Congress has passed two bills that would resolve this issue. Repeal of "Obama care" and "Cut, Cap and Balance" and the Senate will not even vote on them. All they do is throw stones at them and refuse to even vote them up or down. They refuse to go on record for anything. And where is the Senate plan? Zero, none, nada. Where is the presidents plan? Again none. Maybe both those bills are horrible, so modify them (the senate has that power), create there own, (the senate can get that sponsored in congress) but take a vote on them. Senators do something. Everyone wants to blame someone else vs come up with a solution.

Even if you hate both those solutions and think they are really bad, they are a solution. Right or wrong, congress has done something. The other two branches of the three legged stool have done nothing except take pot shots at those two bills.

I was asked to pass this letter, written by a 95 year old veteran, around to all who might read it. Please keep scrolling to bottom as there are some gaps between paragraphs.
He is highly respected in Hawaii. This was sent to me by a retired Army Colonel. Thanks.
p.s. There is a photo of him along many young servicemen of all colors, races, units but I don't think it will copy and paste..........








This venerable and much honored WW II vet is well known in Hawaii
for his seventy-plus years of service to patriotic organizations and causes all over the country. A humble man without a political bone in his body, he has never spoken out before about a government official, until now. He dictated this letter to a friend, signed it and mailed it to the president.




Dear President Obama,

My name is Harold Estes, approaching 95 on December 13 of this year. People meeting me for the first time don't believe my age because I remain wrinkle free and pretty much mentally alert.

I enlisted in the U.S. Navy in 1934 and served proudly before, during and after WW II retiring as a Master Chief Bos'n Mate. Now I live in a "rest home" located on the western end of Pearl Harbor , allowing me to keep alive the memories of 23 years of service to my country.

One of the benefits of my age, perhaps the only one, is to speak my mind, blunt and direct even to the head man.

So here goes.

I am amazed, angry and determined not to see my country die before I do, but you seem hell bent not to grant me that wish.

I can't figure out what country you are the president of.
You fly around the world telling our friends and enemies despicable lies like:
" We're no longer a Christian nation"
" America is arrogant" - (Your wife even announced to the world," America is mean- spirited. " Please tell her to try preaching
that nonsense to 23 generations of our war dead buried all over the globe who died for no other reason than to free a whole lot of strangers from tyranny and hopelessness.)





I'd say shame on the both of you, but I don't think you like America, nor do I see an ounce of gratefulness in anything you do, for the obvious gifts this country has given you. To be without shame or gratefulness is a dangerous thing for a man sitting in the White House.

After 9/11 you said," America hasn't lived up to her ideals."

Which ones did you mean? Was it the notion of personal liberty that 11,000 farmers and shopkeepers died for to win independence from the British? Or maybe the ideal that no man should be a slave to another man, that 500,000 men died for in the Civil War? I hope you didn't mean the ideal 470,000 fathers, brothers, husbands, and a lot of fellas I knew personally died for in WWII, because we felt real strongly about not letting any nation push us around, because we stand for freedom.

I don't think you mean the ideal that says equality is better than discrimination. You know the one that a whole lot of white people understood when they helped to get you elected.

Take a little advice from a very old geezer, young man.

Shape up and start acting like an American. If you don't, I'll do what I can to see you get shipped out of that fancy rental on Pennsylvania Avenue . You were elected to lead not to bow, apologize and kiss the hands of murderers and corrupt leaders who still treat their people like slaves.

And just who do you think you are telling the American people not to jump to conclusions and condemn that Muslim major who killed 13 of his fellow soldiers and wounded dozens more. You mean you don't want us to do what you did when that white cop used force to subdue that black college professor in Massachusetts , who was putting up a fight? You don't mind offending the police calling them stupid but you don't want us to offend Muslim fanatics by calling them what they are, terrorists.

One more thing. I realize you never served in the military and never had to defend your country with your life, but you're the Commander-in-Chief now, son. Do your job. When your battle-hardened field General asks you for 40,000 more troops to complete the mission, give them to him. But if you're not in this fight to win, then get out. The life of one American soldier is not worth the best political strategy you're thinking of.

You could be our greatest president because you face the greatest challenge ever presented to any president.
You're not going to restore American greatness by bringing back our bloated economy. That's not our greatest threat. Losing the heart and soul of who we are as Americans is our big fight now.
And I sure as h ell don't want to think my president is the enemy in this final battle...

