It appears that Washington still does not get it, with the possible exception of Rep. Mike Michaud, D-1st District.

Americans don’t want to hear about deficits, welfare, health care etc. until the core issue is addressed. Of course that would be getting industry back on U.S. soil to get people back to work.

It does not take an economist to figure out that with people working, you broaden the tax base and get people off government programs, which frees up more money to address most of the pressing issues, including the deficit.

As I pointed out in my September letter, start with doing away with free trade agreements and instead create equal trade agreements. That is the only way to make a lucrative environment for industry to want to come home.

As for the Republicans, they have to get their head out of the clouds and realize that most Americans know what they are up to.

They tout that tax increases are bad for the economy, which frightens a lot of people and they know it. Americans don’t want higher taxes; we just want the wealthy to pay the taxes that they should have been paying right along. Even with a flat tax across the board, it still hurts the “99 percent” a whole lot more.

Washington must realize how frustrated American people are; they just need to look out their windows. Americans are so frustrated that I am seeing fracturing of the mainstream parties like I have never seen before.

As a matter of fact, I’m hearing more and more people saying in regards to this next election cycle, “whoever is in, they’re out.” It appears that the shelf-life of anybody in Washington, regardless of longevity and/or party affiliation, isn’t very long anymore and that’s probably a good thing.

Gerard Austin

Solon

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