A new process

Dear Editor,

I’m beginning to understand what this whole tariff program is about. It is driven by the desire to extend the 2017 tax cuts with some adjustments.

Our wheelers and dealers are not looking for zero tariff agreements. Being a net importer, 10% or any number higher than zero helps to offset the costs of the upcoming tax extension.

Now there is a point of diminishing returns where excessive tariffs will throw the country into a recession and/or cause higher inflation. That’s why we had the sudden 90-day pause. It has reached the point where the executive branch is perilously close to controlling monetary policy.

Chairman Jerome Powell of the Federal Reserve is at a loss to effectively use his limited tools to deal with the situation at hand. It must be frustrating for him and the other members of the board.

I can visualize some dissention in future meetings. In other words, the executive branch in their deliberations with the countries of the world are steering the ship. Not only that, in the fall the president will be making a recommendation for the next chairman of the fed. Now that’s power.

You don’t make this stuff up. If successfully implemented, it borders on “financial” brilliance. However, our decades-old good neighbor policy with other countries will never be quite the same. J.D. Vance’s lecture to the Europeans and Trump’s daggers at Canada and Greenland have helped set all this up.

There are many who have said that they wanted a non politician as well as a businessman to run our government.

Well, we have him. It’s different and at times scary. We’re going to see how it works out.

Blair T. Smoulder

Warren

Fueling disbelief

Dear Editor,

Does anyone in the area wonder why the gasoline costs are quite a bit higher in the area than a mere 70 miles away? Is there a monopoly in the area?

Why should we be paying $3.69 per gallon and a short drive away it is only $3. I think the people of northwestern Pennsylvania need to ask the retailers we frequent why we pay so much at the pump.

It seems excessive to pay so much, however, without legitimate and fair competition from outside sources we will continue to be preyed upon and continue to be fleeced. It’s just not right!

Dan Tassone,

Warren

Double standards

Dear Editor,

Remember when all the Democrats were crying that “no one is above the law” referring to President Donald Trump with all his ridiculous court hearings that he was involved with the last two years? Well what about the judge that hid the illegal alien inside her courtroom so that he could evade arrest by ICE? Is she above the law?

The democrats protesting her arrest seem to think so! I’m sure they were the very ones saying that Trump was not! Definitely makes one wonder?

Remember when President Barack Obama deported 2.9 million-plus illegal aliens and nothing was said nor were nation wide injunctions installed? Definitely makes one wonder! Remember when President Clinton fired 400 thousand plus federal employees? Nope no court hearings, injunctions here either! Definitely makes one wonder!

Remember the George Floyd 2020 Black Lives Matter riots where 2,000-plus law enforcement personnel were injured, there were 29 confirmed deaths, $2 billion plus in property damages and all the Democrats could do is take a knee and lock arms on national TV in unity with the very criminals committing these very crimes! But yet when President Trump calls for a “peaceful, patriotic, protest” at the Capitol building that does in fact turn out to be criminal by the criminals committing the acts somehow becomes Trumps fault? Definitely makes one wonder!

Remember when Obama stated, “Just because they are here does not give them a right to vote” he was referring to the illegal aliens. Just last week an Obama appointed judge blocked Trump’s order that stated ” You must be an American citizen to vote in US elections.” That tells me that anyone that comes into this country illegally has the right to vote? Maybe this is the way that the Democrats are going to achieve their goal of making this country a communist/socialist country! Definitely makes one wonder?

These double standards have got to stop, the hatred and jealousy by the Democrats toward President Trump has got to stop! Whether you like it or not, he is the president of the United States that is doing the same thing the last two Democrat presidents have done minus Joe Biden for multiple reasons. What could possibly be your issue if it was OK when Obama and Bill Clinton did it but not now that Trump is doing it? Pretty sure we all know the answer to that question!

Brian Fajbik,

Warren

Damaging a brand

Dear Editor,

“Trust takes years to build, seconds to break and forever to repair.”

Think of the American Brand. The American Brand took centuries to build, based on immigrant ancestors fleeing horrid situations and taking big risks for New World opportunities.

Trust requires understanding of and commitment to core values, as outlined in our Colonial and Federal documents. The documents contain the idealistic values and the pathway processes to move toward them.

Two shameful stains on the American Brand were the attempt to annihilate Native culture and the subjugation of Black slaves for two centuries and Jim Crow Apartheid for another century plus.

The freedom of expression and opportunities for personal development promised in the American Brand has had appeal to peoples the world over for centuries, still does. No one stands in line to enter authoritarian Russia.

The American Brand is a “work in progress,” ever evolving and re-inventing itself while maintaining its commitment to core values.

Most important is our commitment to our values. Our commitment to our values provides our American Brand its quality. It is the quality of the American Brand that is the Brand’s appeal. It is our Social Contract. We are a nation of racial, regional, generational, religious, and ethnic diversities. Our values and our commitment to our values is what holds us together.

The American Brand is under threat. The threat would turn our American Brand into a Trump Brand. Within the past three months the focus has been on re-Branding America, not lowering inflation as promised, but transforming American financial, educational, legal, governmental, scientific, and cultural institutions. Norms and legal processes are being broken. One of the latest threats is the denial of due process.

The Trump Brand is based on Trump, not constitutional law; Trump demands due process for himself and denies it for others who Trump says are unworthy.

Repairing Trust will require restoring quality, commitment to our democratic values.

There is much more at stake than declining portfolios, facing another possible financial recession, a shortage of affordable goods, attacks on social welfare programs, curbing personal expression and development, and malfeasance of public office. Much more, namely the American Brand is at stake. Our social contract is under attack.

Don Scott,

North Warren