Bill Bunker’s March 31 letter made a couple of points that I would like to respond to.
First, he calls out some of the networks for dropping live coverage of Donald Trump’s “briefings” because, as Bunker states, “Trump’s ratings are going up.” Not true. The networks are dropping live coverage because Trump’s lies and misinformation are doing real harm.
For example, his statements touting chloroquine as a “miracle drug” led one couple to take fish tank cleaner that had chloroquine in it. She was hospitalized, he died. His statements minimizing the dangers of COVID-19 are delaying millions of people from taking the pandemic seriously.
Bunker’s other point is related to the unrelated “pork” that was included in the stimulus bill. Items such as money for PBS ($75 million) and the Smithsonian ($7.5 million) were included at the request of Democrats. These are worthwhile institutions, but I agree with Bunker that they don’t belong in the bill.
But I find it odd that Bunker didn’t call out one of the biggest giveaways in the bill. Senate Republicans dropped the $500,000 limit of depreciation of real estate that could be used to offset regular and investment income. This giveaway to the super-wealthy is retroactive for the past two years and is estimated that it will cost taxpayers $1.7 billion over the next 10 years. The $75 million for PBS is chump change compared with this.
So is Bunker concerned with wasteful spending or is he just looking to make partisan points by cherry-picking his data?
ERIC WEINER
Concord