Letters to the editor

Resident has some questions

Dear Editor:
Well after four years of this president blaming all of his problems on George Bush, I have a question. When is this president going to take responsibility for what “he” has done, or better yet what he has not?
Unemployment is still higher than when Obama took office, and he acts like he has had no hand in it.
Gas was $1.86 a gallon when Obama took office and now it’s creeping up on $3.80 per gallon, and still no one holds Obama responsible. When gas hit $4 during the Bush administration everyone was screaming bloody murder for the president to fix it. Well before he left office it was back down to $1.86.
Now fast forward to today. Gas is $3.70 to $3.80 per gallon and what has Obama done? Nothing! He has restricted drilling permits on federal lands, he still has the Gulf of Mexico virtually shutdown to drilling, and he is dragging his feet on the Keystone XL pipeline. Any of these would help ease the pain at the pump. But has he done anything to help us with fuel costs? No!  It baffles me how the president’s popularity can be at 55 percent when the majority of the country is still in a recession.
No one in the media and no one in the general public who voted for him will blame him for any of the same things they trashed George Bush for. Why is that? Why is it that a man who has done so much damage to this country can be so popular? Minority unemployment is at record highs, and no one has questioned any of this. Why is that? The price of gas is hurting everyone but especially low and middle income families. Yet many of these same families voted to keep this man in office. In the last four years under this president gas prices have doubled, the debt has increased by $6 trillion, unemployment is higher, healthcare costs with Obamacare have gone up (not down as promised), food stamp usage is up by 40 percent, more people are on government assistance than any time in history, and the economy is struggling to keep its head above water.
So someone answer this question, why did this man get re-elected? Are the American people that uninformed (or just don’t care) that they would ignore every negative thing mentioned above and still vote for someone who has made their lives worse since being elected? Apparently so. I hope everyone is happy with their choice.
I am just glad that all of Mr. Obama’s supporters are paying the same price as I am for gas, food, and insurance. Maybe they will realize that this fairytale ride is over.
The bad part is we still have to survive four more years of this so called “economic recovery.” That, my friends, is the reality of the situation.
Jim Snyder
Daingerfield

Country is in financial trouble

Dear Editor:
To say that our country is in financial trouble would be an understatement. So much waste of hard-earned money is used for things that are completely useless to anyone or anything, in my view.
Recently, while I was researching some of the programs that our government spends money on, I came upon these figures from the National Republican Congressional Committee;
 1. $250 sent to a woman in Maryland who died in 1967.
2. $840 spent to disassemble and assemble three desks.
3. The Lincoln Centre in New York City was paid to host a “Tango Salon.”
4. $10,000 spent replacing light fixtures at a fish hatchery.
5. $425,000 spent in $250 increments to inmates for Social Security checks.
6. $426,000 to rebuild a bridge that is used by an average of 10 cars a day.
7. $500,000 in subsidies for rain barrel installation.
8. $600,000 sent to a school district in Kansas ... that no longer exist.
9. $1 million spent on New York road signs advertising stimulus programs.
10. $1 million spent to build 250 bike lockers.
11. $1.25 million to use electric fish to study animal sensory information.
12.  $1.75 million spent on energy efficient garage doors.
13.  $2.2 million spent installing skylights in a liquor store in Montana.
14. $2.8 million spent installing toilets in New Mexico’s National Forests.
15.  $15 million spent to build an airport in Quizinkie, Alaska ... a town of 165 people.
 And the list goes on and on and on. Is it any wonder that our country is in financial trouble?
 Folks, our President and the Democratic Party say we don’t have a spending problem. I completely disagree with them.
Our politicians need to know that we deserve better service from them. This is outrageous; something needs to be done, and if we sit silently, nothing will be done and this will continue.
Our politicians need to be held accountable - now.
 Call your Senators and Congressmen and let them know how disgusting this is, as our once Great Nation faces financial ruin, with their reckless spending habits.
Howard Barron
Daingerfield