Off The Editor’s Desk – 1-20-2016

The President Paints a Rosy Picture

I watched President Obama’s final State of the Union speech last Tuesday evening. He is a great and motivated speaker. He told us how great our country is and that we are all doing just fine and all our needs are being taken care of.

One thing he mentioned was about rules and regulations and red tape and suggested that they need to be addressed. He could have suggested that seven years ago and maybe something would have been done to help the small town businesses prosper.

Apparently, the president has never been to small town America and found out how hard it is for small town business people to keep their establishments running and serving the people of that community.

If you were to look back fifty or even a hundred years ago and count the number of businesses that were thriving in your community, and then compare it to what businesses are left open today, you can see how difficult it is for those small business to stay afloat.

I wish I could blame the president or the Congress for what has happened to all the small towns in the county, but I can’t. It is just change. A hundred years ago, it would take many hours with a horse and buggy or even a Model T to make a trip to Menomonie or Eau Claire. But today, we just jump into our car and in a few minutes we are at the big box store to spend our hard earned money.

To further shut down the small town, the president wants to increase the minimum wage. Now, we all would like to get more for our work. But increasing the minimum wage will hurt all of the folks on a fixed income. It will cause the prices at the grocery store, small café and big chain fast food places, and the service industry to increase the price of delivering their product to the consumer. Thus those people at the minimum wage level will be no better off than they are now!

I have watched the small town main streets dry up with businesses closing and vacant storefronts. What happened?

Small towns that had several grocery stores are now lucky to have one. What happened to the clothing stores, the many hardware stores, the car dealerships, the drug stores, the five and dime stores, the furniture stores, farm implement dealers and the list goes on, that have disappeared from the small town main street? And, the president tells us how great it is.

President Obama related that the cost of generating electricity from wind is now cheaper than burning coal or gas. I have a hard time to swallow that, but I do not have the information to dispute it.

Those people living in the St. Croix County Township of Forest and who have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars in an attempt to stop some forty plus wind turbines from being constructed in that township are probably not on board with the president’s thinking.

I feel that the president believes that the path that he has chosen for America is the right path. I totally disagree. Am I right? Some may agree and others disagree and that is what makes America great.

Thanks for reading!       ~Carlton