Dear editor,
The Koch Brothers’ Prosperity for America has been running a TV ad of a young woman saying the Republicans are going to lower taxes on the middle class with tax reform and that Missouri Sen. Claire McCaskill is against it. McCaskill is on their hit list this coming election.
My wife said this sounds great. We can use a postcard to do our taxes. My accountant said they don’t make postcards that big. We haven’t seen all the details of what is coming because they’re still putting it together.
President Trump says he is doing this to produce all these new jobs. Unemployment is 4.2 percent, close to the lowest in history. The average unemployment rate from 1948 to 2017 is 5.8 percent. In 1982, unemployment was 10.8 percent and in 2009, 10 percent — the two highest times. The lowest was in 1953 at 3.7 percent.
The Tax Enterprise Institute said federal revenues will fall $6.2 trillion over the first decade if the tax cuts are enacted. When accounting for interest on the debt, it will jump to $7.2 trillion and then up to $20.9 trillion by 2036. Meanwhile, the White House maintains the tax plan will reduce revenues by $3.2 trillion.
We know the baby boomers retiring over the next five years will account for some 40 percent of job losses. These will not be new jobs, they will be replacement jobs. These jobs will require experienced workers, not interlevel workers. Trump claims all these new jobs will make more revenue to make up for all this lost revenue.
Gov. Brownback told us the same thing and look what happened. They are planning on infrastructure next: Roads, rail, water, airports, electric, and every state will have their pet projects. So where is he going to find all these workers? Something just doesn’t add up. This means we will have to borrow more money increasing the deficit $1 trillion more.
But I think it would raise wages faster than anything we would do.
GDP (gross domestic product) is at 3.1 percent, unemployment 4.2 percent, inflation 1.9 percent, stock market 23,000 and going up at a record pace. If the Fed cranks things up too much more inflation would wipe out all the gains.
Amazon is going to hire 50,000 new employees, Tyson 1,600 jobs, B&W Trailer Hitches and Gates Corporation have been adding jobs locally, just to name a few. With interest rates the lowest in history, companies should and are taking advantage of this. Therefore, things are doing so well because of low interest rates.
Trump’s crazy talk and tweets are turning other countries against us. Japan and other countries are making deals to buy their meats and grain from the European block of nations. Farmers were some of his biggest supporters. What a stab in the back.
David Comstock,
Colony, Kan.
Letter to the editor — November 2, 2017
