Behind closed doors
John Starkey, where was your outrage when the Barack Obama administration drafted Obamacare behind closed doors and reportedly would not even allow his own Democratic legislators to view the 2,700-page bill before they voted on it? Do you remember Pelosi saying we have to pass it to see what's in it?
Sorry, but that dog doesn't hunt.
WR CORLEY
Benton
I'll get you, my pretty
The grand austerity experiment of the once great state of Kansas has finally collapsed. The Republican-dominated legislature of Kansas passed a bill to reinstate some previous taxes in an effort to raise $1.2 billion in two years, but Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback vetoed the bill, which forced the legislature to override the veto. The Kansas state budget already faced a whopping $900 million shortfall over the next two years, according to CNN reports.
Can this kind of Republican madness occur in Arkansas?
The mainstream media may not have caught on yet, but there are two factors driving the Kansas fiscal calamity. The first factor is the Republican lack of will to cut Republican spending. Austerity cannot work until everybody cuts spending. The second factor is the Koch factor. The infamous king-makers, the Koch brothers, are headquartered on 37th Street in Wichita, Kan., which makes Kansas the veritable ground zero for austere Republican directives.
A better analogy would be the black-hole metaphor in which the Koch brothers have created a political black hole in Wichita that is destroying all common sense in the surrounding red states, and swallowing up Arkansas. For instance, just five months ago President Barack Obama left our nation and Arkansas with low unemployment and a booming economy. Gov. Asa Hutchinson and his general assembly of Koch zombies cannot even fund a highway bill.
Hey, Toto--we're in Kansas!
GENE MASON
Jacksonville
Reason to be offended
I moved from Arkansas to Michigan in 1966. I came back to Arkansas in 1969 on vacation. I walked into a store and this white lady that worked there said, "Can I help you, sir?" I looked back and I thought that a white guy had walked in behind me and she was talking to him, but she was talking to me. That was the first time a white person had called me sir, but they called me a few other names.
I was on the walking trail one day. Some deer came out of the woods when this white guy walked by. They stood there looking at him then saw me coming, a black guy. They ran back in the woods with their tails pointed up. I guess they used their tails because they don't have a finger to point up. When they got in the woods they turned around and looked at me.
I don't understand how some black people get offended when a white person uses the so called n-word. If I got offended by being called a name, I would get offended by being called an African American because I would think some people who call me African American believe I am only half an American. I am 100 percent black American.
HENRY GOODLOE
Pine Bluff
Funding not solution
Rich Huddleston's recent op-ed calls for Arkansas to reduce child poverty. Child poverty will be solved, he says, by investing in worthy programs like early reading and foster care. However, increased funding in such programs is not the answer for Arkansas.
The people of Arkansas are already extremely generous supporters of state services, including services for children. If we add together all the taxes Arkansans pay, we have calculated the total Arkansas state tax burden. Our tax burden is 17th highest in the nation, according to the 2017 Tax Foundation survey. We give a greater percentage of our income to government than do all other Southern states, even though we rank 46th in per capita household income. Arkansas is a relatively poor state, yet it collects taxes as if it were New York or California.
Arkansas ranks 45th in overall child well-being, according to Mr. Huddleston. Decades of high tax burdens and high government spending haven't improved citizen welfare. The new leadership of Arkansas has taken a different path: cutting personal income-tax rates. Tax relief returns decision-making to the people and takes it away from government officials. With more available income, families have greater power to improve their own welfare.
Arkansans have been enjoying a strong economy, low unemployment, and increasing incomes. A better business climate begins with tax reform, not bigger government. Arkansans continue to support those in need, with an additional $23 million in foster-care funding next year. The state can both successfully reduce income taxes while targeting child welfare. Broad, unfocused government spending has been a problem, not a solution, for Arkansas. What Arkansas needs is growth in take-home pay--not growth in government--as well as careful performance and outcome monitoring of government programs, not unfocused spending. That is how Arkansas can help children thrive in the 21st century.
MARJORIE GREENBERG
Little Rock
Question of priorities
It has come to my attention that the Grill Party has not responded much to recent events. Probably because grilling has taken precedence over just about everything else. However, even while grilling one can ponder on the news and the actions of those around us.
Do I speak of congressional hearings? Nope. Do I speak of congressional investigations? Nope. Do I speak of tweets, emails, and other nonsense? Nope.
What, then, could be holding the attention of the Grill Party?
Football, dear voters, football. The NFL schedule has been released and the Kansas City Chiefs are in practice mode. All of which lends itself to what the Grill Party continues to extol as the official national activity--tailgating. Yes, tailgating. That wondrous combination of food, fun, friends and football. No politics allowed. No religion discussed. No jobs or occupations as conversation.
As Louis Armstrong so eloquently stated, "and I think to myself, what a wonderful world." Priorities, dear voters, priorities. As always--slow down and grill.
DAVID KELLEY
Fort Smith
Editorial on 06/18/2017