Letters 2/6 - Letters - bnd.com

The problem runs much deeper than Republican versus Democrat, urban versus rural, or upstate versus downstate. The problem is that we, the people, keep putting tax-and-spend types in office. We then demand more funding for particular programs and entitlements. The increased expenses are hidden in deferred debt, inflated income and savings projections, "off-budget" items, tax and fee increases, increased borrowing, and other measures.

We, the people, need to, a) demand fiscal accountability of our representatives, b) demand an end to smoke and mirrors by putting the state budgeting process on a cash basis rather than the all-too-easy-to-subvert accrual accounting basis, and finally, c) realize that we can't have our economic cake and eat it too without our children paying the piper when it all comes due.

I propose that the state accounting system be changed to a cash basis immediately. Will there be pain? Yes. Will people get hurt? Yes!. Will the alternative of "business as usual" be better? No.

Prosperity cannot be taxed into existence.

Hey, federal government: Enough already.

Recently, it was reported that U.S. Rep. Jerry Costello secured a $3 million grant for East St. Louis to rehire firefighters. There is a multi-million dollar plan to rejuvenate the Arch grounds.

Stop spending money we don't have. Other communities survive with volunteer firefighters. Perhaps East St. Louis could try this.

The Arch grounds could be improved, but why does it need to be so elaborate?

I know this may be a new concept to our representatives, but let's try some responsible spending.

I read with amazement the comments of our politicians. The deficit that was caused by Democrats is causing them to talk about Social Security cuts again.

Social Security is the only government-initiated program that halfway works. If Social Security is in danger of default, cut out the people who were not supposed to be given money. I would like to have a politician say some time that only if we cut our welfare will we be a stable nation again.

I know Illinois will never have the intestinal fortitude to cut people from welfare rolls or make them take a drug test like Missouri is proposing because the state would have to remove a bunch of caseworkers and there goes all those votes.

How about abolishing foreign aid to Egypt and Africa? That would go a long way to cutting the deficit. Stop borrowing money from China then giving the money to foreign countries. What a deal.

I would like to see a two-term limit for all politicians and no pension. People who want to be public servants should not expect to be elected for 20 years and then get a nice retirement. Public service would be just that, not a career for life (Sen. Dick Durbin, Rep. Jerry Costello).

Oh well, I guess there isn't anything I said that hasn't been said before, but it was a nice thought. What a country.

East St. Louis' lost the Emergency Disaster Agency (EDA) due to the incompetent hiring of a family member. The loss of the East St. Louis Housing Authority contract for "police monitoring" was a lack of performance.

In return, the city increased the tax on food that local businesses sell. They have added a $25 charge to residents' alarm service in order for them to remain secure in their homes. Seniors are now a crime target, with a businessman robbed twice last year, an elderly woman murdered in her home and a man beaten in his yard.

The fear an alderman showed with just a threat, allowing him to have a police escort, is nothing in comparison to the attacks on our seniors.

Look at the elected officials representing the city. Who are they representing? If they represented the city, it would be a clean and safe environment with code enforcement and police protection, same as our neighboring communities.

Residents of East St. Louis deserve more than what the city leaders have offered for the last two decades.

Voters should take a good look at the independent candidates.

Loren Klaus in a letter Jan. 23 accused columnist Peggy Noonan of "standing by her man" in reference to President Obama. Klaus neglected to mention, or doesn't know, that Noonan is a lifelong Republican and was the speech writer for Ronald Reagan. Klaus claims Sarah Palin (the woman who didn't know whether Africa is a continent or a country, writes notes on her palm, makes up words then compares herself to Shakespeare) is "the most accomplished graduate of Boise State." If anyone believes that, Boise State may encounter some recruitment problems.

Every now and then a letter appears written by someone who has just recently learned a fact that has been well-known for many years. I suppose this is what would qualify as an "unknown-known," or what former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld called: "Things we don't know that we know."

A recent letter about the Bakken Range in the western United States holding billions of barrels of oil is one of these. This has been well-known, as have other reserves or for that matter, the oil reserves in Southern and Southeast Illinois.

My family was told 50 years ago about oil on a farm they owned near Swanwick. The problem was that the cost to extract it exceeded the price it could be sold for. That was the problem with the Bakken Range until recently. When oil sold for $20 a barrel (or less) it just could not be recovered cost-effectively.

But now, with oil nearing $100 a barrel again, with Big Oil fighting tooth and nail to keep ethanol and nitrogen off the market and with virtually no Big Oil outlets making electric recharging available, it "suddenly" has become cost-effective to recover the oil.

But it still will not be easy. It is embedded in "oil shale rock" and the process to get real oil from it is difficult, time-consuming and expensive. But as long as we refuse to conserve and remain addicted to fossil fuels, it may now be one of our last choices. Regardless, the supply is not infinite.

The U.S. Senate has shirked its responsibility to the American people far too long in not doing anything to even try to fix the myriad of problems facing the country. Fifty-one votes is all it should take to pass a bill in the Senate.

The filibuster rules have been used and abused hundreds of times in just the last two years. That must stop now. If members have a problem with proposed legislation, they have a right to stand up and speak out against it with no limit on time for their objections.

