Politicians fail us numerous ways. Capturing snowmelt is just one example | Opinion

Politicians fail us. Example: Water

Voters voted for it, but the state hasn’t built it. Temperance Flat reservoir was to be formed behind Millerton as an additional storage area to save the water from snowpack years such as this and maximize storage for the Central Valley. But Governor Newsom, the environmentalists and the politicians blocked the construction, and today we read that unless more storage means can be located now, much of the water and snowpack will be lost to the Pacific Ocean.

Reminds us of the how the prevention of harvesting our forests has given us these nightmare forest fires in recent years.

Sacramento politicians to fail us, rather than do what is best for all of us. As it is said, “there is nothing common about common sense,” especially at the capitol.

Deep state is corporate America

The Q-Anon sort is obsessed with the idea of a deep state — even advertised by our former president. It is easy to dismiss such an idea. But I tend to agree with fantasy Q, in a way. What does actually control nearly every facet of our lives? I would posit big corporations.

I have a friend who never had a claim on his home insurance for 40 years. He submitted a claim and he fought for months to have it to go through. I know a cancer patient who had to fight to get a procedure ordered by her doctor. Oil companies are making record profits while we all suffer.

In Germany, it is law that every worker gets six weeks vacation time a year, full health insurance, day care, family leave and probably other delicious benefits I have no facts thereof. How is this done? In Germany, the government tells the corporation what to do. In the United States, the corporations tell the government what to do through lobbyists.

It’s documented that oil companies spent hundreds of millions trying to discredit climate science. You wonder why we have climate deniers? Yes, we have a deep state.

Missing documents do happen

To the gentleman recently writing about how to control secret documents: Are you serious? Forgive me, but being a president of two corporations does not qualify you as an expert. As a recently retired US DOJ employee, I can guarantee you that there has been and will always be room for error; hence any documents lost and/or misplaced is a reality.

It’s called government and things do go amiss.

How to bring down new car prices

Now is not the time to buy a new car. My wife and I just went through the difficult task of looking for a new Highlander and were appalled by the dealer markups over the MSRP. We found anywhere from $6,000 to $12,000 over. The price gouging soured me on the car and maybe Toyota forever.

I have heard that this is not exclusive to Toyota dealerships. Everyone should refuse to pay over MSRP, force the inventory to build up at the dealerships, have some dust collect on these new cars. That will inevitably bring the price back to more reasonable levels. We hope.

Trump’s big role in federal debt

I heard recently that 25% of our national debt was incurred during the four years of the Trump administration. I couldn’t believe this. So I looked on Snopes, which has no political affiliation and verifies whether stories are true or false. Here is a quote from their article:

On Jan. 17, 2023, newly elected U.S. Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy tweeted that “House Republicans” were “on a mission to end wasteful Washington spending.” In response to that tweet, former U.S Representative from Florida and current MSNBC contributor David Jolly, tweeted, “for context,” that “roughly 25% of our total national debt incurred over the last 230 years actually occurred during the 4 years of the Trump administration.”

To be fair, about half the increase was due to pandemic spending. In other spending, 12.5% of our national debt, took place in Trump’s four-year term.

So, I was wondering: When Trump and the Republicans passed the tax cut that benefitted the ultra-rich and added trillions of dollars to our national debt, it begs the question, where was their concern for our ballooning national debt?

Dave Fansler has no interest in homes

Come on Fresno, get real. Do you honestly think David Fansler is going to adhere to the city’s General Plan to develop high-density residential at West Nees and North San Pablo avenues (Bee Opinion, Jan. 30)? Who does he think he’s kidding?

Our affordable housing shortage and funding should take top priority in the Fresno council meetings. It is a shame that developers and like-minded businesspeople like Fansler have the majority of councilmembers wrapped around their little fingers. Perhaps our capable Mayor Jerry Dyer (just appointed by Biden to chair the national homelessness task force) will come to the rescue and fully support the General Plan. What a shame how money influences and still rules our city’s local government.

Here is how Biden can deal with debt

The unconstitutional use of the debt ceiling as a weapon by Republicans must be stopped.

The 14th Amendment to the United States Constitution states that “The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law, including debts incurred for payment of pensions and bounties for services in suppressing insurrection or rebellion, shall not be questioned.” This means that the federal government cannot legally default on its debt obligations.

The debt ceiling legislation, on the other hand, is a limit set by Congress on the amount of debt the government can incur. If the government reaches the debt ceiling, it can no longer borrow money to pay its bills, which could lead to a default on its debt obligations.

The debt ceiling legislation conflicts with the 14th Amendment, as it could potentially lead to a situation where the validity of the public debt is questioned. The debt ceiling is unconstitutional because it is in violation of the 14th Amendment.

The president should say so and announce he will not allow default no matter what Congress does.

This story was originally published February 5, 2023 at 5:30 AM with the headline "Politicians fail us numerous ways. Capturing snowmelt is just one example | Opinion."