POLITICS
Leaders can learn fiscal responsibility from us
Congressional leaders and President Barack Obama recently reached a deal to avoid default. While these leaders champion themselves as heroes, they fail to realize that American families have been in the midst of their own debt crisis for years. There will be no ticker tape parade, though for the middle-class and working poor who avoid default daily.
While Speaker John Boehner, Obama and others took to the airwaves to debate their plans, my wife and I sat around the kitchen table discussing ours. For the four years we have been married, both of us have been in school. We have worked through college; financed what we were unable to pay and managed to stay afloat by working hard. Our leaders are so inept that they celebrate a now-common occurrence: rallying together to avoid impending economic disasters. The real heroes are the Americans scraping by to pay off debts and avoid foreclosure. Why have we come to expect so much less of our leaders than we expect of ourselves?
Zachary H. Smith, Marietta
POLITICS
Management change may be required
We observe our federal government turning ordinary business procedures into multinational emergencies. No business owner can escape the accountant’s steely-eyed quarterly review. “This is what you have, and this is what you can borrow,” the business owner is told, “and you must plan accordingly.”
But those we entrust with our federal tax revenues take a different view. With them, smoke is considered a negotiable instrument (as are mirrors). Can it be we made a mistake in hiring? It appears possible that lawyers (and career civil servants) are not qualified to manage a multi-trillion dollar international corporation. Whether they’re qualified to govern a country is also a valid question.
Obviously, this is not being done now. We, the owners of the company, must review our hiring practices — or we go broke, in more ways than one.
Alan Atkinson, Savannah
POLITICS
Respect all points of view on economic policy
Regarding “The tea party takes no prisoners” (Opinion, Aug. 3), can we at least agree that the two sides of this debate on how to solve the economic crisis have legitimate claims?
The left is convinced that government spending is the answer. The right is just as convinced of the opposite. Resorting to name calling will not solve things — and can lead to real violence. The voters will ultimately have to sort this out in the next election. The choices could not be more clear. Until then, each side will use what is available to further their cause. That does not make the other side evil — they just have different, deeply-held beliefs.
Paul Depperschmidt, Lawrenceville
POLITICS
Washington may be pleased but not voters
While Washington is now pointing fingers and/or patting themselves on the back, the GDP is down; unemployment is up, and the market is in the tank. They can’t see the forest for the trees. I say, recall them all. Ken Franz, Roswell
