Solving the country’s problems
Looking for two cents from the peanut gallery
by Dawn Ballou, Editor, Pinedale Online!
April 5, 2011
I was talking with a local Sublette County elected official not long ago and he ended the conversation jokingly with, "Between you and me together, we could solve all the country’s problems." That got me to thinking over the next week what would I do if it was my job and I had full responsibility and authority to implement measures to balance the budget and solve the major problems of fiscal waste, tax burden/responsibility for social needs like finding a health care solution for those most in need, helping our present and future retirees in their golden, non-working years, and resolving the housing crisis? Considering those questions as a challenge from a business-person’s point of view of what has to be done to keep a business or family financially solvent, the thought process pondering those questions was interesting. I don’t want to bore you with my list of solutions, but I am interested in what our reader’s ideas are.
If you have any brilliant revelations on what you feel are the top actions that could be done to solve our country’s most critical problems that would help you most as an average citizen or business person stay afloat, we’d like to hear your suggestions. We are interested in what you think is strangling our ability to move forward for the future and how to fix it. We’d also like to know (briefly please) why you feel implementing those actions would be beneficial for the country. We especially want to hear from business people who have started their own businesses, had employees, and been in operation successfully for several years or more. If we get response to this question, we’ll do a follow-up article on it (and reserve the right to edit for length or relevancy).
We’re been putting our hopes and futures in the hands of politicians and lawyers, when maybe some good answers can be found in the practical experience of a carpenter and tough love of a Mom. If the scale of the country’s problems is too big for you to wrap your mind around or not personal enough to comprehend the scope of the problem, imagine this scenario:
1. Your high school junior can’t write a legible sentence, has no skills, but needs a real job now to keep him out of trouble.
2. You’ve made the determination your mother with diabetes has to move in with you for the next four years in order to get the housing, love and care she needs.
3. Your kid in the 7th grade is starting to hang around with suspected drug-dealing families.
4. You just found out your sister has cancer.
5. You have an idea for an amazing invention of a compact power device that you think can make every building in American independent for their own electricity needs off of a centralized power grid.
6. You know you have skills and talent that are marketable and can keep you employed anytime anywhere you go.
Seriously, what do YOU think our real priorities are and how would you go about problem-solving them?
Send your comments to support@pinedaleonline.com. You can remain anonymous if you wish, but we’d be interested in knowing what city and state you live in.
|
