Citizens will rue massive spending by government

Lee Schmidt, Hermitage



Our government enjoys complete control of our money supply, interest rates and credit markets. In a free society, government must either borrow to fund itself or force a tax increase. 

Unfortunately, our government can simply print more money or write a check against the Federal Reserve. 

The only backing of these checks is our nation’s “good faith,” given that we no longer honor a gold standard.

The essence is that government spending is unchecked by “we, the people.”

They don’t need our permission to increase social programs, give to other nations, the International Monetary Fund, World Bank or perpetuate war.

Effects of this are everywhere. Prices rise in response to massive spending and inflation. 

We’ve become a nation of borrowers and spenders. (Why save when our money will be worth less in the future?)  

We are obsessed with youth at the expense of the elderly. (Who acknowledges the wisdom of our elders or chooses to visit them where we hide them?) 

We have become apathetic about the future. We pay for homes and cars with giant loans and little money down. Fewer people attend church.  And the litany goes on.

We aren’t learning from the past. History is rife with nations debasing their money at the expense of the general public and paying their favorites with inflated money or simply lining the public coffers.

Governments eventually force us to barter with this inflated “monopoly” money.  We are permitted no choice.  Why? Because to allow any alternative would undermine their ability to spend unchecked.

No one should wonder at the motivation of Washington, D.C. politicians. 

It is simply ego and power — purchased with money created out of thin air which devalues what each of us has spent a lifetime of hard work to save.

We should be careful what we wish for; more government will mean that we will have less money in our pockets and the inevitable economic crises which follow will cause them to take more regulatory control of business.

It won’t stop there.  

We will find them prying into the daily decisions that make up how each of us works and lives, regardless of political affiliation. 



Global warming claims not credible to some

Janice Gill, Mercer



Both the Environmental Protectiona Agency and Al Gore have been dishonest when it comes to global warming. The global coolingof 2008 proves them wrong, in my opinion.

Now the EPA threatens our already bad economy by announcing threats.

They want new rules that will definitely have a devastating impact on the economy now and for future generations.

Over 650 dissenting international scientists and the founder of the Weather Channel have all said there is no truth to global warming. I believe them.

The EPA must be stopped. Gore should return the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize and both should be held accountable for their dishonesty.



School district had alternatives to $52,000 piano

Tom Bayus, Hermitage

 

Many people have asked why my company, Valley Piano & Organ, didn’t bid on the grand piano purchased by Hermitage School District. I was not asked to bid.

Officials said said they advertised in two newspapers. I didn’t see them but that’s not what the procedure has been during my 25 years doing business in this valley.

Standard procedure has been for districts to mail dealers a request for their bid. Then sealed bids are opened at a board meeting with the bid being awarded to the lowest bidder.

I don’t know of any dealer who looks for school piano bids on a daily basis in their newspaper. In my opinion, a very weak effort was made to get competing bids. My biggest complaint is that no school official even made an effort to see what I could offer as an alternative to $52,500 on a used piano. 

Yamaha, Kawai, Baldwin and Estonia are all concert-grade pianos that could have been purchased new for about half of that price.  Any one of these would have provided years of use.

Last December, the district’s old piano was deemed unusable. 

I gave them a Yamaha grand to use and moved their old grand to storage, all free of charge. 

My company has never turned down a request for a donation, ads in programs or free service when they were in need.

I would think, out of sheer decency, the district would have made some effort to deal with a local business that pays local taxes and employs local people with families to support.

Obviously, the powers that be in the district felt otherwise.

I notified the district three weeks ago that I had a new grand piano that I’d like them to look at. 

No one ever came and no one returned my call.

The board is accountable to the taxpayers. If taxpayers are OK with spending this amount of money on a used piano for the high school auditorium from a dealer nearly 100 miles away, then so be it.  I will live with that.