It’s clear our government isn’t too big to fail

The difficult circumstances of the unfunded liabilities in the Arizona pension system are another example of the seminal problem: Government has overreached, overspent and overpromised.

Public pension systems throughout the country are suffering similarly and, in some cases, have caused bankruptcies.

On a larger scale, we have the federal entitlement programs of Social Security and Medicare foundering and on the precipice of insolvency. Recent projections of “Obamacare’s” fiscal and structural woes add to the picture of government trying to do too much and being in grave danger of collapsing completely.

The evidence is overwhelming, though many choose not to acknowledge the reality — our president chief among them.

The answer is just as obvious. We need less government and a revitalized private sector to create the jobs, wealth and, yes, tax revenue to reverse this course. People need to be more independent and to do more for themselves.

Cut the size of governments dramatically; adopt a fair, simplified flat tax system and remove most loopholes; reduce cost-ineffective regulations drastically; reform entitlements; repeal the Affordable Care Act and replace it with health-care-insurance competition across state lines and tort reform.

Do these things, and business will make decisions based upon demand and the market rather than tax incentives.

People will have jobs and a greater wherewithal to remove themselves from government systems that are making more and more people dependent upon governments that are increasingly incapable of providing.

— Dennis Santillo,

Pension fund ebbs, flows

I must comment on the blame game that goes on when the pension fund drops every couple of years.

Who set up the pension plan for public employees in the first place? Was it not municipal elected officials and the public-employee union representatives?

Did they not have the foresight to see that there would be times when their money in the fund would drop because of a stock-market crash or the huge retirement wave of the Baby Boomers? The stock market has come back up, and the interest earned in those funds will improve the bottom line.

A representative from Fountain Hills, John Kavanagh, To comment on letters, columns and editorials, go to opinions.azcentral.com. states that “the public employees with a pension plan are in so much better shape than the taxpayers funding those plans.”

If that is true, maybe he should consider decreasing his pension plan to help those people out. Either that, or maybe he should consider fighting for those people so they can have a pension plan, too. Just like the one that he enjoys for his dedicated service to the public.

— Michael Valentine,

When President Nixon adamantly lied about knowledge of the Watergate break-in, my teenage daughter and I took half a bedsheet and painted on it, “We must agree — IMPEACH.” We strung that sign between two large trees in our front yard.

Nixon resigned rather than face impeachment by Congress. In that case, only a door was broken.

In the case of Benghazi, Libya, President Obama, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and numerous administration toadies apparently lied about the circumstances for three weeks, and now virtually the entire Democratic House is trying to provide political cover.

In this case, four honorable citizens died.

If the American people can not trust their politicians to tell the truth, we cannot trust anything they say or do, and the nation is doomed!

— Vern Andrews,

Fixing unbroken America

We keep hearing these days about how need to fundamentally transform America.

DoyoumeanthesameAmerica that has done more to advance science; heal the sick; free the oppressed; right the wrongs; and feed, heal and clothe the poor than any other nation in the history of the world? The same America that is still envied by many worldwide?

We need to ask ourselves some troubling questions. With a record like that, why do some feel that it needs to be changed? And more importantly, do they want to change it to?

— Gary Larson,

Trust in leaders essential

Back to reality after Arias

To the jury in the Jodi Arias trial:

I applaud you for a job well done, no matter the outcome. This trial will always be emotional with you; however, it’s not your legacy. Welcome back to your life. — Deb Woolford,

Use phones at right time

I run a small business. Customer service is very important to me, but I think it’s rude when customers are checking out to be talking on their cellphones.

I realize people have to stay in touch every second these days, but is it really too much to ask them to finish their call before I finish their transaction? Isn’t it also rude to the person on the other end of the phone?

Recently, I was told by a customer that she will never do business with meagain because I told her husband that I could not complete his transaction until he was finished with his call.

He got very angry and stormed out of the store. I had waited until he was done with his call to start the transaction, and while I was talking to him, he was dialing his phone. I was just hoping he would wait to make his next call for a minute.

His wife called me shortly after he left, telling me she would never shop with me again and that she would pass that along to others. What do you think?

— Debbie Easley,

I cannot for the life of me understand the strenuous objections to reasonable background checks for gun purchases.

The Senate bill that recently was defeated was watered down and actually forbade any registry for gun owners. I know the argument is that none of the mass shootings would have been avoided if the proposed law was in place.

However, that is not the full picture.

It would be enlightening to know how many of the thousands of other gun killings occurring throughout the year in all our cities would have been prevented if, in fact, a stricter gun law were in place.

I venture to say at least a fair number of those deaths would have been avoided if the law were in place. Perhaps many of the guns were stolen, but the original would not have been legal under the Senate bill.

Because the watered-down bill was rejected, how can any more-restrictive bill pass? Therefore, the slippery-slope argument is unfounded.

Therefore, it appears having the support of the NRA is the overriding reason for opposing any reasonable restrictions on gun purchases.

— Pius M. Kang,

Of course gun rules help