State begs for jobs with one hand, kills ’em with the other

State begs for jobs with one hand, kills ’em with the other

EDITOR:

Have so many years passed that we have forgotten the terrible day that was “Black Monday,” the day when the steel companies announced the closure of so may mills and the day that so many citizens of the Mahoning Valley lost their livelihoods?

Standing against that backdrop, I am shocked, and more importantly as a voter disappointed, that state Reps. Robert Hagan and Ronald Gerberry would essentially visit that same fate on an entire industry in Ohio. I am shocked that they would co-sponsor House Bill 545 which will put more than 6,000 Ohioans out of jobs and cost many small landlords millions of dollars each year in lost rental when the payday loan businesses board up their doors like so many Ohio businesses before them.

We sent these men to the Ohio Legislature to improve Ohio, not to pull the plug on Ohio jobs. Whether the payday loan industry is right or not is something that each Ohioan can decide for him or herself by electing to patronize or not patronize their stores. We do not need our legislators making our personal financial decisions for us; we need our legislators to preserve and create jobs.

Whether you believe that the American economy is in a recession or not, one thing is indisputable: Ohio cannot afford to lose a single job. Ohio cannot afford to see these businesses migrate out of state and leave 6,000 unemployed people in their wake.

The ultimate irony might be that as the Ohio House of Representatives was ram-rodding HB 545 through the House at record speed, Ohio’s Department of Development ran a half-page advertisement in The Wall Street Journal touting Ohio as a business-friendly environment. Seriously, how can the state run such an advertisement on one hand, yet on the other deliver a fatal blow to 6,000 Ohio employees? I venture to guess that if a business contacted the Ohio Department of Development expressing an interest in bringing more than 6,000 jobs to Ohio that the red-carpet would be rolled out and tax incentives thrown at them by the bucket. Yet, apparently our legislators don’t think twice about eliminating jobs.

MARJORIE J. ROMAN

Canfield

Cost of gas is overwhelming

EDITOR:

OK, so I just paid 3.84 a gallon. This is unbelievable and uncalled for. We middle class people are hurting and are working to pay for our gas to get to work. It needs to stop.

This economy is going to go to the bottom of the barrel and fast. The rich are getting richer, the poor are getting poorer and us middle people are hurting.

Someone needs to stop this. And I hope the truckers just stop, because if you think it is bad now just wait until that happens.

SHANNEN KEMMER

Clarion, Pa.