WHERE'S THE BILL?

The President announced “Pass This Bill Now”, but Mr. President where is the Bill? My Congresswoman says she hasn’t received it. The Senate hasn’t received it. Aren’t you taking the cart before the horse? Where is the money coming from? The President has been preparing this “Jobs Bill” for weeks and we have nothing of real substance or detail except “Pass This Bill Now”. The day after his speech the President ventured out to sell the bill to the people. The media was debating the merits of the Bill. How stupid and naïve have we become when we buy smoke and mirrors. Where’s the Bill? Obama Care was passed with the same stupidity, and over a year later we’re finding out how bad it is. Don’t we learn from mistakes? The credibility of any represesentative who supports this non existent bill should be questioned. The President gets an “A” for speech presentation but an “F” for his inability to produce productive legislation. I’m tired of being played as an idiot by Washington. Stop the horse and pony shows and get down to business. Cut spending, end the fraud, follow the laws, create real jobs, drill, rescind regulations, balance the budget, no more debt, and get people back to work.

LANDLORD

Question, should the Village of OP become a landlord? It reminds me of the federal government running General Motors and Banks. Was the Federal Government qualified to run a private enterprise? No. What we have in OP is an administration that is running away from the truth. For almost 10 years the administration has tried o come up with a plan/solution for the Metra Triangle, and for 10 years they keep making changes. No developer was willing to put up the money for this project. To save face, the administration has found a way to build the development with taxpayer money... Hello, and welcome to Government Apartments of Orland Park. OP is no more fit to be a landlord than Washington was to run GM. As representatives of the people the Administration must have the courage to admit they were wrong. Admit your mistakes and find private developers to dig us out of this mess. Do we need residential development? Why not a hospital, manufacturing, private health facilities, a university there are alternatives. Public ownership only leads to more corruption and deals. The Metra Triangle project is a disgrace and shows how incompetent government can be when it comes to spending taxpayer money.

RISKIER THAN RISKY

I concur with the Southtown Editorial’s logic to fund the Metra Triangle Project,” Fails the Smell Test.” To say the least the plan is more riskier than risky. You don’t need a lot of statististics or testimonials from groups who have everything to gain and nothing to lose to conclude that this is a bad deal. If you have common sense and some real life experience you would back off from this plan. Unfortunately that’s not how the OP Administration sees it. They are ready to ram it down our throats.

Let’s look at some of the facts: national unemployment is at 9% and probably 10% in Illinois. Businesses are leaving Illinois and people are following the jobs. I believe 41% of the people between 25 and 54 were unemployed for an average of 27 weeks or longer in 2010 and 2011. This is the target group that OP is looking at to rent too for $1500 -$2000 a month. When I read the newspapers I hear that college grads are having difficulty finding employment. In 2009 the average 1 BR rental apartment went for around $900, the average today is around$1200. Do you really think this group is willing to pay 1500-2000 to live close to a train in OP? If I was a young and up and coming adult I would look to downtown Chicago with all its amenities. On top of it, haven’t they heard that more and more young people are moving back home?

For the life of me I can’t understand the logic in the Village investing in rental units. Here is were common sense and experience comes in. What is the turnover and cost of maintaining a rental building? Maybe there are people who can’t buy and would rent. First and foremost do they have a constant income to pay the rent? The problems with the Village renting are insurmountable. We could be looking at a development investment that could be destroyed within 10-20 years.

I guess the Administration doesn’t realize that the economy is tanking. The Federal Government is in debt to their eyeballs. Orland Park’s debt is nothing to sneeze at. During the last Mayoral Election the Debt was in the vicinity of 100-200 million dollars. The Administration has an obligation to balance the books. They say there is no risk. If there are problems,will the money come out of McLaughlin’s or Grime’s pocket? No, it will come out of the pockets of the taxpayers of Orland Park. The Administration has no risk, just being booted out of office.

