Jared Polis and the West
The anti-Polis ads currently saturating the airwaves warns us that gubernatorial candidate Jared Polis wants to make us like California. According to the World Economic Forum dated Dec. 2017, if California were a separate country they’d have the 6th largest economy in the world. How would that be so terrible?
Gary Gaudin, Thornton
Re: “Club 20 debate emerges as sore spot in the race for Colorado governor,” Aug. 1 news story
Could it be that the front range has a very different voting demographic than rural and Western Colorado? Could it be that rural Colorado is more conservative and depends on resource extraction to make a living and that these are antithetical to Polis and his supporters?
Ran Macdonald, Craig
Trump doesn’t deserve credit for the booming economy
Re: “Trumponomics is working,” Aug. 1 letter to the editor
Letter writer Ed Lippert says Trump’s business savvy is a “winning strategy” for our nation’s economic current good fortune, but by throwing tariffs on everything imported to correct our “one-sided trade deals” Trump risks calamity for our economy. Consider the problem that makes Trump fume: not selling many American made cars to foreign buyers.
Our auto manufacturers build cars with the steering wheel on the left and not the right side which is required in countries like Japan that drive on the left side of the road and you get an idea of the arrogance of the equal trade deal that Trump is proposing.
American car makers are not equipped to manufacture cars with the steering wheel reversed. Unless they do so, countries like Japan and China will not buy American made automobiles. Can you blame them? And putting tariffs on car parts imported to this country will raise the cost of automobiles for Americans, some say as much as $5,000 per vehicle.
Tariffs may sound tough, angry and equitable, but they will in the end prove not to be a winning strategy. Trump’s business expertise is only in declaring bankruptcy and not paying his bills, hardly the example of a good businessman.
Susan Altenhofen, Fort Collins
Letter writer Ed Lippert believes we have Donald Trump to thank for the country’s robust economy. What Mr. Lippert fails to mention is that during Obama’s presidency, the private sector created over 10 million jobs, the unemployment rate fell from 10 percent to 4.8 percent, and the stock market rose 149 percent.
While itap true Trump has done nothing to derail the economic recovery that began in 2009, it is absurd to suggest that he is somehow responsible for it.
Rick Tedesco, Lakewood
Taxpayers still picked up the tab
Re: “How the $1.7 billion VA boondoggle got unbungled,” July 22 commentary
U.S. Rep. Mike Coffman used the terms, “I”, “Me”, or “My” 15 times in his commentary in last Sunday’s Perspective as if he was the rescuer of the VA debacle. (Hey Mike, the damage has been done. Are you coming up with the billion dollars overspent?) He also mentions Ed Perlmutter and Bob Beauprez and their respective roles in the VA build up.
You people need to go away. Your oversight has been a disaster. The incompetence exposed is inexcusable. What happened here was mismanagement at the top, and they all got away with it. Now they’re basking in the sun with their generous retirements courtesy of us tax payers.
Please don’t insult the veterans any further with these self-congratulatory commentaries. A lot of people made a lot of money on this project.
John Hazard, Centennial
