Trash pickup in PSL, tough times, gas prices and the POTUS: Letters, July 27, 2022

Once-a-week trash pickup for Port St. Lucie is inadequate

I am tired of all of the propaganda concerning once-a-week trash pickup. Sure, it has some advantages, but why do our elected officials fail to mention the possible negative consequences of moving to a once-a-week schedule? Years ago, I purchased a 96 gallon container from Waste Pro, and many times, it is full — put me down for two trash containers, please.

Also consider the Florida heat, which increases the spread of disease carrying bacteria to humans, home-storage safety issues, and animal intrusion — raccoons, rats, and loose pets.

And do not forget our yard waste. We live in a suburban subtropical climate. Our homes have yards with trees, shrubbery, and lawns that have to be maintained. If the new contract limits the amount of yard waste to be collected, our city may see piles of refuse piling up in our swales. Editor, please inform the citizenry if there are any city candidates who might consider putting this new trash contract on hold until these concerns are addressed — they are the people I will be voting for.

Joe Florio, Port St. Lucie

Times are tough, and we are all being challenged

We are currently all being challenged with current high prices and more pandemic scares.

“Tough times never last, but tough people do."

A lot of folks have experienced and lived through other tough times. I often wonder how Holocaust survivors made it through inhumane conditions. I also often think about the homeless families living in the woods off Federal Highway in tents in this extreme heat as nighttime bugs bite them and I say, “What do I have to complain about?”

Watching the news I try to remember to take everything with a grain of salt. As I research online, reading articles and newsworthy magazines helps me decide what’s the honest truth!

For instance let’s remember 66 million years ago, an asteroid six miles wide hit the waters off what is now called Mexico. The impact ended the age of dinosaurs. There were no SUVs or fossil fuels at that time to blame. The National Aeronautics & Space Administration finally admitted that climate changes occur because of the earth’s solar orbit and axial tilts, all which are completely natural and normal.

Deciding between what you can change and what you have to accept makes the challenges a lot smaller and somewhat controllable.

What can any of us do if we are dissatisfied with the federal or state officials’ policies that do not benefit American citizens? Write letters, show up at public board meetings and vote for those who love “God, country, and family values."

A little book by Robert Schuller, “Tough Times Never Last, But Tough People Do,” tells stories of everyday people like you.

Janet Wenz, Palm City

Get real: If Demos truly fixed elections, things would be very different

Think about it, people. If the Democrats have been rigging elections then we would have affordable pharmaceuticals including insulin and Lyrica for $30 a month; every citizen over 18 years would find it easy to vote; no teenagers would be able to buy assault weapons.

We would have effective plans to deal with climate change; billionaires and large corporations would not be able to spend millions of dollars to influence our elections; and Big Sugar and other corporations would not be able to pollute our environment with impunity.

Think about this.

Bill Wink, S. Hutchinson Island

The Biden administration presides over multiple national embarrassments

It's embarrassing.

Our president grovels before dictators of oil-producing countries for more oil. Yet with a modest amount of investment, the United States and Canada could produce enough oil and gas to supply all of our needs and western Europe's. With more production, energy prices would drop to normal levels. Because (1) the U.S. is so much more environmentally conscious than other producers and (2) the extra oil and gas would replace the use of coal — the net effect would be to substantially improve air quality for the world. But the president seeks dirtier foreign oil and gas while discouraging domestic production.

Other notable U.S. embarrassments are (1) 40-year-high inflation resulting from excess government spending and an overly expansive Federal Reserve; (2) the lack of drug and immigrant controls at the southwestern border; (3) controversial policies in dealing with COVID-19 even though vaccines were developed during the prior administration; (4) the incompetent withdrawal from Afghanistan; (5) the prospect of more spending and higher taxes despite a looming economic recession and roaring inflation; (6) the prosecution of participants in the Jan. 6 riot while ignoring the hundred-odd riots of 2020; (7) the unscrupulous (and possibly traitorous) activities of Hunter Biden; and (8) the shortage of baby formula.

More embarrassing, the Cabinet and the president's senior advisers are politicians, old bureaucrats or academics — not businesspeople. Politicians and academics talk about problems. Businesspeople solve them.

The president refuses to take responsibility. Instead, it's the Republicans' fault for refusing to support more spending, or gas-station-owners for sky-high gas prices — anyone other than him. Here's a unique thought. How about hiring people who know what they're doing, facing problems and coming up with real solutions, rather than more politics?

Tom Miller, Vero Beach

Blame oil companies' exorbitant profits, not Biden, for high gas prices

Why is it that the media constantly report the price of gas at the pumps, but rarely inform us of the oil companies' exorbitant profits?

Below is information gathered from an article in the Guardian regarding their profits. The article indicates billions of dollars in profits of all energy companies in the 1st quarter of 2022. I am listing net profits, in billions, of just a few of the better-known ones comparing the first quarter of 2021 with the first quarter of 2022, and the percent of increase of their profits:

Company          1st Qtr 2021    1st Qtr 2022      % increase

Shell                   $3,234            $9,130              182%

ExxonMobil        $2,761             $8,833              220%

Chevron              $1,730            $6,543             278%

BP                       $2,630            $6,254             137%

Marathon            $166               $749                351%

These companies were not satisfied with profits at around $3 a gallon; they wanted more. (And the U.S. taxpayers still give them about $16 billion in subsidies each year for extraction and development.)

Republicans can stop blaming President Biden, and regulations that have been in effect for years, for the increase in the price of gasoline at the pumps. It is the result of the unconscionable, unscrupulous profits of the oil companies.

Pure greed.

Carmen V. Gintoli, Port St. Lucie

This article originally appeared on Treasure Coast Newspapers: Trash pickup in PSL, gas prices and the POTUS: Letters, July 27, 2022