I watched Austan Goolsbee, President Obama’s economic adviser, talk on MSNBC about the stalemate over the second stimulus package. I know, President Trump and his minions call MSNBC fake news, even though it relies on facts and not something someone pulled out of thin air and posted on the internet.
Goolsbee reminded me of the $2 trillion tax giveaway to big business, seemingly without regard to the deficit, and the $5 trillion federal lending program for big companies, again without regard to the deficit.
Yet, the White House and Republicans are concerned about what giving an extra $600 to the unemployed who lost their jobs because of covid-19 will do to the deficit. You know, the virus that will one day just disappear like magic. And Trump wants to cut payroll taxes for employers. Apparently, the rich are suffering more than the unemployed, and deserve tax breaks so they can buy up foreclosed homes from of the poor and make even more money.
Normally, I would write a letter to my congressman, Rep. Guy Reschenthaler, or Sen. Pat Toomey, asking them to show compassion to Americans in dire financial straits, but based on past letters sent to these Republicans, it would be a waste of time and paper.
The last Republican who had a backbone to stand up to a bully like Trump was Sen. John McCain. We must remember these spineless politicians come November and vote them out of office. We need people who, like McCain, put country first, not political parties.
Joe Palumbo
Arnold