MARIE WUJEK MORE COLUMNS Advertisement

Please, all legislators, senators and advisors involved in passing laws and budget cutting in state government: Stop treating us as though we are a bunch of idiots.

Quit feeding us the same ol' B.S. and expecting us to buy into and believe how much better things are, how we are coming out of this recession, how the economy is improving ... but we just need to be a little bit more patient.

Every day we hear reports of record job losses for the month; banks giving back stimulus money because they don't want the government telling them what bonuses they can pay their executives for the screw job they pulled off on John Q. Public; that only certain folks may qualify for home mortgage refinancing and assistance; and how, if you have $10,000 or more in credit card debt, you can reduce it by more than 50 percent.

We are educated people with brains, heartbeats and mouths, all of which are capable of working together to get our point across. Get enough of us in one place and you will understand the messages we are trying to convey.

Do you think we don't notice the increases in gas prices that are being posted daily? Do you think when food goes up in price we don't realize it? Do you think there is no animosity between the working stiffs and those, typically in the six-figure salary range, who govern them?

We work our butts off, work long hard days (some of us work two jobs to pay our debts) and yet you keep writing checks we can't cover.

I understand that legislators and senators work long hard hours as well. I'm sure they have a lot on their minds; however, landing a job, putting food on their family's table or buying their son's prescription is probably not the day's top priority.

Does Gov. Gibbons actually believe he will be re-elected? I don't know one state employee that will vote for him, let alone any thinking, breathing person. Even a die-hard Republican will not admit support for him.

Assemblyman Ed Goedhart, I hope your political aspirations were fulfilled with one term in the assembly. Ah, that position is not a paid position, if memory serves me right, so you may make it to another term. I don't see you climbing the political ladder through the decisions of this past session when you sided with the governor to stick it to those who can afford it the least.

How do either of you actually sleep at night, knowing that with the stroke of a pen you indiscriminately taxed a large group of state employees? Do you even care? I am talking about the devoted public servants of the state of Nevada who hold regular positions such as groundskeepers, custodians, plumbers, etc.

By implementing a furlough program in which the lowest paid state employees lose a day of pay every month, you are actually hitting them with a pay cut, or selective tax placed only upon certain state employees, of 4.6 percent. Where is the fairness in this?

This burden is placed on the average working stiffs employed by the state who are already paid less than those with the same job descriptions in the private sector, as well as city and county employees statewide who make considerably higher wages for the same job.

Did it ever occur to you, the lawmakers, to look at programs that don't work or departments that don't do anything but track other departments that don't do anything; eliminate waste and use cost-saving measures; and make departments live within a budget by cutting expenses -- like regular businesses and working families?

Welcome to our world.

I think all those deciding our future should have to pass Average American Family 101. Learn and successfully pass a course that would encompass what we the people live every day.

See what the actual effects of health insurance premium increases, utility and gas increases, interest rates and minimum payment increases on credit cards, groceries and school supplies increases and every other necessity needed to survive. Then take your already decreased paycheck and drop a day of pay from it each month. Stay up the entire night trying to figure out what you will have to do without or what expense you have that won't go into the hat for payment this month.

Now let's make the course more interesting and throw a few unexpected expenses into the mix.

I wonder how many of you would pass this course or even come away with a different understanding of how difficult life is for average Americans. Don't comment on how you feel our pain and suffering, many of you were born with a silver spoon in your mouth, and would never understand the reality we live every day.

Others came to acquire their wealth through hard work and opportunity, starting with nothing, but, for many it has been so long ago, a different reality is represented. That is why I am asking you to think before you take income from or tax the working stiff anymore.

Remember, we are just trying to survive on our less-than-six-figure incomes.