Better off now?

In response to “Thanks to promises, we’re better off,” (Sunday, Aug. 12, 2018). Cathy McMorris Rogers almost dislocated her shoulder patting herself on the back in her Spokesman Review editorial. She says we’re better off now, thanks to her. Cathy’s self-promotion aside, today’s economy is the result of Republican deficit spending.

We face a $1 trillion deficit next year, thanks to greedy Republicans shifting money from our pockets into theirs. But wait, you say, Trump and Cathy passed a tax cut for us. No, they passed a tax bill that shifts the burden from the rich to the working and middle classes.

The wealthy got huge, permanent tax breaks, while we got a piddly, temporary tax cut that was immediately erased by increased gas prices. The average cost of gas in February 2016 was $1.83 per gallon, today it’s $2.93 per gallon.

Although income for the wealthy increased by over 10 percent, working and middle class wages increased by a measly 2.7 percent. Meanwhile, the cost of goods and services increased 2.9 percent last year and inflation is almost 3 percent. That means you are losing spending power.

No, Cathy, we are not better off, thanks to you we’re going backwards!

Paul Oman

Clarkston