Letters to the Editor Policy

Propose A National Initiative

What politician has the courage to propose national initiative? That is the process whereby any taxpaying citizen can, given enough signatures on a petition, get something put on the ballot and once voted on and passed, carry the full weight of law. The US Congress can not seem to get their act together, so they apparently need us to do it for them. The ballot box is the perfect way to do it.

I propose that once such initiative would be law, that we as citizens vote to: 1. Cap all Federally elected and appointed officials salaries at $45K per year. 2. Ban all excessive perks, like free gas, WAM money, etc. 3. Abolish all duplicate departments and programs that the states simply do not need. 4. Establish term limits on all Federally elected officials. Ponzi Scheme like Duplicate Federal departments and programs really do nothing but give us the privilege of paying for the FED to give out political jobs in D.C. to the tune of around 50 billion dollars in operating costs alone for each department, each year. The excessive perks above the salaries and health care of our elected officials cost us around 5.5 million dollars for each elected official every single year. The total savings to the taxpaying citizens of this country would be right around $900 billion dollars a year, and there would be no interruption of services. Think about it: Why do we need anywhere from 7-10 departments doing the same exact job?

Keeping the powers of government separate, combined with keeping the balance of governmental power local is key to fixing the mess the FED created over the last 50 years. Think about it: What better accountability than having to face the people you elect every day on the street? This one is obvious. To balance out government, we must demand that each level keep to their own job and not overlap. The Fed is to focus on running the military, securing our borders, national security, restoring our dollar value, foreign affairs, etc. State, County and local government do the rest. We do not need 5 different levels of government shuffling paper for the same exact job and costing us big to do it. Simply send the tax money directly to the places it is supposed to go. The Fed can establish 1 auditing office and do their yearly audits to insure accountability of taxpayer funds. The technology is here to do it at comparatively little cost, and do it efficiently. This stuff does not take a PhD. to figure out.

Is there any US Senator or US Congress-person out there with the courage to propose this?

Sincerely,
Barney Wilkins
Gibson Twp., PA

Fact Or Gossip?

This is the fourth letter I have written expressing my views and concerns about the commissioners and our county. I have tried very hard not to single anyone out or to go overboard by trying to impose my opinions upon you. In the past I have tried to inform you of events that I felt were important to you and our county. Anyone who would like to verify my words would find they are a matter of record. You might ask yourself why no one has challenged my words in writing. This brings us to the gossip hotline. They would never dispute my words in a letter to the editor. If they did, they undoubtedly believe that they would appear to be guilty. That’s where the twenty-four seven gossip-hotline comes into play. The only recourse, those that I write about have, is to start some juicy gossip to discredit me and leave the rest to the minds of those who are interested in the various forms of organic fertilizer. In this case, the gossip is not working. More and more people are becoming interested in our local government and recognizing that, “We the People” are the government and the politicians are our employees. My friends tell me that most of the gossip lately isn’t about me, but has shifted to the commissioners.

When I am foolish enough to make a mistake with my vote, that’s my problem. When someone else makes a mistake, or not, that affects my vote, that I don’t like. I think for historical value, someone should check the number of valid signatures on the nomination petitions for commissioner. I understand that no official is required to do that. We may find that many of our votes were wasted because of a sacrificial candidate. As voters, it seems that when we make mistakes it is in terms of two, four or more years. After the Primary a local newspaper stated that concerning the commissioner’s race, the fall ballot was set. It may surely be set in ink, but not in stone. The fall election may bring other choices, rather than making the same mistakes over again.

The oath of public office states in part, “I will discharge the duties of my office with fidelity,” meaning trust. We can trust our commissioners to take legal action against us using county resources, to put the county in a position to be sued and finance the action with taxpayer money. I wonder what we can’t trust them to do.

The commissioners have been in office long enough to do whatever good they have done. Now, it is time for them to go. This is our opportunity to create a government that recognizes, “We the People” are its creators.

Sincerely,
David L. Walters
Hop Bottom, PA

President Chicken Little

Last week the President of the United States told the seniors (I’m one of them) that their August Social Security checks may not be forthcoming. The big, bad Republicans refused to 1. Compromise, 2. Be balanced, 3. Refuse to raise taxes on the successful among us, 4. Refused to raise the debt ceiling beyond the 2012 election. Because of their intransigence, we are told, the United States was going to default on the national debt and the country, as we know it, is going to fall off the face of the earth. Today (Thursday), we learned that the sworn, immutable, drop dead date of August 2 is not really the drop dead date after all. Furthermore, there will still be enough money coming in to 1. Pay Social Security, 2. Pay the troops, 3. Service the debt and much more. We do borrow forty cents on every we (the USA) spend, and it must stop. The president, earlier this year called for a “clean bill.” Now doesn’t that sound neat. However, a clean bill is a euphemism for continued spending at the same reckless pace as he spent last year. Fortunately, for me, you, our children and grandchildren, Speaker of the House, John Boehner, with relentless pressure from the Tea Party freshmen, has stayed the course and refused to continue on this path to calamity. As of today, there is a good chance that the House will pass the Boehner bill, calling for more cuts than debt ceiling increase. At best, it is a meager cut at our serious spendthrift addiction but it may be the best bill achievable under the circumstances. But, halleluiah, it does show that you are all listening at last and are realizing the corrosive effect of deficit spending ad nauseam. If not now, when?

