Sense of gloom, doom justified by events
Published Saturday, November 10, 2007

http://www.islandpacket.com/opinion/let ... 75301.html

While I mostly associate with positive, upbeat folks, currently most
everywhere I turn, there's a looming sense of doom. Nationally, many think all presidential candidates are much the same -- aspiring socialists with dubious moral credentials. Citizens recognize Washington as being a corrupt bureaucratic megalith, its kleptocrats regularly bought and sold by influence peddlers, "our leaders" mostly living by the lie, while gaining the most.

Uncontrolled spending by Congress and the president has led the dollar below the grave. The Fed is expanding the money supply by double digits annually to fund spending while inflation hums, excepting credit-crunched housing. Government-prepared inflation and economic statistics are crudely disguised as exercises in seriousness.

Locally, residential property taxes were reduced pursuant to the 1 percent sales tax boost, but soon Beaufort County will ask voters for $300 million-plus for new schools, in large part, to educate more than 2,000 children of illegal aliens -- higher taxes soon again. Bond votes are not scheduled during the normal first Tuesday in November, but separately as bureaucrats know turnout will be minimal, except for schoolchildren's relatives, a scheduling scam that should be unlawful.

Next comes the claim of insufficient jail space for illegal aliens. Somehow for years, sheriffs across the nation, like Joe Arpaio in Arizona, have housed thousands of illegals in surplus county buildings and tent camps, pending their deportation. Impossible in Beaufort County, I guess. Illegal aliens only cost county taxpayers upwards of $70 million per year -- walking around money, eh. So who's alarmed? Sense of doom looming? Well justified.

Sherman Olsen Jr.

Hilton Head Island