Los Angeles Times - 23.08.2019

A1 2 FRIDAY, AUGUST 23, 2019 LATIMES.COM/OPINION

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A

n exploding federal budget
deficit can spell political trouble
for the White House and oppor-
tunity for the opposition party
as a presidential election ap-
proaches. But this week’s announcement
that the annual deficit is expected to sur-
pass $1 trillion for much of the coming dec-
ade may actually put more pressure on
Democratic challengers than on President
Trump.
It’s a sign of how much Trump’s presi-
dency has upended the traditional econo-
mic and political philosophies of the two
major parties. Now it falls to Democratic
candidates vying to oust Trump to explain
to voters how their policies would curb the
mounting deficit — or, in the alternative,
why the deficit doesn’t matter. And it’s not
enough to simply point their fingers at Re-
publicans and say, “Why should we care if
they don’t?”
The budget deficit is the gap between the
amount the government collects in taxes
and other sources of revenue and how much
it spends in any given fiscal year. That’s dif-
ferent from, although it adds to, the national
debt, which is the nation’s cumulative un-
paid balance and currently exceeds $22 tril-
lion. The last time the federal deficit ex-
ceeded $1 trillion was in 2012, when the econ-
omy was still shaking off the effects of the
last recession.
Deficits aren’t a bad thing if they’re rela-
tively small and don’t grow faster than the
U.S. economy, or if the spending is needed to
offset a downturn. But operating with the
current level of red ink will arguably make it
harder for Congress to respond when reces-
sion strikes again. Meanwhile, an ever-
larger share of the budget is being eaten up
by interest payments on the accumulated
debt, a problem that will become nightmar-
ish if interest rates shoot back up to the dou-
ble-digit levels of the late-1970s.
Republicans profess a commitment to
balancing the federal budget and driving
down the national debt. But their words
haven’t aligned with their deeds; every Re-
publican president since Ronald Reagan
has left office with a bigger federal deficit
than when he arrived. The only times the
GOP pressed hard for smaller deficits were
when Democrats were in the White House.
Trump scoffs at deficits — at least those

run up under his leadership. After his elec-

tion in 2016, his party was quick to jettison

even its posturing about fiscal conservatism

to embrace the president’s more populist

approach.

The GOP-controlled House and Senate

adopted Trump’s huge tax cuts in 2017, add-

ing at least $1.8 trillion in red ink over a dec-

ade, and in July Trump struck a budget deal

with Republican and Democratic lawmak-

ers that added $1.7 trillion more over the

same period. For Republicans, the justifica-

tion was a $45-billion increase in defense

spendingover two years; for Democrats, it

was an even larger increase for domestic

programs.

So will Democrats now be the fiscal

adults, as they tried (albeit reluctantly) to

be during the Obama presidency? If so, they

may be caught between two unpopular pol-

icy positions: reversing the GOP tax cuts or

cutting spending deeply. Or they could

adopt Trump’s cheerful carelessness about

deficits. In any of those cases, they may play

into the political hands of Republicans, who

have shown a willingness to tout their

(lapsed) fiscal conservatism when it suits

them.

The Democratic presidential candidates

are generally divided between a more prog-

ressive contingent, led by Sen. Bernie Sand-

ers of Vermont, that promotes popular but

costly programs such as free college tuition

and universal healthcare, and a more mod-

erate group led by former Vice President Joe

Biden. While they all want to boost taxes to

help pay for new spending, some, like Sen.

Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, argue

that the cost of these programs should be

discounted because of the economic ben-

efits they yield over time. That echoes the

(debunked) Republican argument that tax

cuts pay for themselves.

Voters need to hear more from all of the

candidates about their views on the bur-

geoning deficit. As Trump flirts with addi-

tional tax cuts, Democrats ought to con-

sider whether their GOP counterparts have

adopted the same devil-may-care attitude

toward the budget as they have toward cli-

mate change.

Both phenomena arguably pit present-

day comfort against future disaster. If

Democrats are to present themselves as the

grownups on climate change, acknowledg-

ing science, facts and the need for action,

they have to explain why they don’t feel the

same way about the budget.

