Helena Independent Record: We must invest in our veterans

The Montana Veterans Foundation had the good fortune to host a great bipartisan volunteer effort this November. The Home Depot, Sen. Jon Tester, the city of Helena volunteers, the sheriff’s department volunteers and private/donor citizens came together to put homeless veterans to work through the training programs at the Veterans Recovery workshop. Together we are creating jobs, we are investing in veterans.

We hear it all the time, “there are no jobs.” It’s true, it is hard out there, but we see it as a lack of investors, not a lack of motivation from the unemployed. Where is the courage and the backbone of the business community? Part of this is due to the restraints in lending and the lack of credit available to business owners. Just as importantly, however, there has been a sincere loss of confidence in the consumer, the business sector and above all, the banking industry. For better or for worse, we finally have perspective. We cannot expect government to bail us out, we have to do it ourselves. We cannot live beyond our means and we cannot expect big banks to keep our best interest in mind. The business community is at a crossroads. We have access to endless technology, we have a surplus of qualified potential employees and yet we fear investing in our communities and in those who need us the most. What has happened to American ingenuity and entrepreneurship? We have stopped creating.

We are outraged to hear that the supercommittee in Congress was unable and unwilling to give the American people a plan to get back on track and pull us out of the depths of this recession. We are outraged that there are Iraq and Afghanistan veterans on the street — our youth forced to engage in street revolutions. We are outraged that our politicians are working against our best interests. Among the few and brave politicians that do fight for us, Sen. Tester and Sen. Baucus are constantly blocked by partisan divides and political games. We are not giving our home senators a pass; we expect them to work harder. By the way, we own this country.
Read the whole article >>