Obama critic confused

In his letter, Mr. Kesgard confuses the TARP (Troubled Assets Relief Program) approved during the Bush administration and charges it has not created jobs. He also asserted that if President Obama were serious about creating jobs he would cut taxes. TARP was never intended to create jobs but was to save the financial system from collapse.

President Obama’s stimulus bill has saved and created jobs here and in North Idaho. Stimulus funding was used to save teachers’ jobs last fall (101 reportedly in District 81, for example) and to replace the dangerous Dover Bridge in North Idaho.

As Gary Crooks indicates in his “Smart Bombs” column that same day, $35 million in stimulus funding has been approved for extending the North Spokane Corridor highway. He also cites the stimulus package as containing $288 billion in tax cuts, dwarfing the $174 billion in cuts in the first two years of the Bush administration.

While tax cuts may over the long term lead to jobs, in the meantime revenues fall even further during a recession. No immediate help for the deficit there.

Mr. Kesgard should get his facts straight. He might also benefit from Mr. Crooks’ columns, which recently have talked straight and with facts about deficit issues.

Lois Richards

Spokane