And if they do believe that growing defi-

cits are harmful, they need to tell us why —

and how they plan to improve the federal

government’s fiscal health.

The $1-trillion conundrum

The huge federal budget deficit

challenges Democrats politically

and the nation economically.

P

erhaps the assault on state

Sen. Richard Pan (D-Sacramento)

on Wednesday by a professed anti-

vaccination advocate was inevi-

table.

In the four years that the pediatrician-

turned-politician has been working to raise

the state’s flagging vaccination rates, he’s

been the target of such fierce anger from

anti-vaccination advocates that their rheto-

ric at times crossed the line from harsh into

violent. Pan has received death threats and

been heckled and cursed in committee

meetings. He’s been compared to Adolf

Hitler and Nazi doctor Josef Mengele at pro-

tests and rallies, where his face has been

printed on T-shirts and signs covered with

splattered blood.

Opponents speak and tweet ominously

about “war” and having their weapons

ready to fight tyranny. They warn that Pan’s

bills — SB 277 in 2015 and SB 276 currently

pending before the state Legislature — will

kill kids.

It’s absurd considering that what Pan is

trying to do is keep childrenfrom contract-

ing measles and other deadly diseases by

stopping their misinformed parents from

finding ways around the state’s mandatory

public school vaccinations. Pan’s SB 277

ended exemptions from the mandate based

on personal or religious beliefs after a mea-

sles outbreak at Disneyland in 2015 exposed

a dangerous dip in the state’s rates of child-

hood vaccinations. And SB 276, which

comes up for a crucial vote next week, would

clamp down on exemptions granted for spu-

rious medical reasons, which have been ris-

ing since the loss of other exemptions. Both

of the bills are in the best interest of public

safety because vaccinations are unquestion-

ably safer than the diseases they protect

against.

We’re grateful that this was a relatively

mild incident. An agitated man by the name

of Austin Bennett confronted Pan on cam-

era as he walked down a Sacramento street

and then, frustrated by Pan’s dismissal of

his bizarre questions (“Would you drink alu-

minum?”), whacked the senator on the back

of the head as Pan walked away.

Still, it underscores how dangerous it is

for people on opposite sides of a debate to

demonize one another. Pan is not evil or in

the pocket of a crooked pharmaceutical

company, just a doctor who can’t believe the

willful ignorance of those who reject the sol-

id science of vaccinations.

Maybe the anti-vaxxers don’t really

mean to threaten Pan, but we’ve seen too

many times how such irresponsible lan-

guage can trigger a disordered mind. Ben-

nett, who broadcast the encounter live on

Facebook, prefaced it with a long, mostly in-

coherent soliloquy that touched on mind

control, the CIA, Lucifer and the coming

“end of days” that gave a disturbing picture

of his mental state. Even if it was just a

forceful shove from a seeming eccentric this

time, what will it be next time?

The handful of organizations that have

been lobbying against this bill immediately

disavowed Bennett, saying he’s not one of

them. Their statements painted Bennett as

a “lone wolf,” possibly planted by the phar-

maceutical industry hoping to make the

anti-vaccination side look bad. As if it

needed any help. Anti-vaxxers do the job

quite well themselves by rejecting the over-

whelming evidence that vaccines are safe for

almost everyone in favor of crackpot theo-

ries about an evil government colluding with

avaricious pharmaceutical companies to

hurt Americans — for reasons never quite

made clear.

That’s baloney. The truth is that the anti-

vaccination crowd, including such promi-

nent names as Robert F. Kennedy Jr., has

been casually deploying violent language

and imagery for years in its attacks on Pan.

It’s disingenuous for these activists to spend

years harassing Pan, painting him as an evil

doctor who wants to hurt children, and then

profess disbelief that someone acted on the

messages. You can’t traffic in this type of

loaded language and then claim you didn’t

mean for anyone to get hurt. They need to

own their role in this assault and tone down

their opposition to SB 276 in the final weeks

the bill is debated.

