Letters policy
Send e-mail to letters@gainesvilletimes.com (no attached files, please, which can contain viruses); fax to 770-532-0457; or mail to The Times, P.O. Box 838, Gainesville, GA 30503. Include full name, hometown and phone number for confirmation. They should be limited to one topic on issues of public interest and may be edited for content and length (limit of 500 words). Letters originating from other sources or those involving personal, business or legal disputes, poetry, expressions of faith or memorial tributes may be rejected. You may be limited to one letter per month, two on a single topic. Submitted items may be published in print, electronic or other forms. Letters, columns and cartoons express the opinions of the authors and not of The Times editorial board.
To find a form to send a letter, click here
For anyone to not be readily aware of the present state of the economy has to have been living the life of a hermit. Congress and the White House have allowed our country to get into a miserable state of affairs.
They have lost sight of what is of the higher priority and intend to shove health care down our throats whether we want it or not.
The premise of tax and spend is totally ludicrous. Someone has to drill it into their heads that we cannot spend our way out of the current state of depression. It is time for the government to tighten its belts, just like the rest of us. Every facet of government — local, state and federal — should volunteer to trim budgets by a minimum 10 percent.
Department heads and elected officials should be overseeing any possible waste or abuse of resources and eliminate it wherever possible. Overtime should be cut to the bare minimum. A 90-day freeze on hiring is not uncalled for. When a position becomes open, it should not be allowed to be filled for a minimum 90 days.
Our congressional members should begin with their own offices and start furloughing their staff. Our judiciary should cut back on office expenditures and furlough staff. Abuse of our tax dollars should be greatly reduced. Members of Congress would like to have us believe that they are barely scraping by. Their practice of just printing more and more worthless paper money is about to explode in all our faces.
The White House has advocated making the school year a six-day per week, year-round operation. This option is ridiculous, what with the governor having to furlough teachers one to four days per month. Even the idea of the bailouts for the banking, insurance and automotive industries was an effort in futility. If we don't curtail some of the liberal extremist activities, everyone will suffer but the Washington elite.
Everyone should contact their local, state and federal representatives and demand a more frugal fiscal operation. Retired and disabled persons on limited fixed incomes are having a difficult time surviving as it is.
Obamacare is not a priority, survival is. The taxpayer has lost all control. The liberals are taxing us into the grave. We must take back our government.
Rickey Tumlin
Clermont