Elect someone who cares for citizens

A late-night comedian asks, “Is the rich person you work for better off now than he was four years ago?” George W. Bush says the economy is booming, but The New York Times says consumer prices rose 0.6 percent in May, while “real average weekly earnings” fell 0.4 percent. We won’t know how bad these figures are until the bills come in; and even then, how can we tell what part of the bad news to blame on Bush?

One price increase that hasn’t happened yet can be directly attributed to Bush: the future rise in telephone rates. A federal court recently struck down the Federal Communications Commission’s rules that gave local phone companies access to the large companies’ (Baby Bells) networks, and promoted competition that has kept phone rates low. With these rules gone, the Baby Bells can crush competition by pricing the local companies out of the market. If the Bush administration cared about you and me, it would appeal the federal court’s ruling to the Supreme Court. The administration not only refuses to do so, but it has pressured the FCC to refrain from appealing to protect its own rules. Do you remember high phone rates when AT&T had a monopoly? Brace yourself for a return to those, after the November election – unless we elect a president who cares more about you and me than the rich people we work for.

Ann Adams

Oak Harbor