Politicians not serving public
I would like to see you people working for the citizens of the U.S. instead of working for the insurance companies.
We the people need HR 676. It would be the right step to bailing the people out since our tax money bails out the Wall Street bunch.
I don't have health care of any kind but my husband does because that's all we can afford. Even if you tried to force us to get the insurance I would not get it.
I haven't seen a doctor in 15 years. I'm just fed up with you government people not taking care of the people.
You have no right to cheat us and rob us and just lie to us and fill your own pockets. I don't know how you sleep at night. You guys up there are not working at doing the job for the people and you all should be fired... I demand you to vote for HR 676.
— Mrs. Raven Kasprzak
Edgar Springs
Seniors deserve tax breaks
Jean Hentzel is right, lower taxes will draw new business and more customers, but it is not fair for some people to pay all the taxes and other people not to pay any. If there are going to be tax breaks, it ought to go to senior citizens so they can keep their homes and farms.
With all the tax breaks from Obama, Phelps County just needs to sit back and enjoy life. If the pace here is too slow, the baby boomers can to go Washington, D.C.
— Jim A. Dean
Doolittle
Our government gets hijacked
This is an open letter to all the elected officials in the legislative and executive branches of the federal government.
Where is your primary duty to serve America and “We the People” first? Your obligation to uphold the very principles under our Forefathers founded our great county? Your fiscal responsibility? Your moral character, honesty, civic conscious, and integrity? Your common sense and obligation to do the right thing? Your obligation for unity by reaching across the aisle to construct bills that are in the best interests of all the people and to read them before voting on them? Where is ----etc.
It is not OK to prepare bills to pay back special interest groups. …to expect “We the People” to do as you say when you do not walk the talk yourself. …to expect “We the People to pay for someone else’s health care when they chose to have non-essentials instead...for you to continue inserting pork projects and wasteful spending into bills.
It is not OK to continue your greed, arrogance, and lack of respect for your constituents. It is not OK to continue taking our great county down the path of socialism that can only lead to greater government control, fewer choices, less freedom, higher taxes, an unpayable national debt, and where silence is golden. If you do not get it, then I will elect officials who do get it. You need to remove the blinders and take out the ear plugs if you think this message is not mainstream.
From a military veteran who loves this country,
— Bob Fox
St. James
Impact of cuts hits tourism
Missouri’s travel industry learned the Missouri Department of Economic Development has ordered the Division of Tourism to cut $7 million from its current budget, an amount equivalent to 35 percent of the agency’s appropriated budget. Tourism’s cut represents nearly 64 percent of the $11.3 million in withholdings issued by the governor’s office for the Department of Economic Development.
Travel industry associations discovered the inequitable distribution of DED’s recommended cuts. With the exception of the Division of Tourism, most other agencies within the department are being ordered to trim their budgets by 10 percent, while several DED programs remain completely unscathed.
A reduction of this magnitude will force the Missouri Division of Tourism to curtail its 2009-2010 advertising campaign, a move that will most result in a reduction in the number of in-state and out-of-state visitors. Communities rely not only on the state’s advertising campaign, but also its efforts to promote the state to group tour operators and other niche markets that support Missouri’s attractions and hotels.
Last year, every dollar spent on tourism marketing returned $48.13 in visitor expenditures, and Division of Tourism efforts generated $2.46 in state tax revenues for every dollar spent. Even through the tumultuous economic climate, tourism has remained a steady positive force. A $7 million cut in the Division of Tourism’s budget will only exacerbate the state’s revenue problem.
While Missouri’s tourism industry can understand the need to address the projected shortfall in state revenue this year, DED’s disproportionate distribution of those cuts illustrates the Department's attempt to unfairly force one agency to shoulder the bulk of its overall budget reduction.
The recommended cuts disregard the legislative process through which lawmakers allocated funding during the most recent legislative session. Legislators approved funding of just under $24 million in May.
A month later, Gov. Nixon trimmed nearly $6 million from the state’s tourism budget, and control of Division expenditures was handed to the Department of Economic Development, a move that is in direct violation with the organizational charter of the Division of Tourism.
All budgetary decisions governing tourism expenditures are overseen by the Tourism Commission, according to state statute. DED questioned the Division of Tourism’s allocation of $1.5 million to the Tour of Missouri professional bike race.
Funds were eventually released, much to the relief of the communities that had made their own investments in preparation for the Tour of Missouri. A one-time injection of $3 million in federal Stimulus money was later allocated to the Division of Tourism, however this week’s move negates the Stimulus assistance and places the Division of Tourism at risk during next year’s budget process.
When the state is looking at preserving its business environment and retaining jobs, the DED must understand these cuts will have dire consequences in the future.
— Mishell Hoover
Missouri Travel Council
