Economic sense missing

The cartoon of Obama reading Economics 101 (Sept. 14) is double-think.

Republicans have violated basic economic principles and caused the ship of state to founder. Our Great Recession is the second catastrophe due to laissez-faire economics. The Great Depression was the first, and actually sank the ship. We were kept afloat by the monumentally blind efforts of the Bush administration who handed Obama this economic cesspool.

Most people don’t understand exactly what happened, but that doesn’t stop them from drawing profoundly stupid cartoons.

Trickle-down economics has been a disaster for most Americans. Rampant deregulation gave us the present financial collapse. Bush tax cuts have bequeathed an enormous deficit to one and all to come. Republicans’ real goal has been to bankrupt the federal government. They have nearly succeeded. We must restore financial solvency to government by having sensible tax policies.

Allowing the income tax rate for the wealthy to reset to the Clinton-era level would be a painless first step toward real deficit reduction. Government services must be paid for by US! That is Economics 101. Try living without them.

David T. Webb

Spokane