Proper Priorities

Call it a financial crisis or a crash - we are living through the worst collapse since the 1930s. According to Reader's Digest, from 2007 to 2010, American households have lost a whopping $11 trillion in real estate and savings, including a third of the value of our homes. More than half of all U.S. workers either lost their jobs or were forced to take cuts in hours or pay.

Yet, to put it kindly, 'Bailout Economics' and the unprecedented government spending that has gone along with the financial rescues have produced mediocre results "at best," and it certainly doesn’t replace a competitive, jobs-producing Free Market. In housing, government policies along with the unaccountable and unprofessional Fannie Mae and BOA are actually making it a lot worse. Ask any area realtor or homeowner above or below water. Small business owners who happen to be self- employed looking for access to capital or credit? Forget get about it.

With this fiscal crisis, particularly with the growing doctor shortage in Massachusetts and the country, elected officials should honor their current and future obligations to senior citizens, age 65 and older FIRST, while pursuing practical reforms that extend Medicare and Social Security's long term viability and solvency for the rest of us.

For politicians, it's time to demonstrate priorities over posturing, and put the federal government on a diet while safeguarding our longstanding commitments.

Mike Prewitt