Letters to the Editor

In my last letter I refuted the claim (of the 03-23 letter) that, “This year’s deficit came about as a result of two unpaid for wars, two unpaid for Bush tax cuts...” I wrote that the 2007 deficit under Bush was $165 billion. A rebuttal letter (04-13) called that figure inaccurate, not knowing where it originated. The U.S. Office of Management and Budget keeps track of these figures. The deficit had been in a three-year decline, in spite of build-up against the war on terrorism, rebuilding of our military after Clinton and the wars themselves.

Next came the myth, “...our revenue coming in was reduced because of tax cuts.” Actually, the 2003 tax cuts (dividend and capital gains rates) generated above average revenue (as always when properly applied). The deficit was not unmanageable at the end of 2007. Ever-growing entitlement spending was.

The writer made the claim that because supplemental appropriations outside the budget process were used to fund the wars, “...it looked like Bush’s deficits were lower than they actually were.”

An argument could possibly be made for that in a projection, but not when looking back at past years’ debt. That funding can’t just disappear. It adds to each annual deficit as it is appropriated and becomes part of the debt. Obama continued the use of supplemental appropriations.

First it was about deficit, now it’s debt. I wouldn’t think the writer would want to go there. Wikipedia was cited this way “...the national debt was almost doubled from $5.6 trillion in 2000 to $10.3 trillion by December of 2008.”

Wait a minute, $10.3 trillion is almost two times $5.6 trillion ($11.2 trillion)? Oh, what’s a measly $900 billion? I use Wikipedia for general information, but they don’t always get the numbers right. Their page reads, “Welcome to Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia that anyone can edit.”

The following numbers are also from the OMB. The debt increase for (Bush’s) first seven years was $3.333475 trillion, an average of $476.21 billion/yr. The 2008 figure was $1.017072 trillion, TARP being a substantial part of that. The average over eight years was $543.82 billion/yr.

Let’s look at our community agitator’s figures. $1.885104 trillion for 2009 and $1.651794 trillion for 2010 make a two year total of $3.536894 trillion. (Obama) increased the debt more in two years than (Bush) did in seven. It’s probably too early to criticize Barry for his $1.768447 trillion/yr. average. He’s just getting started.

Think back to the speech Obama made and how the idiots in the crowd responded after Republicans criticized his Porkulus/stimulus bill.

“So then you get the argument, well, this is not a stimulus bill, this is a spending bill. What do you think a stimulus is?” (Laughter and applause.) “That’s the whole point. No, seriously.” (Laughter.) “That’s the point.” (Applause.)

This year’s deficit came about as a result of insane spending and failed stimulus packages. President Obama recently proposed the novel approach of paying for it with tax increases (investments).

In my last letter I stated that according to Mr Boroff,”it is dangerous to listen to ‘only’ one person or group’s ideas.” I did not say that it is dangerous to listen to one person or group’s ideas. What a difference one word can make in tne usage of propaganda. “We need to get informed on both sides of the issues,” he also said.

“Unpaid for tax cuts” means that we have to borrow money to pay our bills because our revenue coming in was reduced because of tax cuts. That doesn’t seem so funny to me. Well, I guess it does a little.

It is correct that Reagan reduced taxes across the board. However, his administration raised Social Security (FICA) taxes. This was not a bad thing because it created a trust fund to pay for the Baby Boomers’ retirement. Reagan then, as every president since, borrowed from the Social Security Trust Fund to pay for expenses.

According to Wikipedia, the national debt was almost doubled from $5.6 trillion in 2000 to $10.3 trillion by Dec of 2008.

I don’t know where the information originated that the deficit under Bush shrank to $165 billion. That is inaccurate, according to my sources, unless they considered the money borrowd from Social Security not to be credited to the deficit because it was technically government money being spent to pay for government expenditures.

