In response to the letter “Thanks for nothing” (Aug. 10), the next time you wish to blame a government official for your problems, please make sure you are laying the responsibility at the feet of the correct branch of the government. My copy of the Constitution states that the president’s only input into the final federal budget is to sign or not to sign the budget as it was passed by Congress.

The Congress is responsible for passing all new legislation, which would include that affecting your health, dental, education and retirement plans. If you do not like the budget the Republicans and Democrats in Congress have approved, take your grievance up with them. Do not blame the president.

Governments can only create bureaucracy, they do not create jobs — business creates jobs. The way a government can aid business in the creation of new jobs is to keep taxes low on industry and not overtax the investors.

For your information, an investor is someone who keeps his “Keep Working Until The Day I Die Fund” invested in business hoping to receive a profit on his retirement fund and not in a coffee can buried in the backyard. If you dig your retirement fund up and invest in stocks, and if the “Tax the Wealthy and Spend on the Needy” liberal Democrats let you keep any of the profit from your investment, you will have more in your retirement fund than you will have squirreled away in your coffee can.

Richard Pullman, Hallam

Parks define our city

Lincoln built and steadily maintained parks for the past century. Why would we spend our scarce tax resources on parks? Members of the City Council provide support because they recognize that our park system defines Lincoln’s quality of life.

About half of our businesses come from the service industry. We compete for these businesses with cities on both coasts. Lincoln’s quality of life helps sell our other advantages.

Our parks shape our quality of life. They contribute vitality to our community and its residents. If we fail to support our parks, they become unsafe, poorly maintained and unavailable. This is the sign of a dying city. New businesses ignore dying cities.

Parks bring people together. Ties formed through this sort of community build social capital. This resource provides avenues through which information, values and social expectations flow. Social capital empowers people to tackle communitywide problems. Parks help create social capital.

Parks give us fun, sports, memories, beauty, solitude, quiet, wildlife, nature and children’s places.

What else do parks give us? Respect. Our parks symbolize our community. For years, we proudly pointed to our parks as one of Lincoln’s greatest assets, one of the qualities that places Lincoln at the top of national “livable cities” rankings.

Christie Schwartzkopf Schroff, Lincoln

Get input from health field

Recent headlines have highlighted the dire straits of the Beatrice State Developmental Center as well as problematic issues within the current Medicare/Medicaid system. Meetings have been held, committees formed, legislative investigations are under way, and in the meantime, patient care remains in jeopardy. Further scrutiny reveals that while most investigative committee members do have a common interest in the well-being of fellow mankind, many do not possess intimate knowledge of the medical or mental health profession sufficient to expedite practical solutions.

While committees meet and investigations take place, residents at BSDC are forced to look for new homes (some after years of residing within BSDC) and individuals on Medicare/Medicaid are scrambling to obtain medical and mental health care in a feasible manner. In the meantime, some are lost in the fray. For example, parents who do not have the financial means to pay for private behavioral treatment programs for their children are told by Medicare/Medicaid the youth is not of harm to self (e.g., suicidal or runaway) or others (violent) to the point the needed care is covered by insurance. So the only option is to wait until the behavior escalates to the point of police intervention.

Why individuals who have the capacity and intimate knowledge of the medical and mental health field are not consulted remains a mystery. Americans learned long ago morals cannot be legislated (one need look no further than prison overcrowding to figure this one out) and unfortunately, neither can common sense!

Linda Hunter, psychology intern,

Nebraska Mental Health Centers, Lincoln