Letters
Letters to the editor
Highlands Today
Published: December 15, 2012
What happened?Published: December 15, 2012
Why are both the Republicans and Democrats lying about Social Security? If I remember right, Social Security was started by President Roosevelt back in the 1930s and it has never lost money. Half of its profits have gone to aid schools and the other half has gone into the government's general fund. This has amounted to hundreds of billion of dollars.
Why do both parties want to privatize Social Security? Who would get the billions of dollars? Why do they want to reduce the payout? And why do they want to raise the retirement age?
Florida has among the most elderly people of any state. They come here to live out their old age. I kept track for the month of October; from several newspapers, the age of the people that died, 85 percent died before they reached 62 years old. They paid into Social Security for 20, 30 or 40 years and so did their employer. What happened to all of those billions of dollars?
Joseph J. Oros
Sebring
Concealed weapons
It's ironic that Highlands Today published the Florida Times-Union editorial critical of "Stand Your Ground" on the same day the state of Florida announced that almost 1 million concealed carry permits have now been issued.
It is also ironic that the Times-Union drivel uses the decrease in the crime rate as justification for its argument when, in reality, just the opposite is true. The crime rate has decreased because so many law-abiding Americans now own and carry guns. Just because criminals commit crimes doesn't mean they are necessarily stupid. They are well aware that the more guns being carried by permit holders, the more likely they will be shot committing a crime.
Despite inane liberal rhetoric to the contrary, crime rates are low in cities, states and countries where legal gun ownership is high. Just the opposite is true, too. One need look no further than Chicago and Washington, D.C., to substantiate such statistics. Both cities have the most restrictive anti-gun laws in the country and both have the highest crime rates as well.
Perhaps even more compelling, given the Obama administration's desire to squelch the Second Amendment, are the words of Thomas Jefferson: "The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against the tyranny in government."
Ronald D. Carmony
Sebring
Special pay?
Special pay? If it's a Christmas bonus, it's a hefty one. If it's a special pay, then it's a pay raise, which, as an ex-working person, I would consider it a pay raise of about two percent. Let's call it what it is.
As a Christmas bonus, I think $20 to $50 is a nice gift — more then I ever received. When you talk $400, that's way too much.
Charles Longieliere
Sebring