Letter to the Editor – Boeddeker-Genet
Dear Douglas County Herald:
For those of Douglas County who have an interest in our nation’s politics I give you the following quote: “The fact that we are here today to debate raising America’s debt limit is a sign of leadership failure. It is a sign that the US Government cannot pay its own bills. It is a sign that we now depend on ongoing financial assistance from foreign countries to finance our Government’s reckless fiscal policies. Increasing America’s debt weakens us domestically and internationally. Leadership means that, ‘the buck stops here.’ Instead, Washington is shifting the burden of bad choices today onto the backs of our children and grandchildren. America has a debt problem and a failure of leadership. Americans deserve better.” –Senator Barack H. Obama, March 2006.
Apparently there has been a mind change in D.C. or something like the complete opposite of the above quote was planned beforehand as reckless fiscal policies continue to bankrupt our nation, our future, and our children. Wake up people, things are NOT getting better. Nazism, Communism, Socialism – none are for free people!
Some things seem mighty strange to me. For instance, how was it that the day we were told the government was going to be shut down that in less than 8 hours of the shutdown, miraculously, professionally printed 3×4-foot signs appeared all over the country in the tens of thousands saying –this park, facility, etc., (with custom logos) closed due to government shutdown. There has not been a government shutdown in 17 years. These signs were designed, specifications were determined, signs were then requisitioned, bids were posted and vetted, and government contracts were awarded. The materials were then ordered and the signs manufactured then quietly (or sneakily) distributed through U.S. Mails or freight companies. The signs for this shutdown were orchestrated and planned well in advance at least 6-8 months ago, as that is how long it takes for the various government tail-dragging approvals. Millions of tax dollars were appropriated and spent in this process. There is a paper trail a mile long apparently leading directly to the White House. Is this the kind of leadership you want? Do you approve of your tax dollars being appropriated for and spent this way, as a political ploy?
How can the president of a major nation and society, the one with the most successful economic system in world history, stand and talk about business when he’s never worked for one? Or about jobs when he has never really had one? And when it’s the same for 92% of his senior staff and closest advisers? They’ve spent most of their time in academia, government and/or non-profit jobs or as “community organizers.” They should have been in an employment line.
Last month, the Senate Budget Committee reports that in fiscal year 2012, between food stamps, housing support, child care, Medicaid and other benefits, the average U.S. Household below the poverty line received $168 a day in government support. What’s the problem with that much support? Well, the median household income in America is just over $50,000, which averages out to $137.13 a day. To put it another way, being on welfare now pays the equivalent of $30 an hour for a 40-hour week, while the average job pays $20 an hour. Yes, this came from an Internet source.
On a totally different subject, when was it decided and who made it mandatory that women should wear skirts and men should wear trousers (Scotland excepted!) This has been the way seemingly since infinity until about the 1940’s in this country when women were doing jobs of men in factories and found the freedom of trousers. There are still some elements in our present society that mandate women must wear skirts. All through my school years girls had to wear skirts, regardless the weather. There is a lot of overblown junk going on about racism but this issue speaks to sexism. These are just some thoughts of an old lady.
Carol Boeddeker-Genet
Dogwood, Mo.
