Trump's recklessness
President Trump's recent speech in which he urged police officers not to be "too nice" in dealing with arrestees has (rightly) alarmed many both inside and outside the ranks of law enforcement.
However, I don't think the president was consciously condoning police brutality. He wasn't quite sure what he was urging. He was saying something that sounded good and clever to him at the time.
And therein lies the problem with this president: He speaks recklessly because he thinks recklessly. And that's a bigger problem than it first appears: While his reckless speech and thought could very easily lead to terrible results, it is also the case that while he is speaking and thinking recklessly, he is not doing what the president is supposed to do: Speak and think wisely, in the best interest of the country.
While President Trump is being his own self-aggrandizing, egotistical, childish self, and while his staff and the legislature are enabling this behavior, the country is effectively without leadership. I believe Republicans in the legislature must put country before party and organize to begin the process of removing this man from the White House while the damage can be minimized.
STACY M. CLANTON
Magnolia
We're entitled to that
For decades now Democrats have believed that all people are entitled to certain benefits. Even the U.S. Declaration of Independence lists life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness as unalienable rights, and that the government is designed to secure these rights. Republicans, on the other hand, want government out of everyone's rights and business.
Democratic President Franklin Roosevelt offered his Second Bill of Rights which guaranteed employment, farmers' rights, housing, medical care, Social Security, education, and freedom from monopolies. Republicans want the free market to handle all these things. In 1965, President Lyndon Johnson and his Democrats gave us Medicare and Medicaid.
Today Democrats agree that Americans are entitled to Medicaid, Medicare, Social Security, unemployment and welfare programs. Republicans are trying to unravel and privatize these programs. Here in Arkansas, Gov. Asa Hutchinson and his Republicans practically kicked 60,000 Arkansans off Medicaid. Hutchinson says these poor Arkansans will buy health insurance on the "Obamacare" market, which Republicans are trying to destroy. Meanwhile, health providers across Arkansas have lost 60,000 customers.
To make matters worse, Hutchinson has also signed a punitive act to remove a tax exemption on unemployment benefits. Newly unemployed health professionals will be less likely to exist on unemployment income. It seems more than half a million more poor and unfortunate Arkansans are targeted for future neglect. Republicans will not allow these people to live, be free, and pursue happiness.
GENE MASON
Jacksonville
Is the Mooch a doc?
Anthony Scaramucci's cussing is bad enough, but worse is his using a medical diagnosis, schizophrenia, as an insult toward Mr. Reince Priebus (never so diagnosed, I will bet). Would you call him a diabetic, or an arthritic, to insult him?
Disgusting, perpetuating stigma, sad!
RICHARD LIVINGSTON
Little Rock
Call on our rich uncle
My family is very fortunate to have a rich uncle who will loan us all the money we need to make investments for our future. We can borrow at very low interest rates now, and we never have to repay the loans; we just renew the notes. Some members wrongly believe that these notes will have to be paid.
My family is the United States of America. Like any family, we invest in our future with borrowed money for education, health care, infrastructure, scientific research, etc. We haven't been doing much of that lately. Teavangelicals are afraid of the debt. It is not the size of the debt, but the debt-to-GDP ratio that matters. Investment spending will grow the economy (GDP) faster than the debt over time. If we invest now, that ratio will go down just like it did from 1945 to 1980 (120 percent to 30 percent). We still owe our war debt of $240 billion in 1945 and Ronald Reagan's debt of $2.9 trillion in 1989. (Reagan tripled U.S. public debt from $998 billion to $2.9 trillion.)
When does investment spending become consumption spending? When we feed nutritious meals to poor children, that is investment spending. When the government feeds the well-off, that is consumption spending. When we give medical care to those who cannot afford it, that is investment spending. Giving free medical care to the rich is consumption spending. Now, apply this to all government spending, including tax cuts.
Our rich uncle will loan us the money for investments because it will grow the economy, reduce the debt-to-GDP ratio, and increase revenue, but not for consumption spending because that leads to inflation. If that happens, our rich uncle can take money out of the economy by selling our notes and increasing interest rates. The Federal Reserve is our rich uncle.
RUUD DuVALL
Fayetteville
About our health care
We have to decide on one question: Is health care a right, or a privilege available only to those who can pay for it?
The laws we make will follow from the answer to that question. For example, we have decided that education (through high school) is a right, so we pay for it with taxes.
Other countries have already decided that health care is a right and they have paid for it with taxes. The price of our health care is vast compared to all other countries; we can only control costs with the power of the federal government. Policy is not hard at all; other countries are way ahead of us on providing quality, efficient health care (not health insurance).
LUCY FINN-SMITH
Little Rock
A much louder voice
President Trump says that he makes decisions in consultation with his generals, but it appears to me he does most of his thinking with his privates.
BARRY GEHM
Batesville
A terrific role model
Do you want to see the exemplary model of cyberbullying? Look no further than our president: Donald Trump.
NEALUS WHEELER
Mountain Home
Editorial on 08/01/2017