Anger over taxes, pay
Our leaders are looking out for us again, by denying us a little give-back (“Democrats thwart efforts for sales, meals tax holidays,” April 25). What a joke. Since the legislative leaders of our commonwealth saw fit to not only give themselves outrageous raises earlier this year, Massachusetts citizens should vote to reduce the base pay of the state Senate and House members in leadership positions.
They got huge bumps for the leadership positions, so they don’t need the full base pay. I’ll remember them next voting day.
— Bill Cranshaw, East Bridgewater
Coal industry dying
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency chief Scott Pruitt has wasted no time in rolling back the curbs on climate change put in place by the previous administration (“Climate accord divides Trump advisers,” April 19). With this, Pruitt is fulfilling his mission from the president to destroy the agency he leads.
If that were all he were destroying, that would be bad enough. But he’s working hard to destroy our children’s and grandchildren’s future, all in the name of jobs.
Pruitt is taking things even further by criticizing the Paris Climate Agreement, which seeks to curb greenhouse gases globally, calling it “a bad deal for America.”
The irony is that the renewable energy sector will provide more jobs in America than the coal industry — which has been dying for years — or even the shale gas boom can save.
I honestly don’t understand why anyone would cling to the destructive technologies of the past. Capitalism is supposed to sweep out the old and bring in the new, when it’s advantageous. Capitalism would do the job for us, if we would just let it.
— Laura Burns, Hingham
Foreign aid well spent
It becomes increasingly apparent that the Trump administration intends to deal with ISIS and other such groups with military moves, such as the use of the MOAB, the so-called Mother of All Bombs (“Unleashed,” April 14).
President Trump’s proposed budget aims to cut foreign aid, which currently accounts for a mere 1 percent of the U.S. budget. Not only does he intend to do this as several African countries are on the brink of famine, but he has chosen to do so in this age of extremism.
As a congressman, Charlie Wilson famously backed the Afghan insurgency against the former Soviet Union. Wilson also, though unsuccessfully, asked Congress to improve living conditions for people in Afghanistan after the Soviets abandoned the country.
Instead, in the following years, the Taliban took control, creating the environment that allowed Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda to plan the 9/11 attacks. While poverty does not create extremism, it creates the weak institutions under which it tends to form. That’s why foreign aid is critical.
In the words of former U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, “Development is a lot cheaper than sending soldiers.”
— Alexandra Dobell, Allston