Let's do the math

Today I watched Mr. Obama defend the trillion dollar spending bill by saying "if you total up all the items that people have problems with, it's only 1 percent of the total." So what is 1 percent of a trillion? Let's do the math.

Well a trillion is one times 10 to the 12th power. One percent of that is one times 10 to the 10th power, which is stated as 10 billion.

I think $10 billion is not a trivial amount of money even if it's just 1 percent of something.

Please don't let the "schmooze machine" lull you into thinking all will be OK if we just spend enough.

Tom Cordier, Albany

They're the reason

Remember the nursery rhyme "three blind mice, see how they run." I am referring to Timothy Geithner, Tom Daschle and Nancy Killefer. Well at least two out of three did the right thing and withdrew. I must take Hasso Hering to task on his editorial "Tax code, too, gets the blame" in which he states: "None of them prepare their own tax returns." Not true. Mr. Geithner used the software program Turbo Tax. He only sought professional help after he was audited.

All of these people are supposed to be the cream of the crop, well educated, experienced, leaders in their field, familiar with being in the spotlight, etc. They are not Joe the plumber. Why then would anybody prepare his own taxes?

Let's also consider that professional tax advisers can only work with the information supplied to them. Did they have all of the information they needed? Software programs ask questions; was input provided? Are these issues ones where there can be different interpretations of the tax code? I don't think so.

Income is income, household help is household help. Someone gives you the use of a car and driver and the thought never occurs to you that there might be a tax consequence? But throughout your day you are able to listen to and partake in complicated discussions and make difficult decisions concerning millions of people?

Is the tax code complicated, yes. Is reform needed, yes. But when are integrity and honesty going to become the standard? Maybe we could start by having the IRS audit every elected official's tax returns for the last five years.

These tax problems are at the very heart of this nation's problems. We have elected people we thought we could trust, to spend our money and act in our best interest. We then are disappointed with their decisions and behavior. How can we trust people who can't seem to get their taxes correct with fixing the mess in government?

The honest answer is we can't, because they are the reason the government is a mess.

John Robinson, Albany

Give taxpayers money

Years ago, some eastern Indians used wampum-shell beads - as money. It was as good as gold and a lot better than the bank-created money that came along later.

Economists tell us that money serves as a medium of exchange, a store of value and a unit of account. What they don't tell us is that it also serves as a commodity. Wampum was a real commodity. Money commodity is nothing but figures created on paper. But those figures are bought, sold, gambled on and dumped.

Wall Street is looked at as the world's premiere investment location. In truth, it is little more than a shell game, a place to spin money that only exists on paper, or not at all. True investment results in expanded production, jobs and/or productivity increases. Wall Street cares little about those results, except as peas in the shells. If it did care, the emphasis would be on dividends, not capital gains.

There are a dozen factors standing behind our current slump. Most of those factors are based on shell games. The housing market is only part of the problem. Whatever the causes, we have to do something. But, I swear, those early Indians knew more about money than our current politicians and economists.

Maybe it's OK to help some floundering banks and businesses, along with those who lost their homes. Maybe throwing money at infrastructure will help a little. Maybe lowering taxes will help in the short run (and hurt in the long run). But ...

Let's give at least half of the proposed $800 billion bailout to taxpayers ($3,000 to $4,000 each) in the form of vouchers, redeemable only for goods and services primarily produced in the U.S. or North America. Then let the government cover the vouchers with new currency, not borrowing. Quick, effective and repeatable action.

Inflation? I doubt it. There will not be "too many dollars chasing too few goods," especially if those dollars replace figures on paper and increase production and employment.

People want to produce, to work, to sell, to buy. What they need is wampum to get the process going.

Charley Goodman, Lebanon

Buy only domestic

People, we need to begin boycotting products from other countries. This "balance of trade" is extremely out of balance. Why are we putting up with this?

Yesterday, my eye specialist gave me a sample of a new eye drop that I discovered was made in China!

In light of the problems with baby food and other products for children, should we be using medication from overseas? How can the FDA regulate these things? Everyone needs to "read the fine print!"

As everyone knows, this is a major cause of job losses in America and it needs to be stopped.

I, for one, will not use that product of any other product from China, at least if it is at all possible to buy American - or go without. Keep the money here if you can, and maybe they will get the message.

Frances West, Lebanon