Published: October 08, 2008 12:41 am            

Letters to the editor - wednesday, Oct. 8, 2008

Time to get used to totalitarianism

In a past age, people sought to improve their lives by making a voyage to the New World. Those who could not afford their passage made arrangements with others who could pay their way. In order to repay their debt, they agreed to work for a specified amount of time to work it off. Through this system of indentured servitude, many individuals and families were able to both work off their debt and improve their lives.

In our own time, a new form of indentured servitude has arisen. Instead of making arrangements to work off the debts incurred, some individuals and businesses seek to shift the burden of their debt onto the backs of their financially responsible neighbors. Those who have chosen to live responsibly, not incur unmanageable debt, and save for their future are the citizens who are saddled with the debt of others through taxpayer-funded bailouts. These are the new indentured servants.

Politicians should just drop the act and force everyone to be put on the government payroll. That way they can pay what they think everyone should be paid and tax away as much as they want. Totalitarianism. Might as well get used to it. In spite of what we think, that’s the system of government that our politicians insist is best for us today.

Charles A. Layne

Bunker Hill

An apology for a beating

Editor’s note: The undersigned’s legal counsel asked that we publish the following apology. Its publication is a condition of a plea agreement.

I write this public apology for my actions on May 2, 2007, where I hit Derek Windell, causing him severe injury. The events in this case did not arise from any actions whatsoever of Derek Windell nor did they occur because of any racial issues. Again, I am very sorry for my actions and wish to make this public apology to Derek Windell and his family.

Austin Harris

Financial crisis far from over

While Big Oil is gouging consumers at the pump, Capitol Hill is in the process of dropping a $700 billion bombshell on taxpayers. Corruption has strangled the life out of Wall Street through the unregulated home mortgage system, and now taxpayers are needed to buy the golden parachutes to save the fat cats.

The sharks were back on the job last Monday, forcing oil prices up $25 per barrel in one day.

This $700 billion bailout is a direct result of President Clinton’s scheme to redistribute the people’s wealth. In 1995 Clinton deregulated the home mortgage industry and set up a system that mandated Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to make home loans to unqualified borrowers. His scheme created a short-term economic boom as the home building industry soared, but also created a slow-motion disaster. The chickens have now come home to roost, as hundreds of thousands of home mortgages that before 1995 would never have been made are defaulting.

Corruption took center stage in the financial world. CEOs loaded up and got out of town before the scandal broke. The key players were President Clinton, Attorney General Janet Reno, HUD Secretary Andrew Cuomo, Treasury Secretary Robert Ruben and Fannie Mae CEO Franklin Raines.

George Bush and Congress did nothing to stop this growing cancer until 2005. Bush tried in 2005 but House Finance Committee Chairman Barney Frank stopped the effort saying that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were in fine shape.

Capitol Hill’s policies are never to intervene as long as the fat cats are doing well. When the consumers are being robbed at the gas pumps, that’s just supply and demand controlling the market.

This financial crisis is not over. Inflation could spiral out of control, or foreign countries could pull their money back home. I expect this election will be just another game of Russian roulette with the gun pointed at the head of the American taxpayer.

Ondis Brantley

Russiaville

Joe Donnelly fights for us

We are now less than 40 days away from an election that will quickly define the future of Kokomo and the security of our jobs. This year has been especially rough on the hard working men and women of Kokomo. Plants continue to close and the future of good paying jobs doesn’t look bright.

There is one last hope that I and others can hold onto during this rough time: Congressman Joe Donnelly. Joe visits Kokomo regularly and is the most approachable congressman we’ve ever had. He listens to the people of Kokomo and I know that he takes our concerns to Washington, where he fights on our behalf to make sure our jobs aren’t shipped overseas and our plants remain open.

In this election, no matter your politics, there is one candidate who represents all of us and is the clear choice. We can’t afford to lose Congressman Donnelly or else we stand to lose one of the strongest advocates for the middle class and for hard working Hoosiers.

Jim Main Jr.

Kokomo

        

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