Robert Wassman’s Dec. 16 letter, “Reduce, reduce, reduce,” pretty much followed the Tea Party line of cutting taxes, eliminating regulations and the minimum wage. These were exactly what George W. Bush and his Republican cronies did for six years. What happened? Our economy tanked, the rich got richer, an unregulated Wall Street caused a $6 trillion loss to any retirement earnings tied to the stock market, caused millions of U.S. citizens to go to Canada to buy affordable prescription drugs, created the housing crisis with unregulated loan practices and went looking for Osama bin Laden under Saddam Hussein’s bed at a cost of over 4,500 lives and $1 trillion.
My favorite comment from Wassman was how elimination of the minimum wage will help to keep low-skilled workers employed at wages so low that they wouldn’t even be able to afford a roof over their heads. There would be a shanty town boom.
The Tea Party historically was a one-night event — it’s time for this Tea Party to pack up and go home. Otherwise, another Tea Partier will win the White House and shove this country over the edge.
William K. Reese, Vancouver
