Need to pay for it

DearEditor,

A recent headline said something like “People Afraid TheyWill Have To Pay For Sewer.” I saw it as a kind of metaphor of an attitude thatI think is increasingly prevalent in today’s society. All over you see peopleopposing tax increases to pay for various public ventures, schools, education,public works projects, highway and other infrastructure maintenance orimprovements. It’s true that when public projects are done some people benefitmore than others. People forget that they have benefited from projects thatwere done to their benefit and which cost them nothing. People want all thisstuff, they just don’t want to pay for it.
When I look back at the last ten years, itdoesn’t seem like we accomplished much as a nation. We started two wars withquestionable outcomes and are left with not much more than the bill. It’s truewe have had no other major successful terrorist attacks on our country, andcertainly I appreciate all those who helped in that effort. Are we just tryingto survive at this point? Shouldn’t we be trying to work together for somenational good?
We have a national problem with runawayhealthcare costs and have tens of millions of Americans with poor access tohealthcare. I had hoped for some kind of single payer healthcare for all of ourcitizens, but the Congress opted for a program that caters to everyone andevery group that has an (financial) interest in the current system. TheAffordable Care Act is an improvement in addressing many of the problems of thecurrent system. The unfortunate reality is that we the people would have to payfor it. But just like the people who are going to end up with a sewer system(and I am thinking of people who will live long in the future), we would end upwith a healthcare system that would work for all Americans. The only way tohave something good is to pay for it. It seems like it is time to get back tothis American ideal.

RobThompson

Tonasket

Need to pay for it

DearEditor,

A coupleof weekends the Hospital Foundation put on a yard sale/fundraiser to raisemoney for the completion of our basement. North Valley CommunityHealth Association (North Valley Foundation) would like to thank all of thosein the community who generously donated articles to our fundraising yard salerecently. Thank you also to all of you who purchased items and/ or gavedonations to the cause. It was extremely successful!

The Foundation is having fund raising events to start the”Finish the Basement” campaign as well as a separate durable medical equipmentdesignation for the Extended Care. We want to acknowledge all of the volunteerhours that members of the community have put in to make these events happen aswell. It means a lot to have great community support for our efforts tocontinue to provide the medical care that’s needed here in our district.

Thankyou,

North Valley Foundationmembers

Time to retool

Dear Editor,

Riddle: How do you destroy the American labor movement?
Answer: Go fishing; American unions are already doing a stellar job of it.
Our economy is in shambles, unemployment is astronomical, public sympathy forunions is falling like a greased anvil, and what are the unions up to?
In our fair state alone many teachers are again having their annual illegalstrike, and longshoremen are going thuggy on another union. For the piece deresistance, the International Association of Machinists is using an incompetentNational Labor Relations Board to dictate to Boeing where it’s allowed to makeairplanes in the U.S. even though Boeing recently provided 2000 new jobs forIAM unionists in Washington. It seems the IAM doesn’t want Boeing to haveany recourse against repetitive union strike blackmail that threatens Boeing’scompetitiveness. That would be the same competitiveness that pays those IAM membersan excellent package in a time of joblessness over 9%. 
And that ain’t the half of it. Teamster boss Jimmy Hoffa redux uses a vulgarepithet slurring women in a national speech introducing President Obama, andnot only does Obama smile approvingly, so does all of obediently leftistfeminism. AFL-CIO honcho Richard Trumka abuses the 911 anniversary to callfor Leninist class warfare. Then you have one Roger Smith, CEO of someinsurance company, lecturing America in the press for its abysmal failure to”respect” American unions and pay a “fair wage.”
The crime here is that America’s Hoffas, Trumkas and Smiths are rich partlybecause they know full well that there is no such thing as a “fair wage,” alsocalled a “living wage.” It’s a countereconomic, snake-oil myth sold to unionworkers as a contrivance to keep membership dues flowing in.
A union defined fair wage is one that an American can live comfortably onwithout struggle, sacrifice or hardship. Like a puppy, this ideal is adorablein itself, but how does one pay a fair wage? Easy. Simply write fatterpaychecks. But hold it, that means you must raise the price of your product tobe able to afford those raises. Now you can’t sell your product because itcosts more than those marketed by competitors paying the level of wagedetermined by supply and demand. You go out of business and all your fairwage employees are now making no wage.
And what is a living wage? Does it mean food and shelter, or does it mean food,shelter, 50″ flat screens, new cars, vacation, holidays, sick leave, parentalleave, bereavement leave, religious leave, health care, a 35-hour week andguaranteed job security? What’s to keep any definition of a fair wage frombeing ever inflated and extorted with strikes?
We’re in trouble Americans. The rest of the world has annoyingly decidedit wants 50 ” flat screens and new cars too, so they’re real busy makingproducts to sell in competition with ours, products we obligingly buy.
“Buy American!” is a stirring jingo, but we won’t buy American on anymeaningful scale if it costs more, because we can’t afford to, arguablelong-term ramifications notwithstanding.
The law of supply and demand has never been broken in the history of the worldand it never will be. Communism tried and look how that worked out.Socialism is trying in Europe and they’re having a train wreck. Americanlabor leaders who encourage their members to ignore these stark truths shouldgo to jail for fraud.
What are unions to do? Whatever it is it better make the American workercompetitive on the world market because – right or wrong, good or bad, fair orunfair – globalism is here to stay.
Union dues should be devoted to mass schooling members (on their own after-worktime) not only in currently marketable skills but in a can-do, will-do attitudethat makes buyers in and out of America want top quality, competitively pricedAmerican goods delivered on time.
There’s another hard decision to make.&
amp;nbsp;American schools must retooleducation with a eye to expedited marketability, even – yea – at the expense ofliberal arts and obscure esoterica, as the market for same is generally cold asdeath. Let academia intensely train Americans to make a living in prevailingand future global markets. They who can thus afford it may and should educatethemselves more completely.
The grim reality is that we can no longer afford the time, rhetoric orresources for anything that fails to make us the best product and serviceproviders in the world.

William Slusher

Okanogan