Politicians All Operate the Same …

National — Former President Jimmy Carter suggested we withhold some of the $10 million a day that we give Israel. This will force them to heed Secretary of State Powell’s faint-hearted requests that Israel back away from Palestinian holdings. Mr. Carter is behind the times—the figure is more like $15 million a day, and that is for seven days per week and for 52 weeks a year, every year. That big a gift while we have needy people here—think what that infusion would do to the Social Security system that our duly elected officials (DEOs) pretend to be concerned about. With all this gift-giving we must note that Egypt is also being taken care of to the tune of $3 billion a year. I don't understand a system that taxes loyal citizens so they can give it away. I guess there is no hope for us! The sacking of American continues by our DEOs.

Politicians on every level all operate the same. The thought is that for everyone you do a favor for, or give a job to, you’ll get 3.7 votes at election time. The more taxpayer money you can spend the more favors you can spread around. All federal, state and local projects cost far more then they should. We have study after study done by architects and planners—and, of course, our "experts" of all types get involved. These people are paid fees, kickbacks and commissions for their expertise. And let us not forget the "finder’s fees"—this expense always exists, even though it never gets mentioned.

State — Connecticut lawmakers are now discussing CRRA—again—and are considering making up to $115 million in state loans to the quasi-public agency. This after they lost $220 million in the Enron joke.

Quasi-public is a fancy way of saying it is our tax money being played with and passed around to the favored few again. A lot of high-powered state people feed at that trough. Can you believe that an entity operating on state funds hired a lobbyist to influence the state legislature? This person was reportedly paid more than $27,000 in expenses alone; we have no idea what her salary was. Would you believe that the quasi-public outfit has hired a Hartford attorney? The sacking continues. The new thoughts are that the hiring of an outside lobbyist should be forbidden. I don't understand this. Is an inside lobbyist OK?

All smokers, I am sure, would like to thank our DEOs. Their actions will have the usual results—many will make a bundle on black market smokes, and now cigarettes have become more apt to be stolen, causing break-ins at many stores.

Can anyone imagine our DEOs passing legislation that calls for the state to make payments to the teachers’ retirement fund in an amount called for by the teachers’ retirement actuary? This is a yearly occurrence. Large groups of people have always been targeted by legislatures for their votes. And there are a lot of teachers, so they easily get favorable legislation—no matter what the cost to the rest of us taxpayers.

I understand that our DEOs in Hartford are now considering unemployment compensation for laid-off part-time employees. At what cost to the taxpayer? This action will build up the total votes for these politicians, multiplied by the factor of 3.7 mentioned above. Votes, Votes, Votes. At whose expense?

Shall we talk about the courthouse? Probably not. The subject is a scam that has fallen apart. There is a lot more to come and we have already lost a bundle. Our DEOs are really passing out the bucks.

Local — Torrington School Superintendent Riccio feels that it is more cost-effective to build new rather then to renovate. Hard to believe. Now the powers that be feel that small schools are desirable. This after they got rid of Riverside, North and South schools and spent many taxpayer dollars to build larger schools—schools that were built out of the mainstream and required an increase in transportation costs. Costs that will be there forever and continue to grow. TAX, TAX, TAX. Take heart, my fellow shareholders—we can now register our canoe at a lower rate.