People should not believe the lie that the only way to reduce deficits is by cutting expenditures. It can be done by increasing revenue. Taxes can be raised on the wealthiest Americans and corporations. Republicans showed they only represent the interests of these two groups at the top.

People should not believe the lie that taxing the wealthy “job creators” would mean losing growth in employment figures. Those “job creators” have had the same level of wealth as they had when the economic downturn began, if not more. They are hoarding it.

Since Ronald Reagan was president, more and more middle-class money has been funneled to the top 1 percent.

The banks that took on risky investments and were bailed out by American taxpayers have gone from fraudulent lending to almost no lending. They seem to have forgotten the criteria for good loans.

Wall Street investors are more concerned with their bonuses than the sustainability of the nation’s economy.

Standard & Poor’s was one of the rating agencies that gave credit default swaps a AAA rating days before the collapse of Lehman Bros., Merrill Lynch and AIG.

In order to restore America’s credibility, the people who created the fiasco must be prosecuted, Republicans and Democrats alike.

Surely, tea party followers’ insistence upon living by the George W. Bush administration creed of “our way or the highway” indicates they have no respect for the American people and should be thrown into the bay, as their name suggests.

Tom McDonald-Sawyer, Auburn