OPINION

On US politics, the euro, cheats and cynics

After reading the article by Alexis Papachelas, I can’t help but reply and let him know and others like him that he doesn’t have a clue about American politics and life in the US.

Both parties that have been running this country for ever have failed the American public. It’s not the Tea Party that he is referring to and not the folks that clink to guns and religion — a page out of Obama?s speech by the way.

These folks are us, Americans that care and want to save America not destroy it. Yes they have strong beliefs but above all else they believe in the Constitution and that’s something that the two other old and tired as well as corrupt parties have forgotten.

Come down to the South if you can and talk with these people, listen to them and see for yourself that they are the ones that you want to have on your side when the Titanic is sinking. Then go West, like you stated, to the bankrupt state of California and see how well they’re doing and from there travel to the East and meet with all the corrupt union thugs and then let your readers know the truth who really can save the US.

I am a Greek by birth and now a US citizen living in the mighty state of Texas and proud of it.

Sam Pappas

Two-tier currency

Imagine you have a large club; some members from the south are poor, those from the north are very rich, and they all use the same currency.

The rich, because they have plenty of liquidity, easily cope with financial changes and problems; the poor go under.

Why not have the same currency but two different rates of exchange?

The poorer members could have the best exchange rate to help bridge the gap.

Let’s call the dual currency, euro North and euro South.

It sounds too simple; it would never work. Would it?

Freddie Andrews

Cheats and cynics

At times like this, it is worth remembering that out of 6.89 billion people who live on earth, 6.8 billion try to survive on less than $30 a day.

1221 people are billionaires, with access to $4 trillion, and 10.1 million people are millionaires, controlling up $49 trillion.

This means that less than 1 percent of the population, in Greece as well as global, will thrive, irrespective of the fate of individual countries and their communities.

Editor, you are quite correct to assert that this wealthy minority is obsessed with looking after their own interests to the sacrifice of everyone else. That is called ‘capitalism.?

This plutonomy has enough wealth to be able to make and sell and buy and live anywhere at the same time.

They have so much wealth, they will be involved with currencies and exchange rates so as to maintain the value of their monies.

We should not listen to what they say about currencies, and that includes George Soros, because they are busy manipulating exchange rates to bolster their own fortunes.

Some time ago Soros was determined to bankrupt the UK and made many millions. Why should he be any different over the euro?

Kelvyn Richards

Trikala

The interests of the cynics

Mr Papachelas is right again. These Greek «tycoons» would never make it in the real world of competition. They are big frogs in a small pond. But surprise, the pond has been drained and it’s bone dry.

Let’s hope the vast number of hard working, intelligent people in this country inform their elected officials that they want change and they want it now.

Renee Pappas

On ?the dangerous side of America?

First I must admit I did not read the original article but I have read all the responses to it.

I surmised that most responders if not all, belong to the newly formed Tea Party.

The US is governed by elites, whether we want to admit it or not. Almost all of the senators and a large part of the House members are millionaires, some many times over.

The special interests finance the campaigns of those who «govern» us. The lobbyists in DC draft the rules and the politicians are «educated» by the representatives of those with deep pockets on how to vote on the laws that come on the floor. It has been admitted time and time again that most of the time the members of both the House and Congress do not even read the bills they vote on.

It would be lovely to hold on to the idea and the myth that the government represents the people and works for the people, but the truth is that special interest rules.

Currently, the Republican side with the Tea Party want to slash the social programs they deem as «entitlements,» which good, bad or indifferent, the majority of the elderly have contributed to and a lot of them depend on for their subsistence. They see social programs as a waste of money and representation of big government. They want to do away with the EPA and the education department .

As long as billionaires and the corporate welfare programs known as subsidies and loopholes for the rich remain intact, the right wing has no problem slashing the programs that benefit the poor and the elderly.

The US currently has the same problems like most countries do. We owe trillions of dollars to outsiders, the dollar is sinking, our economy is on a downhill slide and the rich are getting richer.

We stopped producing and import most of what we consume, from baby food to medicines.

Each society is judged by the way it treats its weakest members. Tossing the poor and elderly over to the side and refusing to tax the billionaires an additional 3 percent, which the Republicans refuse to even discuss, is not a sign of a society that cares.

However, the members of both Houses of Congress can afford to side with the rich since they themselves belong to their ranks. What does not make any sense is how and why the $50,000 a year working stiffs sing their songs?

We can look down our noses at Greece and criticize the mess in which the country is in, but let?s be realistic about our own issues as well. We do not exactly live in a trouble-free, just society.

Monica Lane

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