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Wednesday, May 27, 2009 | 2:03 a.m.
Remember when political conservatism meant fiscal responsibility? That was before the right wing discovered it could win elections solely by promising lower taxes (mostly for the rich) without significant service cuts (except for the poor).
Well, conservatives got elected, enacted their simplistic fiscal policies and, lo and behold, the rich got richer, the middle class and poor got poorer — with many losing their homes — and our great nation, under staggering debt, has led the world into its worst financial crisis since the Great Depression.
Is it any wonder that the first response of empty suits such as Nevada Gov. Jim Gibbons to fixing our bankrupt state is to make enormous cuts in education? After all, it was an uninformed electorate that voted in the ethically challenged Gibbons.
An uneducated electorate is required to keep voting in politicians whose only qualification is the promise to refrain from raising taxes. And it’s only the uneducated who have forgotten that it was the eight years of the Bush administration — not the four months of the Obama administration — that turned a budget surplus into a massive deficit, doubled our national debt and nearly bankrupted our nation by removing regulations on the greedy financial sector, causing skyrocketing unemployment and home foreclosures.
And when the bill finally comes due, I hope Nevadans will remember what fiscal responsibility means. It’s no secret that Las Vegas has suffered greatly because of its reliance on the tourism/gaming industry.
With McCarran International Airport arrivals and gaming revenue hitting new lows every month — and with the imminent addition of thousands of hotel rooms — isn’t it time we stopped adding to tourists’ bills by raising room and car rental taxes so we don’t have to pay our own way?
HEY PAUL > Your letter is very weird! Governor Jim Gibbons is an empty suit and is also ethically challenged, Compaird to who all those Chicago politicians. And as for las vegas suffering greatly because of it,s reliance on tourism / gaming industry if it was not for the mafia we would not even have that. Are city is a vice town always has been always will be, People come here to blow off steam that would be considered a felony in there home state. And as for adding to the tourists' bills by raising the room and the car rental taxes why not there the ones using the town not us we just live here. Understand this Paul las vegas is the only city in this country that was not built for the people that live in it don't ever forget that.
Thanks for an intelligent letter. It's comical that there are Americans out there blaming a near-collapse of the U.S. on an administration that's been in power a few months, though fiscal policy under Republicans since Reagan has driven us into this mess. Comical, and scary. Ignorance is not bliss; it's a nightmare.
This is not an intelligent letter. The fiscal conservative tactic described to court the votes of the uneducated is exactly what Obama did to win the election. Do you even realize that you just described the Obama campaign in your letter?
POWERPLAY once again raizes the bar to a knew levil of debate. A levil that knowone can undurstand. And don't ever forget it.
I live in New York. I've seen close up what high taxes and big government have wrought. Once it gets going the taxes can never be high enough nor the government big enough.
You're much better off out there with your low taxes and small government. You should be thanking Gibbons for keeping the lid on.
Rhetoric and reality continue to be confused. Sigh.