Letter to the Editor by Cory Ray

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Upon driving through different parts of Indiana, I have started noticing yard signs that say ‘Fed Up? Vote Republican!’ appearing more and more in people’s yards and along the road. In the State of Indiana, our government is comprised of a Republican Super-Majority, meaning they control the Senate, House of Representatives, and the Governorship. Under this Super-Majority, the State of Indiana has amassed a surplus of two billion dollars.

With that much extra revenue, you would think things are going pretty great for everybody, but sadly that is not the case. Everyday, Hoosiers in every part of our State drive on roads and bridges that are in extreme need of repair. Our Public Education system continues to be underfunded and a regular victim of continuous cuts, preventing our youth from receiving the proper education they deserve.

While all of these problems plaguing Hoosiers everyday, the State legislature idly stands by, all while still collecting their regular paychecks. With a 2 billion dollar surplus, we deserve better. If you are really ‘Fed Up’, do the right thing and vote Democrat this November. Your vote is your way of improving things.

Cory Ray
CONCERN STUDENT AT USI

Posted by CCO without opinion, bias or editing

RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR

42 COMMENTS

  1. Give Cory credit…excellently prepared, makes his case. He points out the irony of the “fed up” GOP yard sign in Indiana…when the State is clearly a GOP state. Great job C.

  2. I too, attempt that logic to sit on surplus cash.

    I cut my trash service to once a month. I tolerated the stench and overflowing cans.
    I cut my water bill in half by showers twice a week, wearing cloths multi days.
    I fence my yard and allowed goats to maintain my yard.
    I got rid of that 20 year old truck and acquired a moped to travel 11 miles to the city.
    I bought the cheapest groceries for a unhealthy balance diet.
    I eliminated phone service so business could not contact me on my underfunded checks sent.

    As my surplus grew, I decided to give myself a break and cut my work hours from 40 to 32. Why not I thought?
    Entrepreneurs want breaks, I should too! I crowed to my neighbors how I was sitting on surplus, counting those “benjamins”. Then it happen!

    My outbuilding which was housing the extra trash blew down. Could not rebuild because of drop insurance.
    In the hospital for a week from skin sores and malnutrition.
    Goats died from lack of a supplements and vet care.
    Moped died from lack of maintenance.
    The creditors caught up with me!

    I leased everything I had to a foreign entity for 75 years. I had surplus again, giving myself breaks once more.

    The foreign entity is about to belly up, my infrastructure is in shambles, but I’m still crowing “surplus’!

    • haha Best post of the week or month or maybe year. Simple and gets the point across with some humor and a lot truth.

    • “The foreign entity is about to belly up, my infrastructure is in shambles, but I’m still crowing “surplus’!” Then that surplus is going to be handy.

      • I too had a “surplus” when I received my check on Friday mornings. By late Friday evening, all debt was met, purchases were made to support household until the next check, ect. There is no “surplus” unless “all” obligations are met!

        That surplus is only a fraction of what is needed to replenish underfunded mandates, infrastructure that requires “multi-times” the money to repair vrs cost of normal maintenance.

        Example IE, would you continuously skip your oil change on our vehicle so you can “surplus” that $30 a change? You may do that a few times, but the engine will destruct. Will that $120-150 replace/repair it back to where belongs? Oh, I forgot, you would not had the full amount saved, for a percentage was given back to whom your income derives from under the pretense it would stimulate the economy.

  3. Don’t forget about how much we owe the evil Federal government for our unemployment compensation.

    Don’t forget how much money we got from the “failed stimulus” that probably saved us from bankruptcy

    Don’t forget we’re one of the most polluted states in the nation, on land, water and in the air

    Don’t forget our 7% sales tax making our tax system one of the most regressive in the nation.

    And yes our bridges and roads and dams are rated D+ by the American Society of Civil Engineers

    Yes SO MUCH to be proud of, yeah I’m fed up too!

    • Remember when we went from 6% to 7% sales tax, we gave up our school district independence to be control at the state level? That one percent was to make all insurance/pension, ect. 100% funded state wide. Has that happen?

        • Tax caps came later. Had to do a quick research on this. This did ease the property taxes. But was this not because the pension ,ect funding was moved to the state level relieving that tax burden at local level? It also allowed that “local income tax” to happen. So really ,we went from a 6% tax to a 8% tax which calculates to a 33% tax increase! from that original 6%

          • Thank you. I thought they were loosely connected. It does put it in a different perspective when you realize the increase was actually 33% when the normal guy in the street would think it was only 2% (8-6).

        • They were a direct tradeoff in response to the housing boom/bust but after housing busted the sales tax increased stayed. (Now the Scowler wants them applied to food too so he can give his rich friends an income tax cut, Kansas anyone!?) It was all in response to property tax hikes from the housing boom. Hey some Hoosiers tax bill went up $90 from $800!! Hysteria anyone? It was the lame IN constitutional amendment that came later, in 2010. That trade off was a shell game. The caps have helped people McCutchanville, Newburgh and the East side while hitting the poor with a 13% increase. Republicans LOVE the sales tax. It’s a twofer. Nobody gets a bill for the total amount of their sales tax so no one can blame them for it, and it mostly hits the poor whom they could give a care about.

        • My quick search has me “eating crow” this morning. Check a few more sources this morning and validated my error. They “were” tied together! I had thought that the 7% was around longer then April 2008. Sorry!

      • Our sales tax started at 2%. They would like to see it be the sole tax and around 15-20%. Regressive taxes are good, corporate taxes are bad, according to folks of the Pencian mindset.

