Letters for Oct. 17, 2019

Re: “Money’s all spent, can’t pay the rent” by Jeff vonKaenel (Greenlight, Oct. 10):

Suggesting taxes as a way to equalize wealth ignores the bigger problem: The way government spending has succumbed to the austerity bug recently. The U.S. spends roughly 32% below the average for large economies.

Counting government spending as a percentage of GDP, the U.S. ranks 45th among nations. If you reduce that spending by a modest 11% to make the U.S. comparable to other nations in military spending, our government spends roughly the same portion of GDP as Namibia does. So there’s no need to wonder why U.S. infrastructure is third-rate and Third World.

The campaign to delegitimize collective action has been succeeding, in spades. Rather than the extremely modest, Namibia-like spending, most people believe the U.S. spends like a drunken sailor. But the truth is that spending, relative to the size of the U.S. economy, is not just modest, it is Third-World modest.

Mark Dempsey

Orangevale / via email

A plastics rebate for cities?

Re: “Will residents raise stink on garbage?” by Foon Rhee (Editor’s Note, Oct. 10):

It has become very difficult to find anywhere to recycle your plastic bottles as most recycling centers have closed. I know for a fact that the money you get if you recycle is about half of the refundable fee as most bottles have been made very light and the payment is made by weight not count.

Why not get the state to use some of this money from the CRV to rebate the cities for their garbage costs as they are not giving the money back to the people who recycle? It would be interesting to see how much money the state takes in for CRV and how much it pays out.

Desmond Wright

Sacramento / via email

Democrats are corrupt

Re: “A note from the resistance” by Ellen Chapman (Essay, Oct. 3):

What a BS story! Democrats are corrupt, but Hillary Clinton is not in jail, along with the many others such as Jim Comey, John Brennan, Andrew McCabe, et al.

Is this all the Democrats can do for the country—one “scandal” after another? They are doing nothing good.

Nicholas Schrier

Sacramento / via email

Looking out for Biden

Re: “A note from the resistance” by Ellen Chapman (Essay, Oct. 3):

SN&R has previously printed my list of President Trump’s impeachable offenses. Ignoring all those previous offenses—including contempt of Congress, abuse of authority, obstruction of justice and violations of the Constitution—House Speaker Nancy Pelosi settled on the Ukraine circus for impeachment for blatantly political reasons.

It involves an attack on her chosen establishment presidential candidate, Joe Biden. Presumably, it will help prop up Biden’s previously flagging campaign, keeping his name in the spotlight as the outraged victim fighting to defend whatever it is establishment Democrats hold dear (besides their wealthy donor base)from the unscrupulous president. Yes, Biden will ride forth, his political armor shining blindingly bright compared to Trump’s rusty, corroded, mud-caked attire.

Jan Bergeron

Sacramento / via email