Taxpayers stuck with bailouts

To the editor:

I keep hearing about the federal bailouts of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Now some other big lender is getting bailed out for making poor investment choices. Countries all over the world are getting bailed out by the U.S. government.

What I want to know is how many people realize that it isn't really the U.S. government that is bailing out every country that has some sort of disaster or some investment corporation, but actually it is the U.S. taxpayer. How long can we be continued to be taxed to support the rest of the world?

If I make a bad investment, no one bails me out. I take a loss. I still have to buy $3.69-a-gallon gasoline and pay all of my bills without any federal bailout. We should tell, not ask, the U.S. government, "Here is your budget, live within it or do without." I wonder how many politicians would throw a complete fit if they had to live by the laws they have passed for us to live by?

We have an election coming up, so I think it is time to clean house, get rid of the lifelong politicians who are out of touch with the working-class people and get some working-class politicians in office who will be there and talk to me when I want to ask them about something, not have to leave a voice mail that will never be returned.

TOM LICHTENEGGER, Cape Girardeau