Opinion
Letters to the editor, Dec. 26
TBO.com
Published: December 26, 2012
Under their controlPublished: December 26, 2012
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke was before Congress to explain how he would improve our economic growth. Each time he goes before Congress he tells a different story. It seems the Fed is looking at the economy through rose-colored glasses.
The Fed has said savings account interest rates will stay at zero until 2015. In the past we were told these rates would increase in 2013 and then 2014. These zero interest rates are all but killing the people who have money in savings accounts, IRAs and money-market CDs. These are mostly retired Americans who counted on these savings for their Golden Years, which have been turned into Rusty Years by Bernanke and Co.
Bank credit cards charge 20 percent on unpaid balances, while we get nothing on our savings. Americans are getting themselves deeper and deeper in debt.
Where does the Fed get its economic figures? Does it manufacture them? The White House and Congress sit on their hands and do nothing. There is no question that our country is under the control of banks, oil companies, insurance companies and Wall Street, not the American people.
Frank DeAngelo
Hudson
It's past time
Enough is enough. To wait any longer to do something about gun violence in American society will say that the innocent children and teachers who died at the Sandy Hook Elementary School will have died in vain.
The time has passed for intellectual, academic arguments. We know them all too well. We can pray and hold vigils if this helps us heal personally, but we've done that enough, too. And this isn't going to solve the problem. God, apparently, isn't answering. Here on Earth, let God's work be our own.
The answers may be many-faceted, but some of the answers are in bills in Congress and our state legislatures — perhaps even our cities. We know the status quo isn't working. It's time to act. It is time to try answers. If necessary, it's time to spend some money.
Americans must rise up with one voice and, if necessary, drown out those who wish to say, "It's all right to defend the status quo and let the small children and their teachers die in vain." Well, it's not all right with me.
Gerald Goen
Tarpon Springs