Posted: Thursday, March 13, 2008 12:00 am
Economy in trouble because of spending
I think most of us agree that the economy is in trouble mostly because the government is over-spending.
To resolve this, we could improve the cost-effectiveness of programs, increase revenues and/or cut spending.
Could our government really manage our money more effectively?
Not likely since it has yet to happen. Taxes could be raised. But this would have to be for most taxpayers to raise much revenue.
Spending could be reduced. Easier said than done. The bulk of government spending is for social programs.
Discretionary spending is a relatively small fraction of the budget.
People benefiting from social programs view the benefits as rights, making them virtually impossible to cut or stabilize.
Thus, the budget keeps expanding. If this trend continues, there will not be enough productive people to take care of those who are not.
What can be done? Currently, all we hear are calls to raise taxes on the rich and cut military spending. This would not be enough to do the job of balancing the budget.
What we really need is a radical change in attitude by all Americans away from dependence on government to self-reliance and personal responsibility.
We should embody John F. Kennedy's directive, "Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country."
Government programs should be remodeled and designed to give people better opportunities to make better decisions while discouraging dependency.
Many folks are calling for "change." Let's do it.
Chuck Lane, Blodgett
State workers get the high-paying jobs
We can see that Gov. Kulongoski is more concerned on giving the heads of government agencies large raises and smaller raises to the working class in government. He is all for giving the schools more and more money per year.
Benefits consisting of paid vacation, sick leave, family leaves, insurance benefits for complete families, pension contributions paid in full, for school employees and all government workers. If the cost per month for those extra benefits were added up it would be more than some people make on their jobs with no benefits.
Reading about the homeless and DHS being understaffed, I can see the scale is really heavy on one side.
We give out a lot of help for illegals here but we should be taking care of our own people first.
Somewhere the top wage scale should stop and no cost of living should be added each year. In order to pay those high wages we are seeing our roads deteriorating, building being ignored for needed repairs. Maintenance is a mainstay of keeping things in good order.
But if our tax money is used to create high-paying wage jobs and benefits pretty soon there is no money left to do the work.
City, county, and state governments need to look at what is happening around them to a lot of people who aren't lucky enough to be government workers with all the benefits. The scale needs to be leveled out
A.L. Johnston, Philomath
Punish those behind abuse of animals
A video made by the Humane Society of the United States revealed workers dragging and rolling downed (sick) dairy cows with forklift. Rendered helpless, these cows were sprayed in the face with a high pressure hose ("cow waterboarding," says the Humane Society) and shocked over and over again, along with other abuses, in order to make them stand up to be slaughtered.
These practices are illegal under federal law, along with the slaughter of "downer" cows, which may have a higher risk of disease, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Even so, our constitutional right to freedom of speech via the media was compromised by President Bush back in 1996 when we signed in to the Animal Enterprises Terrorism Act.
This law targets actions considered "damaging" to animal enterprises, including economic damages, making whistle blower videos illegal, with extensive sentences, including life in prison.
But, if the Humane Society video hadn't been made, and made public, neither would have national headlines, nor would it have led to a massive product recall of meat to the National School Lunch Program, and operations at Westland Meat Company would not have been suspended.
The perpetrators of these heinous crimes deserve punishment equal to their crimes, with just as extensive sentences as those imposed by the Animal Enterprises Terrorism Act, not a temporary paid leave of absence for the company veterinarian and floor inspector.
Kay Sams, Philomath
Gets facts straight on college athletics
It's time somebody says something about these people who thinks that the OSU athletic department should be abolished.
My favorite is the one from Martin Mulford ("UO athletic director's gift helps athletics," March 6) that says, in a nutshell, that being a student and a athlete doesn't make any sense.
Instead of writing in the paper, why doesn't he go up to the athletic department and ask them?
Go ask the players. In fact go ask the ex-players at both OSU and UO. Oh by the way; go and ask where the coaches' salaries come from.
A lot of the salaries come from boosters.
And the kids (except the walk-ons), their scholarships comes from the above mentioned boosters. You can probably ask them some questions too.
Wasn't the Reser Stadium expansion paid by fundraising?
I'm not saying that state money is not involved in athletics, all I'm saying is this:
Get your facts straight.
Glen Ashworth, Lebanon