The recent financial collapse of Lehman Brothers and AIG should be a wake-up call to all of us. Average people like you and me will feel the impact for years to come. The newspapers are reporting the cost of this fiasco could reach $1 trillion.

Hundreds of millions of dollars in New York state pension funds have been lost. Schoolteachers, state Department of Transportation employees, Department of Corrections employees and many other state employees will feel the loss of this money in their future pension checks. The federal government has promised to bail out these institutions. But it's the taxpayers of this country who will pay dearly for this disaster.

Another crisis we are facing is with our health care system. Both presidential candidates acknowledge the problem, and no matter who wins the election, we taxpayers will be looking at an expensive solution to this national problem.

Look at the high price of gasoline and how it has affected your day-to-day activities. Most of us believe the price will never drop significantly. We are entering the home heating season. We all are apprehensive about the high cost of keeping warm this season.

I am pointing out all of these very expensive financial and economic issues because all of us will be affected by this for years to come. We will have to pay for this through higher taxes and losses in pensions.

On top of all of that, we are being urged to support the construction of massive wind turbine farms all over this country. Why are these developers so eager to build these massive inefficient industrial complexes? Because our state and federal government are offering lucrative tax incentives to build them. Where do you suppose this money will come from? The taxpayers.

These international companies hire public relations firms to market their product. They love to use buzzwords such as: green energy, renewable energy, carbon exchange, global warming, etc., to lure you into thinking wind turbines are the answer to our energy needs. The reality is they are only 25 to 30 percent efficient. Would you buy a car knowing it will only run 30 percent of the time? How about your furnace, washing machine, telephone, or TV operating 30 percent of the time?

As the town of Cape Vincent works to write a zoning law governing wind turbines, it's time to stand up and be counted.

Joyce Gormel

Cape Vincent