Nothing like starting the LTE's with a good ol' stereotype like a welfare mom, and an octomom, at that.
What a mess
Many of your recent letter writers place blame on either the Democrats or Republicans. It is time for us to stop this.
Based on what I see, hear and read, few elected officials seem capable of realizing what a mess we have. If we gathered these people together and asked for a show of hands of those who spend more than their annual income on a regular basis, I wager that few would raise their hands. Why then do they go about our work and abandon the financial principles that govern their own finances? We have allowed them to put our communities, states and nation at risk, and few seem to realize what they have done and continue to do to us.
Many of these officials bring up the "Founding Fathers" in their interviews. The Founding Fathers wanted the government to do three basic things for the people: Keep them safe and secure, provide educational opportunities and provide for a dignified old age. They never intended for our tax dollars to go to support a high-school dropout who has eight children fathered by eight different deadbeat dads. These people should not be included in the "most vulnerable" list often mentioned by politicians.
TOM D. JONES
Winston-Salem
Blind allegiance
Is it not time for voters of all political persuasions to open their eyes and vote wisely in the next election cycle?
BOON T. LEE
Winston-Salem
Bank safety
Safety in the U.S.? We are the best house in a bad neighborhood. We can do better.
HIL CASSELL
Lewisville
Many of your recent letter writers place blame on either the Democrats or Republicans. It is time for us to stop this.
Based on what I see, hear and read, few elected officials seem capable of realizing what a mess we have. If we gathered these people together and asked for a show of hands of those who spend more than their annual income on a regular basis, I wager that few would raise their hands. Why then do they go about our work and abandon the financial principles that govern their own finances? We have allowed them to put our communities, states and nation at risk, and few seem to realize what they have done and continue to do to us.
Many of these officials bring up the "Founding Fathers" in their interviews. The Founding Fathers wanted the government to do three basic things for the people: Keep them safe and secure, provide educational opportunities and provide for a dignified old age. They never intended for our tax dollars to go to support a high-school dropout who has eight children fathered by eight different deadbeat dads. These people should not be included in the "most vulnerable" list often mentioned by politicians.
Finally, I agree with the July 18 letter "U.S. Foreign Aid," suggesting we offer credits for American-made products and food instead of cash. How nice to have Third World countries using their credits for tractors, wheat and corn instead of receiving checks that never reach the needy.
TOM D. JONES
Winston-Salem
Blind allegiance
As the drama of the debt-ceiling crisis unfolds in the Beltway, a clearer picture is emerging of one man: Grover Norquist, the president of Americans for Tax Reform.
He had 236 members of the U.S. House of Representatives and 41 U.S. senators pledged not to raise taxes. It appears that they swore blind allegiance to Norquist instead of representing their constituents' interest and legislating for the good of the country as a whole. This makes a mockery of our democracy.
A group of radical Republican freshmen in Congress is determined to drive the American economy over the cliff by refusing to raise the debt ceiling. They steadfastly hold to their allegiance to Norquist in spite of the alarm sounded by economists, pundits and local officials of both parties and of all ideological and political persuasions that failure to raise the debt ceiling will devastate the economy as a whole.
The most pressing problem facing the country right now is high unemployment. Politicians must tackle the job problem, and the debt problem should be handled later. Didn't the Republican Party run on the promise of creating jobs in the midterm election? After seven months holding overwhelming majority in the House, the party has not created a single job and now decides to hold the country hostage by refusing to raise the debt ceiling.
BOON T. LEE
Winston-Salem
Bank safety
Capital alone cannot make a safe bank. Risk levels and capital must be measured constantly and consistently. A risk appetite statement provides direction, on and off the balance sheet, for guarding a bank and the industry.
The most recent FDIC quarterly report shows 888 banks on the problem list; 303 failed to meet capital standards, leaving 585 that met capital but were considered "problem" banks. Regulators use more than just capital to determine safety and soundness.
Here we are one year after Dodd-Frank became law and regulators at the Securities and Exchange Commission and Commodity Futures Trading Commission are struggling to write the rules required by legislation. The very regulators whose lack of enforcement led to the last financial crisis are once again behind the eight ball.
HIL CASSELL
Lewisville
LTE1: OK, so our problem is actually foreign aid and welfare moms, according to this LTE. Foreign aid frequently has Buy American provisions in it, and sometimes cash grants are simply more efficient. Foreign aid is also a miniscule part of our budget and is a component of our foreign policy. It just ain't quite so simple as suggested by the LTW writer.
ReplyDeleteAlso not so simple is the matter of the welfare octomom. First, she and her ilk constitute a very minor portion of the budget. Second, while we don't like the idea of such irresponsible people, there is the matter of the well-being of the children this notional person has. Yes, welfare is abused, just as abuse exists in many other government programs, but that very little of that $14T debt has come from welfare moms and their kids.
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LTE2: At this point, neither R's nor D's as groups are on the side of the angels. Both need to give, not just Norquist's alleged disciples. I'm not opposed to a general electoral housecleaning in DC, however, but it needs to extend all the way to the White House.
LTE3: This is not an area of expertise for me, but the LTE seems to be missing recommendations.
Hil Cassell....good observations! Dodd-Frank was a Washington specialty, a combo of a political answer to an economic problem as well as a political answer to acts of regulatory malfeasance, collusion and plain old incompetance. It is equalled in Washington style "problem solving" by the worthless Sarbanes-Oxley legislation. Both need to be repealed entirely. If criminal acts are found then those people- in government and out- need to be prosecuted. Political answers to economic matters are only weighing down the already wet blanket that is smothering our economic engine.