However, they should and must actually take the floor and voice their positions until they have said all they have to say. Then a vote must be taken -- and the majority rules. Senators should be statesmen and negotiators. Maybe if we paid our senators based on the success of the economy and our government, they might begin working to get things done.

The HB 750 tax increase legislation put my little gray cells to work. As the result of tax increases, jobs will be severely impacted. The corporate tax increased by 30 percent, and Illinois is now the fourth-highest corporate income tax state in the United States. To make it clearer: Only three states hate corporations more than the Illinois' elected officials.

Higher taxes result in higher priced products and services.

Corporations do not pay taxes; it is just another business expense and is passed on to the consumer. When you increase production costs, the product price increases, requiring tough corporate decisions. One option is to relocate overseas.

We have what is laughingly called business subjects at Belleville high schools, but they have failed to perform in a similar manner as the overpaid, underworked, dare I call them teachers did by their failure to prepare our children to enter college.

Have you discussed basic economics with a 35-year-old lately? One in four can, and the rest will become wage slaves. The majority of our graduates are not smart enough to know they are stupid. Now the good news: From the majority will come the next crop of teachers, as apparently it has in the past.

The Belle Valley School Board policy directs board members not to answer, at anytime or place, questions of concerned citizens. All questions must be directed to the superintendent.

This policy is to guard board members from exposing their lack of knowledge of even the most basic issues. They would rather suppress the individual rights of citizens to ask questions than smarten up.

I find the two male board members' attitudes particularly troubling. One is an African-American. His race has been exploited for centuries. Surely in his lifetime he has experienced prejudice and even exclusion. If anyone should be sensitive to ensuring individual rights, it should be him. Unfortunately, individual rights don't seem to be a concern of his.

The other male board member is retired from the military. In my five-year military commitment, I found military members to be very sensitive in the understanding of their mission: the protection of rights and freedom.

So, it is disappointing to see a former military member abusing his role.

As Southwestern Illinois works to rebound from the recession, Springfield has no problem allowing business and tax dollars to flow right over the border and into Missouri.

Already, Illinois' tax-and-spend ways drove a net of 27,428 residents to Missouri between 1995 and 2007. According to the IRS, these people took with them more than $3.47 billion in adjusted gross income during those years -- money that could have been spent at local businesses, helping fuel our state's economy.

The recently passed tax increases will only serve to solidify Illinois' reputation as an anti-business, anti-taxpayer state.

Springfield is working against our economic recovery. Lawmakers need to know: Enough is enough.

If you are as concerned as I am about the direction this state is moving in, join me in pushing lawmakers to repeal the tax increases by signing a petition, available at www.repealthe

taxhike.com.

Director of Policy, Illinois Policy Institute, Springfield

The president and his administration are so out of touch with the American people, it is scary. Not sure where he gets his information, but to say the least they should be fired.

The State of the Union address only confirms all the more that he has no idea how to run a country. Big government does nothing but cost the taxpayers more money.

The private sector makes it happen. And if it fails, then let it fail. No bailouts.

Hard work, saving and making good choices are why people make it. Government handouts and debt-burdening bills, like government health care, are tearing this country down. It is all for the sake of a few political promises and paybacks that he will certainly become the worst president this country has ever had.

The president's heart is cold and hard. Does he love this country? I truly believe he cannot by what is represented in his actions.

We need a president who believes that "winning the future" means not killing the future's leaders. In the last two years, the administration has done more to promote the taking of life than the protection of it. For every empty chair left by the Tucson tragedy, there are millions more that could have been filled by children destroyed under his watch.

While he highlighted Arizona's heartbreak more than once, he missed the opportunity to mention another -- the brutal murders in Philadelphia, where abortionist Kermit Gosnell thrived under policies that Obama's administration makes possible.

President Obama and those who elected him are often blamed by hypocrites for our economic and unemployment problems. Obama inherited a gigantic mess and was forced into emergency spending to avoid a major depression.

In the past decade, the Bush administration turned President Clinton's record surpluses into record deficits and mired us in a deadly quagmire in Iraq on false premises.

Ten years of tax cuts for millionaires and billionaires have resulted in millions of jobs going overseas, have forced formerly well-paid workers into a low pay, low benefit Wal-Mart economy.

Hypocrites are quick to blame Clinton and NAFTA for these job losses. Clinton had trade restrictions in place to protect American jobs. They went out the window in the name of free enterprise when the inept cowboy took over.

The Bush administration grew government 40 percent, which was more than any administration since Franklin D. Roosevelt. The 673,000 private sector jobs were lost and 2 million government jobs were created during that time.

These jobs were in No Child Left Behind, Homeland Security, TSA, the Iraq War, the Afghanistan War, Medicare Part D, the 2002 Farm Bill and the 2005 Highway Bill.

Hypocrites Eric Cantor, John Boehner, Paul Ryan, John Shimkus and Mitch McConnell voted for all of this government expansion and deregulation of our financial institutions. Now these hypocrites want to balance the budget on the backs of the middle class and poor. What's new?

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