I was dismayed by all the letters in the current issue of the Courier that are blaming Obama for the problems we have that will take time to remedy, considering all the problems he faced after eight years of Bush.
He is being blamed for gasoline prices which he does not control. Dealers will tell you that those prices were charged because of speculation in the fuel markets.
That certainly impacted many businesses.
We certainly have an unemployment problem, but before Bush left office, we were hemorrhaging jobs in the hundreds of thousands.
During his tenure, the corrupt mortgage market, untethered by regulations, which Republicans would love to remove in so many areas, created the disaster that is still plaguing us. That killed the building industry.
American businesses had a field day taking jobs to other countries. No penalties for big business, whose only motive is profit. There was no law that penalized outsourcing of jobs. More jobs lost.
Bush and his neo-cons waged two extremely expensive wars without budgeting for them, so of course we had to borrow to pay for them. Do you remember that we were not attacked, we were so fast on the trigger because these
neo-cons could not wait for more inspections and discussions.
And there is a strong suspicion that Cheney and Halliburton were the main benefactors.
I think those who use the word socialism very loosely to apply to programs that this very rich nation could well afford are so wrong.
If any of you can remember and understand that we are in great danger of returning to the ills of the Great Depression which inspired Franklin Roosevelt to create the New Deal, I urge you to exert some real effort to find out what he accomplished.
In part, ironically, he was inspired to listen to a great Socialist who ran for president several times, but never won. At the end of his life, many recognized that what he advocated had been the basis of many successful programs, none of which can be labeled as socialistic.
As to the myth that we need to spend more money for the military, please consider the following information. Our total defense expenditures are greater than the total spent by the next ten nations in the world! If you look back to General Dwight Eisenhower, who led the world’s forces to victory in WWII, you must remember that upon leaving the presidency, he warned us to beware of the military-industrial complex.
He knew that it would make us spend too much, buy enormously expensive equipment that even the generals did not want. Lobbyists are always at work to influence increases in such spending to make rich people richer. For example, find out how many nuclear weapons we have, and then ask how many could destroy the entire earth. We have more than enough.
I dread the possibility of repeal of Obamacare. As I have said before, we need a healthy populace and that will never be achieved with the wasteful, inefficient and heartless system we are trying to replace. Many problems were created by the thirst of private insurers who wanted to reap profit from what should be a human right, so the law had to include expenses that we do not need.
Again, I urge you to do some real study of the complexities and realize that the public will not stand for the abolition of Obamacare.
And to those trigger-happy neo-cons, the nation is sick of war, so decide to negotiate. Intelligent, tolerant, patient negotiation does not draw blood. I mourn deeply the loss of the fine young men and women who will not be able to contribute to our country.
There so much more to discuss and clarify. I am tired and so fearful that our electorate will vote for Romney. Despite his assurances that he has great plans, please consider who will be advising him, for example, Borg, Cheney, Rove, Sununu, parade of the most severely conservative people in this nation and see whom he has supported to be members of Congress. Some show such tremendous ignorance that it is appalling,
And the last irony; those who talk constantly of less government but have no qualms about ruling that women be subjected to humiliations and controls over their own minds and bodies. Resist far reaching improvements in education, banking, investment, healthcare, infrastructure, the minimum wage and so on, but have the time to spend planning to limit the lives of half our population.
Esther Confino
New Hyde Park
