Poorest states suffer

Paul Krugman recently published an op-ed in The New York Times detailing how Joe Manchin’s demanded changes in Biden’s proposed Build Back Better (BBB) package would hurt his constituents in West Virginia. Cuts in efforts to slow global warming would increase the already high threat of flooding and do nothing to save the dying coal industry. Cuts to the child tax credit program would harm thousands of families, particularly those headed by grandparents, of which West Virginia has a disproportionately high number due to parental death, incapacity, or addiction.

Greg Sargent has written similar pieces in The Washington Post covering poor states generally and West Virginia in particular that would be hurt most by the cuts to BBB demanded by Manchin and his legislative collaborator Kyrsten Sinema.

The great irony in this is that the poorest states, mostly in the South and parts of the Midwest, that would benefit most from BBB vote solidly for Republicans who are fighting to obstruct all of Biden’s agenda. It is the best example of people voting against their self-interests we have seen in a while. Sadly, most voters in these states only know the purported cost of the BBB package and that it is being denounced by Republicans as a socialist takeover.

Sadly, Arkansas is among the states that will continue to support Republicans, and in so doing, thwart our economic and social interests. Coupled with low rates of covid-19 vaccination, a belief that Donald Trump really won the last election, and legislative actions supporting Republican attacks on democracy, the state does not offer a happy picture.

ROGER WEBB Little Rock