On Tuesday afternoon I agreed to publish the anonymous letter to the editor that appears in today’s paper.
For more than 150 years, the Register’s policy has been to allow anonymous commentary only if the author’s identity could somehow precipitate a harmful situation.
In this particular case, the contributor said that while he isn’t concerned about his personal safety, he fears his opinions would prompt a backlash against his business and negatively affect his employees.
“I don’t want my staff to bear the burden of my personal opinions,” he said. “You understand.”
More than he could know.
“Why don’t you just stay neutral?” I’m asked. “Sit this one out. It’d be better for business.”
Probably.
Maybe.
But if democracy is “for the people, by the people,” then it’s our job to speak up — and that includes voting.
One of my favorite campaign signs reads: “Not voting is the No. 1 cause of unwanted presidencies.”
So don’t sit this election out.
In deciding who I feel is best suited to lead the country next, these are my priorities:
• Growing the economy so that the United States remains the world’s largest economy but also does a better job of lifting those in poverty out.
The U.S. has emerged from the Covid-19 pandemic in stronger financial shape than any of its peers, growing by 3.2% per year. Inflation has fallen sharply since the summer of 2022 and unemployment is now a stable 4%.
Most economists roundly agree this “soft landing” from the pandemic would all be undone if former President Donald Trump’s promises of a growing menu of tax cuts and across-the-board tariffs came to pass.
Even the conservative Wall Street Journal maintains a Trump administration would raise the cost of living.
On Tuesday, Trump said he will make the cost to send goods to the United States “so high, so horrible, so obnoxious,” that foreign companies will instead set up shop here.
It’s a recipe for economic chaos.
Vice President Kamala Harris’s economic plans focus more on young parents and middle-class families. Specifically she’s proposing a $6,000 tax credit for parents of newborns as well as bringing back the pandemic-era expanded Child Tax Credit that gave as much as $3,600 per child to eligible families. Both proposals would lift millions of children out of poverty and aid families with the cost of raising children.
She’s also proposed cutting taxes for the middle class and raising taxes from 21% to 28% on individuals and corporations that make more than $400,000 in profits, as well as a “wealth tax” of 25% on those whose assets exceed $100 million.
