather ...

A lifetime in a file cabinet

I spent most of Thursday morning pulling files from one file cabinet, which would be donated to Habitat for Humanity that afternoon, and putting them in a new file cabinet. Cleaning out files is a periodic task that has to be done from time to time. I found some files that could be thrown away — instruction manuals and warranties for appliances we no longer own, packages for insurance policies that have expired, and duplicate copies of travel brochures and similar items. But what was left to be refiled tells a story about a life.

There are the expected items — tax forms from years past, credit agreements and reports, medical records, auto maintenance receipts and so forth. But there are also the less expected papers we have collected over the past 35-plus years. Four bulging folders are filled with family histories and family events — genealogical records, Civil War ancestors' service records, mementos of family gatherings and the sad evidence of my parents' decline into dementia. Another trunk downstairs contains histories and photos of my wife's ancestors. One bulging file was filled with letters, mostly from our children when they were away at school before e-mail replaced handwritten letters. I set that file aside and transferred its contents into a box that will go into the attic, where other boxes hold letters saved from earlier years from parents and friends. Two files titled "Home" hold the records of improvements and repairs to the only two houses we've owned in the past 29 years, reminding us of the countless hours of work that went into each home.

Several files contain newspaper and magazine clippings, some of them about family members and others on topics of interest to us, ranging from parenting to gardening. There are clippings of photographs of spelling bee and Quiz Bowl winners and programs from middle school awards days.

One file that made it into the new cabinet had been rescued from a box in the attic just days before — my 35-year-old military records. I found the Officer Service Record in an unlabeled box (the fifth or sixth one I opened) and carried it downstairs. Though the ink had faded and the paper yellowed, I could still read the laudatory comments on the fitness reports and the terse language of appointments and assignments. As I browsed the records, I once again felt regret that I had not remained in the Coast Guard long enough to collect retirement.

The family file cabinet is once again well-organized, thanks largely to my wife's talent for organizing and collecting. The files titled "Family History" are misleading. Everything in the cabinet is, really, family history.

Executive pay proposal rings a bell

President Obama proposed Wednesday that executives' pay at any banks receiving federal assistance be limited to $500,000 per year. That's a healthy cut — more than 90 percent — for many bank executives, who receive millions of dollars in salary and other benefits.

Obama's proposal reminded me of a suggestion I'd made in a college bull session discussing taxes and fairness about 40 years ago. I had suggested at the time that annual pay be capped at the salary for the president of the United States — $200,000 at the time. Any pay above that level would be taxed at 100 percent. My reasoning was that the president has the toughest, most important job in the United States, so it should be the highest-paying job in the country. At the time, I couldn't think of any reason why this wouldn't work. Either companies would limit excessive pay for top executives, thereby providing additional pay for R&D, worker wages and profits for shareholders, or the federal government would benefit from a surge in tax revenues from those multi-million-dollar paychecks taxed at 100 percent.

Obama's $500,000 cap is 25 percent more than the current salary for the president, $400,000,  but the rationale is the same. Why should a bank president get more pay than the president of the United States? Does he have greater responsibility? Does he work harder? Do his decisions have greater impact? Are his decisions more important nationally or globally?

With another four decades of experience and maturity, I find some flaws in my long-ago collegiate reasoning. The president's compensation amounts to more than his salary. He gets a pretty nice house to live in, transportation, health care, retirement benefits, etc.  And confiscatory tax rates probably do discourage innovation and economic risk-taking, as Republican tax-cutters have long argued. Confiscatory rates applied only to salaries and not other forms of compensation would shift compensation to untaxed or lower-taxed compensation.

Still, 40 years after I made the argument for capping salaries at the same level as the president's, it's interesting to see the new president make a quite similar proposal.

Tax trouble plagues Obama nominees

Former Sen. Tom Daschle is just the kind of nominee you'd never think would have trouble getting confirmed by the Senate. He was popular, a former majority leader and a sympathetic figure to dominant Democrats because he had been targeted by President Bush in 2004 and knocked off in his bid for re-election. But Daschle withdrew his name from nomination to be secretary of Health and Human Services Tuesday after his troubles with taxes were revealed. Daschle's withdrawal came the same day that President Obama's nominee for the new position of chief performance officer, Nancy Killefer, also withdrew her name after an embarrassing revelation about failure to pay unemployment taxes on hired help.

Don't rich Democrats believe in paying taxes? Daschle and Killefer withdrew, but Treasury nominee Timothy Geitner rode out the controversy over his failure to pay all of his taxes. One tax snafu might be forgettable and forgivable, but a series of them leaves a lasting impression. Daschle had failed to pay taxes on the use of a limousine. The IRS considers that income. Daschle didn't think so, but now he admits he was wrong. Killefer had failed to pay taxes on a household employee. Geitner belatedly paid $34,000 in back taxes. What is it with these people?

Obama has promised to raise taxes on the wealthiest Americans. His Cabinet nominees fit in that category. But some of these high-income Americans aren't paying the taxes they owe now under the Republican tax cuts Obama and other Democrats have been criticizing for years.

When his nomination was announced, Daschle sounded like the perfect nominee for HHS. He had been a health care leader in the Senate, and he had worked after his election defeat in advocating for universal health insurance. It turns out that Daschle, although not a registered lobbyist, made $5 million over the last four years working, essentially, as a lobbyist in Washington. I'd be happy to lose a Senate election for that kind of consolation prize. That plum job and his and other nominees' tax troubles bolster the impression that high government officials live in a different world.

After beginning his administration in admirable fashion, Obama now must backpedal to regain the high road and reassure voters that all Americans are not only created equal but are treated equal by tax laws and lobbying rules.

