Editorial

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Monday, June 9, 2003

Not surprisingly, majority of readers responding to the Gazette's online poll, 56 percent, felt the Nebraska Unicameral raised taxes too much during its recent session.

A surprising number, however, 23 percent, felt lawmakers "Did a good job under the circumstances."

Online answers to the question: "How well did the Nebraska Legislature do its job this session?" had the following results:

-Cut too many services.11 percent or eight votes.
-Raised taxes too much.56 percent or 39 votes.
-Put off too many difficult decisions.10 percent or 7 votes.

- Did a good job under the circumstances. 23 percent or 16 votes.

Other responses follow:

Keep term limits

The best example for term limits for our Legislature is the latest tax increase they voted for and passed.

The governor opposed it, many people opposed it, and newspapers across the state spoke out against a tax increase.

Our Legislature paid no attention to these obligations and raised taxes on an already "overtaxed state."

I don't think we can afford this kind of representation for two terms! Cut more spending

Dear Editor,

Thank you for soliciting our input. I believe our state Legislature should have followed Gov. Johanns' lead and cut spending to balance the budget. There are a number of reasons why I believe this.

Our economy is weak and growing weaker. Today we have many sources of information available to us such as conservative magazines (Newsmax.com) and newspapers (Human Events), financial newsletters, the information superhighway, etc.. You can get the unvarnished truth from these sources instead of the Wallstreet spin. The Wallstreet and government spin is what's driving the stock market up right now, not substance. KSN just announced another layoff of 6,000 workers in the aircraft industry in Wichita and last week's news said the container ships are bringing foreign goods into our country and going back empty. Our tax laws soak the wealthy, and so last year 250,000 of the wealthy left our shores for other countries and took their money and jobs along with them. At that rate it will only take five more years for the truly wealthy to make their exodus from the U.S., taking their money and jobs along with them. How poor our nation will be because of this inequitable situation. I just received an invitation this week to subscribe to a financial newsletter titled, The Other Twin Towers, The Shocking Case For Another Depression. These Twin Towers are the debt load Americans carried in 1929 and again today. In 1980 our personal debt was $4 trillion and today its $31 trillion and is projected to rise very quickly to $40 to $50 trillion. Since half of the households in this country make less than $42,000.00 there isn't any way this debt can be serviced. At this time a family of four owes $440,000.00. "Everyday Life May Soon Become A Nightmare For Most Americans." He writes, "The Dow is not going to see its old highs for anywhere from 10 to 20 years. There will be rallies but it will go down at least another 50 percent (from the 8,000 level). The most likely result is a horrible personal loss for millions of Americans and their families." He says, "I see Social Security benefits being cut to the bone. They'll probably only go to the most needy." "I see at least 40 million unemployed or in makework public assistance jobs." Some financial newsletters project 50 percent unemployment, twice as many as the previous Great Depression. It's all doom and gloom, BUT it's backed up with factual information. How are people going to pay taxes if they're unemployed? How are businesses going to stay in business if they don't have customers?

As our economy goes KAPUT, how are we going to pay the regular taxes let alone the additional taxes levied by the legislature?

Cordially,

Paul Schneider

McCook

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