Letters: Better or worse off under President Trump?; Call for federal term limits

Better or worse off under President Trump?

The common perception about President Trump in the U.S. is that he has been good for the economy. However, if we dig deeper into the numbers, we discover a different story, which is that the growth in the economy is actually less than the amount we have borrowed. So while we can fool ourselves into thinking we are better off than we were before Trump was elected, we have to acknowledge that we have increased our debt by many times more than we increased spending. So, “better off” turns into “worse off.”

Here are some statistics, according to The Economist: Gross Domestic Product, or GDP, the most common measure of how an economy is growing, increased by 2.2% — or $462 billion from 2018 to 2019. But the U.S. has borrowed 4.8% of GDP, more than a trillion dollars, in the same time period. That means the U.S. has borrowed more money than generated by economic growth. If we were to look at neighbors who did this, we would describe them as borrowing to spend while growing deeper into debt. Comparing the U.S. to other countries, it is true that we have borrowed about 4 times as much as European countries and grown faster. But the increased growth in the U.S. is fueled by an increase in debt, and most of the additional benefits (growth in dollars) have gone to those who are very wealthy.

Extortion not to be tolerated at any level

Imagine that you’re home waiting for a pizza to be delivered, pizza that you already paid for with your credit card. The delivery driver arrives, knocks on your door, and tells you, “Your pizza is here. That will be $20.”

“What?!,” you say, “I already paid for that pizza.”

“The $20 is my tip,” he says. “No tip, no pizza.” So, you pay him the $20, because you have hungry family members waiting to be fed, and when he leaves you call the pizza joint and complain — because what the driver did was wrong.

You should not pay twice, and your deal was only with the pizza shop, which hired the driver. Basically, the driver, by holding your pizza hostage until you paid him his cut, has robbed you.

Remember this when the impeachment hearings begin. The president is accused of behaving like that driver — holding up military aid (the pizza) to the Ukrainian government (that money had been authorized and voted on by Congress, with instructions for the Executive to deliver it) — by demanding from the Ukrainian government something additional that benefits the president, and not our country.

If proven true, which testimony to date seems to be doing, this is a very serious matter.

Call it theft, call it embezzlement, call it extortion. You would not tolerate it from a delivery driver, why should you tolerate it from a public official?

Call for federal term limits

The only way to stop the endless tribal warfare in our federal government is to change those in power on a regular basis. Some argue that change can happen at each election. However, as a registered voter in Pennsylvania, I have no power to vote out that entrenched career politician in a leadership position from another state who holds the entire nation hostage year after year after year. What is the solution? Term limits on every federal office would ensure that change occurs on a regular basis. Term limits would make it more difficult for professional politicians to tightly control the system to enrich themselves and their cronies and hold the entire nation hostage while they delight in waging constant warfare on each other. The nation benefits by having the presidency limited to two, four-year terms and would benefit greatly by limiting federal senators to two, six-year terms and federal Representatives to three, two-year terms.