Seniors - take a step back and consider how we have contributed to this problem. More than any other group, we elected again and again those politicians who promised something for which somebody else was going to have to pay. Worse yet, the worst of us, those who were quite content to feed at the public trough, sold our votes and future to the highest political bidder. There is no such thing as a free lunch - maybe today but not for all tomorrows. The obscene part of this is that we readily sold our prodigy’s future for our present. Shame on us. Today, those on the government teat are approaching half of the electorate. When they become the majority, the United States of America, as we have known it, will cease to exist. Winston Churchill said: “Socialism is a philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and the gospel of envy, its inherent virtue is the equal sharing of misery.” We’re not quite there but, we’re running out of options. Stand up and swallow the medicine. I am ready, it won’t be pretty, how about you?

Sincerely,
Joe McCann
Elk Lake, PA

How Do You Measure Misery?

How do Americans feel about their lives, their prospects, the economy? How would you measure these intangibles? Perhaps a poll? But that would be too subjective. Ask a thousand people how they feel one day and the next day the result might be entirely different. What was needed was a reliable and objective way to gauge the nation's mood.

The problem was solved by economist Arthur Okun. Okum simply added the unemployment rate and the inflation rate. A low sum reflects generally good conditions; a high number indicates social dissatisfaction. Okun called it the Misery Index (MI).

So what is the MI of America? To answer this question we need to take a historical look at MI numbers.

The average MI for the twenty years between 1980 and 1999 is 11. President Bush's average after his first term in office was a commendable 7.53. His second term MI average of 8.44 crept up a bit but still showed favorable domestic conditions.

This brings us to President Obama.

Obama's first three years showed a disturbing trend: 2008 = 9.61; 2009 = 8.92; and 2010 = ll.28. Comparing his first year with his last showed an increase of 17 percent.

Nevertheless, this year's MI monthly average from January to June of 11.8 is inline with the average of the past two decades and not alarming. However, June's MI of 12.76 is a little high but no cause for concern.

But Gerald Celente takes strong exception: there is, in his opinion, cause for concern. Celente is the founder of the Trends Research Institute and publisher of the Trends Journal. His forecasts of business, socioeconomic conditions, and political developments have proved amazingly accurate.

“Everything is not all right,” says Celente, “and things are going to get worse - much worse. The economy is on the threshold of calamity.”

Celente continued, “We are going to have much higher prices. We are having serious inflation, which is going to get worse, and we have a government that is spending staggering amounts of money.”

But why the disparity between Obama's acceptable MI of 11.8 and Celeste’s dire views? The reasons have to do with the way the government computes unemployment and inflation. And something called quantitative easing or QE.

Since 1994, the government no longer counts unemployed workers who have exhausted their unemployment benefits and remain unemployed. According to shadowstats.com the real rate of unemployment is not the official 9.2 percent or 13.9 million people but 22.7 percent or 34.7 million citizens permanently out of work. The difference between 13.9 million and 34.7 million represents 20.8 million workers erased off the government's unemployment role.

As for inflation, Shadow Statistics calculates the Consumer Price Index the way it was originally figured by the government in 1990. It computes inflation at 11.2 percent versus the government's 3.6 percent.

Using Shadow stats of 22.7 percent unemployment and 11.2 percent inflation gives a MI of 33.9 - almost twice the number of any year since records were first kept in 1948.

QE has also contributed to inflation. QE is a way the central bank or fed injects money into the economy in the hope of stimulating growth. It does this by creating U.S. currency ex nihilo (“out of nothing”) by buying U.S. bonds. This enables the federal government to borrow more and spend more.

The fed has done this twice. QE 1 pumped $1.7 trillion into the economy. And QE 2 swelled the money supply with $2 trillion. Yet they failed to lift the nation out of its economic doldrums but were successful in fueling inflation. Now there's talk of QE 3.

So here the sordid tale ends with the government cooking the books with illusionary unemployment and inflation stats, and the fed printing monopoly money. And the U.S. consumer? He's crunched between having money with shrinking buying power on one side and rising prices on the other side. And the MI index? It's on its way to the moon.

Houston, we have a problem.

Sincerely,
Bob Scroggins
New Milford, PA

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