Obama's fashion influence draws national attention

A few months ago, I suggested that Barack Obama's success could bring about a welcome change in the fashions of African-American boys and young men. Instead of the "gangsta" style, the droopy pants, the oversized T-shirts and hoodies, the gold chains and all the rest popularized by rap singers, young black men might start emulating Obama's sophisticated, Ivy League style. At least one reader accused me of racism for this suggestion.

But on Monday, NPR's "Talk of the Nation" addressed the issue, interviewing Marjorie Valbrun, author of "The New Black Manhood," about the Obama influence she has seen among young blacks, especially boys. Their sense of pride and admiration over the election of this charismatic new president has given them a new role model, one who dresses in traditional suits, wears his hair neatly cropped and exults over his love for his wife and children.

I'm glad to see this issue getting the attention it does. Presidents do influence fashions. President Kennedy's dislike of hats ended the era of hats being a required part of a man's wardrobe. Ronald Reagan's outdoorsy, Western style also influenced fashions. Jimmy Carter's populist, down-home style brought plaid flannel out of the closet. It seems likely that Obama, widely and enthusiastically admired in the black community, will influence fashions, in part because his sophisticated look is such a contrast to the hip-hop/rapper look.

He might also influence another area. Has anybody heard much about ebonics lately? Ebonics advocates claimed that the dialect heard in black urban areas was a separate language that should be recognized as such. Some proposed bilingual education for urban black children, teaching them in ebonics instead of standard English. Obama, whose rhetorical skills helped him win the presidency, is about as far removed from ebonics as anyone can be. He disproves the contention of some ebonics advocates that people of African ancestry (and his family ties to Africa are closer than most American blacks') don't deal well with European languages such as English.

We're not going to see urban street corners suddenly populated by well-groomed young black men in business suits speaking in rhetorical flourishes. A role model's influence is more subtle. If Obama's presidency succeeds, we are likely to see a gradual shift in attitudes as young people embrace this new kind of black hero.

Super Bowl's final minutes worth waiting for

Last night's Super Bowl lived up to its billing. The last four minutes or so were super football performances. Arizona's last touchdown drive and Pittsburgh's final winning drive were both things of beauty, turning what had been a lopsided first half into an exciting ending.

This was a Super Bowl in which I had no real favorite. My favored teams had fallen earlier in the playoffs, but I was still happy for Pittsburgh and Arizona. I had been a Steelers fan during their glory years of Chuck Knoll, Terry Bradshaw, Lynn Swann, John Stallworth, Mean Joe Greene and all the rest. But I also like to pull for the underdog, and the Arizona Cardinals certainly fit that description. Kurt Warner proved again that he's one of the top quarterbacks of the last two decades. Even with different teams and different talent levels, even with being benched in favor of a younger, glitzier quarterback, he quarterbacks as if he were prenatally designed for the job. The awarding of the Walter Payton trophy, the NFL's humanitarian award, to Warner before the game started was especially touching. Warner had been ignored by the NFL, turned into a league MVP and won a Super Bowl, then benched and overlooked again before coming back this season at an age when others would have been retired. Through it all, his character has been unchanging.

So I was sort of pulling for the Cardinals, and mostly for Warner. I was glad to see him put together that last touchdown drive. But the Steelers deserved to win. That final drive and that final TD pass will be talked about for years.

Now the NFL season is over. I'll miss the excitement over the next seven months, and I'll especially miss it after college basketball closes its season around the first of April. But like the fresh fall air and the spectacular autumn colors, football will return again. Baseball has its adherents and college basketball can be exciting, but, for me, American football, with its varied strategies as complex as chess and war and its combination of graceful moves and brute force is the ultimate distraction.

More dentists won't solve financial problem

Another report on the scarcity of dentists in rural areas of North Carolina will feed the arguments of proponents of a new dental school and expanding the state's one dental school. It shouldn't.

Yes, some residents of North Carolina have a difficult time finding dental care. There are two reasons: Either the care is too expensive or there is no dentist within close proximity. Four counties have no dental practices.

But the answer to this problem is not "Crank out more dentists." The answer is to develop programs to attract more dentists to rural communities and make it financially feasible for them to practice there. Simply increasing the number of dental graduates in North Carolina will not help rural communities. Dentists will flock to areas where they can make a decent living -- places like Charlotte, Raleigh or the Triad. Rural counties, where few people have dental insurance through their employers and where many residents rely on Medicaid reimbursements for dental care, will continue to be underserved. Many rural counties are also poor counties. Large numbers of their residents rely on Medicaid for medical and dental care. But Medicaid's reimbursements to dentists, as the new study points out, is far below the usual and customary charge, Most dentists say they cannot afford to provide care at a price below their cost of keeping the office open, so they refuse Medicaid patients.

Rather than just increasing the number of dental school graduates, North Carolina should concentrate on subsidy programs for dentists who are willing to practice in rural, underserved areas. These subsidies would help dentists pay off their graduate school debt, which the new study points out often exceeds $100,000. Setting up a dental office with all the requisite equipment costs several times that amount. No sane dentist is going to invest that kind of money in a town where he can't meet his debt payments.

Rather than investing millions of dollars in a new dental school at Greenville and an expansion of the school at Chapel Hill, the state could put that money into subsidies that would make dental practices in high-poverty rural areas financially feasible. In fact, the state could save a lot of money and have a far greater impact on rural dental care. The second action the state could take would be to increase Medicaid's reimbursement level for dental care. That would make more dentists willing to accept Medicaid patients and would make dental practices in rural communities more financially viable.

As the state seeks ways to save money to plug a $2 billion budget shortfall, dental school expansions are one practical and fiscally prudent means of cutting spending without hurting services. If the state would put a portion of the planned capital investments for dental schools into a well-planned rural dental subsidy program and an increase in Medicaid reimbursements, the state would save money and improve dental care.