Stuck in the ’80s

After reading his May 7 comments on Gary Crooks’ April 27 commentary, I wondered where Bob Strong has been these last 30 years. Trickle-down or supply-side economics, favorites of President Reagan and his generation of Republicans, in fact has not worked.

The ruthless destruction of mom-and-pop businesses by the monopolistic big-box stores (Home Depot, Lowe’s, Wal-Mart, Office Depot, Staples, etc.), and the loss of manufacturing, such as the shuttered Mead aluminum plant, have been deliberate by the capitalists, or more aptly, the new robber barons. I don’t think there’s a shred of evidence that these folks have considered investing in their neighbors and fellow countrymen.

As capital has moved offshore, enterprise and entrepreneurship has been stifled, because there is no capital for a small business to get a start. I think the budget surpluses in the 1990s were a result of investment moving offshore and plants being closed down and stripped of equipment, which was then sold overseas.

Alas, there is no competition at the grass-roots level that would encourage anyone, because the individual who would try has no capital with which to begin. And conservatives offer no bona fide plan that might correct the situation.

Galen Denio

Spokane