No single cause for fuel prices
Sen. Ron Johnson seems to have slept through Economics 101: Supply and Demand.
In blaming gas prices on the current administration, he shows himself to be willfully ignorant at best or willfully spreading false information for political gain at worst. The facts are the facts, clearly documented to explain the crisis. No single company or individual is responsible, including the president.
What then brought us to this point? A series of worldwide crises and corporate energy companies raking in mass profits. The pandemic slowed production of oil, refineries went offline, shipping was disrupted, and world peace teeters on the brink of disaster.
Within the USA, corporate greed holds the No. 1 spot for American misery. The top 25 oil companies don’t share your pump pain. They are profiting from it, raking in cash for CEOs and shareholders (in 2022, the top five profited $35 billion in the first quarter). The Center for American Progress reported that Shell Oil, for example, made $9.1 billion, a 180% increase from a year ago. Profit over American pain. Our government subsidizes them, in addition to the tax loopholes they enjoy through lobbyists lining our representatives’ pockets.
The Biden administration has been calling for Congress to act on existing bills to stop the price gouging. These bills languish in the offices of senators like Johnson. He doesn’t care. He has become a millionaire playing Monopoly with our lives and our money. How do we disrupt his game? We vote.
Johnson now acts clueless about Jan. 6, denying his active role to replace Wisconsin’s electors in an attempt to overthrow Biden’s presidency. Most would call this sedition.
His know-nothing posturing can’t hold up to mounting electronic evidence now made public. If not totally broken, Johnson’ s moral compass is tilted and twisted. Wisconsin deserves better.
MARY MEISER
Denver (formerly of Eau Claire)
McGrath warrants our support
When we heard that Rep. Ron Kind was retiring from Congress, we were concerned that western Wisconsin would lose its stable, intelligent voice in Washington.
Then in April, we met Deb Baldus McGrath. We looked up her history and found someone who had served our country for 25 years in the U.S. Army, the State Department and the CIA.
In these critical times, we need leadership and McGrath is a leader. When a captain in the Army, she was commended for her leadership. When she was with the State Department and serving in the CIA, she was praised for her leadership. It’s not often you find this level of talent, commitment and experience in one package.
Please join us in voting for McGrath for Congress in Aug. 9.
MARION STUART and BUZ HOEFER
Town of Irving
Media should keep facts straight
On July 13, a journalist named Lisa Desjardins said the Florida state government had recently decided to “limit what teachers can actually say in classrooms about race and about our history of race.”
Oh really?
Can Desjardins give us any examples of teachers being forbidden to tell the truth? Of course not, because there are none. All the Florida state government has done is forbidden public school teachers from telling idiotic lies, such as the notion that all white Americans are oppressors.
PBS keeps sending me letters, asking for donations. Why should I donate to journalists who can’t keep their facts straight?
DOUGLAS SCZYGELSKI
Eau Claire
