Dear Source:
Curious—furious and concerned all at once is a lot of work. Normally we take these feelings one at a time. Things on our beautiful home Islands are in such a state that all these emotions seem to enter the picture at the same time. What am I talking about! I’m talking about our facing the awful truth that my generation has made a mess of things here. I know it’s best to blame someone else, but the truth needs to be told. The generation that has been in power for the last two decades or so, has screwed things up royally.
A big part of the problem has been the ‘royalty’ class that has been created. This royalty class is now living on huge personal government pensions after being paid handsome salaries when they were on the job. Now many of these folks are decent people, indeed friends of mine [probably not for much longer, after this]. This same class feel perfectly fine having the next generation and the generation after that paying for their nice comfortable non-working life style. Again I know these are friends and relatives and sometimes they even take you out for a cup of coffee. But can we afford to burden the young with this cost!
In the last few weeks we have seen even more of the tax payer’s money move up the pay scale to the select few already comfortable on top. I believe this money needs to be moved down to the hard workers at the bottom. This may seem revolutionary to some, to others it likely just sounds ‘revolting’. This class distinction is very expensive to our young for it on them that we have placed the burden. If it is our desire to keep these young people living in the spare bedroom for the rest of their lives then this is the way to go. I expect they wish to find a way out from mom and set up their own independent lives, but not with the taxes that they will face. I expect that we are the first generation that has kept power for so long in their lives. There have been a few in office in the group a little younger then we are but the real power never went down stream. How did this happen!
Believe it or not a big reason are radio talk shows. Yes, something as dopey as this has kept my generation in front of the public much longer then we deserve and normally would expect. I understand the experienced ones, have things to tell, I do it all the time, but maybe enough is enough. I must admit I spend many hours every week guest hosting several talk shows and I enjoy it. The problem is that some of these shows, not any I’m on, continue to spew the negative distain of the past. Some do try to inform people of what is true, but too many others would rather inflame, than inform. The younger generation have moved away from our traditional news formats, they don’t read newspapers as we do, they have their own ‘I pad and other electronic quick read massages. This next generation will come into power soon and when they do I hope they are not too mad at us. We all hope they pay for our ‘old age’ benefits. I expect they will not feel obligated to keep the Royalty feeling so content. Enjoy it while you can.
Bob White, St. Croix
