A comment heard on the radio aroused a compelling response. The caller said that both parties contributed to the serious crisis facing the country today, and contributed to the enormous $9 trillion national debt, and severe Social Security, Medicare-Medicaid crises. It is ironic that the caller cited the last 40-50 years. Consider this. It took 200 years (1787 to 1980) for the national debt to reach $1 trillion. It took 27 years for it to balloon to $9 trillion (1980 to 2007). Ergo: $6 trillion (1980-1992); +$2 trillion (1992-2001); -$5 trillion (2001 to 2007). Total: $9 trillion. So, who was in charge during those years? Who caused the $7 trillion hit on the economy in 2000? Who provided the prescription drug bill that was to cost $400 billion, but ballooned to $1 trillion and caused health care cost to increase 10 to 15 percent each year? Who allowed the corporations to duck their obligations for pensions all across this country? Who sat by while the banks and mortgage corporations manipulated the hapless home buyers to sign those sub-prime mortgages? As an immediate first step to resolve the crisis, who bought $2 millions of those egregious loans, then reduced interest rates for the banks and mortgagors, but left those hapless mortgagees swinging in the wind? Who is being held accountable? Where are those trillions and trillions of dollars? The answers? Corporations and our government! ...more

February 2, 2008

The Safety Harbor Public Library has really gone high-tech. The library is one of the first in the county to open "a virtual satellite branch," according to Library Director Lana Bullian. ...more

December 29, 2007

TAMPA Sitting in front of his computer, in the recesses of the Army camp at Fort Irwin, Calif., Gilbert White read a TBO.com news story involving his hometown of Tampa. ...more

December 15, 2007

Gov. Charlie Crist should recognize what a majority of lawmakers fail to understand: developing water resources is essential to Florida's future. ...more

October 25, 2007

Local union leaders on Friday endorsed a tentative agreement between General Motors and the United Auto Workers that requires GM to pay at least $35 billion for retiree health care and offers an unprecedented number of promises for future work at U.S. plants, according to a summary of the agreement provided by the UAW. ...more

September 29, 2007