Show restraint

History teaches many lessons. In recent history we have learned that the government may have extended the Great Depression by enacting the New Deal work programs, and we got out of it by World War II. Later we found that President Kennedy lowered tax rates and the economy blossomed along with revenues to the government. Ronald Reagan also lowered tax rates and the economy bloomed and revenues to the government increased.

Our nation must control its spending from top to bottom, and it needs to start with the government and continue to our own homes. Live within your means, try cash for a while and you will be surprised what happens. We as individuals need to take the time to help our neighbor and our country by saying no to the stimulus spending and by stimulating the economy by not burdening our children with high tax rates.

This is an emergency that requires the government to relieve the burden on all of us. The poor will always be with us; it is up to us, not the government, to help them.

JOHN HOFFMAN
West View

Give us a refund

Regarding the Jan. 28 editorial "Pass the Stimulus: Republicans Oppose Needed Aid at Their Peril": I do not believe the Republicans should just lie down and pass whatever spending bill President Barack Obama is pushing as a stimulus plan.

Yes, the Republicans must work with the president to address the current economic crisis, but this should not include a rubber stamp to whatever bill Mr. Obama and the House Democrats put in front of them. If you read the bill, then you will see that a number of its programs, nearly 85 percent of them, would neither provide stimulus nor begin for 18 months. Even if the president had included all the money for infrastructure or simply spent it to boost employment, it would not provide any stimulus.

As a conservative Democrat, I cannot support this bill or anything like it. The best form of stimulus right now would be to take the second half of the Troubled Asset Relief Program money and use that $350 billion to give every American an $1,100 tax refund. That would stimulate the economy far more than this omnibus spending bill full of pork barrel projects, which our kids will be paying for decades from now. No amount of deficit spending will get us out of this mess.

The banks need to lend and the people need to buy. This would help stop job losses and spread money through the economy.

JEFF BECK
Jefferson Hills

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First Published: February 1, 2009, 5:00 a.m.