Give Joe Biden credit for fixing U.S. inflation | Letters to the Editor

Give Joe Biden credit for fixing inflation

Over the past three months inflation has run at only 2.4%, yet 74% of voters say that inflation is getting worse.

Most Republican primary voters say that inflation is going up.

The last time we experienced a substantial drop in inflation was during the Reagan years. Overall prices continued to rise then, however inflation stabilized at around 4%, much higher than 2.4% we have now. Yet as this 1984 poll suggests voters nonetheless gave Reagan credit for reducing inflation.

Where is Biden's credit?

Voters assess inflation by comparing current prices with what they "remember" paying in the distant past.

Current polling says that Americans give Donald Trump an edge over Joe Biden in handling the economy, which is unfair since workers wages remained flat for four years under Trump and corporations benefited handsomely by the trillions.

This Republican effort to take from the workers and give to the rich remains MAGA policy while Biden builds an economy from the middle out.

Under his administration, the U.S. has created about 13.6 million jobs. That is more than double the combined total of Trump's first three years.

Why wouldn't Americans want to continue this progress?

Richard French

Pasadena, Calif.

Love letters to the editor? Read more: It will take a Wolverine to get Spartans on the right path

UAW, Detroit 3 automakers must compromise

The latest developments in the UAW strike and the tactics employed by the auto companies got me thinking of conflict resolution strategies that I learned in elementary school. As children, we were taught to try to compromise in order to get to a “win-win” solution, which is when both sides end up happy.

General Motors is now trying to strong-arm the union by laying off most of the 2,000 workers at its Fairfax Plant in Kansas City. They say that the layoffs are a result of the UAW’s strike at their Wentzville Plant. A GM spokesperson was quoted in the Free Press, stating, “We have said repeatedly that nobody wins with a strike.” ("GM idles some Cadillac, Chevy production, lays off nearly 2,000 as it blames UAW strike," Detroit Free Press, Sept. 20.)

Pushing the narrative that no one wins with a strike is a company ploy to try to sway public opinion. They are saying that a strike is a lose-lose proposition, when, in reality, a strike is the only possible way to a win-win solution. This strike will hopefully enable the workers to get close to what they deserve and the auto companies will still make billions of dollars of profit. See, it’s elementary: win-win.

Alton Fisher

Redford

UAW deserves fair shake from Detroit 3 to end strike

UAW members who are in negotiations with the auto companies deserve a great contract with substantial pay raises and benefits that their families need and deserve. When the auto companies in Detroit were on the brink of bankruptcy, it was the UAW members who gave up some of their rich benefits to save the companies. Today the Detroit Three are thriving, and the membership just wants to get back some of the items they gave to keep them in business.

I had the honor of being a UAW member for 44 years before I retired in 2022. I also had the opportunity to tour the factories where some of these world class products are made. The members work nonstop on the assembly line and take pride in building the best products in the world right here in the U.S. with union labor. They go to work everyday in hot weather, cold weather and at times work 12-16 hours a day sometimes 7 days a week. It doesn’t matter if they build the vehicles, produce the products for the vehicles or supply the parts to dealers and customers for service, they all deserve a great contract because it is the UAW members in this industry who sacrificed much so the Detroit Three survived.

Terry Dittes

The writer is a retiree from UAW Local 2177 and a former international vice president of the UAW's GM department

What do you think about the UAW strike? Submit a letter to the editor at freep.com/letters.

With strike, UAW is leading U.S. into economic crisis

Shawn Fain, rather new to his position as leader of the UAW, is trying to show his crowd how tough he is.What he’s doing is leading our nation into an economic crisis.

We are just climbing out of an inflationary period. The cost of living is still too high. Food, cars, housing, incidentals. All too high. People are being squeezed.

A strike of any duration or extent is sure to raise prices. With that scenario, you can put the blame on the UAW; on Fain and his leaders, in particular.

The UAW wants a 40% salary hike and a four-day work week. Couple those together and what does it amount too? Probably a 60% salary hike. If the work week is cut short, production is short. That means fewer cars to sell and the manufacturers make less. How can the manufacturers pay more while making less? The companies will fold. Then the strikers will have no job and zero salary.

The problem is, Fain has already raised labor’s hopes with the high-flying proposals. If he backs down now, he’s going to be faced by irate workers.

Labor always asks for more than it expects to get. Fain doesn’t seem to think he has to settle for less.

Well, he and his union might find themselves with no jobs if he persists.

Marshall Crossman

Grand Blanc

MSU Spartan fires back on Mel Tucker crisis: We'll fix our own problems, thank you

I am compelled to respond to a letter recently printed in this paper suggesting that a Michigan man is needed to fix things at Michigan State University. ("It will take a Wolverine to get Spartans on the right path," Detroit Free Press, Sept. 17.) First, as a Spartan supporter, I am embarrassed by the Mel Tucker situation. Tucker is entitled to due process, but the University believes that Tucker’s admitted actions constitute a breach of contract, allowing his termination. We will see how that plays out.

As to UM, they have their own problems. Just last year Michigan agreed to a 490 million settlement with over 1,000 students who alleged that Dr. Robert Anderson, a long time team doctor, sexually assaulted them. I point this out not simply as a turn at whataboutism, but as a push back to what many see as the holier than thou, A-square attitude represented in that letter. Michigan’s hands are not clean.

Should the Free Press print this letter it will prove that the paper believes in balanced reporting, and is not just willing to allow a Michigan supporter to kick a rival school when it’s down. People who live in glass houses should not throw stones. Or put another way, let him without sin cast the first stone.

Earnest L Robinson Jr., Esq.

Southfield

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This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Give Joe Biden credit for fixing U.S. inflation