Dear Editor:

In case you missed it, there was a recent election south of the border and the charismatic Barack Obama was given an overwhelming mandate by 50.3 per cent of the voters to serve four more years in office.

However, in a worldwide poll, including Canada, Obama was the choice of more than 80 per cent of people. That just goes to show the power of TV and other media sources.

Obama is an impressive speaker, a devoted family man and just seems to be an all around nice person. Hed be welcome for dinner at our house any time. But what has he done for our neighbours to the south?

When Obama was elected in 2008, the U.S. debt, accumulated over more than 200 years, was $10 trillion dollars. Its now over $16 trillion. That amounts to $47,000 for every man, woman and child in the country. His signature piece of legislation dubbed Obamacare is expected to add at least $2.5 trillion over the next 10 years.

Unemployment is higher than when he took office. The number of people on welfare has increased by 45 per cent. Meanwhile the president keeps promising more free stuff without knowing where the money will come from.

Unfortunately, debts have to be paid. If you dont pay your mortgage, you lose your house. But most of us are naive enough to think that government debt is not our debt.

There are lots of people in places like Greece who went along for years thinking that there was no end to the free lunch. Now, among other problems, they are faced with high unemployment, especially among youth, which has sparked riots and violence in the streets. The end result could be bankruptcy. Unbelievable as it seems, the U.S. is on the same fast track.

Apparently, four years isnt enough time to get around to a few other minor items such as Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, which are going broke. The only action has been to take money away from these programs.

Did you ever wonder where the money comes from to build up these national debts? Its always been kind of a mystery to me, but I think that a good portion is owed to China. What will happen if the US does go bankrupt? Are we going to have to learn Chinese to cross the border?

Anyway, he does seem like a nice guy and might just need more time to learn the ropes. After all he has never run any business in his life.

Bob Hahn,

Juniper Heights