Letters: Compromise can’t be bad

Re “Boehner still faces House divided,” Nov. 13

Voters in this election were very aware of the looming “fiscal cliff.” Mitt Romney’s solution was to cut expenses/essential programs; President Obama was very clear he would raise taxes.

The country voted to raise taxes.

Note to Congress: Get the job done. We’ve got to move on; time is of the essence. Global opportunities are passing us by every day our country stalls.

Elizabeth Eyerman
Los Angeles

I found the first comments by Obama and House Speaker John A. Boehner after the election very telling.

Boehner’s comments seem tantamount to a declaration that his party will offer no ideas, and compromise is defined as giving the Republicans what they want.

If one looks at the popular vote, I don’t think such intransigence will be tolerated by the American people anymore.

I would like to know for whom the Republicans are fighting tax increases. They keep insisting it is for the small-business owners and others who create jobs. Included in this group are the very, very rich. I do not see the logic in claiming that the personal paycheck of a head of a corporation results in jobs on Main Street.

Boehner needs to understand that his constituency is not the very rich nor Grover Norquist. He needs to stop exclaiming that the sky is falling and get to work.

Joan Maggs
Granada Hills

It is without question that this state and our federal government have spent us into a dire situation. We are bequeathing to our children and grandchildren lives of unfathomable debt.

Do we need the bullet train to nowhere, the failed stimulus and a monumental healthcare bill guaranteed to be expensive and wasteful? A billion here and a billion there and pretty soon you’re talking about real money.

I was raised to live within my means, but our governments spend money like drunken Hollywood starlets. Can Americans not be pro-gay marriage, pro-choice, pro-environmental protections (within reason) and also fiscally responsible adults?

Do we have to guarantee everyone in our country everything? Or can we tell them we will support them briefly in emergencies, but otherwise get an education and get busy?

K. Zompa
Santa Monica

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