Readers React: RIP to the Republican Party that preached balanced budgets and fiscal restraint

To the editor: Republican economic recklessness and irresponsibility seems to know no bounds. (“Fiscal responsibility? Pffft. The House GOP tees up another tax-cut vote,” editorial, Sept. 12)

The great recession was caused by the unregulated subprime mortgage and financial industries. Still, the Republicans and President Trump are doing everything they can to deregulate and dismantle the Dodd-Frank financial reform law and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

When the economy was teetering on the edge of the second Great Depression, Republicans relentlessly opposed President Obama’s efforts to stimulate the economy by claiming they didn’t believe in deficit spending.

Now, when the economy is at full employment and doesn’t need any help, Trump and the Republicans have passed a tax bill and a budget to stimulate the economy that helps mainly the wealthy, explodes the budget deficit for years to come and will likely start a new round of inflation. Reckless and irresponsible, not to mention hypocritical.

Michael Asher, Valley Village

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To the editor: Your editorial is right on target. As is typical for the current Republican Party, it puts politics and pandering ahead of sound fiscal and tax policy.

The current “Tax Reform 2.0” proposal in the House would, among other things, grant tax-preferred status for home-schooling expenses (a favorite among the Trump base) for the first time. The 2017 tax bill was a gift to the highest-income corporate and individual taxpayers, while saddling the rest of us with more than $1 trillion in future debt.

The new House proposal would create a perceived political advantage for the upcoming midterm at the cost of more future debt. This is the same approach that Trump’s party has to other areas of policymaking, including reversing climate-change regulations as a way to stimulate short-term job growth at the long-term expense of life on this planet, something we’ll all have to pay for later.

Ken Goldman, Beverly Hills

The writer is a tax attorney who served in the U.S. Treasury Department’s office of the tax legislative counsel.

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