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Opinion Letters to the editor for Aug. 29, 2011
Letters to the editor for Aug. 29, 2011
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Driving on Highway 108 To the Editor: In response to Lee Mortier’s Aug. 24 letter, I totally agree. There is a literal gold mine up here for the CHP and Sheriffs. Try turning right onto Highway 108 south from the upper Twain Harte exit. CHP/Sheriff should be sitting at that turnout for a few seconds with radar and they will be able to fill the counties’ coffers with money from all the speeding tickets. Despite the accidents and deaths and the "warning light", many people fly down the hill. You cannot see them when you first pull out, but when you look in the mirror, they are right behind you. Another spot is further down on Highway 108. I used to see CHP on the side of the road to catch these people. One other issue: when did it become legal to pass on the right? Soulsbyville and Highway 108 is another issue. If you are turning left onto Highway 108 from the Outlaw Gas Station side and a car from the Soulsbyville side is also turning left to go south on Highway 108, when did it become legal for the cars behind to pass on the right of the turning car so you do not have to wait? Another gold mine for our law enforcement. But then the other issue is not enough money to keep enough officers employed. Dilemma. Darleen J. Roland Twain Harte Weekender format To the Editor: I just had to write and tell you that I am disappointed in the change of format for the TV listings. With the former format, I could tear off the pages for the TV listings, and keep the rest of the Weekender handy for local happenings, and keep the TV pages near the TV set. Now, I have to keep the whole bulky section there. It is hoped that you will reconsider this change. Jeanne Evans Sonora The myth of Reagan’s presidency lives on To the Editor: By comparison to what the current group of “Hobbits” (tea partiers) seeking the White House believe, Ronald Reagan was nothing like what these folks on the extreme right believe. In reality, Reagan’s presidency should be a dismal failure in their eyes-if they knew the truth. Contrary to his campaign promise to cut Federal workers-including closing the Department of Education-he did just the opposite. When Reagan took office in 1981 there were 4,965,000, in 1989 there were 5,292,000 Federal Employees. How did the “icon of the right” do on debt? We know how the tea partiers hate that debt and increasing the debt ceiling. Ronald Reagan raised the debt ceiling an incredible 18 times. (PolitiFact.com). But how about the debt itself? Reagan just loved stimulating the economy through debt-14.8 percent increase per year. For Reagan, our nation’s debt went from $934,000,000,000 (billion) to $2,700,000,000,000 (trillion)-an increase of 300 percent. That would mean President Barack Obama would have to rack up a national debt of around $32 trillion to equal that of the “icon of the right.” (Treasury Department). How about unemployment? Reagan instituted one of the largest tax cuts in United States history in his first year, and according to the mantra of the right, “tax cuts stimulate job creation.” Let’s see, unemployment began to increase and in December 1982 peaked at 10.8 percent. Under President Obama, so far it has peaked at 10.1 percent in October 2009. (Bureau of Labor Statistics). History continues to show us that tax cuts are job killers-further proof that “trickle down” is truly “voodoo economics.” Sometime after that 1982 unemployment peak, the Reagan administration facing rapidly growing debt and decreasing revenues, caved and instituted a massive revenue enhancement program. So broad based that it is impossible to describe other than it was possibly the largest tax increase in history. “Two bills passed in 1982 and 1984 together “constituted the biggest tax increase ever enacted during peacetime” (tax historian Joseph Thorndike). There’s more: Under Reagan’s watch the worst single-day stock market crash in history was on Oct. 19, 1987, when the DJIA dropped by 508 points to 1738.74 (22.61 percent). The closest second was 12.8 percent in 1929. The largest banking crisis since the Great Depression was the Savings and Loan collapse of the mid-’80’s when 747 out of the 3234 savings and loan institutions failed. This pales in comparison dollar wise, to the $17,000,000,000,000 in equity Americans lost between 2006 and 2008. Ironically, both collapses were directly tied to two of the Bush brothers. The Reagan Myth lives on, fueled by many in complete ignorance of the facts. His one claim to fame was his breaking of the PATCO Strike in 1981. His approval ratings remained weak, his Union busting gave the corporate powers a free reign. That has led us to where we are today – the net worth of the 400 wealthiest Americans exceeds the net worth of half of all American households (more than 150 million Americans). The virtual extinction of what was once the great American middle class-that is the Reagan Legacy. Domenic Torchia Columbia Torchia is president of the Tuolumne County Democratic Club. |
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