LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
D.J. Trump is a lot like P.T. Barnum, and that’s actually a good thing
While working out at my local fitness center, I watched a beautiful movie about Phinius Taylor Barnum.
Yes, P.T. Barnum, the promoter extraordinaire who set the world on its ear by challenging the establishment with garish, thoroughly enjoyable entertainment.
He is President Donald Trump’s corollary.
Trump is also an extraordinary promoter of the art of politics.
He flies in the face of the establishment, mocks and humiliates the status quo.
They both shared the rare quality of courage, impulsively applied to a world which needed the shakeup.
Trump and Barnum are cut from the same cloth. Their relevance in our time will be noted long after their actions are history.
Dan Wilkinson, Gilbert
Financial literacy needs to teach young people about the tax man
State Treasurer Kimberly Yee’s efforts to teach financial literacy to highschool grads are welcome but must go much deeper.
Our schools are turning out students that are shocked to find their hourly wages or salaries are quite different from their take-home pay.
They seem numb to the taxes on everything they buy — probably due to the fact that they don’t use cash. They instead use credit or debit cards or other digital methods.
But the biggest shocker is that they have no real concept of the differences between free-market capitalism, socialism and communism. If we are to have truly fair elections, it’s imperative that young adults understand the implications of political promises.
What the government gives, it must first take away.
Jim Barber, Mesa
Where are you, Jarrett Maupin? This is right in your wheelhouse.
A DPS trooper is fired and jailed after being charged with kidnapping and assault of women drivers he had pulled over for traffic violations.
Just the kind of law enforcement case that would have civil rights activist Jarrett Maupin searching for TV cameras and vowing to lead a protest and close streets until justice is served.
However, he is nowhere to be seen.
Could it be because the offending officer is black?
Trump gets hammered for trying to fix our trade imbalances
When NAFTA was negotiated under the Clinton administration, we had more losers than winners, and the press was quiet.
There will always be winners and losers in trade negotiations.
During NAFTA and the other trades negotiations we gave away our manufacturing and won little in return.
It takes several years for loss of manufacturing to show in statistics.
By then the subsequent presidents take the blame.
When Trump negotiates with them they are mad.
They don’t like to see the golden goose go away.
Trump is balancing out our trade policy, and for that he is being chastized instead of praised.
Henry Richards, Scottsdale
A rule that will put a stop to candidates dodging the question
New debate format:
If the candidate does not directly answer the question that was asked, he or she will not be called on to speak for 15 minutes.
Paul Witt, Scottsdale