The REAL State of the Union

Memo to the President:

Time to wake up to what reality really is!

1. Gas prices are $3 a gallon. When you took office it was around $1.78/gallon. That was not the change I voted for.


2. You said last night that you do not want the tax cuts for the rich to be permanent. Well...you were the one who made a deal with the devil to extend the cuts in the first place. Now you have second thoughts? You should have ended them when you had the chance!


3. EDUCATION...You want the US to compete with China. Really??? How??? Federal stimulus money for schools is expiring. The new proposed Kansas budget reflects that school districts stand to lose $107 million next year and $85 million the year after. Also, base state aid to public schools could drop by $232 a student, nearly 6 percent. School districts are in a total free-fall. Schools are being closed, class sizes are increasing to potentially 30 kids in a class, and teaching positions are being eliminated. So your "I want our students to compete" talk is just that....TALK!


4. JOBS JOBS JOBS...last month the unemployment rate went up in 20 states. A year-over year 0.6 percent decrease in employment put Missouri third-worst among states in percentage job loss last year. Missouri's jobless rate was 9.5% last year. How about putting Americans back to work? Jobs that disappeared in the Bush era are not coming back. Americans are still out of work! Companies still receive tax benefits for jobs that are OVERSEAS. Here is a crazy idea....put Americans to work and see how the economy responds.


5. Health care is still unaffordable, still unavailable, and still being run by the big drug companies. You have done NOTHING to combat this issue. Your health care bill is worthless and does nothing to control out of pocket costs to Americans.


So, on the issues, the real issues, you have done NOTHING! Zero, zilch, nadda!


Sterling