Johnson City Press: Letters: Why not expand Medicaid?

Letters: Why not expand Medicaid?

Johnson City Press • Jun 21, 2019 at 6:00 AM

Want to have your voice heard? Send a Letter to the Forum. Authors must sign their letters and include addresses and phone numbers for verification. Letters may be no longer than 300 words and will be edited for grammar, style and length. Send your submission to Mailbag, P.O. Box 1717, Johnson City, TN 37605-1717 or [email protected].

Why not expand Medicaid?

State Rep. Micah Van Huss threw out the word “socialism” as a scare tactic.

The state of Tennessee is behind in Medicaid for our uninsured population, especially women. I believe he must have wonderful insurance for his family! But he and other Tennessee Republican legislators keep our state without Medicaid.

Why? And why do men want to keep reproductive rights away from women? Outlawing abortions will not stop abortions. Politicians should not decide what a woman can do with her body. Reminds me of the old saying "keeping them barefoot and pregnant."


A deficit of understanding

I would like to comment on some of the statements Mr. Smith made in his column (June 18). First, he stated the U.S. budget deficit is now almost $740 billion. He left out that this is just for this current year's budget to date. Our deficit exceeds $12 trillion! Next, he states that deficits that arise from tax cuts aren't as bad as those that come from spending increases. That is not necessarily true. A spending increase in the time of an economic crash or in time of war is not bad and in either case could save our country from a total disaster. The one thing I do agree with Mr. Smith is his comment that the main objection to budget deficits is that they place a burden on future generations. It is immoral, selfish, and against all common sense to leave our children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren with any of our debt so that we, the middle class, can receive a small increase in our paychecks and the wealthy and corporations can receive large tax cuts. The only reason to ever run a deficit is in a true national emergency.

Mr. Smith goes on to say that when government spending increases, it typically shrinks the private economy. He does not discuss our current situation where our government has both decreased taxes and greatly increased spending. He contends that the full effects of tax cuts on growth aren't felt for a decade. So much can and will happen in a decade that we would be very foolish to count on that happening. Again, I do agree that modest deficits can be financed indefinitely. A $12 trillion and growing deficit is nowhere near modest!

Johnson City

Examine motivations for Sevier project

First of all, congratulations to the commission for not agreeing to the idea of increasing the debt burden of the county for the Sevier Center. The Press noted that most of the nay votes came from the west end of the county. Maybe these folks are tired of paying for things that are of no benefit to them.

It has been noted that Washington County will soon be one of the most debt-burdened counties in the state. This affects interest rates on bonds if funds are needed for real-world things like schools and so forth. Take note that the big holdup for a new Jonesborough school is financing which would require either borrowing and or raising property taxes again. Any money raised either way the county is required to give half to Johnson City. Johnson City lies in the county, not the county lays in the city.

So-called civic leaders got their new Boones Creek school with a hefty tax increase. I thought that increase was supposed to provide funds for the Jonesborough project.

Has any developer expressed interest in buying the John Sevier or is that one of those big dark secrets that cannot be shared with the taxpaying public in most of these issues when spending our tax money?

It is a hotel/apartment building in design. Just how many bars, boutiques, eateries and so forth can downtown support? What developer would spend the money required to reimburse the county for the cost of building new residences for the current occupants, renovations needed now to satisfy HUD and funds required to make it a commercial-type building?

Admit it people, you just want the current occupants out of downtown.


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