Coverage of economy
As the only statewide newspaper, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette has an obligation to be more even-handed than it has been in the past.
Compare the ADG's reporting on Presidents Obama and Trump. Looking back, we have to recognize that Obama had some positive economic accomplishments. However, you would never know this from the articles and editorials in the ADG. The ADG repeatedly criticized the 2 percent annual growth as "one of the slowest rates ever following an economic recovery." We are still averaging 2 percent growth but now the ADG frequently touts "the booming Trump economy." The unemployment rate steadily declined from 9.8 percent in January 2010 to 4.1 percent in December 2017 when the big tax cut passed, and there is reason to think the unemployment rate would have continued to decline without the tax cut. However, the ADG gives the tax cut total credit for lowering the unemployment rate to 3.6 percent.
The ADG frequently criticized Obama for the annual budget deficits that averaged $500 billion during his second term and for our debt that reached $19 trillion by the time he left office. With the tax cuts and spending increases during the last three years, the annual deficits have doubled to $1 trillion and our debt exceeds $23 trillion. Our government now spends $5 for every $4 it receives! I think the ADG editorial staff understands this is not sustainable, but now the deficits are rarely mentioned on the editorial page and you are more likely to see opinions that deficits don't matter anymore. Most revealing is that when there is the rare ADG editorial on the deficit, the writer blames everything except the tax cut and spending increases of the last three years.
In accordance with the ADG's core values, please "give the news impartially."
PAUL SIMMS
Little Rock
Many are being saved
There are words in the Bible like confess, repent, forgive and faith. When brought together by the Holy Spirit these words become atomic and keep on burning like the bush Moses encountered, blazing a path to the door of a hall of joy. Here we can say though the fig tree should not blossom and there be no fruit on the vine; though the yield of the olive should fail and the fields produce no food; though the flock should be cut off from the fold and there be no cattle in the stalls; yet I will exalt in the Lord, I will rejoice in the God of my salvation.
God is calling to America, come out, and saying to the church, remove the grave cloths and let America go, for many are being saved. When Jesus came to his own people, only a remnant believed. He was rejected by his own people and God placed a partial hardening on Israel until a fullness of the Gentiles have come in and all Israel will be saved as it is written. God's gifts and his call are irrevocable. Know the parable of the fig tree. As soon as its twigs get tender, we will know that the Gentiles are coming in fullness. As soon as its leaves put out, God has removed the hardening of Israel and summer is near for Jesus' coming, yet only the father knows the day or the hour.
BW FERGUSON
Lonoke
Backbone of America
Your preposterous second-to-worst columnist periodically bemoans the great injustice of Arkansas getting as many senators as California, and our chief executive being elected through the electoral college rather than a nationwide popular vote. Some of your correspondents agree with him. Contrary to one of your recent writers, the compromise between big and small states that made our Constitution and our union possible was not in any way related to three-fifths or slavery. It was small states like Rhode Island and Connecticut that insisted on a mechanism to protect them from Virginia and New York.
Immigrants wanting to become Americans and those accepting public service such as the military swear allegiance to our system of government in which the chief executive is elected by the states (not by the people) with a bicameral legislature where states are represented by population in one house and equally in the other. This genius system is the backbone of our American civilization, and while Americans are allowed to harbor resentment against this system, those who do show themselves ignorant of our blessings. Hillary Clinton got 4 million votes of her 3 million vote advantage in California alone. I would almost rather see our wonderful country come apart than see the current crop of madcap California socialists taking our whole country down the disastrous road by which the once "Golden State" is being ruined. Furthermore, if you think a nationwide popular vote count would be remotely honest, you are naïve enough to be a Bernie Bro.
KARL T. KIMBALL
Little Rock
They make difference
Vaccines save lives. As a person living in the United States, I think it is important to remind others that while we do not hear much about diseases like cholera, typhoid, and yellow fever, there are children in impoverished countries who still do not have access to lifesaving vaccinations, and thus are susceptible to such diseases. For children around the world, vaccines can make a difference between a life of poverty and one of possibility; however, too many still don't have access. Last year, 600,000 children died from vaccine-preventable disease before their fifth birthday. This is both heartbreaking and preventable.
Over the past two decades, progress has been made in vaccinating children in the poorest parts of the world thanks to Gavi, a global vaccine alliance. Thanks to routine immunization programs, Gavi has saved more than 13 million lives in the developing world. Further, Gavi has immunized 760 million children since 2000, allowing them to go to school, their parents to go to work, and their communities to thrive. It is our responsibility to maintain support for lifesaving programs like Gavi, ensuring that this good work continues.
This year, Sen. John Boozman can help continue this important work by maintaining America's full commitment to Gavi. I would like to remind our representatives and my fellow Americans that diseases do not respect borders. By supporting Gavi, Senator Boozman can not only help save millions of lives and prevent millions from slipping into poverty, but strengthen America's global health security, too.
ANNE STEFANOVA
Little Rock
Editorial on 02/27/2020