State board, movies, EPA

Troy Wilson, president of Montgomery Bank, was confirmed by the Missouri Senate last week as a member of the Missouri Development Finance Board. Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder was appointed the chairman. Kinder became an ex officio member upon taking office in January 2005, and Wilson was nominated by state Sen. Jason Crowell.

"The Missouri Development Finance Board has filled a gap for business development in our state for many years. In 1982, then-governor Kit Bond helped to create the board's predecessor to assist with business development in Missouri. We wanted to continue to help build jobs in our state yet at the same time keep a close eye on taxpayers' money" Kinder said.

The 12-member board is charged with assisting with infrastructure and economic-development projects in Missouri which have a high probability of success but are not feasible without the board's assistance. In 1985 legislation was enacted which merged the commission into the Industrial Development Board. The Development Finance Board's current legislative authorization was enacted in 1993.

This board deals with millions of dollars of economic investments.

Wilson, who is from Sikeston, has a bachelor's degree in business administration from the University of Oklahoma and a master's degree in business administration studies in finance from Oklahoma City University and Wharton School of Finance. He is currently the president and CEO of Montgomery Bankcorporation Inc. and Montgomery Bank as well as chairman of the Missouri Bankers Association.

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Rise early. Work late. Strike oil. Good advice should always be welcome, although Benjamin Franklin once said that wise men don't need it and fools don't take it.

* Lay off for a few weeks, then quit for good. -- Sam Snead to a golf pupil.

* The secret of managing is to keep the guys who hate you away from the guys who are undecided. -- Casey Stengel

* When you speak to a man, look on his eyes. When he speaks to thee, look on his mouth. -- Benjamin Franklin

* There is more to life than increasing its speed. -- Mahatma Gandhi

* Beware of little expenses. A small leak will sink a great ship. -- Benjamin Franklin

* When your work speaks for itself, don't interrupt. -- Henry J. Kaiser

* If you have to eat crow, eat it while it's hot. -- Alben Barkley

* If you would know the value of money, go and try to borrow some. -- Benjamin Franklin

* Rise early. Work late. Strike oil. -- J. Paul Getty on success

* You can't win all the time. There are guys out there who are better than you. -- Yogi Berra

* Make haste slowly. -- Benjamin Franklin

* Make a kid feel stupid and he'll act stupider. -- John Holt.

* People will accept your idea much more readily if you tell them Benjamin Franklin said it first. -- David H. Comins

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The wages of prosperity: Now that the economy has created some four million new jobs over the past two years and the unemployment rate has fallen to a five-year low, the Left's jabs about the Bush "jobless recovery" have lost their sting. The Democrats' new line of attack against Bush tax-cut policies is "stagnant wages."

The union-funded Economic Policy Institute alleges that wages are falling "at their fastest rate in 14 years." Middle-income families are said to be trapped on an economic treadmill sprinting ever faster just to avoid falling behind financially. Some critics have even trotted out contorted statistics which suggest that workers have made almost no income gains since the late 1970s. It's a grim picture that suggests that the best days of the American worker are behind us and that The Brady Bunch lived better than Bart Simpson's family does today.

But the reality is that the economic well-being of the American family has never been better-as measured by income, consumption and wealth. And these gains have continued over the past five years, despite the recession and stock-market crash of 2000-01. The typical household today has a disposable income higher than any other time in history, and when taking into account all forms of benefits that workers now receive, compensation to workers is about 27 percent higher in real terms than 25 years ago. Workers earn in less than four days a week what their parents earned in five, and they make in three days on the job what their grandparents earned in five.

Ironically, one of the most significant boosts in take-home pay over the past five years has come from the very Bush tax cut that the Left so abhors. For the median family of four the Bush tax cut has increased take-home pay after taxes by about $1,450 a year. Hence, while before-tax wages have risen only slightly since 2000, after-tax income has increased by roughly 7.5 percent. One can only wonder how genuinely committed the Howard Dean Democrats are to combating wage stagnation when their top domestic policy priority is to cancel the Bush tax cuts, which would be the quickest and surest way to shrink the paycheck of the American worker. -- Excerpt from an article by Stephen Moore

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My wife Wendy and I enjoy movies as a mental change of pace, and we've seen a few recently which I recommend, most recently a sneak preview of "The Greatest Game Ever" based on a true event about a U.S. Open Golf Tournament decades ago which was a turning point in making golf popular in the U.S.

This Walt Disney movie can be enjoyed by all ages and has a story line, something rare in too many of today's fast-paced, special-effects movies.

I also recommend "The March of the Penguins," certainly for 16-and-over moviegoers. It has really unbelievable footage of penguins and their efforts to raise a family.

I'm happy "The Mad Hot Ballroom" made it to Cape Girardeau. This documentary of fifth graders in New York practicing for their annual dance contest is delightful for fifth graders and up, parents and grandparents.

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Since 1984 (21 years ago) the former Missouri Electric Works site on South Kingshighway has been under government review and actions that have cost, to date, about $8 million for those customers who took motors and transformers to MEW for service.

After years of silence, a proposed plan and public meeting was held Sept. 8 which was attended by about 10 people and the presenters.

The PCBs originally located have only been defined as "probably" or "possibly" being carcinogenic, but the site remains under review.

Recent low-level contaminated ground water located on site and up to one mile south was the reason for this meeting.

The projected recommended actions would cost an estimated $2.2 million on site and $3.9 million to $4.8 million over 30 years for off-site ground monitoring and probable action. There is a potential additional cost of $7 million -- for a total of $15 million -- if the site doesn't decontaminate on its own. Unbelievable!

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Knowledge is of two kinds. We know a subject ourselves, or we know where we can find information upon it. -- Samuel Johnson

Gary Rust is chairman of Rust Communications.