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In a recent letter to the editor, a writer claimed the pandemic was the real reason for inflation under the Biden/Harris administration (“Dems are mum on the obvious answer,” Readers Write, Oct. 28). To be sure, supply chain constraints did pose a problem, but that’s the exact reason that the Biden/Harris administration never should’ve passed the $1.9 trillion so-called American Rescue Plan, probably more accurately named the American Inflation Plan. Economics 101 tells you that inflation is too many dollars chasing too few goods and services. Liberal economist and Harvard Prof. Larry Summers, also a top adviser during President Barack Obama’s administration, warned against passing it on several occasions, calling it the “least responsible” economic policy in 40 years. He made his views public on Bloomberg TV, in the Washington Post and the New Yorker. But the Biden/Harris administration went ahead anyway because the additional spending would buy them more votes. The bill was composed of transfer payments, including $1,400 checks per person, up to $3,600 per child in tax credits and an extra $300 a week in unemployment benefits, plus several other giveaways.
The fact that Kamala Harris refuses to accept any responsibility for the inflation shows she is either ignorant of economics or too hypocritical to admit it. While the letter writer boasts that inflation is now only 2.4%, he fails to mention that inflation is cumulative. The over 9% inflation under Biden/Harris is still baked into the system. So prices aren’t going down, they’re simply rising at a slower rate. Harris’ answer to this is to blame price-gouging by greedy corporations, which proves her lack of knowledge how business works. Corporations don’t get to run huge deficits like the government. They need to make a profit to keep people employed, pay their bills and stay in business.
To be fair, former President Donald Trump’s tariff policies would be no bargain either. Like inflation, tariffs are a tax on all people and inherently inflationary. Biden and Harris kept some of Trump’s tariffs in place but his plan would be to invoke many more. Indeed, a very well-known and astute investor, Paul Tudor Jones, cautioned about rising inflation under both candidates, especially with their propensities to buy as many votes as possible with tax reductions on tips, overtime or grants as high as $25,000 to buy a house. In a recent interview on CNBC, he said Trump and Harris are both “least suited for the job ahead of them.” Unfortunately, with the extremes of both parties governing our choice of candidates, this is the hand Americans have been dealt.
Steve Hayden, Eden Prairie
HARRIS CALLING TRUMP ‘FASCIST’
It’s not name-calling; it’s a description
Recent opinions on this page have criticized Vice President Kamala Harris for directly answering Anderson Cooper’s question: “Do you think Donald Trump a fascist?” Was she supposed to deflect or lie? Trump’s own chief of staff, Gen. John Kelly, says Trump meets the fascist definition. Gen. Mark Milley, chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff under Trump, said he is “fascist to the core.” This truly wasn’t name-calling as some claim. These were all well-explained conclusions about Trump, underscoring why we Americans should be concerned about Trump 2.0.
Name-calling, without basis, is what Trump does to all who criticize him. He has done so since he rode down his golden escalator. His VP pick Sen. JD Vance is also no stranger to calling Trump names. Vance has called Trump an “idiot,” “reprehensible” and “America’s Hitler” and wrote: “Fellow Christians, everyone is watching us when we apologize for this man. Lord help us.” So, to those who criticize Harris here, please explain to yourself how again and again, you remain silent or are apologetic when Trump engages in name-calling that runs the gamut from juvenile, demeaning, racist and divisive to bullying and intimidation.