LETTERS TO THE
E DITOR Trump tries to take credit after ignoring COVID-19
To the editor: I was a little insulted when I got the mail this morning and found an envelope from the Internal Revenue Service with a letter from President Trump letting me know my Economic Impact Payment has arrived.
Does he think I need him to tell me I received a check for $1,200? It is simply a vain attempt to get his name into every household, claiming credit for sending money to help get through a pandemic his earlier indifference helped compound and his current lack of leadership is helping to prolong.
How many millions of tax dollars did this campaign stunt drain from an agency already understaffed and with a limited budget? Trump doesn’t care. It saves his campaign money and might limit funds for investigating how much the Trump family is profiting from his presidency. To make matters worse, the letter he sent is less than honest.
He said his priority is my health and safety, but when the rest of the world was gearing up to fight COVID-19, Trump said he thought it would just go away and it wasn’t his responsibility. When other countries were testing thousands of people a day, Trump said testing was a state problem. He has refused to create a national plan of action to fight the coronavirus, insisting each state must develop their own plan, often having to bid against one another for scarce supplies. He says he is waging “total war” on COVID-19, but ignores advice from experts, suggests deadly home remedies, and encourages people to violate his own guidelines.
I watch President Trump cozy up to unfriendly countries, alienate traditional allies, and try to divert attention from the 107,000 American deaths already caused by COVID-19. His rhetoric is divisive and inflammatory and he has no plan. Unfortunately, the health and safety of the American people is not one of his top priorities.
Linda Osegard Neillsville
Don’t ignore the other elephant in the room
To the editor: For most of us, there is plenty to worry about without adding in the climate crisis. One good thing that staying home has given us is time to think, not only about how life is now, but how we and the climate could come out of this in much better health.
Like two peas in a pod, COVID-19 and the climate crisis follow the same exponential accelerating curves. And although the COVID-19 curve is beginning to level off somewhat, the climate crisis curve is not.
In his Earth Day speech, UN Secretary General Guterres listed these six principles to push for an end to fossil fuel subsidies at a time when both oil companies and households are struggling to pay their bills.
1. As we spend huge amounts of money to recover from the coronavirus, we must deliver new jobs and businesses through a clean, green transition.
2. Where taxpayers’ money is used to rescue businesses, it needs to be tied to achieving green jobs and sustainable growth.
3. Fiscal firepower must drive a shift from the grey to green economy, and make societies and people more resilient 4. Public funds should be used to invest in the future, not the past, and flow to sustainable sectors and projects that help the environment and the climate. Fossil fuel subsidies must end, and polluters must start paying for their pollution 5. Climate risks and opportunities must be incorporated into the financial system as well as all aspects of public policy making and infrastructure.
6. “We need to work together as an international community.”
As the majority of Americans support Congress taking action on the climate crisis, there is a resolution in Congress currently awaiting action: the Energy Innovation and Carbon Dividend Act (H.R. 763).
The Carbon Dividend Act calls for a carbon fee collected on carbon emissions, which will be allocated to all Americans in the form of a dividend that is deposited in our accounts the same way the stimulus money is. In the process, it incentivizes energy companies to develop technology innovation and ingenuity by providing some 2.1 million new jobs in local communities across America.
Following the UN’s six principles, H.R. 763 needs to be enacted now and be included as part of the next stimulus package.
This COVID-19 emergency is reminding us that we are living with the climate crisis emergency too. The combination of the two emergencies reminds us that we are living beings born of and nurtured by a living Earth. Our well-being depends on Earth’s well-being. Life is the goal, community is essential, and money is only a tool. Let the clearing skies around the world be the other goal we strive for with all of us working together to make it so.
Contact your representatives and strongly urge them to support H.R. 763.
Jim Hemingway
Bayfi eld
Biofuel industry needs COVID relief from USDA
To the editor: The COVID-19 pandemic is certainly unprecedented, testing our nation’s resolve and raising questions about the path to economic recovery. Job security for tens of millions of Americans was erased in a matter of weeks, leaving our leaders in Washington struggling to limit the damage and help those in need.
The impact has been especially acute in rural communities where the biofuels industry is a major contributor to our local economies. From hard-working farm families to local ethanol plants that provide good-paying jobs, the industry is a vital economic driver for small town Wisconsin. With fewer people now on the roads and prices continuing to suffer, the industry has taken a major hit, negatively impacting nearly 30,000 families across the state.
While the USDA neglected to provide relief for the biofuel community under a previous stimulus package, the House of Representatives crafted legislation that would limit the damage and keep our biofuel plants running. Now the pressure is on the Senate to finally deliver relief for this vital industry. The stability of rural America depends on it.
Anson Albarado village board president, Cadott
