Gov. David Paterson’s budget proposal to more than double the state’s beer excise tax, from 11 cents to 24 cents, in hopes of generating revenue for the state will ultimately have the opposite effect. The excise tax increase will raise the cost of beer and decrease volume sold, thus negatively affecting sales and eliminating jobs.

Dear Friend,

It is my pleasure to have been nominated to participate in the 2009 Woman of the Year campaign sponsored by The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society! In accepting this nomination, I pledge to raise $10,000 over the next ten weeks to support the Society in its effort to fight leukemia and related cancers...

First, in the House of Representatives where Democrats have an overwhelming majority, House leaders and Obama made a deal with Republicans to cut out necessary spending and replace it with ineffective tax cuts under the guise of nonpartisanship—which is a fool’s folly to begin with, when dealing with extremist Republicans. They reciprocated with zero votes for the bill.

Next, in the Senate (another Democratic majority), more cuts in necessary spending to appease three Republicans. This time the Democrats, headed by Harry Reid, used their 60-vote filibuster farce that they have been using since becoming the majority in 2007. A real filibuster requires senators to speak continuously on the Senate floor until they win or give up. Now the Republicans just have to vote to filibuster and Reid says they won. How convenient. 

Reid also used the filibuster scam when Democrats were the Senate minority. Under Reid’s leadership the Democrats would never filibuster, no matter how atrocious the bill. His excuse was that the Republicans were threatening to nuke (vote to get rid of) filibusters. Why doesn’t he do the same now?

The Democrats should have forced the Republicans to really filibuster the badly needed stimulus bill. The Republican political posturing would have outraged the public and the Democrats could have gotten a much better stimulus bill passed with 50-plus votes.

The return per dollar for tax cuts, unemployment benefits and food stamps is $1.02, $1.64 and $1.73 respectively.

—Robin Thoryk

Syracuse

It is time for our government to make an FDIC intervention of the current banking system: break up the monopolies of the many banks; sell or nationalize them; put in new executives and managers—a clean slate—with clear regulations. As integrity returns, sell the banks to private investors and return the taxpayers’ dollars. This will increase public confidence now lacking and put the financial system working for the public, reversing the failed system.

—Barbara Heywood

Barton 

Is this George Bailey vs. Henry Potter all over again? Similar to the movie It’s a Wonderful Life, the Baileys are again fighting off the banks. Only this time, the middle class (the Baileys) have not learned the lesson from the movie. 

Ask yourself: How many nonprofit credit unions benefit from the bailout? The answer is none, because they do not need a bailout. Yet we are bailing out the very organizations that profited from this whole mess. Why not reform the process entirely, and require banks to follow the same guidelines as non-profit credit unions? This would be true reform.

—Lenny Giardino

Rome

I am becoming ever so outraged at the assault on the intelligence of the American people by the Republican Party and their daily lies associated with the Obama administration and past Democratic administrations.

The idea that the Community Reinvestment Act of 1977 caused a bank failure 30 years later is not only laughable but unrealistic. But these Republican rants are repeated all over the TV, various letters-to-the-editor, and even blogs. Worst of all, when you come up with proof to refute their claims, they get upset and insulting. 

Our country worked best under President Clinton because there was a Republican majority in the House and the Senate. This allowed the Democratic process to go forward. Everyone got something but no one got everything. But with the attitude of today’s Republicans, this Democratic process will become a thing of the past, and then we all lose.

You can openly disagree with a political rival, but to spawn outrageous lies is truly un-American in its very nature, and causes untold damage to the United States as a nation.

—Richard MacLean Sr.

Syracuse

New York State faces a projected budget deficit of $15.4 billion dollars and any solution to remedy that deficit must be an equitable one.

Until recently, the saddest sight in politics was John McCain’s transformation from respected American hero to angry candidate to now, being an angry defeated candidate. That is, until Senator DeFrancisco’s letter to the editor to The Post-Standard where he adopted the role of angry partisan in the model of Senator McCain.

I read Lorraine Smorol’s Jan. 21 diatribe, “Scenes from a Divorce,” about Alec Baldwin’s book, A Promise to Ourselves. Until Ms. Smorol ever has a chance to walk in a father’s shoes such as Alec Baldwin, she should be careful with her words. 

In “Pump It Up,” the Dec. 24 Sanity Fair column, writer Ed Griffin-Nolan advocated for an increase in the tax on gasoline. This is a simplistic argument which is based on a false assumption that this will lead to less driving, thereby lowering consumption of gasoline and in turn, our dependence on foreign oil. 

Mr. Griffin-Nolan, let me introduce you to the real world. There are thousands of independent sales agents such as myself, as well as truckers that travel extensively across the United States using millions of gallons out of necessity in pursuit of a livelihood. I don’t drive a luxury vehicle, nor a gas-guzzling one. A small hybrid car would be impractical because it wouldn’t be large enough to carry product samples and is not cost-effective. Tax increases would impact ever-dwindling profits in a severe economic recession. Furthermore, I can tell you unequivocally that New York has the highest tax already of the seven states I cover in the Northeast. We don’t need more taxes!

Perhaps you are unaware of the law of unintended consequences. Most of the commerce of this country is dependent on the delivery of goods to stores such as supermarkets, furniture stores, etc. Higher prices for delivery will inevitably lead to higher prices for consumers, ultimately hurting the poorest among us the most. Aren’t these the very people you purportedly support?

While I am all for finding alternative energy sources, raising the gas tax is a short-sighted way to accomplish this goal.

—Harold Schwartz

Jamesville