Once again, the tax-and-spend people are asking more money for the school in the form of higher taxes for the people of Shirley. The tax-and-spend people say that the costs of heating oil, electricity, maintenance and a host of other things have risen.
That’s true, and these are the same things that have risen for everybody else who owns and maintains a home. We are all trying to get by with less and less. The senior citizens and people on fixed incomes do not get pay raises and cannot afford higher taxes. It is unconscionable to continually ask the senior citizens and the people on fixed incomes to bear the burden of these ever-increasing costs.
Now let’s say, for the sake of argument, that the children in school who need medicine for ailments that they have cannot afford the medicine that they need; or that they have to cut their prescribed medication in half so that it would last longer. Or say the children in school were told that they could not have a hot lunch because it costs too much.
What if the children were told not to turn the heat up and keep it set at 55 degrees and be cold? What if the children were told not to turn on the lights unless it is necessary because it costs too much? And say they were told that there was no money to do the repair and maintenance work necessary for the school. Say they were told that they would not be able to go on vacation in the summer because they can’t afford it.
What if when a student graduates from high school, they can’t get student loans for college? The tax-and-spend people would be outraged and say ‘How could you allow these conditions to exist?’ but this is exactly what they are telling the senior citizens and people on fixed incomes to do.
What if it was your mother and father, or your grandparents, or your relatives on fixed incomes that had to live like this? What would you say? And where is the outrage now?
The country is in an inflation; foreclosures are at an all-time high, the unemployment rate is at an all-time high, jobs are being outsourced out of the country at an alarming rate, working people are now faced with losing their homes just as senior citizens on fixed incomes are with higher taxes.
Yes, these are hard times for all of us and it is not the time to be spending more money. The school can’t keep going over their budget year after year and keep asking the over-burdened taxpayers of Shirley to pay more. In these hard times that we all live in, we must all live within our budgets.
So, you ask, what shall we all do? For starters, the people in Shirley and all other communities throughout this commonwealth must demand more action be taken by the state, local and Washington politicians to address the needs of the people and to get government to start investing in its own people. It is time for everybody to put down their video games, their iPods, their computers and start taking a personal interest in solving these problems through their state representatives, senators and Washington politicians. What is needed is everybody to get involved and push for political action in solving these problems for everyone.
Yes, it’s hard times for everyone.
JOHN BOTTINO
Shirley