History tells us that this Administration has not been friendly to the Orland business community; we lost the Andrew Corporation, a lumber company, the Orland Plaza, attempts to bring in Von Mar and other high scale retailers failed. What we’ve gotten was a Fat burger that lasted a year. The Mayor says vacancies are low. Well, ask the people what they think about that estimate. We look at the empty store fronts and failures. That’s what we see not your slant on how good things are. The Mayor is a politician who believes we will fall for his line.

Is this a good deal, “NO”. When a developer comes in with only a million dollar investment for a $62 million project, I say he’s getting a steal. If the project works out and he gets the development, I say that’s a steal. This is highway robbery especially when the developer’s record is anything but superb. With a bankruptcy and tales of faulty workmanship in the background would you give this developer or any developer the opportunity to represent you? With the Mayor’s experience in the plumbing trade I would recommend that he flush this plan and his vision down the drain.

POLITICAL LABELING

I find it interesting that the media spends so much time classifying voters: liberal, conservative, moderate, Republican, Democrat, Independent, religion, right, left, center, race or whatever category they can think of. I would prefer that the pollsters and pundits spend time in asking tough questions so that I can evaluate the candidate to make an intelligent voting decision. . My voting decision should not be based upon some classification system. Since the pollsters and pundits like labels, why not classify candidates as Progressive, Libertarian, Marxist, Socialist, Constitutionalist, Patriot etc. I would like to know the candidates values and how those values relate to their decision making. During the 2008 campaign Hilary Clinton announced she was a Modern Progressive. She was honest as to her ideology. I interpret that to mean she believes in big government, taxation, deficits, one world government, redistribution of wealth etc George W. Bush wasn’t identified as a Progressive Republican until he left office. I believe the media needs to spend more time investigating, researching, asking questions and then classifying a candidate as to his/her ideology. There should be no free ride for any candidate. The voter needs to know more about the candidate than the media knows about the voter.

WHAT'S THE REAL STORY BEHIND THE DEBT CRISIS

Are we focused on the real problem in Washington: is it raising the debt limit? Going into default, losing our AAA Credit Rating, lack of a balanced budget, too much spending, not enough taxes or the culture of the way Washington does business? I say the underlying cause of all problems is the culture in the way Washington conducts business... Washington does little to fix problems; it’s all about politics and getting re-elected... Just look at the shenanigans of the past week. Speaker Boehner tells the members of Congress to “get in line’. He states “I’m sticking my neck out”. Majority Leader, Harry Reid states “It’s dead on arrival”. He tables debate. There has been no budget for over 800 days. The President says everyone should act like adults and should work out a compromise while using scare tactics to meet an August 2nd deadline. Is that the way Washington is suppose to work? Maybe Speaker Boehner needs to get in line. Why did he want the job? Maybe we need to ask Steve Wynn why he supported Harry Reid while calling out the President on the economy. Mr. Wynn is partially responsible for our problems by promoting and funding Harry Reid’s re-election. The President hasn’t presented a plan and has shown little or no leadership. He thinks his job is campaigning. Is that what we want from Washington?

The elections of 2010 provided a ray of hope. When was the last time someone stood up to the Speaker and said “NO”? Well it’s happening and it’s about time. The members of Congress and the Senate should be tired of the Republican and Democratic Leadership going behind closed doors and emerging to tell them how to vote. We didn’t elect “YES Men” we sent people to Washington to solve problems. Everyone should have an opportunity to put their two cents on the table. Supposedly Connie Mack and Rand Paul have a proposal to trim spending by 1%, each year, over 6 or 7 years. Why hasn’t that proposal come up? The leaders keep saying there must be compromise. I say “FIX THE PROBLEM, Look out Of the Box’. Under the present situation politicians are acting like politicians... We need more input from the statesmen. One of the problems is that the Republicans control the House while the Democrats control both the Senate and White House. Is that a good enough reason not to work together and cause a stalemate? When the Democrats controlled all three, they did nothing to fix the problems. The people are sick of the game playing and politics. Moody’s presented comments on what needs to be done to save the AAA Credit Rating, why hasn’t the leadership been responsive to these prompts? Too me the priority should be to save the AAA Credit Rating and prevent defaults by cutting spending... Is it necessary to raise the debt limit to create more debt? I don’t think so. We need to find ways to start paying down the debt, not increasing it.