“Certain spending called ‘supplemental appropriations’ is outside the budget process but adds to the national debt. Funding for the Iraq and Afghanistan wars was accounted for this way prior to the Obama Administration,” according to Wikipedia. That is why it looked like Bush’s deficits were lower than they actually were.

I liked some of George W’s ideas but I did not agree with his fiscal policies.

Penny Fattig, Gothenburg

National Volunteer Appreciation Week, April 11-15, is an important time to thank every volunteer for their time and energy. On behalf of the American Cancer Society, and especially on behalf of cancer patients and their loved ones, we would like to express our appreciation the volunteers of Dawson County. Without your efforts, we would not be able to help cancer patients get well and stay well, find cures, and fight back.

Dawson County is full of volunteers who fundraise year round for Relay For Life and Daffodil Days. We appreciate all that you do to help fund important cancer research and provide cancer patients with free services that help make treatment more bearable.

We are also blessed in Dawson County to have many volunteers that give us hours of their time to be Reach to Recovery and Road to Recovery volunteers. Your support of cancer patients’ efforts in the battle against cancer is truly appreciated!

The American Cancer Society is at work in communities all across the country providing programs aimed at reducing the risk of cancer, detecting cancer as early as possible, ensuring proper treatment, and empowering people facing cancer to cope and maintain the highest possible quality of life.

We are grateful to have dedicated, hard-working people like the Dawson County volunteers; thank you for providing the gift of another birthday.

Jill Koch and Melissa Kruger, American Cancer Society staff partners, Dawson County

The propaganda letter (03-23 issue of The Times), warned us of the effects of propaganda.

Using words like “vulnerable” and “dangerous” to make us wary of listening to “one person or group’s ideas,” is how propaganda works. Propaganda doesn’t necessarily have to be bad (promotion of ideas). It is through misuse that it becomes a problem.

More than several points in the aforementioned letter were direct quotes from a six-year-old book review (opinion) by talk show host Thom Hartmann and what was re-posted by many unmanned bloggers. Refuting it’s claims and citing references would not fit on this page. I will give a few examples and encourage you to go to my website to read more, or simply research it for yourselves.

Use of deceptive, class warfare propaganda: “Reagan’s tax cuts for the wealthy...” An honest statement might read: The tax cuts were 25% across the board—for everyone—not just the wealthy. A bipartisan Congress passed the bill, Reagan signed it.

Propaganda unbased in fact: “This year’s deficit came about as a result of two unpaid for wars, two unpaid for Bush tax cuts...” Truth based on facts: Spending for the Iraq war under Bush was less than 25% of Medicare spending during the same time period. If Medicare is “war x 4,” why can’t I proclaim it the cause of the current deficit? The deficit under Bush, shrank to $165 billion by the end of 2007 (wars included).

If anything, blame the prescription drug program for perpetuating the deficit. When Democrats took control of Congress the deficit began to rise again. The (bipartisan) “federal intervention” of TARP, greatly increased the deficit up to that point. It’s true that the Obama administration “inherited” a large deficit, but their big spending programs put it in orbit. The deficit for last February alone, was over $222 billion.

Stop and think for a minute about the premise of unpaid for tax cuts. Government (Bush) stole less money from you than normal (tax cuts) and it was not being paid for! Now stop laughing, some blame the tax cuts for lost surplus. For those with that way of thinking, the CBO set the figure at 14% (1.5% of Obama’s deficit).

The bottom line is, if government continues to spend money we don’t have and there is little or no chance of repaying what they have borrowed, everything goes unfunded.

Class envy propaganda: The problem with Medicaid is “...governments would rather cut payments to the poor than raise taxes on the wealthy.” My propaganda opinion: Medicaid is an parasite, coming up out of a monetary black hole, sucking the life out of the economy. Pointing out falsehoods about entitlements, the TARP intervention and Reagan bankrupting the country, will have to wait. In the meantime, let’s comfort ourselves by demonizing the wealthy for paying most of the taxes, so we don’t have to.

Neil A. Davis, Gothenburg