Letters 03-21-2016

March 18, 2016

Earth to Trumpsters

Our technical team set out to make preliminary plans for the big wall that President Trump will build on the Mexican border. We arrived in Brownsville, Texas to discover, much to our surprise, that the border there consists of a river called the Rio Grande. Extensive research by our experts (on Wikipedia) revealed that the border meanders northwesterly for 1,248 miles along this river to the city of El Paso, Texas (or only 889 miles if you don’t measure every little bend).

Our proposal that the wall be built on the Mexican side of the river met with some unprintable comments from Mexican authorities. The idea of building the wall on our side of the river met with similar hostility from Texans living near the river. Ranchers wanted to know how they would water their cattle. Farmers complained that they would not be able to irrigate their crops. Federal officials at Big Bend National Park, in their usual display of bureaucratic obstructionism, claimed that wildlife protected by the Park would die of thirst, and that tourists would not come to the park if there was no wildlife and no view of the river. Seniors protested that they would not be able to cross the border to get their medicines, which are much cheaper in Mexico.

Of course, to make America great again we should not be deterred by these objections. Perhaps the best course is to build the wall in the middle of the river. The technical problems presented by this option are great, and the costs would be considerable, but Mexico will be paying for it. USA, USA, USA!

Alice Littlefield, Omena

The Social Security "Problem"

Social Security needs fixing. But before we embark upon a "fix," perhaps we should look back on what happened to this great program so history will not repeat itself. Where did the money go? The answer lies in 1983, when the Great Republican President Ronald Reagan signed the Social Security Amendments. This increased payroll taxes, ostensibly to invest and fund Social Security’s future. However, it allowed the government to remove nearly $3 trillion over time for use within the General Fund. This surplus garnered from the increase was to be Social Security’s long-term sustainability funding, but it never actually made it into the Social Security Fund.

The 1983 Amendments paved the way for Reagan to lawfully access this money to help balance his budget and pay for General Fund expenditures. And so began the legal fleecing of Social Security.

Isn’t it ironic when current Republicans invoke the name of Ronald Reagan in a nearly divine manner that he was the first to stick his hand in the cookie jar and not get caught? Is this what is meant by "Reaganomics?"

Currently Social Security payroll taxes are capped at $118,500. This means billionaire David Koch could report an income of $8 million this year and pay the exact amount in Social Security taxes that a husband and wife employed as engineers. On an $8 million income, Koch would be Social Security exempt on $7,881,500. With the current payroll tax cap, the top wage earners in the U.S. are exempt from paying Social Security taxes on a majority of their income. Another example of how the "one percenters" keep more of their money in their pockets than the rest of middle America.

Todd Manns, Elk Rapids

Bring Some Civility

I find it ironic that Northern Express publishes an issue decrying a lack of civility, polarization, anger and bigotry while at the same time, in that very same issue, it publishes insulting mean spirited cartoons aimed at conservatives. Name-calling is a tactic used by people who have no facts to back their arguments.

RD Johnson, Gilmore Township