TO THE EDITOR August 2011


From The Spokesman-Review of Aug. 19, 2011

Middle Class Taking Hit

The Republicans and their corporate bosses have taken tax hikes for the wealthy and corporations off the table. The budget must be balanced on the backs of the working middle class and the poor. No taxes for those who have outsourced the good jobs, which means fewer jobs for those who are expected to pay the taxes. How does that work?
Also, wages for the middle class have been declining, which translates into less tax revenue. They expect the middle class to buy more stuff to keep the economy going, but the middle class has no extra cash to pay for all that stuff, and filling their gas tanks and buying groceries at ever higher prices.
They say tax hikes are "job killing," but no jobs were created by the Bush tax cuts, and it has been nearly a decade now. The fact is, they don't care about jobs or the middle class, or the poor, or anyone who isn't rich. All they care about is destroying Social Security, Medicare and safety net programs. They forget that every cent that the poor receive is instantly spent. Cutting those programs would eliminate more jobs and disable the economy even more.

Ann Warwick
Sandpoint, ID
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From the Spokesman-Review of Aug. 14, 2011

Burning Down the House

People praising our congresswoman's politics need to check their IRA, 401(k) and mutual fund statements for significant losses this quarter. The congresswoman's political gamesmanship has cost the market over $700 billion in "fear" losses. Our congresswoman is nothing more than a political arsonist. She is willing to burn down our financial house to prove that debt is harmful.
The national debt was created over many years of borrowing, spending and cutting tax revenues. The congresswoman voted to borrow money for tax cuts and corporate welfare. Now, after sucking $700 billion from the market, she asks, "Where are the jobs?" That's like burning down your house, and expecting to sleep in it.
Our economy needs to recover from this recession more than our congresswoman needs her party's political victories. Political ideology that shrinks the economy won't provide jobs, or sustain our retirement incomes. The government comprises a large share of our economy and the drastic spending cuts that passed will impact all of us. Supporting our congresswoman is like giving matches and gasoline to an arsonist. She is willing to wreck the economy to increase her political power. We need a reasonable primary challenger to this political ideologue.

Pete Scobby
Newport, WA
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From the Spokesman-Review of Aug. 14, 2011

Unions are the Target

The reason the Republicans won't pass the FAA funding legislation is because it makes it easier for FAA workers to join a union. If Cathy McMorris Rogers and the Republicans get their way and eliminate all the unions, then who will stand to benefit: the American worker or the American corporations and the fat cats on Wall Street?
If Joe Six Pack and Joe Senior Citizen lose their union-negotiated pensions, they will probably have to spend their golden years working at the Golden Arches.
This is all part of the Republican plan to transfer the wealth of the nation from the many to the few. It they could only get the American worker's wages and benefits down to the Chinese workers' level, then they could bring the jobs home and make more corporate profits, which mean more campaign contributions to the GOP.

Richard Johnson
Spokane, WA