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Hernando Today

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Save Taxes; Vote 'No'

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Hernando Today

Published: September 24, 2008

Updated: 09/24/2008 04:05 pm

Save Taxes; Vote 'No'

I'm just one of the individuals here in Spring Hill who thinks we can save taxes by having one county fire department. It just makes good tax sense. I don't have the money to buy this election like the firefighters' union is trying to do or using scare tactics like "Save Your Service, Support Spring Hill Firefighters."

Does this union and fire department think they can convince us that the county firefighters won't give us good service? Well, I have put my two cents in here. I don't have $10,000 to spend on this election, but if I did I would to save future tax dollars for all my friends and neighbors who are on fixed incomes.

I just hope the little people of Spring Hill like myself will get out and vote "No." Just remember David was able to slay Goliath and if we all work with this in mind, we may save a little money to be used for a good cause in the future.

One last thing: Ty and Joan Lynch may put a sign in my yard anytime. I would like to also thank Ty and Joan for their efforts and if I can help, please contact me.

Walt Searle

Spring Hill

Never Say Never

The topic of the past week had to be the economy. I've watched and read as much as I could assimilate to get a handle on what's up. I already know what's down.

Can you imagine the leadership of our Congress totally hushed by Secretary of the Treasury Henry M. Paulson Jr. and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke, as they defined the crisis, the need for its bailout and the potential stakes for not acting? Sheer gall - under normal circumstances - but not when so much is at stake.

Fortuitously, some of those hushed earlier found their voices for Sunday's talk marathons.

Getting down to platinum tacks, Sen. John McCain has been vilified and attacked by his opponent as having made a monumental blunder last week. He essentially said the economy is not going under. Is too, the Obama team offered subliminally. How could he offer such a rosy platitude at the onset of a week that spun into international turbulence? Is there any excuse other than his age for such a blunder, Obama and Biden imply? Doesn't he know we are on the brink of national disaster?

Isn't it possible McCain was talking in terms of the meaningful totality of our economy? Wall Street, standing or falling, is not our economy. It is without doubt a key part of the driveshaft in our money-making endeavors, but not the sum of all parts. Other entities do exist, you know.

So, too, do people who work, keep up with their debts, put food on the table, buy a house and make it their home. Don't we have brilliant technology at hand - ingenuity that is an American trademark? Factories that haven't moved? Small-time entrepreneurs as well as the giants? What about skilled individuals who want to come to this country? They vastly outnumber the handful of miscreants who claim if so-and-so isn't elected, it's off to wherever.

A two-sided explanation or examination isn't what naysayers seek much less want to hear. It's too mundane - inanely optimistic when pessimism is called for. They want to divert a near institutional collapse into a blame game. Most importantly, all this has to be someone's fault.

On the other hand, as some are wont to point out, is it not more prudent to be quiet? Appear contemplative? Seem engaged pondering actions and options? Ridicule your opponent based not on what he or she said, but what we are certain he or she meant to say? In the unlikely event your opponent is right, isn't it fair to claim his prescience as yours? Then, there's less risk to go for the opponent's jugular with what that person's bobtailed remarks might imply. Nevertheless, feel and act presidential - much as with the actors in Hollywood who do this so well. After all, it's a lot less risky than being derailed on the "Straight Talk Express."

After two years of incessant political charge and countercharge, is there hope the focus is going from wide angle to zoom? We can't continue to accept elected people miming a nest of vipers. Getting even has been their mainstay. Is there not a single redeeming factor we can find in either presidential aspirant?

What we need desperately are an optimistic band of workers in the vineyard laboring to strengthen the fabric of our nation's greatness.

Jack C. MacKercher

Weeki Wachee

DejÀ Vu

The American government has learned that certain financial entities have recently taken on significant quantities of questionable debt created by numerous exotic investment schemes. Insurgents disguised as speculators, brokers, bankers, money management gurus and politicians have infiltrated our economic system.

Intelligence tells us we are dealing with financial extremists, and they're in possession of Weapons of Monetary Destruction (WMD). These monetary terrorists are hell bent on destroying our economic system, and we can't wait for this smoking gun to turn into a financial mushroom cloud. We must act now. Sound familiar; it should, because it's "shock and awe" 2.0.

America's financial markets were designed to define time-sensitive pricing floors and ceilings; it's called capitalism, the free enterprise system. If left unmolested, the market will self correct when market prices move beyond a logical floor or ceiling; it has for decades.

In recent years, real estate, commodities, equities, etc. have all exceeded their logical pricing ceilings and, as a consequence, entered a self-correction phase, leaving behind winners and losers. Most recently big winners became big losers, among them were major financial players like Bear Stearns, Lehman Brothers, Freddie Mac, Fannie Mae, and AIG. The very system that spun off billions in profits and millions in bonuses was now spinning out of control; the financial Godzilla was cannibalizing its architects.

Last week, on behalf of those losers, President Bush issued American taxpayers a partnership invitation to participate in the loser party. They want taxpayers to fund a $1.3 trillion "rid the system of bad paper" plan. One has to wonder where the partnership invitations were when billions were being raked in on the way up? Where were the partnership invitations when fat-cat bonuses exceeded average working Americans' annual wages by multiples of 100 times and more? Why should taxpayers (you and me) accept an invitation to a loser party when we weren't invited to the losers' winner parties?

How about this, we'll come to your loser party if you'll come too, and be a partner in our loser party. You all come: the Congress, the president and the collective band of financial gurus. We want to make you partners in funding the purchase of $2.3 trillion dollars of Social Security IOUs (bad paper) that were created from taxpayer money and spent to your benefit. By the way, we need to hear back from you real soon: This is urgent.

On what grounds could they possibly turn down this logical and reasonable invitation? After all, as long as we're flushing the system of bad paper, we might as well clean up the entire sewer line.

Over the next few days, we'll be hearing from the president's financial war room. Ben Bernanke, chairman of the federal "I have no reserves left" reserve, SEC chairman Christopher "I'll change trading rules" Cox, and treasury secretary Henry "I'm in charge here" Paulson. All will all be pushing a time sensitive, quick fix solution. They'll use every manipulative tool they have at their disposal to persuade the American people and our elected representatives to hold our collective noses and swallow this quick fix solution without chewing.

Our entire financial and political system has a life-threatening virus, you can't quick fix it, and to suggest so is an insult to taxpayers' intelligence. A quick fix will only result in short-term monetary indigestion, midterm financial constipation and long-term economic diarrhea.

At the end of the day, this isn't a test about responding to a crisis, this is a test regarding lessons learned from our last crisis response and getting it right this time. With experience as our mentor, we can't allow our elected representatives to legislate out of emotion, and we all must not follow a path that fear sends us down; we must demand accountability.

Americans can, and will, respond appropriately when told the truth, and Americans' will follow leadership as long as leaders put the cards on the table. In other words, the time has come for the "rest of the story." Never again should we lay blame for our questionable decision making processes at the doorstep of "bad intelligence."

Our children and grandchildren deserve better than dejÀ vu. Due them a favor. Contact your elected representatives and tell them "thanks, but no thanks" at www.congress.org.

Jim Gries

Weeki Wachee

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