First rule for politicians: Listen

First rule for politicians: Listen

News flash to Democrats: The Republican Party is not going to go away.

News flash to Republicans: The Democratic Party is not going to go away.

The fact is, for better or worse, both parties are here to stay. Like it or not, we’re stuck with them. Furthermore, since there are significant differences between them, anyone in either party incapable of crafting an intelligent, workable compromise needs to immediately resign and leave Washington before they endanger the welfare of the nation.

“Dig in your heels” and “ram, it down their throats” politics works only in the warped imaginations of the likes of Rush Limbaugh.

It’s dangerously amusing that each party has opted to hard line in the budget debate given the quantifiable results of the policies of each. After three years of “stimulus” spending, the result has been far short of overwhelming. Meager seems to be the more appropriate term. That said, a decade of the Bush tax cuts has produced even more disappointing results.

We apparently now have no more “wealthy.” Those are now the new “job creators” who must not be touched with, dare I say it, taxes. When the tax cuts were instituted, the idea was advanced that these people would “invest” that money thereby creating new jobs, which in turn would put more tax-paying people on payrolls, which would then more than make up the inevitable revenue shortfall created by the tax cuts.

It was a totally plausible argument. Unless someone failed to keep up their end of the bargain.

News flash for John Boehner: Jobs are not created by wealthy people. They’re created by markets. Markets are creating by working people with decent paychecks and disposable income. The idea isn’t all that new. Actually, Henry Ford thought of it a couple of years ago for those in Washington who apparently flunked American history. Those same people also pay taxes. It’s taken right out of their paychecks, bypassing the loopholes. That could be a shot in the arm for the federal budget.

According to all the polls I’ve seen, the overwhelming majority of Americans think that the budget needs a balanced approach including spending cuts and increased taxes.

It’s time for Washington to listen to those who “hired” them to run the government to competently do the job they were sent to do and keep that government running. Failure in any degree is totally unacceptable. It’s time for our leaders to step up or step down.

Mike Halchuck, Canfield

Law doesn’t guarantee SS benefits

In case you haven’t heard, we are smack dab in the middle of a debt crisis that, if not resolved by Aug.2, could mean the end of the civilized word. If our trusted politicians in Washington don’t come to an agreement soon, we may wake up Aug. 3 to a world in complete ruin.

Sarcasm aside, there is one item that always seems to come up during debt and deficit debates: Social Security retirement benefits. This issue is polarizing and gets folks in a tizzy. But can you blame people for getting upset when politicians play political football with their retirement money? You pay thousands of dollars in Social Security taxes over your career, and you are entitled to benefits when you retire. Right? Not so much.

The impression is that a person’s “contributions” to the retirement system legally entitles them to receive benefits from that system. In actuality, there is no legal right to Social Security benefits.

In the 1960 (Fleming v. Nestor), the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that workers have no legally binding contractual rights to their Social Security benefits, and those benefits can be cut or even eliminated at any time. The court said, “It is apparent that the non-contractual interest of an employee covered by the [Social Security] Act cannot be soundly analogized to that of the holder of an annuity, whose right to benefits is bottomed on his contractual premium payments.”

Unlike your 401(k), IRA, or annuity, the rights to your Social Security benefits lie with Washington politicians. So, the next time a brave lawmaker steps to the plate and proposes a privatized Social Security system, don’t dismiss the idea. Only under a privatized system would you have full property rights to your retirement account. You would own the money, not Congress.

President Gerald Ford once said, “A government big enough to give you everything you want is a government big enough to take from you everything you have.” This quote rings no truer than with Social Security retirement benefits.

Bill Hegarty, Poland

Every job needs a willing worker

Why is the unemployment rate so high? Why, when companies are again making profits, are there so few jobs available? Let me guess at some of the answers.

1) We have some people who are worth $7 per hour. We have told them that it’s illegal for them to have a job. Thank you, Democrats, for the new minimum wage.

2) We have many people who do not want to join a union in order to have a job. In 56 percent of our states there are many jobs unavailable to these people unless they compromise their principles and a portion of their paycheck. Thank you, labor unions, for that condition.

3) We extend the unemployment welfare state indefinitely, so that some people will turn down an $18 per hour job because they want to hold out for something better. Thank you, President Obama and Congress.

4) With unemployment checks being paid indefinitely, many people refuse to work part time because it would end their unemployment status and they would not receive their government check. Thank you, Liberal Politicians.

5) We have asked corporations to become lean and they have done just that. Employees are the biggest expense to most companies. Down-sizing employees saves the most money. And, once the companies find that they can produce as much or more with fewer employees, they are not going to hire those employees back again. Thank you, Washington D.C., for this suggestion. Please practice what you preach.

Isn’t it about time we ended the government and union meddling in our workforce and encouraged people to find honest and productive jobs again?

Donald Butler, Warren

Story helps reinforce racial bias

Last Sunday’s Vindicator featured a story on crime statistics in Boardman, highlighting the fact that a significant portion of crimes in the township are committed by people from Youngstown. The statistics may be accurate, and the accompanying photo — of two white male officers handcuffing a black man — probably shows a real arrest, but this is a good example of the way the media can reinforce the racial divisions that have for so long harmed this community and our nation.

As Michelle Alexander suggests in her book, “The New Jim Crow,” over 30 percent of African-American men in the U.S. spend at least part of their adult lives in jail, and in general, the U.S. incarcerates a significantly higher percentage of its population than any other developed country — even though our crime rates are not higher. That’s right — we have the same amount of crime, but we put many more people in jail, especially black men. And when they leave prison, these black men are subjected to legalized discrimination in employment and voting for the rest of their lives.

The Vindicator isn’t directly responsible for this, but framing and the choice of photo for this story both reflect and contribute to racial bias in one of the nation’s most segregated metro areas.

John Russo, Youngstown

The writer is co-director of the Center for Working-Class Studies and coordinator of the Labor Studies Program, Warren P. Williamson College of Business Administration, Youngstown State University.