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Hernando Today

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: September 30, 2008

Political System Broken

Re: Frances Earl's column in the Sept. 25 edition of Hernando Today.

I find it interesting that she blames the Republicans for this financial mess while claiming the Republicans are going to blame the Democrats. Isn't that what politicians do? Unfortunately, lately, that seems to be all they do no matter what party they belong to. Rather than solve problems, they spend all their time pushing the blame on the other party.

This financial mess didn't start last week, last month or last year and I can assure you that cutting taxes didn't cause it! It was caused by greedy, dishonest people who lined their pockets from false profits and paid the politicians with these false profits to keep their mouths shut. (Check out the list of names that received money from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.)

Oh, by the way, Ms. Earl, the $700-plus billion is going to come from the same place as the $500 or $600-plus billion that Sen. Barack Obama promised to give away on "60 Minutes" Sunday night. (That's on tape.) We, the citizens are going to pay, yes you and me! And, yes, one of Obama's promises was to give a tax cut to 95 percent of all Americans, which would help stimulate the economy. (My, doesn't that sound a lot like trickle down economics? No it couldn't be!)

If you really are calling Patriots, why not attack what's causing the problem - the system, the broken political system?

Jim Keller

Spring Hill

McCain Puts Country First

The economic melt-down prompted Sen. John McCain to put country first and return to Washington to fulfill his primary duty as an elected U.S. Senator.

Sen. Barack Hussein Obama first said he was going to continue with his campaign, dithered a bit, then reluctantly decided to go to Washington so he could at least vote "present" when a decision is made.

As for all the silliness about McCain wanting to avoid the scheduled debate, McCain has repeatedly asked Obama to join him in a series of town-hall meetings around the country to answer questions directly from the voters. Obama has, of course, declined. He isn't much good without a teleprompter, and those Greek columns are kind of heavy to move!

Anne Lossing

Spring Hill

Ethical Bankruptcy

If everyone paid their mortgage, would we have a problem? Answer: No.

So, solve this problem. Non-performing mortgages are in three categories:

1. Owner occupied - Lose job, unexpected. This class exists at all times and is really only marginally higher now.

2. Owner occupied - Ignorant, under-qualified. This class was born recently with loose lending rules. Responsibility is vertical here, including the adult who signed the loan papers without reading. Solve in case-by-case basis, perhaps with judge and ability to renegotiate.

3. Investors - Newbies trying to get rich, with resales and others buying a dozen homes. These people all have money, plenty to pay up. Of course, once they pay up they'll be broke. C'est la vie - that's business.

My point is that our problem is ethical bankruptcy, not financial.

Jim Mastro

Brooksville

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