Sincerely,
Harold B. Estes
Snopes confirms as true:
http://www.snopes.com/politics/soapbox/haroldestes.asp


When a 95 year old hero of the "the Greatest Generation" stands up and speaks out like this, I think we owe it to him to send his words to as many Americans as we can.

This is a nice letter from Mr. Estes. Altough I'm not sure what it has to do with the current debt ceiling crisis since it's from 2009.

I tried to copy and paste his photo to no avail.

However, here is the snopes account , along with his photo ...........

Again, don't shoot the messenger. This was sent to me by a retired Army Colonel with whom I've been doing genealogy research over the years.......

I agree with you. An 87 year old "cousin" of mine just sent it to me and asked me to pass it around. He's a proud retired 10th Mountain Division guy from World War II ; we've been working on our genealogy together.

I just read the snopes account as well. SORRY.

This was just sent by same retired 10th Mountain Division fellow....
It was uploaded by a doctor............we just watched entire video. Food for thought.
Little comment by Milton Friedman at the end.....but basically about where social security monies are going..............


If this doesn't **** you off nothing will

https://www.youtube.com/watch?featur...&v=fu6ok5ykyuQ

The message that this gentleman wrote is right on and it does underlie, though not directly the problem behind the current debt crisis. Some may try to spin it to avoid the truth, but the truth will prevail dispite those that would strive to convince you otherwise, and do so to try and gain political or idealogical advantages... at the expense of us all.

At the same time I have to admit that blame for the problem is not just one sided. The right needs to accept some responsibility too! We can change them all, but I doubt that much would change in the long run. All in all, this message does unfortunately remind me of the old time TV show, "Mission Impossible!" Where's Mr. Phelps and his team when we need him?

I agree. I know military and city and state workers fall under "gov't workers".

After reading the letter above and yes I will suffer to maybe this is a good time for America or rather our leaders to burn us maybe then all this BS with the governing body will stop. I hate to see it happen but we have weathered worse.

A very interesting letter from one of our veterans. I read a little further about some of the references he makes to the President and the first lady. You can find the discussion on page 2 of http://urbanlegends.about.com/od/bar...rold_estes.htm

It does confirm the authenticity of the letter and provides you with the full text from which Mr Estes quoted.

Wow, this thread touched a nerve. I have a question. But it took awhile to get to this page so I made it a new thread.
https://www.talkofthevillages.com/fo...ad.php?t=40691

Back to the Debt Crisis
 

1. The debt ceiling has been raised 3 times under this administration without a problem. It is only a problem now because the House wants to use it as leverage to address broader budget issues. This "manufactured crisis" is a stupid game that places the entire world economy at risk. We have already done serious damage to our economy as well as our leverage in the world with this silly partisan debate.

2. We actually have a very real budget crisis involving the nation's debt as a percentage of GDP was well as an potentially explosive problem involving the concentration of wealth and capital in fewer hands.

First, the debt. No party has the high ground on this issue. We were spent into a hole by the last administration and the bursting of the real estate bubble with the resulting Wall Street crisis made a bad situation worse. This is not Obama's debt or Bush's debt - this is our debt and we are all going to have to accept pain to resolve it.

That will mean higher taxes. Hopefully, this will be in the form of simplifying the tax code and curtailing deductions/subsidies - plus, lowering rates for small business as well as encouraging business investment in this country (no more PO box overseas tax shelters). Still, if you insist on 1950's tax rates, you better insist on 1950's government programs -- otherwise, you need to accept the hypocrisy in your belief system.

And -- of course, lowering the debt will require significant reductions in spending. And - those who think that entitlements and the military will not be touched have spent a day too long in Fantasyland. That is where most money is spent.

My own belief system leans me to look for discretionary spending cuts that weigh more heavily on those who can afford it. I think it is a mistake to cut spending in education (unless you like living in the third world) and in those government programs that protect our health plus those programs that root out fraud and abuse.

Those value judgment choices need to be made by folks who take governance seriously and who know the fine art of compromise and horse-trading. Ideologs need not apply. They will not help us get out of this royal mess we are in.

Lastly, the increasing gap between rich and poor needs to be addressed and soon. It is a social powder keg. Moreover, ours is a consumer-based economy. Want to get the economy moving again, shift some money to folks who will spend it instead of those who want to move more of their portfolio to gold. I'm not talking about handouts to the poor - I am talking incentives to move capital back into the system and into the hands of folks who will spread it around.

I am not a left-wing fanatic (well, not all of the time) - but, if you value your freedom and liberty you need to understand that you can't always keep what you want (Rollings Stones reference here). It is a lesson learned the hard way in France, Russia, and over and over in poorer countries.