ReplyDeleteBoon Lee..yes, next election we voters will be wise. We will replace that over matched empty suit Marxist front man in thw White House and add a dozen TEA Party type freshmen Senators to the US Senate at the same time as well ad a few more in the House. Status quo Washington is killing America.
ReplyDeleteGood afternoon folks!
ReplyDeleteLTE 1: This country does have a bad habit of focusing on the blame instead of finding a solution. Ironic that the writer proceeds to point out welfare moms and foreign aid when they are not to blame and have nothing to do with the solution. Again, the household budget is not a proper analogy to the govt. budget. They are not even close to being the same. Also, bringing up the FF's is not relevant either, because they were dealing with an agrarian economy that was strictly local due to the limited transportation options available. Furthermore, only the well-to-do did finish their schooling since everyone else had to help out on the farm in order to eat.
Here is an excellent article on foreign aid. It's from 2004, but it clearly shows the misperceptions that have been displayed about the subject: fpc.state.gov/documents/organization/31987.pdf
LTE 2: Reps are supposed to be representing their constituents, not Grover Norquist. It's high time for Boehner to grow a pair, tell Norquist to kiss his behind, and persuade the House to pass a bill that will get through the Senate. I'm in full agreement that the job situation has to be tackled first to expand the tax base which would alleviate the need for higher taxes.
LTE 3: Good points. I wouldn't mind seeing Glass-Steagal reinstated.
One of the biggest problems that we have regarding money in this country is that many of those who choose to comment, including quite a few in the Congress, have a serious vocabulary problem.
ReplyDeleteThey use the terms deficit and debt interchangeably, simply because they don't know any better.
The DEBT is the total of all the money that the nation owes.
The DEFICIT is the amount that we are short each year between income and outgo. The annual deficit, of course, adds to the total debt, but they are far from being the same thing.
The average American homeowner carries a debt to earnings ratio of about 5-1. The USA carries a ratio of about 1-1. As has been pointed out by many real experts, the USA could easily carry a higher ratio. But it would be better if homeowners and the USA carried much lower ratios.
For the USA, the long term debt is a problem, but nothing can be done to lower it until the deficit is dealt with. So debt is a low priority item at the moment.
If, instead of listening to the hysterical voices of those running for office in 2012, you listen to people who have no horse in the race, but actually know a lot more about economics...say David Stockman and the British magazine "The Economist", you will find that they agree on what needs to be done, keeping in mind that many of the "ideas" of the most hysterical voices would do serious, if not fatal, damage to the fragile US economy.
There are two necessary elements:
1. Cut spending. That is a given. Of course, as pointed out above, there the devil is in the details.
2. Increase revenue. That is a must, because the deficit cannot be substantially reduced by spending cuts alone without destroying any hope of economic recovery. There are two necessary elements for increasing revenue:
a. Increase taxes. That is not optional. Again, the devil is in the details, but it has to be done. Those who still recite the old mantra that increasing taxes reduces jobs are living in the discredited past. We know it isn't so.
b. Increase the number of jobs. That means that the national economy must be prodded into a healthier mode. How that is to be done is a matter for debate. But consider this.
After 12 years of corruption and neglect by three different presidents created and then deepened the Great Depression (Hoover was not individually responsible for the depression, but his doing nothing for three years made it worse), FDR was advised to try to spend his way out. That, of course, created a fire storm of opposition, which limited the amount of spending that FDR was able to do.
Most legitimate economic historians now say that that was the biggest problem, that FDR should have spent more, which probably would have ended the depression before the outbreak of WW II and even might have prevented that great disaster.
It would be interesting to see what might happen if the American people and their so-called leaders started learning and thinking rather than just reacting to the Chicken Little mentality of the moment.
"We will replace that over matched empty suit Marxist front man in thw White House and add a dozen TEA Party type freshmen Senators to the US Senate at the same time as well ad a few more in the House."
ReplyDeleteAs to Whitewall's comment, I am LMAO. Whitewall usually seems to be a reasonable man. But this comment is coming from out of far left field in la la land.
Just who does he think is going to win the office of President for the GOP? After the other GOP candidates destroy Romney for his religious beliefs, there will be three left: Bachmann, Perry and Palin. Does Whitewall seriously believe that any sane voter would choose any of those idiots?
I know Stab has already said that he will not vote for Obama. Since I know for sure that he is not an idiot, I assume that he means that he will vote for the Libertarian candidate, or do a write-in.
Besides, today I saw my first Obama 2012 bumper sticker. Obama is already at least a year ahead of whoever gets the GOP nomination. His people are going door to door, right now, in our town and in thousands of towns across the country. The only question remaining is how much Obama will win by.
As to the "TT Party" (Mommy, I've got to TT), they have had their innings and wasted them on frivolous, symbolic stuff that has failed to advance their or the nation's cause. Anyone who expects them to increase their numbers in either Washington or Raleigh is guilty of "California Dreamin'" as the Mommas and the Poppas put it.
If Bachmann, who is currently #2 in the GOP 2012 polls, gets the nomination, we will be lucky if there is anything left of the GOP after election day 2012.
The American people can be slow and obtuse, but they are most definitely not stupid.