Letters to the Editor 11-11-09

House Healthcare reform passage

EDITOR: Pelosicare passed in the House: 220 to 215. Here are some things to consider (everything noted is available on the Web)

The vote margin was 5 - this in which the Democrats have a 18.16 percent majority (257 vs. 178). The 1.15 percent margin is hardly worth a victory parade.

Cost of legislation is important, particularly due to the numbers involved. Mr. Obama has stated he "will not sign any bill which increases the deficit one cent." To keep his word, Obama must either cut programs or raise taxes. Under Pelosicare, he will do both at the expense of Medicare recipients and taxpayers. The CBO price tag for Pelosicare started at $1.055 trillion. Now the number is between $2.6 - $3 trillion - for just 10 years.

Constitutionality of individual mandates is an unanswered question. Speaker Pelosi states it is covered under the Commerce Clause: Article 1 Section 8 Powers of Congress - Commerce Clause: "The Congress shall have power ... to regulate commerce with foreign nations, and among the several states, and with the Indian tribes." Others argue it violates the 10th Amendment: "The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people."

I'll leave the determination to SCOTUS - but I have a question. If Obamacare individual mandates are constitutional, what stops Congress from mandating anything else? It would seem to be the express route to dictatorship and the end of "the land of the free …"

Jim Andrews

Rome

Paralleling Nigeria?

EDITOR: Almost daily I receive phone calls and e-mails from workers in Oklahoma, Texas and Wyoming knowing if I have any rentals or know of any. And I tell them I am a real estate appraiser, not real estate agent. I ask why they are calling and they see ads in the local papers for qualified gas field workers in this area. You have seen them: Loaded pickup trucks of personal belongings going through Towanda to some gas field. Their plates tell the story: Texas, Oklahoma or Wyoming. They are coming for work, with no local competition.

You see, we don't have any local specific gas field workers. Sure, it takes education and experience, but no one with any influence in government or education has espoused creating technical institutions for gas and oil field specific specialties. Think of it, instead of seeing our sons, daughters and grand-kids leave because there is no future here, they would be educated in the jobs that these industries seek to fill for the present and future. Instead Votecs still teach the ordinary crafts, whether there is demand on not.

It would be an asset to the community (Northern Tier, Pa., Southern Tier, N.Y.) to have a central education center (Towanda area?) for prospective oil field workers. The institution would have staff and faculty from petroleum producing areas in the West that are seeing hard times now, and the area presents many empty educational facilities that would house these cutting edge occupational specialties.

Perhaps we could avoid being like Nigeria, an oil rich country where the local population just endures the invasion of the oil companies, watches as out of country workers pour in to work for above average wages and no skills are taught to the locals.

So far we are paralleling Nigeria; we too endure the invasion of the gas companies with their skilled workers earning high wages. Perhaps some government entity (state or federal level) can break out of their paralysis and start the ball rolling for the future of the area.

Enough.

Frank J. Bertrand

Towanda

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