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Letters for Sunday, November 21, 2021

Both parties guilty of running up deficit

Hi Molly Jones. Like myself, you are one of humor and seriousness at the same time. Regarding deficit spending and your “gone bonkers” poke at the Democrats, did you feel the same way to the Republicans when in 2017 they took a deficit of around $500 billion and increased it to nearly $2 trillion? Repubs were the party of balanced budgets, but what’s a little hypocrisy? Maybe deficit spending doesn’t matter anymore?

I do think you’re on to something about very-large stimulus checks, just not a billion dollars and not for everyone. No need for the ultra-millionaires and billionaires. Maybe at a cap of $5 million in wealth and with a population of 330 million, only spending around $300 million. Much less than $300 billion.

And then what about that runaway inflation? With what I understand about inflation, it’s a supply-and-demand issue. I might not get this one right, but if the demand isn’t there, wouldn’t prices come down? As a society, we buy a lot, and we have to have a new phone after a year. Be careful of advertising. In some languages, the word means “caution” or “warning.”

OK, one final bit. You’re right about no more complaining about not having enough money. But there’s probably a subject or two that will be complained about. That is until climate change swallows us up because we didn’t spend enough money and didn’t quit burning liquified dinosaurs.

Mark Perry, Lihu‘e

Our legal system is broken

I don’t know which makes me madder, allowing the county prosecutor to require a half a million in taxpayer dollars to be spent on a special election because he was the beneficiary of a poorly drawn employment contract, or some out-of-state thug bringing an assault rifle into Wisconsin, killing two people with it, then walking away a free man. The American legal system is broken!

Raley Peterson, Waimea

Way to go, Chan/Zuckerberg

Very good on Chan/Zuckerberg for donating big bucks for Menehune Fishpond preservation and affordable housing.

YAY BILLIONAIRES!

I still don’t like Facebook policy re: suppressing information about COVID-19 vaccine problems, but what the hey! Can’t have everything.

Molly Jones, Kealia

Solid-waste plan needs to consider climate change

How we deal with solid waste affects climate change. Constructing new products such as aluminum cans and plastic bottles out of virgin materials requires much more energy than using recycled materials.

Options such as incineration of our solid waste means that new cans and bottles will have to be made from virgin materials. In contrast, curbside recycling would preserve those materials for reuse.

The county’s 2021, 10-year, Integrated Solid Waste Management Plan needs to include climate change as a top priority for the physical, economic and environmental health of our island.

John Patt, Koloa
Source: The Garden Island

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