Anti-vaxxers’ violent rhetoric

For a long time young

people have shown little

interest in learning how to

fly. At 71, I find myself being

a pretty typical pilot as I

land at general aviation

airports all over the coun-

try. Reading about these

millennials and their en-

thusiasm for flying was

heartwarming.

I was not young when I

became a pilot. I was 40

when, in 1988, I noticed a

sign at Van Nuys Airport

advertising flying lessons

for $25. I drove up to the

flight school and paid my

money, and an instructor

young enough to have been

my son took me out to a

single-engine plane and

put me in the left seat. The

kid might as well have been

a heroin dealer, for as soon

as we accelerated down the

runway and lifted off, I was

hooked for life.

I still get a thrill when I

am lined up on Runway 8 at

Burbank and the tower

tells me I am cleared for

takeoff. The throttles go

forward, the engines spin

up to full power, I roll down

the runway and I lift off

into the sky. There is sim-

ply no better thrill on

Earth.

Doug Jones

Los Angeles

::

This article fails to point

out the considerable car-

bon footprint associated

with operating a personal

aircraft as a hobby, com-

muter vehicle or a means of

reconfirming one’s own

self-worth.

Any environmental

benefits that may have

been gained during the one

pilot’s Tesla ride to the

airport were wiped out

many times over before the

plane’s tires were even off

the tarmac.

Ben Burkhalter

Manhattan Beach

::

Upon reading this arti-

cle, I recalled a line in the

1997 movie “The Edge” by

Anthony Hopkins’ wealthy

mogul character: “Never

feel sorry for a man who

owns a plane.”

His advice still applies.

Tracy Culp

Valencia

The price of

ditching plastic

Re “What if all restaurants

ditched plastic?” Opinion,

Aug. 19

My wife and I spent 14

blissful years in the Tal-

madge neighborhood of

San Diego, just east of the

upscale Kensington neigh-

borhood where Ponce’s

Mexican Restaurant is

located. One of the pleas-

ures was falling into a

weekly routine of ordering

the “Ponce’s Special” dish.

Talmadge was a solidly

middle-class area, whereas

Kensington was decidedly

more affluent. That hasn’t

changed much.

Op-ed article writer

Mikey Knab expresses

disappointment that his

fellow restaurateurs have

not significantly reduced

their use of single-use

plastic eating tools like

Ponce’s. The demographic

of his clientele is decidedly

upscale compared to the

clientele of the nearby

eateries that serve the

working-class laborers who

want to eat a cheap, tasty

lunch and then head back

to work.

Of course Knab’s cus-

tomers do not complain

about higher prices; they

can afford it, and they get

that warm “I get to help the

environment” feeling. And,

don’t forget, recycled card-

board takeaway containers

must go to the landfill due

to food residues.

David Pohlod

Oak Park

::

I was heartened to read

that Knab has taken steps

to reduce his restaurant’s

environmental footprint by

eliminating plastic packag-

ing and tableware. He did

this because it was “the

right thing to do,” even

though it cost a little more

and put his small business

at a competitive disadvan-

tage against others.

It is heartening too that

his customers, with whom

he has actual personal

relationships, continue to

patronize his restaurant

rather than a lower-cost

option.

This is the way that

capitalism and the market-

place were supposed to

work before large, profit-

driven corporations took

over the playing field.

Absent widespread re-

sponsible business behav-

ior such as this, bills like

AB 1080 and SB 54, which

would require the use of

recyclable or compostable

packaging, are absolutely

necessary.

Roger Gloss

Rancho Santa

Margarita

::

I have an idea: Why

don’t we all carry with us a

reusable “doggie bag”

when we eat out? This way,

we can wash it at home and

reuse it, just like we are

doing now with shopping

bags.

Teresa Arieta

Mission Viejo

The Holocaust

is incomparable

Re “The WWII refugees

who became my ‘Oswego

family,’ ” Opinion, Aug. 16

I’m not a fan of Presi-

dent Trump or the current

Republican Party, but to

compare this adminis-

tration’s efforts to control

immigration to the failure

of President Franklin D.

