Financial footings of Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security unique
In the past, there have been a couple of times that I have agreed with a stance taken by Jim Bagwell. His column of July 24 is not one of them.
His true colors have come out with his assertion that Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security are all on the same financial footing, which is absolutely absurd.
True, the medical programs need to be looked at and fixed. I would submit that the fix is not to add thousands of dollars required by seniors and poor people while at the same time giving multibillion-dollar tax breaks to oil companies, huge agribusiness conglomerates, the wealthiest of the wealthy, etc.
Mr. Bagwell goes on to try to place blame. It appears that any time you mention Sen. Harry Reid, Rep. Nancy Pelosi or President Barack Obama, you have conjured up the boogieman for right-wingers. According to the writer, Reid and Pelosi personally robbed the Social Security Trust Fund. The reality is that every administration and Congress for the last 40-plus years has borrowed from the fund. Nobody stole it. It only becomes a problem if the Tea Party is successful in killing any deficit deal, negating the full faith and credit of the U.S.
His last premise is to run the government like a business. One can choose to patronize a business or not. That is not the case with government. For example, do we go to war strictly based on the bottom line? How naïve.
Warren Sprinkle
Carson City
Compromise needed in debt limit crisis
You know about the North Koreans - can't get along with hardly anybody. (They're) so paranoid that their leaders only travel onboard their armored train. Their people (are) starving, but they'd rather build atom bombs to threaten their neighbors than accept outside aid. Yup, you know about the North Koreans - just a bunch of petulant children.
And, you know about Sharron Angle. She's the gal with those right-of-center views and the unbending determination never to compromise her principles with anyone. (She's) so determined never to compromise, in fact, that she couldn't seem to get hardly any of her fellow legislators to vote for her proposals - sort of like the Tea Party Republicans in Congress - petulant and childish.
Well, this brings us to the U.S. debt limit. Thoughtful folks -- Republicans and Democrats -- have made proposals to reduce spending dramatically, increase revenue and raise the debt limit. But the Tea Party Republicans, just like Sharron Angle, can't manage to compromise with their fellow legislators. And, just like the North Koreans, they are threatening to blow things up. This kind of tactic hasn't worked for the North Koreans. It didn't work for Sharron Angle in the Nevada Legislature, and as all good parents know, it doesn't work for petulant children, either.
It's time for the adults in Washington to do what needs to be done. Leaders compromise; North Koreans, Tea Party Republicans and spoiled children just want to blow things up.
Randy Carlson
Carson City
Comprehensive reform needed towards illegal immigration
One of the people I admired most while growing up always had a quip for most situations. My favorite and one of the most meaningful was, "You are either part of the problem, or part of the solution. Which will it be?" It makes you think a little bit.
Columnist Eugene Paslov has chosen to be part of the problem with his usual hate diatribe on immigrant-haters in his recent column. Those of us who don't like illegal immigrants developed that opinion not because they are immigrants, but because they are illegal. We are not against immigrants; we are immigrants.
I can trace my roots to the port of entry where my ancestors did it right. My brother-in-law paid an exorbitant amount of money to bring his Asian wife here legally. He did it right. Doing it right and following the law is what this country is built on.
We only ask that if you come to this country and use the services that the rest of us have had to pay for, do it legally. Every illegal who comes to our country adds to the need for services and housing. They add to the crime rate and emergency room costs.
How about a comprehensive reform that addresses the problem? Why is that so hard?
Walter Owens
Carson City
