Letters on taxing imports, Social Security, Russian hackers, Trump

Tax change could help build wealth

Most of the time the discussion on taxes is about rates or how much we should or should not tax. But I believe the discussion should be about what we tax instead of how much.

To build wealth as an individual, city, state or nation, you must produce more than you consume. So it is inherent that we have a tax code that encourages this.

A recent commentary (“It’s Kochs vs. House GOP on business tax reform,” Dec. 29 Opinion) had this to say about the proposed destination-based cash flow tax: “This would be a huge incentive to import less and export more, a significant change for an economy deeply dependent on global supply chains, and which routinely runs an overall merchandise trade deficit.”

That is exactly the tax code we need to build wealth in this nation. I encourage every American, especially manufacturing workers, to write and tell their representatives to pass this bill. The only way to stop corporations from outsourcing our jobs is to make the practice unprofitable. This bill should do just that.

Medicare increase

A recent letter writer wondered why the projected raise in Social Security benefits wouldn’t show up in her check (“Where is raise?” Dec. 25 Letters to the Editor). Then an Opinion Line contributor chimed in that 100 percent of the projected raise will be offset by an equal increase in the Medicare deduction.

This is all lamentable. But it was also predictable.

Social Security recipients are subject to a Medicare deduction to offset the cost of that program, another “now you see it, now you don’t” present from Congress. The no-actual-raise situation arises when the Medicare cost requirements exceed or equal the Social Security cost-of-living raise. The question is: Will there ever again be a Social Security cost-of-living raise that will exceed the demand of the Medicare offset? Does this represent a benefit freeze?

Cost-of-living increases are driven by inflation. Inflation usually affects all sectors of the economy. So it’s reasonable to predict that inflation will most certainly affect the medical communities and pharmaceutical industry, which represent a large percentage of the real inflation for Social Security recipients. It’s also reasonable to foresee that this cost will always exceed the amount of a Social Security cost-of-living increase.

Picking a fight

Why is our lame-duck president trying to pick a fight with the Russians and, thus, with the conservative movement in the United States? Is it that he wants to establish some type of legacy of diplomacy, rather than his usual racist banter?

One of our own government agencies, the Department of Homeland Security, reportedly tried to hack into the Georgia state election office voter database. The secretary of state in Georgia has requested answers from DHS.

But President Obama is more concerned about the “possibility” that some organization within Russia influenced our elections. All the hackers did was release e-mails from the Democratic National Committee and Hillary Clinton campaign officials to WikiLeaks, which then provided that information to the liberal press. Shouldn’t we be thanking the hackers for exposing this information, rather than blaming some made-up idea from an administration bent on causing more turmoil?

Thanks, Putin

If it is proven that Russia hacked into the Democratic National Committee and helped Donald Trump win this election, I and 65 million other voters would like to thank Vladimir Putin from the bottom of our hearts.

Also, if Hillary Clinton would have won, believe me, President Obama would not be sanctioning Russia for any hacking.

Trump embarrassing

It is unbelievable how the American people could be so uninformed about what’s going on in this country that they would vote for a man who was defrauding their fellow Americans and paid a $25 million settlement for his fraudulent Trump University.

I can’t believe any working man could vote for him because of this, and his advocating tax breaks for the rich and saying minimum wages were too high. Our forefathers would turn over in their graves if they knew he was elected president after what he said during the campaign about immigrants, women and veterans. He also called our generals stupid and said he wanted to ban Muslims from entering the country. Worst of all, he praised a dictator of a foreign country.

It wasn’t a downturn in real estate that caused all Donald Trump’s loss; it was his bad decisions. Trump didn’t want to release his tax returns because he’s probably not as rich as he wants you to think, and his tax returns might reveal his massive debt.

This president-elect is an embarrassment to this country, and to the world. He never apologizes and has never humbled himself. He has said he alone can fix everything.

The rich, arrogant, fraudulent, ego-driven narcissist will come out of his golden tower of fraud and greed to the White House of the people. God help us.

This story was originally published January 4, 2017 at 5:03 AM with the headline "Letters on taxing imports, Social Security, Russian hackers, Trump."