We clearly have a problem of young adults well into their 20s and 30s still tethered to their parents’ homes and purse strings and unable to make it on their own. In my own home, Bank of Dad and the extra room in Dad’s house get regular use by adult children in mid- and late-30s in temporary need or real crisis.
However, lack of economic self-sufficiency is only the surface problem. Forget 21st-century children and grandchildren in perpetual need. Parents and grandparents are themselves still living off the considerable social, economic and political capital supplied by their far distant ancestors who actually knew how to live democracy day to day.
If it were only true that sappy story we like to tell about how generations Y (millennials) and Z have been standing on the shoulders of their boomer and Xer parents, and boomers and Xers in turn have been standing on shoulders of their parents. Nobody is standing on anybody’s shoulders today.
The truth is, boomers, Xers, millennials and Zers are all badly slumped on the backs of ancestors going back a dozen generations in this country or in the countries the ancestors immigrated from. and
Our people today have simply forgotten how to be self-motivated, self-sufficient, selfless and bound together into social units. Instead, we are self-important, self-interested, self-righteous, and standing alone. We have a super-exaggerated sense of personal importance in a world that doesn’t reward but absolutely stomps on such individualism. We need strong interpersonal relationships, marriages and families to be able to endure life, and we don’t have them today.
The only way we can live at all securely and comfortably going forward is to learn how our ancestors built this country. And to do that we have to study our nation’s history and the laws, ethics and spiritual values our ancestors lived by that enabled them to build the economic and ethical powerhouse that came to be the United States of America.
Unfortunately, that powerhouse has rapidly decayed into the humongous welfare state required today to take care of our helpless and life-less citizenry of all ages.
Kimball Shinkoskey
Woods Cross, Utah
Our pain
isn’t felt
The Obama presidency produced the greatest disaster in health care; it was called the Affordable Care Act. It was a great plan: According to Obama, you could keep your doctor, keep your plan and medical costs would be reduced.
To date, millions of Americans are still uninsured due to high premiums and deductibles and even Obama finally came clean when he begrudgingly admitted that “many folks” did not keep their doctors or medical plans. He blamed it on the growing pains of a new health care plan when interviewed by the Washington Post.
Most Americans insured by Blue Cross and similar plans saw increases of 50%-67%. So much for the “affordable” part of the plan that to date has never been anything but.
Now the Biden administration has passed a bill that is called the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, costing the taxpayers a whopping $369 billion and does nothing to reduce inflation. It does add more than 80,000 new IRS agents and provides billions in green energy spending. If you buy an electric vehicle that costs on average more than $55,000, you get a credit on your tax return; if you get solar panels you get a tax credit; if you buy energy windows and other gadgets for your home you get a tax credit.
The problem is the average taxpayer doesn’t have the money to buy all these green things to get the tax credit and if he could it would be on credit, so where is the savings?
When pressed for details the Biden camp, now that the bill has been passed, says inflation relief to the taxpayer will not be immediate but gradual, over the next five years. So next time you are at the grocery store or at the pump, just remember Biden’s words “And I’m about to sign the Inflation Reduction Act into law, one of the most significant laws in our history. Let me say from the start: With this law, the American people won and the special interests lost.” American people won and the special interests lost.”
By the way it is actually the reverse. The special interest companies producing green energy won. They stand to benefit the most, not the American people, and finally, since Joe, Kamala Harris, Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer will never have to pump gas or shop at the grocery store for $5-a-dozen eggs, I can’t imagine they feel the pain of “We the People.”
Jake Longoria
Mission
Don’t publish
Trump rants
It’s just amazing to me how a newspaper can publish rants from readers. You guys have been after Trump since before 2016 and what do you have you show for it? Nothing, dude. Just nothing.
Now Hunter Biden, investigate him. Adam Schiff, Nancy Pelosi, Jerry “Boss Hogg” Nadler and the demented guy who poses as president.
Everything was fine under Trump. Now the border, gas prices, food prices, infant formula, everything went to hell in a hand basket in less than two years. Talk about a stink in the White House.
Juan Olivarez
Alton
Taxes spur
complaint
While everyone is bashing Donald Trump our local situations are being ignored. The Appraisal District bandits have been hard at working raising the value of everyone’s property, yet almost every school district and city is trying to raise taxes. Kudos to McAllen ISD for being backed down.
This is getting totally out of hand. I bought a half-acre for $15,000 and got an appraisal notice for $55,000. Can we say racket?
No one in government positions is being held accountable for spending. Hiring is off the charts, while nothing is being taken care of. A huge drainage project was funded for a planned strip center in Precinct 3 while residents of Glasscock and Stewart are still waiting for any kind of action besides lip service from HidalgoCounty, Alton and their representatives.
RemoveSouthTexasCollege from the tax rolls. That would be a small relief but one well overdue. It’s a college, it should act like one and stand alone. Use the tuition, fees and grants to survive.
People are slowly realizing that we will never own our property because we pay rent to all the public entities.
Time for a drastic change. Stand up against these ridiculously high taxes for little to no service.
All governments need term limits. No one should hold a government position for 20 years like the commissioners and mayor in Alton. We citizens need to band together and demand fiscal responsibility, less talk and more action on things promised by our supposed representatives.
Myra Baker
Alton
Loan bailout
draws attack
I wish to express my opinion in regard to Mr. Biden’s student loan “forgiveness” (bribe?).
1. This is an insult to those of us who repaid our student loans.
2. Rewarding “deadbeats” (people who breach their promise to repay a loan) is a horrid example of bad government.
3. To give people with college degrees a “gift-loan forgiveness” while forcing the working population to pay for it is a blatantly unfair redistribution of wealth.
4. Forcing the poor to pay for the rich people’s excesses is flat-out wrong.
5. Adding hundreds of billions of dollars of debt to all Americans — in “whimsy” — is harmful to the integrity of America’s financial solvency.
6. My understanding of the Constitution has Congress in control of the “purse strings.” It appears that this unilateral Executive Branch action malarkey is illegal.
Just Saying.
Bill Hudson
Brownsville
