Letters: Our elected officials have let us down
Thursday, December 09, 2010
Unemployment is above 9 percent. Government services, such as police and fire departments, are being reduced. Future growth in Social Security and Medicare benefits is being reduced, but the costs of medical services and prescription drugs are increasing.
Shared services is the recommended way to go.
Our federal government is borrowing money from China to cover the red ink generated by Wall Street and manufacturers, for their past poor business decisions and executive bonuses.
Residents are unable to pay their mortgages and are losing their homes. When a child born today takes his or her first breath, he or she already owes the government $40,000 as a per capita share of federal debt.
World War II veterans are now 80-plus years old. Many of them are on fixed incomes that do not have a cost of living clause. Such clauses were not of prime interest when these pensions plans were designed 25 or 30 years ago, because inflation and living costs were under control.
Most retirees 25 or 30 years ago were not on maintenance medications, or only a couple of them. The same retirees today may be on 10 to 20 medications daily.
Back then, gasoline was 80 cents per gallon, and fuel oil was 60 cents per gallon. Today, gasoline is about $2.80, and fuel oil is $2.69. The news media remind us of new financial increases and complications for the average resident daily.
Our elected officials have either voted themselves salary increases or received automatic increases, not decreases. Their “golden fleece” programs far exceed Social Security and Medicare benefits for others. Their pensions, in many cases, come close to their annual salaries and have cost-of-living clauses.
Elected officials’ jobs have not been combined with additional responsibilities or eliminated. Their perks have only had minuscule reductions. They have not encountered a 9 percent unemployment rate among their ranks.
Government officials have not completed a final storage site for power plant nuclear waste that was supposed to be ready a decade ago. Yet, they support new nuclear power plants and electric cars.
Twelve percent of our electricity is generated from nuclear energy, 80 percent is from fossil fuels and 8 percent is from “green” energy. The cost for local storage of nuclear waste at power plants exceeds $10 billion a year, and is increasing every year.
Have our elected officials actually felt the same economy crunch as they recommend or have forced the public to accept? Their only economic concern appears to be their pockets.
Our elected officials are supposed to represent the public, not themselves or those who contributed to their campaigns. We, the public, pay their salaries and perks, and for their careless spending.
The United States comes first, not the political party or the politician.
Don’t spend more money than you take in.
Harrisonville