Roosevelt to come to the

aid of Jews seeking to flee

Europe before World War II

is to take a trip down the

imaginary yellow brick

road.

Never does op-ed article

writer David Michael men-

tion in his piece on the

nearly 1,000 Jewish ref-

ugees of Oswego, N.Y., that

6 million Jews were slaugh-

tered while FDR, the State

Department, the military

and much of the American

press knew about the

Holocaust and yet turned

their backs on it.

How dare he compare

the current situation of

Central American refugees

coming into this country,

many of them illegally, to

the Holocaust. I’m glad he

had a warm and toasty

relationship with many of

these refugees, but the fact

remains that America, the

land of immigrants from its

beginning, turned its anti-

Semitic back to the horror

of mass killings during

World War II.

Some 80 years later,

nothing has come close to

that incredible crime

against humanity. Nothing.

David Novis

Santa Barbara

Grading schools:

It’s complicated

Re “A bad plan for grading

schools,” editorial, Aug. 18

I was pleased to read

your editorial saying that

the success of a school

depends on many vari-

ables.

It is well known that

high test scores can indi-

cate a very privileged stu-

dent population while low

scores can suggest poverty.

A school with low test

scores can be a very good

school in the sense that

children progress dramati-

cally but not enough to be

measured on a stand-

ardized test geared toward

students whose first lan-

guage is English. Not being

evaluated fairly can be very

disheartening for these

schools’ students and

teachers.

There are ways that

schools can be properly

“graded.” One way is to

keep a portfolio of stu-

dents’ writing throughout

the year. These samples

will reveal much about a

student’s growth in lan-

guage expression, vocabu-

lary, spelling, mechanics,

thinking skills and content.

Another way is to have

state inspectors visit class-

rooms unannounced at

different times during the

year. Seasoned profession-

als can usually spot quality.

A lot is known about the

proper way to evaluate a

school, but it can’t be done

with a group test.

Linda Mele Johnson

Long Beach

::

Trying to devise a rating

scale for public schools in a

city as diverse as Los Ange-

les is an exercise in futility

because in the final analy-

sis, parents will ultimately

rely on word of mouth in

deciding which school is

best for their children.

That’s how it’s always been

and will always be.

No school report card

can ever communicate to

parents what their judg-

ment alone can decide.

Walt Gardner

Los Angeles

Empathy-poor

Re “New Deal redux,”

letters, Aug. 21

I am surprised by the

sudden lack of empathy by

one letter writer to the

failure of some of the home-

less individuals to success-

fully adapt to the city’s

attempts to get them off

the streets and into subsi-

dized apartments.

What the writer doesn’t

appreciate is how difficult

it is for normal people, not

just for those with prob-

lems associated with

homelessness, to deal with

bureaucracy.

A certain degree of

recidivism is to be ex-

pected albeit not a hoped

for as an outcome.

Keith Herried

Los Angeles

A flying nuisance

Re “A sky-high path to self-improvement,” Aug. 21

How nice that Silicon Beach tech entrepreneur

Jessica Mah flies out of Santa Monica Airport as a

“hobby” because she’s “so stressed out,” and piloting

forces her to focus on “how not to kill myself.”

Meanwhile, residents nearby, for whom quiet

enjoyment as their hobby is denied, inherit Mah’s stress

as they pray she doesn’t kill them too.

Santa Monica Airport, an outmoded remnant of an

industrial past (Douglas Aircraft was headquartered

there until the 1950s), is an aircraft carrier afloat in a sea

of homes. The city has already shortened the runway to

reduce jet abuse, and full closure in 2029 to create a great

park cannot come soon enough.

Kevin McKeown

Santa Monica

The writer is a member of the Santa Monica City

Council.

Nick AgroFor The Times

JESSICA MAH readies herself for a flight to San

Francisco in a plane at Santa Monica Airport.

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F OUNDED DECEMBER 4, 1881 Sue Horton OP-ED ANDSUNDAYOPINIONEDITOR