Letters to the editor for Thursday, Jan. 2, 2014

No spending our way out of this recession

Ron Wood does not quibble over my assessment that we are in deep doo-doo, and it’s been a long time coming. He just takes exception in my tagging Reagan for it but splits hairs in defending him. Perhaps, technically, Reagan is only half culpable in bringing down the barriers that lead to our demise, but it was his whole fiscal policy that the wealthy should better prosper. Everything he did was with an eye toward this. He preached let the rich get richer, and we’ll all benefit. Just, big money has the moral compass of a shark, and the only thing that has trickled down since is our earning power relative to the cost of living.

The Fed took action to reign in inflation — not Reagan, unless he’s suggesting that deficit spending is actually good for the economy. In that case, we’d be in great shape now.

It’s niggling to argue what qualifies as the end of a recession or a few percentage points in the unemployment rate in defiance of the bigger picture. “Deficits don’t matter,” is relative because Reagan got lucky the stunt pulled by the Fed didn’t go the other way. That he did, inspired a trend and made that infamous quote into an attitude and a rallying point for almost every administration since. But we’ll not spend our way out of this one.

Kelly Jones

Carson City

Pin-pointing exact location of Air Force Base

Sir, in your Sunday, Dec. 22 paper, Page C8 opinion column, Mr. Guy W. Farmer begins by saying commanders at Shaw Air Force Base near Charlotte, N.C. Stop! Shaw Air Force Base is located near Sumter, S.C., about 40 miles east of Columbia, S.C., the capital.

I served 20 years in the Air Force and two tours at Shaw Air Force Base, from October 1956 to October 1957, and from May 1959 to December 1962.

There are two Air Force bases in North Carolina, Seymour Johnson, near Goldsboro, N.C., and Pope Air Force base, near Fayetteville, N.C.

Just thought I’d speak out and get it right.

Lawrence J. Cross Jr.

Dayton