Letters To The Editor 12/10/2018
Movement hijacked
Editor: Classic conservatism is dead. What has replaced it is small-minded and mean-spirited.
It’s xenophobic fear of the world and anything different in it. Social equality and change is viewed with panic. Conservatism has taken the Republican Party with it toward extinction. The party now panders to the most base and lowest of human emotions.
I challenge anyone to show how those that call themselves Republicans are anything like the party of Dwight Eisenhower or even Ronald Reagan. The current crowd is an ugly stain on the party’s heritage. The only way to reform the Republican Party is for those who belong to it to wrest control from those who have debased it.
Those who follow the current leader need to be voted out of office. We can again make America a proud symbol for the world.
TOM MIELCZAREK
MADISONVILLE
Beware flimsy plans
Editor: With fewer than two weeks of the open enrollment period for health plans under the Affordable Care Act remaining, consumers nationwide are making critical health plan choices.
A rule was put into place earlier this year that expands access to short-term, limited-duration insurance plans. These can be substandard plans that allow insurers to deny coverage based on pre-existing conditions. They also lack comprehensive, essential coverage including emergency room, maternity care and mental health treatments. There is a reason these plans are touted as a more affordable option for consumers — because they don’t actually cover much. They simply provide an illusion of sufficient coverage.
While some states have imposed limits on these plans, the Congressional Budget Office estimates 2 million people still will buy them. Consumers who seek a lower-cost insurance plan often don’t realize short-term health plans may not protect them when they get sick, leaving them with large surprise bills for uncovered care. As an organization committed to providing a voice for consumers in the health care debate, we urge consumers to read the fine print, consider their options carefully and steer clear of these bare-bones plans.
SCOTT MULHAUSER
CONSUMERS FOR
QUALITY CARE,
WASHINGTON, D.C.
Inequality surging
Editor: President Trump likes to talk about the nation’s economy and brag about how great it is.
He constantly refers to the stock market, economic growth and unemployment as evidence of his administration’s success. A closer look at these indicators reveals a less-than-great economic picture for the nation at large.
It is true that stock prices had been at record highs, but median household net worth is actually about 20 percent less than it was in 2000. This is because the upper 10 percent of income earners own almost 85 percent of the stock. For people with median household income, the main investment is their home, because they do not own significant amounts of stock, if any.
In terms of growth, the nation’s gross domestic product is up almost 30 percent since 2000, but for the bottom 90 percent of earners, their income has increased only about 2 percent since 2000.
The unemployment rate of 3.7 percent in October did not reveal that the number of
idle working-age adults has surged in recent years. Many of them would like to work but they cannot find a decent-paying job. They have given up looking and are not counted in the conventional unemployment rate.
This picture Trump paints of the stock market, GDP and the unemployment rate presents a misleading portrait of our economy. The real numbers show a small, affluent segment of the population receives a large share of the economy’s bounty and this inequality is growing.
GEORGE J. MOTSAY, M.D.
UPPER MACUNGIE TWP.,
LEHIGH COUNTY
Prizewinning effort
Editor: President Donald Trump will need to build a big, tall wall because illegal aliens always have been a problem in this country. Ask any native American Indian.
Trump admits he made up facts — lied — during a meeting this year with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Trump felt it would fly to tell Trudeau that we have a trade deficit with Canada. Trudeau knew that was false and told Trump so.
When Trump appeared at the National Rifle Association’s national convention in 2016, he had a simple message: Hillary Clinton “wants to take away your guns.” That was another lie.
Of course, Trump’s declaration, “I will be a president for all Americans,” fades as he plays to his white religious base of anti-abortionists and the anti-immigration crowd and it shows where he comes from.
Asylum seekers do not pose any more threat to citizens than Americans themselves do, and tend to actually be more gracious. Thousands of migrant children were separated from their parents in refugee camps. U.S. agents fired tear gas on men, women and children at the border. Troops were authorized to use lethal force against unarmed civilians.
Yet, President Trump thinks he deserves the Nobel Peace Prize?
RON LOWE
NEVADA CITY, CALIFORNIA
Trump truck options
Editor: Scranton businessman Bob Bolus says he won’t include his three Trump trucks in his upcoming retirement auction.
That’s rather unfortunate, as they could be put to very good use.
For one, they could be used to transport visitors to jails that currently house or will house convicted associates of President Donald Trump, and someday, possibly Trump himself.
If that doesn’t work, maybe one of Trump’s dictator pals, such as Russia’s Vladimir Putin, North Korea’s Kim Jong Un or Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia, will take the trucks off his hands. But I would be very careful about using that phrase in the presence of the prince, as he may mistake it for, “Off with his hands.”
VINCE MORABITO
SCRANTON
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR are welcome. Submissions should be limited generally to 300 words and may be emailed to [email protected]; mailed to Times-Tribune Letters to the Editor, 149 Penn Ave., Scranton, PA, 18503; or faxed to 570-348-9135. All submissions are edited before publication.
