Tuesday’s Letters to the Editor

Borrow and spend

EDITOR: Under Joe Biden, Democrats have gone from tax and spend to borrow and spend because they had trouble raising taxes to pay for their spending priorities. The infrastructure law is mostly debt for $3 trillion. The American Rescue Plan at $1.9 trillion is mostly debt. Senate Republicans helped pass a 2022-23 budget with no new taxes.

After President Barack Obama got reelected in 2012, sequestration started. A rising economy with a cap on spending and the trillion-dollar federal deficit came down to $646 billion. Then in year two, down to $426 billion. The deficit could be zero, scaring both political parties. A 10-year-tax cut in December 2015. In January 2016, a two-year budget bill increasing spending by $160 billion. Half for defense and half for social spending. This reversed the decrease in the federal deficit.

Donald Trump increased spending in the second year of a two-year budget raising the federal deficit. The Republicans’ tax cut in 2017 increased the deficit. The pandemic increased the budget and deficits. The 2022-23 budget is $5.8 trillion, with a $1.2 trillion deficit. Will House Republicans stop the spending and borrowing with no new taxes to decrease the deficit and raise the debt ceiling?

ANDREW SMITH

Santa Rosa

Investing in the future

EDITOR: I would like to respond to Jean Arnold’s letter (“SMART fiasco,” Jan. 21). The low point in the railroad tracks at the Black Point interchange on Highway 37 is due to the lack of planning and activity by Caltrans and Marin County. That area has flooded several times the past few years shutting down traffic. I am not sure how she feels that SMART is responsible and how the tracks could have been elevated in that area.

It seems to me that those who complain about public transportation do not care about the pollution and congestion on our roads in the future. We need to leave future generations better options for travel. Public transportation takes time to gain ridership.

I travel on the train to Marin twice a week, and ridership is increasing steadily. In addition, I notice many young riders use the train to commute to school. Their parents know it is a safe and efficient way for their kids to travel. I am certain that my grandchildren will appreciate and benefit from the investments in public transportation we are making for future generations.

JACK VERMEULEN

Rohnert Park

Flawed logic

EDITOR: John Jobs cites dramatic swings in the global climate for centuries as evidence to support his skepticism regarding the science of climate change (“Fomenting fear,” Letters, Jan. 16). Following this reasoning to its logical conclusion, one can absolve PG&E of all responsibility for causing wildfires because wildfires occurred before PG&E even existed.

NANCY J. FLOM

Petaluma

Sebastopol fire service

EDITOR: Please urge Sebastopol residents to tune in to the City Council meeting at 6 p.m. Tuesday regarding the Fire Department. Sebastopol faces a critically important decision regarding fire service that will impact the community for the next 50 years and beyond. Consultants will present their report, which recommends that the Sebastopol Fire Department be annexed by the Gold Ridge Fire District.

What residents and citizens need to know is annexation will create a parcel tax for Sebastopol residents with no vote; Sebastopol will lose local control of how funds are raised and spent and service is delivered; residents will still have to pay for a fire station upgrade and new equipment despite paying a parcel tax and 11% of the city budget. Sebastopol is a different fire service area than rural Gold Ridge. There is no immediate need to be annexed — Sebastopol has high Insurance Service Office ratings.

We need more options before any decision is made, and we need input from our local fire department. Consultants see public participation, voting and community decisions as a negative and are thus recommending annexation where no vote is required. Please tune in and have your voice heard on this important issue.

KATE HAUG

Sebastopol

A mixed blessing

EDITOR: I was very happy that President Joe Biden finally agreed to send some M1 Abrams battle tanks to Ukraine. In that way Germany will soon send some of its Leopard 2 tanks, which are badly needed. I was saddened to note, however, that the initial reason for not sending M1 Abrams tanks was that they were not reliable, required maintenance vehicles to be nearby and were so complicated to operate that extensive training would be required for them to be of any use whatsoever. Way to go, U.S. Army.

MIKE TUHTAN

Sebastopol

You can send letters to the editor to letters@pressdemocrat.com.