See TEXT, page A3

Democrats want Trump to boost taxes on the rich to cure the issues with Social Security. When did that shortfall become the responsibility of those classified as the uber rich? This problem has been known since the late ‘70s yet was always considered the third rail of politics and anyone who had a plan to change things was met with derision and resistance. But why does this become Trump or the rich people’s problem? We the people are responsible; we have elected politicians who have misused, mismanaged and brought the program to the brink of failure. We the people should demand Congress and the Senate cut funding to pet projects and demand an end to wasteful spending to cover the pending shortfalls. In 2023, the federal government reported an estimated $236 billion in “improper payments.” They also spent $659 billion in interest on the national debt. The cure is not to tax people more, the cure is to reduce the size and scope of the federal government. Ferret out those that have used their office to amass millions such as Nancy Pelosi, who through knowledge of pending legislation was able to make investments even the experts could not match: can you say insider trading? Hers is not an isolated case yet one of the most visible. There will always be fraud when large sums of money are being spent, inter-

From page A2

nal control needs demanded by the public and violations be prosecuted. [ Editor’s Note: Well, we’ve been trying the whole “ tax cuts for the rich/ trickle- down economics for a while now with no real evidence that the “ trickling down” is trickling down to the poorest Americans. maybe we try something else for a while and see how that goes?]