• Who do you believe? • Less hoopla, more photos • Life does not owe you anything Who do you believe? Open your wallet. Take out a dollar bill. Now get a match and light it on fire. Does this
• Who do you believe? •
Less hoopla, more photos • Life does not
owe you anything
Who do you believe?
Open your wallet. Take out a dollar bill. Now get a match and light it on fire.
Does this sound stupid?
That is what the Speaker of the House, Republican John Boehner, is threatening to do by refusing to raise the debt ceiling if he doesn’t get his way on the federal budget.
Boehner had no problem raising the debt ceiling 6 times under George W. Bush in 2002, 2003, 2004, 2006, 2007 and 2008. So what is so special about this point in time? What makes this debt too high? Oh yeah, I almost forgot — a Democrat is President.
Did Boehner stand up when Bush’s Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson presented a bill to congress demanding the bail-out of banking institutions that were “too big to fail”? No. Did Boehner object when Obama was forced to continue the TARP bailouts? No. Has Boehner said one word about the waste of our country’s treasure in wars that have no purpose? No. Did Boehner insist that Obama NOT extend the Bush tax-cuts for the wealthiest Americans so that the budget might be balanced? No.
It may seem sensible that a nation, like an individual, can have too much debt, but that perspective is wrong. The rules for a nation, especially the USA, are quite different. Whether or not the USA has too much debt depends upon how productive our country is — the size of our GDP, Gross Domestic Product.
Money is just an idea, a promise. Google “what is money”. It is hard to imagine this if you believe money itself has some intrinsic value, but that dollar bill in your wallet really is just a piece of paper, nothing more than an IOU.
These IOUs are of value only if our nation, as a whole, has the capacity to build something, or grow something, or invent something or make something. If you believe John Boehner then you believe America is too stupid, too illiterate, too lazy to make it in today’s world. Have you no pride in your country or yourself? Don’t you want to get to work and make something?
If the debt ceiling isn’t raised, then the promise of the US dollar will be broken. Boehner is going to bankrupt the United States of America, by making all your Savings Bonds, your Treasury Bills, your Social Security Retirement, your money — worthless.
Google “money as debt”, and realize that the only reason your dollar has any value is because the US government enforces debt laws. Debt like the Treasury Notes held in the Social Security Trust Fund. When Boehner tells you that Social Security is broke, he is telling you that the USA is broke, that your money is worthless.
What do you think? Is your money worthless?
John Zwiebel, Kalaheo
Less hoopla, more photos
Why all the confusion and hoopla in the media with newscasters stumbling over Obama and Osama?
Generally as is the case with the President we call him “Obama,” using his last name as is the case of almost all news.
To make it simple and proper and no need for tongue twisters all the media had to do was identify Osama the way he should had been identified, by his family (last) name, Bin-Laden.
The stories could have read, “Obama captures Bin Laden,” period!
Now, just show us the photos!
James “Kimo” Rosen, Kapa‘a
Life does not owe you anything
It sounds enticing and attractive as a statement, but it is 100 percent wrong (“Health care is a right,” Letters, May 5).
Since when does any rule, law, document, founding idea, or logic itself, profess that health care is a “right”? The only health care rights you have, John Zwiebel, are the right not to smoke, the right not to drink, the right to get enough sleep, the right to eat what is best for your body, the right not to do drugs, and the right to take care of yourself. Your health care “rights” stop there.
It’s certainly proper that an effective social system strives to help those of us who, through no fault of our own, experience health challenges; but it is not your right to force the payment of those costs on to others.
Health insurance was created as a tool for the greater of us to voluntarily pool our money to pay for those who have health challenges from time to time. It seemed to work just fine until modern science catapulted our health care costs into the financial stratosphere with a myriad of methods to keep people alive through medical marvels such as transplants, artificial organs, expensive MRI and CAT machines, and designer drugs that cost more than your arm etc. Insurance no longer works for most of us because of the exorbitant costs attached to the new world of miracle medicine.
So what’s the solution? There is none, John. Government is not capable of filling the void on any level. It’s a mismanagement nightmare waiting to happen that will result in bankrupting this country and propelling our collective health care quality into the cesspool of good intentions.
It’s time to come face to face with the reality that life does not owe you anything, Mr. Zwiebel, social systems can’t guarantee your health, and those liberal leaning dreamers who believe big bad corporations, government institutions, and hard working wealthy individuals should pay for everything so you can get “free stuff” is only reflective of a self serving and convenient “it’s all about me” perspective.
Take good care of yourself John, give your hard earned money freely to those charities or individuals you personally want to help, and cross your fingers.
Gordon Oswald, Kapa‘a
