John Burkholder

Both are questions I would really love to know. I am back in the town I grew in of Clinton, IL. I came here to make a difference. I have hundreds of plans and ideas. So why question it? We took a trip to Chicago. I work in Bloomington. I live in Clinton (population 7300, and often referred to as Clintucky by others). But it doesn't have to be this way. Clinton could easily turn itself around if only the people in town cared. We moved here for community...which except for the very few, we have been ignored and shunned most of the time. So...community, the one thing I was looking forward to and expected in a small town really doesn't exist. At least not a welcoming community. I figured by bringing a lucrative career and setting up a business (or 2) that people would want to find out what we do. But, nobody cares. I know how to make the changes that need to be made to put this town back in the right direction...but nobody wants to hear it. Wake up Clinton! You are centrall...

Many of the ignorant feel that it isn't fair for the rich to pay more. OK. I call your "fair" and raise you one. Looking at an article published November 23, I can see that it is totally fair for Billionaires to avoid reporting gains . It is much easier for a tax return to show a loss of $9.8 million instead of paying the $44.7 million they were supposed to pay. So for "fairness", let's just have everybody else pay the $54 million delta for the uber rich of this ONE person because it is "fair". They don't pay more. They don't even pay the same percentage I pay. On a percentage basis, with loopholes, write-offs, and "losses", they pay less. Why do YOU think Warren Buffet suggested the tax be increased for the uber-rich? And for those people who say "just send in a check", you apparently have never done this so let me explain. The IRS will send you a check back saying you paid too much. Thus..he wants the government t...

I have personally worked closely with a signicant amount of Federal employees. Most of the employees have good intentions, but some (just like any job) are lacking in ability. It is just too hard to terminate government employees. For this reason I propose several things: No employee of the Federal Government will be paid more than an equal position in the US Military . Seriously, members of the military are having to file bankruptcy because they are making a pittance in comparison to that civilian doing the exact same job in the desk next to them. Additionally, the military member can be told in a moments notice that they are leaving to a desert camp and the civilian is nearly impossible to terminate. Any member of elected or assigned position in the federal government will make the same salary as the median average in the US ( $29,730 ). The elected positions should NOT be about making money, and rubbing elbows with lobbyist and dignitaries. These people are supposed to be represen...

So one of the major challenges with Government includes services. But at what point do services need to be cleared out and turned off? Well, I started going through the list of Government Agencies .Some of the agencies actually make me wonder if they were serious in the creation. For example: African Development Foundation - The United States African Development Foundation is an independent Federal agency established to support African-designed and African-driven solutions that address grassroots economic and social problems. USADF provides grants of up to $250,000 directly to under-served and marginalized community groups and enterprises. So far, $62 Million in grants have been handed out. FYI...The Administration for Native Americans office has handed out $41 Million. Appalachian Regional Commission - The Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC) is a regional economic development agency that represents a partnership of federal, state, and local government. Established by an act...

Normally, politics is on my avoid list. So today's post will avoid it. However, the deficit itself is a totally non-party issue. With the Occupy groups and the Tea Partiers all yelling their own thoughts about everything from Wall Street to the Gold standard, I feel it is finally time to give my uninformed opinion. Hey, they all have uninformed opinions, so why shouldn't I? Opinion number one. Flat Tax. A while back a man named Steve Forbes pushed for a flat tax instead of the weird, biased tax code we currently have. Yes, this would put a few dozen accountants out of work, but for the good of everyone involved, let's flatten it out. Herman Cain feels 9-9-9 is the solution...well, that is just stupid. 9% Income, 9% Corporate, and 9% Federal Sales Tax is all well and good when it comes to middle and upper class, but the poor would be paying 18% plus Social Security, Medicare, and State Income and Sales Tax. For a group of people that can barely pay rent and utilities, that...

My supervisor will be challenging our group shortly to work an entire week strictly using the B2E tools. The good news is that since we are the group responsible for the tools, we should be using them. The bad news is that not everyone we will have contact with will be using the tools. The other day I went into a meeting and was greeted with paper. Just an FYI, paper does not fall in the B2E tools category. In fact, any more, I am not sure why anyone would need to print anything for a meeting since we 1) have projectors, and 2) have Live Meeting which we can share our screens to anyone. This is like when word processing moved from the typewriter to the computer and some of the administrative assistants would still type and white-out the documents. Can you even buy white-out any more? I digress...as the technology continues to evolve, there are still people that stay with paper and using the telephone. Even though Office Communicator has not only the ability to make voice calls, but...

OK Folks, this is a long one…but very necessary. As I continue to observe the differences in small town Clinton life, and the life of my past 26 years of city living, the phrase that is most often presented to me, “Welcome home” has taken on a life of its own. Much like the Scarlet Letter, “welcome home” is gradually meaning “we tend to do dumb thing because nobody seems to care”. Well, this is my home town and I care. Yes, it is true that for the past 26 years I haven’t really cared a whole lot, but now that I am back and want to help Clinton become my home again, I just can’t go on with a blind eye to what I think doesn’t really make a whole lot of sense. For all of my readers who don’t know about my home town, Clinton, Illinois is a small town of around 7,500 people in central Illinois. It is known for a Lincoln speech about fooling some of the people some of the time, a large lake created by the nuclear power plant, and a town square that has eroded greatly thanks to several influe...