I’m certain you’ll receive numerous letters extolling the virtues of Mr Trump’s ‘big, beautiful bill’ passed by the House. Well, it’s big, can’t deny that, and it’s a bill, which we’ll all end up paying, but as for beautiful, that’s in the eye of the beholder.
Let’s start with Medicaid, which needs more funding rather than less, at this moment when the administration is doing its best to make the lives of poor, disabled, and elderly people miserable. This bill is a frank handout to billionaires, and it’s squarely on the backs of middle and working-class people, to add insult to injury.
Give money to billionaires—take it from rural hospitals, kids’ school lunches, seniors in nursing homes, and people who need medical care the most. I retired from running a clinic that provided free care to previously hospitalized Medicaid recipients, among others, and I’m sickened to think what will happen to them.
And my Congressman, Mr Harris? He voted ‘present’ because, from his antediluvian point of view, the bill didn’t go far enough in taking from the neediest. He doesn’t like the $2.3 trillion, with a T, the bill will add to our deficit over the next decade, but his solution would be to take more from people who have nothing.
To give to billionaires? Oh, please.
Richard Bearman
Cambridge
It’s stunning to contemplate, but economists all point out that money in the hands of middle-class and working people and especially the poor, all flows into the economy and builds America’s GDP. Give more to a billionaire, and it is simply hoarded. I know, I know, they are the “job creators” in the parlance of conservative thought. But the record shows they are big on canceling jobs, moving production to lower-paying factories overseas, etc. But that’s only when they actually DO something with their extra money. Most often, it’s just “invested” into schemes to multiply more money. To what end? You might ask. That’s a whole n’other conversation. To prepare, you might start counting the hospitals, schools and food banks the world’s richest billionaire has funded. So far, I know of none.