The Great Neck News Aug. 31 devoted a full page to a letter of astute observations about the closed storefronts in the Lakeville area a condition that extends all the way up through the Old Village. The letter advocates shopping local. Then it spends all the good will it has built up by sliding into the purpose of the letter, completely unsupported anti-President Obama election rhetoric.
Everyone really knows that the way out of the recession is through private sector and, yes, substantial government spending on roads, bridges and other infrastructure, on education, making it possible for state and local government to rehire needed teachers, on public safety. The multiplier effect of those jobs making spending possible that saves and creates many more jobs. Time enough for the deficit when the economy is back on track.
No mystery. Just the Joseph Story, spending down when times are tough, building up when times are better.
But it became very difficult for the recovery to continue when the Republican Senate majority leader declared that the priority was defeating the president in the next election, fully two years away. The good of the nation was sacrificed to that goal, forcing a protracted recession to defeat a president whose legislative goals would have had millions more at work today.
Mike Zarin
Great Neck
