Mayor’s Row…….by Ned Mitchell

            Whew!  That was a close one.  For a minute I thought a lot of major banks and insurance companies were going to bite the dust in this country but along came President Bush and the Democratic controlled congress to the rescue.  That rescue will only cost the taxpayers a mere $700 billion dollars, but more on that later.

            One of the problems I deal with all a lot is the amount of time I spend thinking about situations from a political angle.  No matter how hard I try it is difficult to not look at who is making money on this fiasco and who is losing money.

            The Democratic Congress is quick to blame President Bush for the Wall Street woes and President Bush and his cohorts blame the Democratic Congress.  Me, I blame all of them on an equal basis.  If you are in office right now you should have seen this coming and if you did not, then you don’t need to be in office.

            While lobbyist after lobbyist have made millions of dollars off of deals like this those we elect to safeguard the rest of us from boondoggles like this have looked the other way.  I can assure you that we are witnessing the greatest heist this country has ever seen.  It is playing our right now before our very eyes and we are helpless to do anything about it.

            Lets’ just reverse rolls here for a minute though and I’ll explain my thought process on this whole matter.  What if Wall Street moguls had just closed a deal with a foreign country and made $700 billion dollars in profits.  Every politician from President Bush right on down to the local legislators would be taking credit for being financial wizards.  We would see TV commercials, hear radio ads, read newspaper press releases and find our mailboxes stuffed with slick looking brochures, paid for by the taxpayers of course, telling us what a great job these elected folks are doing for us.  There would be no end to the back slapping in this country and we would all be celebrating.  The next thought that came to my mind was the question that if Wall Street made a whopping $700 billion dollars would they send a check to every man woman and child in the United States? 

            So by now you can see where I am going with this.  Unfortunately for the taxpayers of this country instead of rebate checks in the mail box we will be getting the tab for this classic Robin Hood scheme played out in reverse.  Instead of Robin Hood robbing the rich to pay the poor we have the poor being robbed to benefit the rich in this country.  Neither political party will step up the plate and accept any responsibility for this disaster yet they are extremely quick to point their finger in the opposite direction for blame.  It always amuses me that when those we elect are so quick to take credit for anything good to come about but run the other way and point a finger in the opposite direction when the bad news hits.

            Yet here we are poised just before election to continue the mistakes of the past.  I really don’t know which direction to look right now.  I do look at gas pumps reflecting $4 dollars or more for a gallon of gasoline.  Or I look at the utility bill at my home and business that has doubled in recent years.  My income at home and the business certainly has not doubled.  I look at the price of a gallon of milk and then read about the dairy farmer who is not getting very much of that price for his product.  I see unemployment reaching record levels right here in Illinois.  I see much more money spent educating Chicago suburb children than we get to educate our own down here.  I see the likes of the reformer/unreformer Governor; Emil “I Need A Pay Raise” Jones leading the State Senate and Mike “I’ve Been Here Too Long” Madigan in charge of the house.  Then I look around at legislators up and down this state who lack the intestinal fortitude to question any of these three for fear they will lose their golden parachute pension. 

            To be honest folks, then I look at voters and non voters alike and wonder what are you thinking?  If any one of us had a business and any one of these folks were employees of ours we would be on top of this like nobody’s business.  Yet here were are election after election buying the same old line of bull as we watch politicians stay 30 years in office building up huge campaign cash accounts to take with them as well as padded pensions.  Upon leaving office they promptly place one of their children in their seat and life goes on.  What a huge joke we are watching and allowing to continue.  If it were not so sad it would be funny.  $700 billion dollars that you and I are going to shell out to keep Wall Street solvent.  That all adds up to a lot of money and in the grand scheme of things it is even more sad that we the voters allow folks who get us in these messes to stay in office.  We all have many choices coming up this November and it behooves all of us to educate ourselves and make wise decisions when we go cast our ballots.

            Congratulations to the Sesser-Valier volleyball team who over the weekend mopped up all of their competition at Metropolis.  The Red Devils handily defeated every team in the tournament and came home with a huge first place trophy.  We are extremely proud of this team and wish them well throughout the remainder of the season.  School board member Mike Sulser was so excited about the win that he treated the team to dinner at O’Charlie’s  in Marion on the way home. 

            Keep in mind that our Ocktoberfest is just around the corner, coming the second week end of October.  Along with the craft fair at city park and food vendors we will also be featuring a new addition for downtown.  We are having our first ever Antiques and Art that will feature area artists with their creations on display.  There will also be a county wide art show for High School students above the Opera House in the Woll Room.  The Opera House Company theatre group will be performing “Guys and Dolls” that week too so it will be a great time in Sesser.  We have some exciting concerts coming up in November and December so as we head into the holiday season make sure you leave some room for us!