The man on the street

Hampton Union 02-15-08
By Ron Dupuis
With Barack Obama's sweeping victory last Tuesday, and given the propensity of Democrats to tell us how terrible life in America is, I, your humble columnist, felt it was time to get the "man on the street" opinion.
With a wide array of friends and acquaintances in a broad spectrum of socio and economic status, I got on the phone and questioned a lot of them on a broad range of beliefs and concerns.
June, a successful New Hampshire real estate agent on the economy:
"My business is down and I feel it's the fault of the lending institutions who have deceived the public into believing that a three-year or five-year adjustable rate mortgage is better than a fixed long-term rate. Unscrupulous lenders convince people that all they are trying to do is help a borrower achieve the "American dream" of owning a home. By lending money at below prime for a short period of time they give the borrower a false sense of accomplishment and security. They fail to emphasize that the interest rate, when refinancing is necessary, most time is way above the going fixed rates, not to mention new closing cost and expenses.
"The Democrats are right. The economy, especially the real estate market, is bad right now. The solution is not only a possible bail out for these lending institutions and their victims but also a long, hard look at how we got into this situation."
Carl, retired Massachusetts business man, again, on the economy:
"I don't feel that things are as bad as the Democrats would like us to believe. I worked all my life and now I'm enjoying retirement. I have a pension, health insurance, and despite what the Dems say, Social Security still sends me a check every month. My feeling is that the party of Obama and the Clintons are trying to create a need for a "Nanny" government. They want to take care of us because we are, in their eyes, too dumb to do it ourselves.
Mike, 45-year-old mid-level manager on health insurance:
"I have a wife and two children, a good job with a future, and I share the cost of health insurance with my employer. I always felt my share was too high until my daughter needed care for a life-threatening illness. Four hospitals and a slew of specialists later, she recovered and is now doing fine. When I look back, I do wonder what people without health insurance would have done. I don't feel a blanket government-run universal health policy is the answer, but instead some sort of adjustment in the rates in order for smaller privately owned businesses to afford to offer shared cost with employees."
Ellen, homemaker, mother of three, and part-time retail worker, on the Democratic Party:
"Things are OK for us right now. Not great, not so bad we need help, just OK. We're paying our bills, we're providing for the children, and we even manage to put a few dollars in the bank every month. I work because the children are in school all day and it provides us with that little extra. I'm a Democrat and will vote as such, however I wish my party would stop telling me how bad things are. That sort of talk doesn't help the economy or, for that matter, people's attitude."
There you have it. A sampling of concerns from people of various social and economic back grounds. The intertwining theme is that things are not as bad as Obama and Clinton would have you believe. Sadly, they will continue, as they have for years, to tell you how bad off you are and how much you need their "Nanny" style of government.
Of course this is just "In My Humble Opinion."