Editor’s note: The following letter is in response to the letter “Thomas Euell Responds” published Dec. 7.
I’m so sorry that you thought my reference of Romneyesia was directed as a kind of ridicule towards former Gov. Romney — it wasn’t!
Let’s begin with your reference to President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney. President Bush began his presidency with about a $247 billion surplus, no wars and no high unemployment, all left to him by Democratic President Bill Clinton, and after only eight years as president, Bush was able to leave the incoming President Barack Obama a $1.7 trillion deficit, two wars (one built on lies) and an unemployment rate just north of 8 percent — not exactly what you would expect from a conservative Republican president, not auspicious, but what you may describe as a calamitous presidency, but of course, looking back on his days when he bankrupted the Texas Rangers baseball team, not totally unexpected.
The other person Mr. Euell lauds is Vice President Cheney, whose previous employer where he also was a vice president, Halliburton, who received a no-bid Army contract it somehow obtained. During the Halliburton saga, $6 billion of taxpayer money was paid to Halliburton for services not rendered. Halliburton, under pressure of possible indictment moved the company to the United Arab Emirates, where it remains today, is still enjoying a no-bid Army contract but adding a subsidiary KBR, which charges our kids $90 for a sea bag full of laundry. I’m grateful to Mr. Euell for bringing up this mess.
Lost in this discussion about “carbon footprints” is Mr. Euell’s credentials as a member in good standing in the scientific community, capable of making any kind of credible argument about the leading causes of global warming but ridiculing Mr. Gore’s position backed by some of the biggest names in the scientific community. Interestingly, Mr. Euell does make a case that anyone not supporting Big Oil interests is somehow in favor of higher gas prices.
Increasing oil production will not lower gas prices at the pump, it will merely allow Big Oil companies a greater opportunity to sell more oil in a global market.
The purpose of business is to make money, wherever and whenever they can and they are not the least bit interested in how much you pay at the pump. The most startling part of your argument about healthcare is that you don’t really understand it or you would have recognized that Romneycare is the precursor and the model for Obamacare but the mechanisms within them are identical and the only exception is that Obama made his version weaker to appease Republicans, but it did not!
Mr. Euell, the election is over and the direction the Republican party wanted to take this nation failed. Electorally, Republicans were trounced 332-206. You lost because you walked all over women’s rights. You lost because you didn’t understand that we are a land of immigrants and you wanted to deny new immigrants here illegally as cheap labor a pathway to citizenship.
Finally, you lost because you don’t know how our present healthcare works for the 47 percent you disdain. I was a tech director of five professional departments and an on call administrator in a 250-bed hospital in Chicago, and when you try to discuss the healthcare industry, it is apparent you are in over your head or a victim of Romneyesia (just couldn’t resist it — sorry!).
Richard Nielsen
Royal Palm Beach
When Clinton took office the national debt was $4.4 trillion. When he left office the national debt was $6.7 trillion.
Halliburton vs General Motors
The cash loan totaled “only” $6.7 billion in taxpayer dollars. For taxpayers to recoup their investment, the federal government would have to sell its 365 million shares at a profit. The break-even price would be $55 a share, but GM is currently selling at $28.90
who wants high gas prices?
SeFact: President Barack Obama’s Energy Secretary Steven Chu wants to “figure out how to boost the price of gasoline to the levels in Europe.” At the time he made the statement, gas cost $7 – $8 a gallon in Europe.
Fact: Since taking office, President Obama’s entire energy agenda has made a gallon of gas more expensive:
Immediately after taking office in 2009, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, canceled 77 leases for oil and gas drilling in Utah.
The EPA announced new rules mandating the use of 36 billion gallons worth of renewable fuels (like ethanol) by 2020.
All of these policies raise gas prices at the pump by either: 1) decreasing the availability of domestic energy supplies, or 2) increasing regulatory costs on gasoline production.
Anytime a letter writer of any political persuasion uses derogatory terms; their argument is lost on the reader, no matter how astute the writers’ opinons are.
America is divided. President Obama won by only a 2.78 percent margin. That’s not a mandate, nor a landslide. That’s an indication there will be more turmoil. Electoral votes do not translate into a solid majority.