Letters to the Editor (Aug. 18)

Feelings on trade

I have read lately about how trade wars hurt the economy. Most economists believe that reciprocating trade is unimportant and trade deficits don’t really matter, that pursuit of free trade is all that matters.

The way to understand something is to imagine taking it to an extreme. So let us assume that trade deficits don’t matter. If this is true, why do any of us Americans work? Let us close all the factories and farms, and purchase all our goods from foreign sources. Let us hire foreign workers to do all our services (cooking, cleaning and mowing the lawn). Pay for all this by borrowing from these foreign countries. Issuing bonds that we will pay back with paper dollars. Or sell them our assets.

We could all live like kings, being fanned and feed grapes. But does anyone think that at some point these foreign investors will not want something for these paper dollars? Sooner or later, the chicken will come to roost. We will be indebted with no assets.

This belief goes clear back to Adam Smith and the Wealth of Nations. Seems a flawed philosophy to me.

Differences in political philosophy

Wichita and Kansas, tell me again why you love President Trump and our ruling oligarchy, and their minions in our state.

In the Aug. 1 Eagle I read how they want to make the rich richer and the poor poorer, and Cal Thomas rails about the Democrats’ failed tax and spend policies but says nothing about the Republicans’ tax the poor and give to the rich policies.

Tell me the goodness of this. Is it so you and your children can be less educated, less cultured, less informed, less skilled, less healthy, less critical, more docile and a smaller nuisance? Is it so you can keep a needless arsenal of firearms, or freely hate people not like you, or so the richest, strongest nation can bully poor people who have suffered more than any U.S. citizen ever can imagine?

Or is it to expedite environmental desolation, reduce workplace safety, and shrink consumer protections only to increase corporate profits? Tell me, please, which of these you love and why they make us great.

Farm Bill benefits

Countless young people in Wichita are back to school this week. However, many kids are at a disadvantage: without enough food, their energy and attention span in school will falter.

In Sedgwick County alone, there are 71,780 individuals who are food insecure. Fifty-three percent of that group is eligible to receive benefits from SNAP, a nutrition assistance program that helps families put food on the table.

Our representatives play a major role in ensuring that our kids have enough to eat as they head back to school. Kansas Sen. Pat Roberts and Rep. Roger Marshall were selected to serve on the conference committee for the Farm Bill.

The Senate passed a bipartisan version of the Farm Bill that protects SNAP, which is the first line of defense against hunger in America.

The House produced a version of the Farm Bill that allows for harmful cuts to SNAP, which will decrease the number of families that receive assistance from the program.

I urge Sen. Roberts and Rep. Marshall to support Wichita families by championing the Senate’s bipartisan version of the Farm Bill, leaving a legacy of support for Kansan youth.