“A terrible jobs number tomorrow is now assumed, and a good one will be considered either incorrect or flat-out fraudulent,” said investment guru Jeff Macke.

This statement sums up the real issue with our economy. No matter what the politicians say or the figures they announce, “We the People” now realize how incompetent the whole lot of them are.

There has been a quiet revolution taking place; the politicians with their arrogance and regardless of their party affiliation have failed to acknowledge it. The battle has been waged by two forces, the consumer and the business owner. These two groups may not be able to make laws, but they do ultimately control the purse strings and therefore the cash.

While things are likely to get worse before they get better, be mindful: Politicians will have to surrender to the voters. Only then will business owners with the aid of consumers jump-start the economy.

It is time to school the politicians on economics and their responsibilities. None of them face lay-offs; they have no skin in the game as they so often are requesting of us. As we are hurt and bleeding from our sacrifices, they continue to praise themselves while believing we trust what they say.

It is time to stand up and, regardless of your political beliefs, realize that the politicians in Washington have made a mess of it all. We, as citizens of this nation, must regain control of our government. I am no longer loyal to politicians I have voted for in the past because they have not been loyal to me. It is time for them to go.

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We must rebuild our country so that we might leave it in a better state than we found it. After all, we do owe that to our children.

Dale Pierce

Buxton

 

After watching the debacle in Washington and sending my emails out to various politicians expressing my displeasure with what was going on, I am just amazed at how fast our leaders left Washington after the vote.

After the debt ceiling vote, the consensus seemed to be unanimous by our leaders that jobs and the economy were critical top priorities in this country. If that is the case, why would members of Congress (and, for part of the time, the president) plan to leave town, with Congress being away for a month?

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How important can it really be to them when they think a month away from Washington is OK? What they didn’t say was that they needed to leave town so they can gear up to get their campaign finances in order. Giving up their vacation time would have been a nice gesture to make those who are still unemployed and struggling think Washington really cares.

The other thing that amazed me was how disassociated our leaders were when in front of a camera.

The comments like “Washington can’t keep spending the way it has been,” “Washington needs to create jobs” and “Washington needs to do a better job for Americans” left me screaming at the person speaking on television, “You are Washington!” They acted like they personally had no blame at all.

“Washington” has now heard that Americans are tired of “business as usual.” If they can’t come up with solutions, they should do us all a favor and find another job.

Linda L. Allen

Windham

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I paid cash for my Social Security insurance. This leads me to a question. Since a large portion of my money has been borrowed by the federal government, does it make my benefits some sort of charity or handout?

Free health care, outrageous retirement packages, many paid holidays, weeks of paid vacations and unlimited paid sick days are congressional benefits. It is more like welfare for our officials. Then, they call my retirement an “entitlement.”

What is wrong with the people who run this country? The country is broke and can’t help our seniors, veterans, orphans, homeless, etc. We did, however, provide billions of dollars in aid to Haiti and Chile and are still providing billions to Pakistan, which sheltered bin Laden. We are spending billions in Afghanistan and Iraq, but we can’t get oil at a reduced price from Iraq. Does this make sense? I personally don’t think it does.

Retired seniors on fixed incomes receive no aid or breaks from our government, but the government continues to give hundreds of billions to foreign countries. Large businesses and corporations have their tax breaks and loopholes to avoid taxes, as do the extremely wealthy – those making more than $400,000 in income. Could there be more to the story?

Why was the government allowed to borrow from Social Security in the first place? We’re going to be owned by China before our elected officials end their terms.

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This country has homeless citizens without any shelters, children going hungry, elderly going without needed medication, mentally ill going without treatment, etc., but our elected officials are definitely not doing without.

Just imagine if our government gave the citizens of the United States the same support we give to people in other countries. Let’s enforce a two-term limit and cut down on the costly benefits for our elected officials.

We don’t see them reducing their “entitlements.” Sad, isn’t it?

George R. Briggs

Freeport

 

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Successive Congresses and administrations, regardless of political party, continue to hoodwink the American public. The irony is that the American public continues to accept this deception without outrage and a demand that it be corrected.

The deception is so simple and so flagrant, it should be easily recognized and easily denounced. It is probably the largest scam ever foisted upon the American public. I refer to Social Security as the reason why fiscal reforms are impossible.

The public should understand that Social Security has no relationship to the national deficit; Social Security has no relationship to the national public debt; Social Security has no relationship to a federal balanced budget amendment; and Social Security should have no relationship to the various proposals for health care.

Politicians use Social Security as a guise to hide these particular issues.

Every contributor to Social Security and every recipient of Social Security should be up in arms and demand that the Social Security Trust Fund be immediately removed from the federal budget. It does not belong there.

The politicians include it in the budget for two reasons. The huge surplus (your contributions) in the Social Security Trust Fund makes the deficit appear smaller, and Congress keeps Social Security under its control because of the political power it contains. Neither of these reasons have any legitimate justifications.

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Rightfully, Social Security should be removed from political control and run by the members themselves. The members should decide the policies of their program, not the politicians.

Self-policing by the participants of the program is a far better option for administration than manipulation by politicians and special interests.

Paul Flynn

New Gloucester

 


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