Government, spending continue to grow
The following comments are directed toward both major political parties. The Founding Fathers would not believe how the federal government is attempting to control every aspect of our lives and is destroying our once prosperous nation at the same time.
We were told that the NAFTA and GATT trade agreements would bring jobs to this country. When conservatives warned it would destroy our manufacturing base, they were ignored.
Each year Congress increases spending by borrowing more money from communist China. The Chinese could destroy what is left of our economy by cutting off the money and demanding payment.
In 1999 Congress decided that we no longer needed the 1933 Glass-Steagall Act, which was put in place after the Great Depression to keep banks under tighter control in some areas. The repeal allowed banks to multiply leverage, producing a number of investment options which ended up being Ponzi schemes.
The calamities listed above produced the perfect economic storm we presently face. Congress fixed the problem by borrowing more money and making taxpayers pay off these bad investments. When GM could not turn a profit, it was turned into a government-funded and controlled institution. The so-called experts now claim the economy is turning around because they borrowed more money to spend on a stimulus, which funded jobs all across the nation.
Now the federal government wants to “fix health care,” and we have been told that the new program will be better and will not increase taxes. When Sen. Ted Kennedy needed brain surgery, did he go to Canada or the UK to have the procedure? No. Yet we are being told that their systems are better than ours.
Do you actually believe that the federal government can run a health-care system efficiently and not increase spending? Do you understand basic math?
ó Joe D. Teeter
Gold Hill
Roaming cats are health hazard for some
Regarding C.E. Hudson’s Sept. 8 letter:
I have sympathy for the person who is trapping your cats. I know what he is going through. I have trapped 12 cats, one dog and three opossums in in the past two years. I let the opossums go; the rest went to the animal shelter. I take trapping animals that wander on my property seriously. I have to.
Some members of my family are very allergic to cats and dogs. If one of them touches a handrail after someone’s animal has rubbed against it, serious discomfort would follow and possibly medical costs as well.
Free-roaming pet cats, as well as feral cats, decimate wild bird populations. Cats are predators and killing newly hatched birds as well as adult birds comes naturally to them. Pet cats kill without consuming while ferals kill to survive. This might not seem like a tragedy until you consider that birds make feasts of some insects that are a nuisance to humans. I have even seen a robin eat an earwig before. Free-roaming cats prevent the birds from helping us out.
I will continue to set my traps out on my property as I see fit, as is my right. If you truly love your pet then be sure to keep your animal on your property or on a leash. I don’t hate animals.
I love my family and the wild birds. I find it stange that Mr. Hudson and others who behave as he does would think what I am doing is wrong.
To the men and women of Rowan County Animal Control, you have my sincere and heartfelt thanks. By helping me eradicate animals around my house, you have improved the quality of our lives. There are far too many irresponsible pet owners who let their animals become someone’s problem.
ó Michael Jaap
Rockwel
Holiday light display is no economic gift
In response to letters by Jon Barber and Jane Fuller in the Sept. 11 edition of the Post, Barber wrote as if a Christmas light display in an isolated industrial park would solve a large number of economic problems for Rowan citizens. He gave the opinion that “this is still an excellent opportunity to fill restaurants and stores.” Barber, being the political opportunist, should have given more careful thought to that statement before letting his fingers stroke his keyboard.
I would pose this question to Commissioner Barber: Which stores are these light gazers going to fill? Except perhaps for Kohls, Olive Garden and Long Horn Steakhouse, no stores are within reasonable proximity to the proposed light-display location, and uptown Salisbury rolls up the sidewalks after dark. Most Christmas displays of this type are destination events. Families plan to go out and see the lights. They have supper and feed the kids. Then they drive through the displays and head home, especially on a school night.
By the time you drive through a public display, such as McAdenville, moving excruciatingly slow in a mile-long line, most adult nerves are so frazzled that all they want to do is get the heck out of there and go home.
Based strictly on Mike Miller’s speculation, Jane Fuller asserted that 20 to 50 people won’t have a job this Christmas, and she’s sorry that Midwest won’t relocate to Rowan ó a comment without factual substance. Tina Hall asked detailed questions because the commissioners should work for all citizens. And no one mentioned not trying anything new. Possibly had Mike Miller provided more lead time and come better prepared, the proposal might still be on the table, and, as previously mentioned in the Post, his company might still make its $100K in an advertising deal. Or can we say self-serving motive?
ó Bill Ward
Salisbury
Thanks for asking the right questions
While most of us believe that no part of any government can be run like a business, it is refreshing to see that Tina Hall doesn’t mind asking the hard questions. So, how much profit was in that cup of coffee?
Thanks, Tina..
ó Steve Arey
Salisbury
Hall’s the Grinch for local businesses
Commissioner Tina Hall gets my vote for being the most successful person at causing loss of revenue for Rowan County businesses. First it was the big, bad bikers at Smokeout that she had to eliminate, which cost local businesses hundreds of thousands of dollars. Ironically, these “bad boys” brought more money to our local economy in one weekend than is generated through other ventures throughout the year.
Now it’s the suspicious, twinkling Christmas light display she is “protecting” us from. Maybe she fears the “element of people” that might be drawn to Rowan County in search of a little holiday fun. Heaven forbid … there would be ice skating, laughter and smiles. Children, parents and senior citizens are definitely on her list, all unsavory characters who might offend someone. And then, of course, there’s Santa. Forget the fact that someone else was willing to risk their money to benefit our community. When will Rowan voters wake up to the fact we are strangled to death as a community by people who have no vision, use lame excuses as rationale for their negativity and are not willing to step out and set Rowan apart? This is why Concord thrives, Mooresville thrives, Statesville thrives and Rowan watches the parade pass by.
Hall needs to poll the local business community to see how much revenue they have already lost at her hand. Rowan’s financial future gets bleaker every time I open the paper and see the narrow-minded put a stranglehold on the community. How are our local businesses supposed to recover? Remember the old saying, “if you keep doing the same thing over and over with the same result, maybe you should make a change.” How about it, Rowan? There are people out there trying to better the economy of this community. Who are YOU going to support?
ó S.L. Keller
Salisbury
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