I don’t know if there will be a happy ending to this story. Whatever happens will be debated and argued for months to come. What I do know is that we must continue the change that we started in 2010. We must elect people who will stand up and fight for what’s right and solve problems. We don’t need “YES MEN” who will bow to a leadership that has been corrupted by a culture that has begun to destroy the freedoms, liberties and financial stability of the United States of America...

TIME TO PUT UP OR SHUT UP

What bugs me about the current deficit situation is that Government can’t find any money to cut. Everything is critical, too important. I disagree, look around, what about all the fraud that is taking place in federal programs, how about subsidies, money we give to Greece, Brazil,UN the IMF. We pour money into the Middle East and we don’t know who’s getting it. GM pays no taxes and Immelt asks why people complain about government. I wonder why? Billions are given to illegal’s who won’t learn English or respect our customs. We won’t drill or mine. Washington is destroying jobs not creating jobs... Government salaries and benefits increase while they talk of cutting Social Security and Medicare, Will the sky fall? Yes, Social Security and Medicare is a problem and needs to be fixed, so what are they doing about it, nothing. Talk, talk and more talk. We give billions in bailouts with no results. We want everyone to own a home they can’t afford than subsidize the mortgages. Washington wants to tax the rich while 50% of the population pays no taxes. I understand there are people in need, but 50%. We punish people for thrift and ingenuity while rewarding people who look to government for support. What a mess. The late Everett Dirksen once said when you take a million from here and a billion from there you begin to talk real money. We’re talking real money folks. Why can’t Washington see the waste?

Washington is all about politics. They are destroying the country. If you want to campaign, do it on your own time, not my dime. How can you solve problems when you measure everything in votes? In 2010 the people sent a message to clean up the mess. Well, the mess is getting worse and 2012 is still some time away. When will our elected officials learn that they work for the country not themselves, special interest or their party? The hot air floating around is ready to explode.. It’s more about ambiguity than substance. How can you resolve problems when you don’t even know why you’re in Washington? Why did you take an oath? Why did you run for office? Like the kids in the neighborhood used to say, “TIME TO PUT UP OR SHUT UP”.

IS BIG GOVERNMENT THE ANSWER

Is big government the answer to our problems? Look at your present situation and think back 5 or 10 years, are you better or worse off. I would say you are worse off. Why, because you have less discretionary spending. Prices are rising, your salary can’t keep pace with the cost of living, and maybe you lost your job or can’t pay your mortgage. Each day seems to get worse. Your investments and property values are going down. It’s depressing. What’s the cause of our predicament? I say “BIG GOVERNMENT”. Washington keeps saying they need more money. I say cut the spending, cut the taxes. Is there anything that you buy that’s not taxed? Cut the size of the bureaucracy. There are regulations upon regulations to constrain our daily lives. You can’t do this, you can’t do that... Why not use our natural resources to create jobs and cut our dependence upon foreign resources? Government believes in the redistribution of wealth. Should we all be equal? I say we need to accept responsibility for our own actions and destiny, Dependency upon government makes us lazy and we lose our creativity and resourcefulness to be free and independent.

Big government is threatening the freedoms we have enjoyed for over 200 years. Government spends too much, regulates too much, taxes too much and is beginning to dictate too much. It classifies us by different traits instead of treating us as free and independent individuals. It stifles free enterprise and initiative by it regulations and taxes. It supports favoritism and friends. Promises are forgotten and replaced with contradicting decisions. They don’t listen, they won’t read their proposals and they ignore the will of the people. What has happened to the patriotism and pride of serving the electorate? The patriots in Washington are too few. We have elected too many representatives who are self serving and devoted to their party. How do we turn this around? It’s time that we the people start paying attention and start being concerned about what’s happening to our country. If we don’t, we may lose the greatest gift we have: freedom and liberty.