BY RUSSELL TURNER
THE SQUEAKY WHEEL
Being around farm equipment all of my life I understand the need of listening to your equipment while it is operating. A good farmer will shut down the operation when he hears any noise from his equipment that is out of the ordinary. I assume that is where the old saying came into being about the squeaky wheel always getting greased first. While it is good to take care of the immediate problems first, one must not ignore the rest of the machine. There are many parts to any machine, and a failure of any part can bring the whole operation to a halt. Whether we want to admit it or not the same can be said of our society as a whole.
Over the past several months and years the mainstream news media has had a constant drumbeat about the establishment education system here in Oklahoma demanding more taxpayer money. They constantly make the claim that education salaries are low here in our state; while that may be true, we need to understand that almost all other professions are suffering from low pay as well. From previous columns most of my readers know that I have little respect for the mainstream media. In my opinion a good news reporter will tell all sides of an issue and provide facts and figures that will inform the competent reader. Instead of just putting out one set of talking points, they should be telling the average salaries of other professions and facts such as the median household income throughout the state.
Here in my area of the state the median household income is slightly less than $32,000.00 per year (that is total income for the entire household, not individual income). From various sources the average educator salary in Oklahoma ranges from $41,000.00 to $44,000.00 per year. Agriculture is a major part of the economy in my area. You would never know it from the news media, but most farmers are working for less than minimum wage; being in the cattle business I know firsthand about the low prices and hard work on the farm. From what I have observed the grain farmers are no better off than the ranchers. Not only does the low prices affect the farmers, it also affects other local merchants indirectly. The farm suppliers and auto dealers are just a few examples of other businesses taking a hit. Small business and farming and ranching are an integral part of our economy. The problem we small businessmen have is simply we don’t have a union bunch of whiners to make our point. Another big problem, we keep electing a political class whose main goal is to get re-elected; instead of looking at the whole machine, they only want to grease the wheel that squeaks the loudest. Too many of them pander and tell the masses what they want to hear. In spite of the media’s incompetence or outright manipulation, the voters of this state are beginning to understand the issue and voted down SQ 779 in the last election.
Maybe education needs more money, but I am sure that all other government departments will tell you the same thing. I see a problem with making all of the promises of more money; when the median household income is less than 32 grand per year it becomes next to impossible to give everyone what they want. Maybe educator pay is lower here in Oklahoma, join the club. All other professions are lower also; we all need a pay raise.
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