Use common sense

Dear Editor,

There comes a point in one's life that the younger generation refers to you as old and stupid. Well, in my way of thinking -- yes, I am older than them. I've been on this earth a considerable bit longer than they have been BUT I do not consider myself stupid. Just because I or anyone else may think differently does not make them stupid.

As a member of the "greatest generation," I have been part of what has built this great nation to what it is today. I have seen and been part of the good, the bad, and the ugly for the better part of 75-plus years. My voice and that of millions like me feel that it is time for ALL Americans to come to their senses.

I pose a question to all readers which is this: "Why did our government (that is supposedly us the voters) spend billions and billions of dollars bailing out banks, credit card issuers, and big auto makers?" If this had been done correctly (by my point of view) the money would have been put back into the programs that better the lower and middle classes. This would have in turn led to catching up with the actual cost of living increases. It would have taken off like a rocket and helped the economy rather than what it is doing at present: trickling down and running out before it gets very far. The financial institutions thereby would have been corrected sooner.

As a Social Security recipient, I have been notified (again) that there will be no cost of living increases. This makes two years in a row that myself and others receiving Social Security can pay more for everything we purchase. This forces us to make even more cuts in our everyday lives. You say everyone has to make sacrifices. Yes, I agree. BUT I'm not talking about dinners and movies. It's more like cuts to see a doctor or keeping our furnaces turned to 60 or 65 all the time, or cutting back on our medications. My insurance premium costs keep rising every month along with prescriptions, and heating costs, and let's not forget the groceries, too.

It's not the pharmacists and grocers that are getting rich, but the pharmaceutical companies and the middle man between the farmer and the grocery store.

Just recently I lost my beloved wife to cancer. It broke us. We had saved our lifetime for our retirement and over the course of just a couple of years, it disappeared for medical bills. I would do it all again in a heartbeat for Donna, but I feel very strongly that there is a cure but because cancer diseases are such a lucrative business, we will never see the cures. Sick people are big business.

Pharmaceutical companies are recalling many drugs. Why? A majority of these have proven in foreign countries to benefit the patients.

If the drugs benefit a patient, why take them away? Marijuana has proven to benefit those with cancer and is actually legal to smoke for medical reasons (WITH a doctor's prescription) but you can't buy it legally! Where it isn't legal at all is in areas of the country where large pharmaceutical companies are firmly in place. The Native Americans have used it and peyote for hundreds of years.

Please Americans, wake up! I feel we are going to have to raise up and elect a new House and Senate. Start Anew!

As far as the US trying to tell other countries how to live,when they can't even take care of our own and its borders -- bring our troops home to patrol our borders. They can put their earnings back into our economy rather than a foreign one.

Wake up America and use some common sense,

Harold L. Perkins

Max