        Good letter Mr. Ray.

      • I have always said that any tax increase is by percentage which is the government saying they want to be a bigger expense in your life forever.

    • Just came back from a random drive around Evansville. The roads are atrocious and it isn’t even winter yet. I won’t even venture to guess how many millions of dollars of repairs are needed to get them even to a level of acceptability. Yet, the nonsensical budget process neglects most of the bone jarring problems while fighting over fun and games.

      • How about the utility infrastructure needed for public safety? Geez, fire hydrant mains, and power line supplies. Then you have the DMD and the brownfield people gaming your funding elsewhere when its needed to fix the real issues.
        What the hell good is a location if the emergency response infrastructure is hampered by neglected focus from the so called community leadership.
        Bad stuff, and will most likely result in another suit against the city for unbalanced protection through the emergency fire suppression infrastructures. Sprinkler systems need steady pressure, as well as, the hydrant availabilities. At lower pressure one could lessen failed lines on a archaic network, forbid, someone has a loss due something like that . Still can’t believe it, not enough pressure to suppress the fire correctly.
        Bad stuff people, real bad stuff, someone ought to be on that like stink on the skunk. This might turn out to be a detrimental situation for your whole towns revenue base.

        http://www.tristatehomepage.com/story/d/story/2-alarm-fire-in-evansville/36612/HkzST-guP0a7jruGnjPXww

      • I drove the full length of our end of 169 today towing a trailer with 5,000# of steel. I-164 was so bad that I had to drive in the left lane to keep from being tossed around. Seems like when the weather cooled the local roads revolted. Met a couple people who knew Evansville. One mentioned the casino, another said with the interstate we are part of Indiana now. No mention of our arena. I am so embarrassed for this city.

        • Bucket trucks sometimes make a haul road out of it. One old WWII vet told me Evansville’s roads today aren’t as good as Germanys autobahn was after the 8th air force, the British, and the Russians bombed it for nearly 4 years.

          Keine Zeit für Futterlöcher!

          https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fbUrYoH_xYo

      • Yes, the roads destroyed my impalas. Jarred my back many times daily to the the point you yell out loud while driving by yourself, “Damn these Roads!!!”. How about using my tax money for these prehistoric roads! This is another piece of UN Agenda 21 – President O’bola himself is the one responsible for making the cost of asphalt go from $100 a ton to $1000 a ton. He signed the deal. Maybe we should send him the bill for that back pain

  4. What young and idealistic Mr. Ray doesn’t realize is that if Indiana were under democrat control, the state would likely be 2 billion dollars in debt and we would still have bad roads. Take a at Detroit to see what I mean.

    • You’re apparently not acquainted with the Indiana Constitution, or else you aren’t interested in truth.

      • I am well acquainted with Indiana’s Constitution. I also well aware of the democrats ability to circumvent it: Look at what owebama has done to the United States Constitution.

        • I wish federal government had a mandated “balanced trade”. Had we these past 40-50years had this, our federal debt would be very minimum as it was back then. State and local government would not be in the shape as they are now, which include the buying of jobs. One flaw on this would be the importing of Mideast oil in the 70’s & 80’s.

          • IE, absolutely on the balance budget. It will be after we recoup all we lost these past 40-50 years in the foreign trade, which likely would wipe the federal debt away. Half trillion trade deficit, and about same on the federal budget. There is a connection.

  5. I think having a surplus is better than having a deficit, so I would commend Cory if had gave an idea of what a reasonable surplus would be rather than just saying we need to spend it. What is Indiana’s total budget, and how much surplus is reasonable? Otherwise put it to work, on infrastructure, or send it back home.

  6. Cory, have you ever voted republican, is there a republican other than at the local level you would vote for now? If so, you have my attention. If not, then the next time you see one of those vote republican signs in a yard, then remember the sign in your head says vote democrat.

    • You sound like that senate race down in the bluegrass state asking the opponent for whom they voted for in the past two presidential races. We “all” have that protected right of secrecy at the ballot box. If one chose to disclose, that becomes a different matter.

        • Ie- Nothing I like more than talking to a pretty face. In your travels around Indiana have you seen any signs that read Fed up. Vote Republican?

          • I have seen one, Saturday in Bloomfield. My reaction to it was it must be the home of a republican precinct leader.

  7. Good kid, smart kid.

    Didn’t take you long to realize the Republican Party almost destroyed this country recently and Barack Hussein Obama is trying his best to bring it back to where it should be without any help from the 2% Republican crowd.

    You give me hope son.

    Never give an inch to these constipated brain dead SOB’s because if it weren’t for Obama bailing out the American auto industry and giving Indiana $4 billion dollars in the stimulus which Daniels railed against then sucked up like a Dirt Devil vacuum cleaner, there wouldn’t be no God worshiping surplus to brag about.

    On a side note, Rick Perry the Governor of Texas railed about Obama’s stimulus also then sucked up $12 billion of it to save his State.

    But I must give Perry a little bit of slack here because that’s what it was costing the State just to process gun permits.

    Never give an inch son or the big money son-of-a-bitches will destroy you…….

      • LOL! I must admit enoch I was in rare form last night because of an unexpected personal issue but after I re-read my post this evening I didn’t find it too far off but should have left out the vulgarities for several reasons.

        Just like it should be a given to respect our seniors, it should be admired when young people notice and comment on politics no matter which side of the fence they reside on.

        Liked your rebuttal.

        Thanks for leaving SOB out of it……….

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