Letters: Embracing State College casino; An end to junk mail?

Embracing State College casino

So many of us in the State College area are so excited for the proposed casino. My wife and I travel with many other couples to PA and NJ casinos. Now we can stay closer to home and have our friends come here. People don’t realize that anyone can gamble on their phones and devices 24/7. As far as we can see there are 8 to 1 in favor of a casino. Our silence does mean that we are in favor of a casino and our silence speaks louder. Let’s keep the revenue here.

An end to junk mail?

As I transfer another pile of junk from my mail box straight into my recycling bin, I want to suggest a remedy that has already been adopted in Australia.

People can refuse to accept solicitations by writing “no junk mail” on their boxes.

Think how many millions of trees we could save!

Another Thompson employee misses the point

Another one of Congressman Glenn Thompson’s paid employees writes to defend her boss (March 3 CDT)! This time it’s Renee Gamela, Thompson’s deputy chief of staff, who tells us, yet again, that Thompson, supports fire departments.

And yet again, another Thompson employee misses the point. Seems to be a lot of that going around in GT’s office.

In paragraph two, Gamela says the infrastructure bill “was not called into question.” In her very next paragraph she says the bill “amounted to a hyper-partisan spending spree.” Any objective reader would recognize that statement as “calling the bill into question.”

The infrastructure bill Thompson voted against is an investment in our country and in the creation of good paying jobs, jobs, jobs.

Let’s be clear: what I called into question then, and now, and what Deputy Chief of Staff Gamela chose to ignore, is that her boss voted against the bipartisan (yes, bipartisan) infrastructure bill, which benefits Thompson’s constituents, yet voted for Trump’s tax cut, which overwhelmingly benefited the top 1% of Americans (and led to an explosive rise in our national debt), while doing almost nothing to support the vast majority of Thompson’s constituents.

Yes, we know Thompson supports volunteer fire departments. That’s the point; so do I, along with safe roads, bridges and drinking water systems, things the infrastructure bill finances.

And while Thompson isn’t the only House Republican to tout the benefits of the infrastructure law he voted against, he may be the only one to sic his employees on constituents who call him out.

Stop buying Russian oil

If we can stop buying Russian vodka, we can stop buying Russian oil. We must stand for our moral and ethical beliefs.

The truth about price increases and inflation

Let’s be open and honest about prices and inflation, shall we?

Within our economy, the two major market forces determine pricing: supply and demand. A clear example of this dynamic was in late 2020, when people were doing an immense amount of property improvement projects. The supply of building materials was reduced and an increased demand from people doing more projects meant that suppliers and stores increased prices. The vast majority of price increases stem from supply and demand that is affected by corporate decisions and changes in consumer behavior, not the President.

Regarding inflation, it has averaged around 2.5% in the last 10 years, which is low compared to other recent decades. Recently though, one of the biggest causes for price inflation are decisions made by corporations to increase their profits. As highlighted by Business Insider, many corporations are increases prices to further drive profits, despite reaching record level profits for up to three fiscal quarters in a row. It is estimated that approximately 60% of our inflation is being driven by the pursuit of corporate profits.

Our economy is going strong and recovering, as we have almost pre pandemic unemployment levels and the Federal Reserve (an independent government agency) is planning to start using its tools to combat inflation. What we need to do is to continue with the goals of pushing for wage increases to benefit everyday people and keep corporations in check and out of politics.