What past teaches us
The science of economics teaches us that spending is the lifeblood of the economy. Spending consists of business spending, governmental spending, and consumer spending. I learned in Economies 102 in 1967 that the economy grows fastest when total spending is one-third of each. When this three-legged stool gets out of balance, the economy will slow.
Since 1980 we have been obsessed with reducing taxes on the job-makers, hoping they will hire more workers, pay higher wages, and create more jobs. Ronald Reagan cut taxes on the rich from 70 percent to 28 percent. He famously said, "Government is not the solution ... government is the problem." Consumer spending jumped to about 70 percent of GDP. Expected revenue fell. The federal debt exploded from $998 billion to $2.9 trillion in 1989 due to deficit spending. Unintended consequences!
Compare the growth of our GDP from 1945 to 1980 with the growth from 1980 to 2015. We had fewer people in the first 35 years, but grew faster than in the second 35 years. In the first 35 years, the top tax bracket was about 90 percent until 1964 when it dropped to 70 percent. It stayed there until Reagan reduced it.
For the last 35 years, our nominal GDP has grown only about half as fast as in the previous 35 years, even though we have far more people. We have cut taxes to the bone and run up a $20 trillion debt. People say we can't afford infrastructure and investment spending for our children's future. The Republicans say, "We have to cut Medicare, Social Security, and Medicaid," apparently not realizing that when the government cuts spending, that directly reduces our GDP, and indirectly reduces it due to re-spending and the velocity of money.
We used to teach economics as a science. It still is.
RUUD DuVALL
Fayetteville
Listen to constituents
Has anyone else living in Arkansas' Congressional District 1 noticed Congressman Rick Crawford seems to be afraid to face we constituents in a town-hall meeting?
In a recent interview with the Jonesboro Sun, Congressman Crawford indicated his preferred method to communicate with constituents was Facebook. Congressman Crawford further stated in that article the only people who were contacting him requesting a town-hall meeting had "an agenda."
Really, Congressman Crawford?
I have called Congressman Crawford's office and respectfully requested him to host a town-hall meeting numerous times. A polite lady named "Courtney" is his scheduler. She has told me he "might consider" conducting a town-hall meeting if "enough people showed interest."
If any other constituents would like to "show interest" in Congressman Crawford hosting a town-hall meeting, I would suggest you call his D.C. office and request to speak with Courtney. That number is (202) 225-4076. If she is not available, just leave a message that you would like for the congressman to host a town-hall meeting. His offices in Arkansas are: Jonesboro, (870) 203-0540; Cabot, (501) 843-3043; and Mountain Home, (870) 424-2075. With election season fast approaching, let's see if we might coax Congressman Crawford to come out of hiding and meet with we constituents!
And Congressman Crawford, if you happen to be reading this, my "agenda" is better government through accountable representation.
DAVID GOODSON
Paragould
We owe it to our race
What does white America owe blacks? We owe them everything we have. We owe them the reality of not being judged by color. Oh, there will still be plenty of judgment, don't worry about that. We owe them the reality of being hated, loved, rejected and accepted for all the other petty reasons, but not color. We owe them the right to fail for the same reasons we do.
Imagine your white life with a weight, not around your neck, but a weight that you carry in your bones. In your reality the earth's gravity is doubled. You can't see it or understand it, it makes no sense, but it is there, always. You will get used to it. You can ignore it at times. There is nothing you can do to get away from it. You can only hope that it will be lifted in death.
No one in my entire life has assumed that I somehow represent an entire worldwide complexion of humans. White people don't lump whites together as lazy or criminally inclined. We owe them that privilege. We owe them the respect of people whose families were bought and sold, brutalized, were and are murdered and continue to be oppressed because of their color, and yet they stay, they built the South, they serve our nation, yet it is not blacks who want to secede from us. We do not live with a fear of law enforcement, the stress of being weighed down by bigoted systems from birth, or the group rage that is their reality. We owe them that.
Black lives matter. What matters are the lives they lead. Can they live the lives that they want to lead, the lives that they are capable of living, for the same reasons, with the same obstacles and possibilities as whites? We owe them. We owe it to our race, the human race.
MARK EASTBURN
Eureka Springs
For what he really is
It's not surprising that Tom Cotton was in the room for the infamous immigration meeting at the White House. After all, what red-blooded patriot could pass up the opportunity to throw hundreds of thousands of hardworking brown people out of the country?
And as constituents we benefited as well because we got see the real Tom Cotton in action. We discovered that he is a moral coward, a gutless weasel, a surprisingly clumsy liar, a brown-noser of cosmic proportions, and a disgrace to the state. Please join me in calling for the resignation of this mean-spirited and pathetic little man.
RICHARD AULT
Maumelle
Editorial on 01/22/2018