Lesson over - class dismissed. Sorry for any hurt feelings.

Cheers!
Harbor

:BigApplause: well said!
Suzanne

If you think the current Debt Crisis is idiotic check out the following video to confirm just how stupid the jerks we have sent to Congress really are:

http://abcnews.go.com/WNT/video/coin...ayers-14076274

We agree with you completely. What are the phone numbers?

At least he isn't trying to take our Social Security checks and putting us on welfare.

I personally am amused that anybody is even impressed with the current round of "government shutdown" malarky.
It is an annual political event. Same arm waving. Same brinksmanship.
Same stupid players in Washington.
Same silent majority that stands idly by an let it happen each year.

It should be renamed the groundhog budget process.

btk

If we default - I hope you have your nest-egg in fed bonds or gold. Oh, and be well armed as who knows the chaos that will result. This is not a government shutdown -- this is really scary stuff.

Such a total lack of understand of our free market system and the root cause of our problems. We have the highest standard of living in the world, only 50% of our people pay taxes and we need more wealth distribution. Very sad thinking. It actually scares me that you vote.

Amen!!!

Sorry to offer up facts instead of offensive rhetoric, but our country does not have the highest standard of living in the world - unless "the world" is limited to that space between your ears. See: http://hdr.undp.org/en/statistics/

Since you suggest that the misinformed (aka me) should not vote - please help the rest of us by shredding your voting card.

BTW - Please don't get too huffy regarding my tone as you invited it when you elected to describe my thinking as "sad" and that it scares you that I vote.

I admire honest informed debate. I certainly don't profess to have all the answers. Still, ignorant opinions get quite tedious. You might consider researching before hitting the keyboard again and dazzling us with your misinformation.

Again, if you think exceeding the debt ceiling is a grand idea - please invest in edgy tech stocks. They were made for you! Really!

Harbor

Shouldn't They Be Doing Something More Productive?
 

Just in case you haven't noticed, the stock market is down 400 points in just the last four days. Most think that it'll take another dive tomorrow. That in spite of generally record earnings for most companies.

How much has this childish bickering cost each of you. It's cost me quite a bit and I'm not at all happy.

The country should be equally upset over how the uncertainty being introduced by our politicians is impacting our economy as a whole. There were several articles in today's Wall Street Journal about companies holding back on hiring because of the uncertain economic climate, or if they do hire just hire some temps for a few weeks.

There were two other articles having to do with those companies that are hiring having to hire foreign nationals and get them visas or actually build plants overseas because they can't get qualified people in the U.S. The jobs were technical. Microsoft was one company that was hiring 4,500 people, but had to go elsewhere because of the absence of capable and educated people here.

Another article noted that this year 17,000 graduates with Phd degrees in math, science and engineering left the U.S. for foreign countries after getting their education here. In response, one of our erstwhile Senators, Chuck Grassley of Iowa, said "...just because they're highly educated, that shouldn't be a shortcut for citizenship." Maybe Grassley ought to talk to the companies who can't find qualified talent and hire people offshore as the result. These are the guys we have running our government?

I can tell you for sure that some of the most popular computer products being sold today--I'm typing this posting on one--are all made in China. I placed an order for this computer about two months ago and it was manufactured in Shanghai and shipped to my door in The Villages in five days! And it's one of the highest rated computers available today.

No wonder our economy is a laggard. Our government spends virtually all their time politicizing every single issue and accomplishes nothing to improve the education of our kids and making a fertile environment for companies to invest in this country.

Do they think long-term? Juast consider what they're talking about doing with the debt ceiling legislation they're arguing about now. The Republicans want to make it good for only six months so they can start the argument again during the election campaign.

Couldn't they be doing something more productive for the country? Shouldn't they be doing something more productive?

No, No, No
 

Fed bonds? You must be kidding. If we default or our debt rating is downgraded, that will result in a higher interest rate on all new bonds issued, driving the value of the bonds outstanding to the basement. No, fed bonds is one of the last places you want to have your money in case of a default or downgrade.

Yes, now would be the perfect time to have a great leader. Guess we'll have to wait for November 2012.

I'm sure you are right. My perspective is from a Fed invested in the TSP "G" fund. I think I'm covered no matter what happens with this foolishness.

See--
http://blogs.federaltimes.com/federal-money/tag/g-fund/

I apologize if I provided incorrect advice. Weltanschauung is everything.

Harbor