Letter to the editor: Government shouldn't pay our bills

In response to the op-ed from five mayors in Pennsylvania, “Our cities need the American Rescue Plan and we cannot wait” (Feb. 16, TribLIVE):

If each of our districts can’t find a way to balance our books, how do you expect our neighbors in another municipality, city or state are going to be able to pay our debts and theirs? Aren’t they in the same boat as we are?

Our local governments have lost sight of what “wealth” is. They think it is some made-up fake paper money the federal government prints and hands out to everybody, when in reality it is what people get up and do every day to support themselves. Balancing budgets requires a bottom-up, not top-down, solution. Local governments need to balance books, but the federal government can just print it out of thin air and add it to the national debt?

Government can only give to society what it takes from society. We each owe an equal portion of the national debt. Politicians need to stop promising that someone else will pay your bills for you. You at the local level have run out of ways to get more wealth from your constituents, so you just ask the federal government to do it for you.

Maybe you guys could write an article on when and how you think we as a country lost control of our currency. And in the next article please include a definition (in plain English) of what “quantitative easing” is. We the people would like to know.

John Shaw

Mt. Pleasant