DEAR EDITOR:
I have recently read in The Dispatch several
Ultra-Right-rePlublican Swingers (URPS) and lunatic’s comments on
Ronald Reagan and anti-birth termination within the last few
weeks.
DEAR EDITOR:
I have recently read in The Dispatch several Ultra-Right-rePlublican Swingers (URPS) and lunatic’s comments on Ronald Reagan and anti-birth termination within the last few weeks. These people need a whack between the eyes with a little common sense and simple truths.
Ronald Reagan was a nice guy but screwed up royally in several ways. First, it was not Proposition 13 in 1978 that began the demise of California Schools. No, it was Senate Bill 90 in 1973, signed by Reagan. How? This bill limited all school tax increases to 2 percent per year, while allowing property taxes for all other purposes to swell without limits. This began the demise of school supplies and teacher salaries while at the same time, the counties and libraries were glutted with excessive tax money.
I voted for Proposition 13 in 1978, and would do it again under the same circumstances. However, counties were sliced appropriately of glut-money, by Proposition 13, but schools were rolled right into the same level of cuts when, in terms of real money, they were already on a downhill slide.
This made Proposition 13 bite harder into schools than any other property-tax related government program, and schools continue to suffer disproportionately today. The point is, it started with Ronald Reagan and Senate Bill 90 in 1973. Add to that another fact: Ronald gave us the homeless when he cut mental health hospitals and expected the counties to pick up the obligation. They didn’t. Prior to that time, there was no homeless problem. Thanks to Reagan, it is a big problem today. Thanks, pal. I just love your admired sense of humor. Are you reading this, Gilroy’s URPS?
Once he became President, Reagan immediately cut taxes severely. But he was smart enough to see the folly of supply-side economics in the following few years, and gave us what still remains as the highest tax increases in all United States history, in terms of adjusted dollars. True, Clinton gave us the biggest in actual dollars, but in terms of the spending power of the money taken, Ronnie’s bite was bigger. Only the URPS deny this because they can’t handle the truth since those tax increases moved us into prosperous times.
What is most important about both of the tax increases, both Reagan’s and Clinton’s, is that they were followed by periods of great prosperity. Yes, history tells us careful taxing leads to a good economy.
Let’s point out that under Clinton, the tax increases were followed by a rapid drop in interest rates and a booming economy. Let’s also point out that not one Republican in Congress voted for Clinton’s conservative tax program, which led to the greatest economy this country has ever known.
Was Reagan a nice guy? Absolutely! I voted for him! It is truly sorrowful how he lived out his last days. At the same time, he did a lot of damage to California. Here’s a quote from Reagan: “Too many people earn college degrees and that has reduced their value. Well, Ronnie, your current Republican successor is doing his best to break the promise to California children and make a degree respectful again by denying one to thousands. But the URPS don’t mind. They wouldn’t know what to do with an educated person in the family.
Tony Weiler, Gilroy
Submitted Sunday, June 20 to ed****@****ic.com
