Letters - Sunday
Blowing whistle on spending
Melissa Clymer wrote that Amy Lathen attempts to draw our attention away from budget issues within the county ("Where's the local concern?" Letters, June 29). Actually, Lathen has the financial sense to know that all government expenses affect our lives and financial health at every level. Unfortunately, many American voters don't know this simple truth. Any debt we incur affects us in every way. Our state, as well as our national government, have overspent and we are watching Gov. Bill Ritter scratch his head and decide where to make cuts as reality seeps in.
Nothing is free and whatever the politicians spend must come out of our pockets. It surely is not coming out of theirs. Everything will be paid for via higher prices on everything and higher taxes although many taxes are hidden. Cap-and-trade will be a ferociously expensive tax. High taxes on business are passed on to the consumer via price hikes ,and this is a job killer. It drives businesses out of the town, state and country .
Our children go to school up through college and don't learn solid economics or what keeps our system financially healthy. Our American journalists don't learn economics and lean left because they have never learned to question the cost of government that sounds warm and fuzzy. Lathen is warning us about the scary truth concerning our finances, and I am grateful for any politician who will honestly do this.
Donna Hartley, Black Forest
Lathen's comments make sense
Amen to Amy Lathen, the representative of District 2 ("Massive debt threatens freedom," Opinion, June 24). It was refreshing to read of a local commissioner who actually made sense in this time of political rhetoric that is, frankly, making all of us sick.
She stated facts about the American Bankruptcy Act (aka stimulus package) and if the states and counties accept this phony money it will only indebt us further to the federal government. Mainstream Americans do not want this dependency.
The only ones who want the government to take care of them are the ones who already are on the dole with them. We do not want a nanny state. Look where Medicaid, Medicare, Social Security, Fanny Mae and Freddy Mac, just to name a few agencies, have gotten us. Get a clue, people, the government does not care about you.
We can only take care of ourselves. Like Lathen alluded to in her piece, we must hold onto our freedom; too much blood, sweat, and tears have been shed to see it go down the toilet.
Sharon Rocchi, Colorado Springs
Malkin not part of solution
I doubt it is what syndicated columnist Michelle Malkin intended when she wrote her diatribe, "Health story you won't hear from the Obamas," in the June 21 Gazette, but she may have put her finger on one of the most critical elements of the health care debate.
Who does, can and will pay for the indigent and uninsured and when?
Someone does. We are all aware of that. We are also aware the indigent and uninsured do not and cannot seek care until they are critically ill and it becomes an emergency, as well as very expensive. Hospitals were shifting, or "dumping" patients as Malkin puts it, long before the Obamas. When Ronald Reagan signed the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act the practice just got sneakier without fixing anything. After all, the very nature of a for-profit business means profit is the bottom line and nonpaying patients interfere with profit. Even nonprofit hospitals are not expected to operate in the red.
I encourage Malkin to drop the inflammatory language and enter into a genuine discussion of what is wrong with the system and ways to fix it. Her continued bashing of the Obamas and what she refers to as the left-leaning lobbying groups does nothing to further rational discussion. Nor does she mention the massive lobbying of the health care provider industry.
Let us reason together about this very complex, complicated system, the escalating costs and the growing numbers of the indigent and uninsured.
Jean Hall, Colorado Springs
Senate should derail energy bill
The Preamble of our Constitution is being transformed from "We the people" to "We the government." We the people should demand much more objective analysis and debate than a one-day vote on the cap-and-trade bill presented by President Barack Obama and approved by the Democrats in the House of Representatives on June 26. Why should the government be allowed to pass such hasty legislation based on controversial claims of global warming? This legislation will damage our economy, take more money out of our pockets in the form of high energy taxes and restrict our choices.
Our last hope is to persuade our two senators to vote no on this bill and find better ways to transition from fossil fuels to nuclear, wind, solar or other forms of energy production.
I hope enough people will speak and the government will listen.
Mark Smith, Black Forest
