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MORE from Les
July 18, 2014
Commentary by Congressman Lester Wolff (Ret) More With Les… The political message is jobs, but the messengers of both parties seem to have no idea as to how to provide them. Two elements must be taken as a given. Government can provide some jobs, but this solution is akin to the role of the pick-pocket who misdirects your attention while he dips his hand into your pocket to purloin your jewels. The point here is that there is a long term cost to this, a Band-Aid on the cancer of the overhanging debt and the fact that it only adds to the underlying danger to our basic economic foundation. As for the private sector providing the jobs, there is no way a prudent businessman is going to add jobs that compromise his productivity or profit. Business is not either a philanthropic or private welfare organization. The realistic assessment of the jobs picture is that if there are potentials, the private sector and the marketplace will flow to fill the need. Where we seem to get lost is we are too… Read More / Comment
My Way Back Machine
July 17, 2014
“I want to go back .Yes, to the “good ole days” when pressing my face against the glass display cabinet, ogling those luscious tidbits I had a myriad of choices of penny candy. I never even imagined an anemic Hershey bar for 2 dollars, or a 25 cent ticket to a comfortable seat in a neighborhood vaudeville show where the comic got his laughs from one liners with nary an expletive and without having to toque up for a concert in a bruising amphitheater listening to earsplitting music jargon from a rusty throated jumping jack who would have gotten the hook from Major Bowes. You might say I am just an old codger whose finger doesn’t fit an iPhone or who can’t fathom Microsoft e-mail but truly I did enjoy getting what today you’d call snail mail delivered 3 times a day 6 days a week Yes, and then there was a season for all sports, not the overlap that has you surfing the channels to catch glimpses of the world series counterpoised against Saturday night football and the NBA… Read More / Comment
MORE from Les
July 16, 2014
Commentary by Congressman Lester Wolff (Ret) Regardless of how you approach the “cliffhanger” , it all comes down to politics and how to overcome political intransigence and those doomsday obstructionist naysayers to achieve a solution for the real problems of jobs , the deficit .long and short term solutions and political survival . We have had enough of those “elected and self elected “whose crystal balls have shattered and are now Humpty Dumptys . It is with “tongue in cheek”,( or maybe not “tongue in cheek”), that I offer up as an immediate solution A proposal by the President to couple his program of tax reform with a return to “earmarks” on a grand scale. Yes, many might say this is a hair brained idea but “who is there among you that shall cast the first stone “. Let no one be mislead , I do not question the patriotic motivations of Members . However, deep down, many have survival as a prime concern and by trying to dig their heels in and demagogue they solidify their constituent appeal .… Read More / Comment