In letters to the editor: Potholes, pay raises, politics ... and more on debit cards

Support your local tire shop

We are fortunate to have a number of excellent tire and wheel alignment shops in the San Luis Obispo area. Let’s help support them by driving, whenever possible, on Sacramento Drive and Tank Farm Road in San Luis Obispo, and Highway 227 out of town.

I am sure that readers of The Tribune will know of other streets that would be equally good for these businesses.

Steve Weinstein, San Luis Obispo

Does Arnold deserve a pay raise?

A Jan. 21 editorial makes a good case for a Board of Supervisors salary increase.

But Debbie Arnold would be making $109,241 annually for doing what, exactly?

Granted, she’s still technically the supervisor for District 5. She strongly supported the redistricting map that moved District 5 boundaries away from the previous inland region to instead cover the coastal communities from Los Osos to Oceano.

However, she says she represents the old District 5, not the new one. The old District 5 is primarily encompassed by the new District 2. Voters in that area elected Bruce Gibson to be their supervisor.

With two supervisors now representing overlapping constituent areas, is Debbie Arnold really going to be working hard enough to earn that taxpayer-provided salary? And will the constituents she chooses to represent, if any, be hand-selected by her based on political or ideological affiliation?

If she is going to earn that raise, she should actually have to provide representation to the District 5 she voted for, or else have her salary appropriately adjusted commensurate with her self-imposed reduced workload.

A. Judd, Morro Bay

More sleepless nights

Regarding the Jan. 22 letter to the editor from Mark Shelton: I also stayed at French Hospital twice last year. I’m sorry for Mark, not being able to get some much-needed sleep. I thought I was finally going to be able to get some sleep and then all of a sudden lights and yelling as they wheeled a woman to the bed next to mine. After being up all night, I asked a nurse about the possibility of being moved, but no extra beds! They wonder why, after a week, I complained, and still nothing is being done. Just venting.

Doris Vidaurri, San Luis Obispo

Taxable ‘relief’

One detail that was left out of the news about the Middle Class Tax Relief checks last fall is the income is taxable, unlike the stimulus payments. I received my 1099 from the state last week. Great hat trick ... take credit for issuing these checks and then quietly issue 1099s that ultimately decrease that amount. It would have been much simpler to decrease the gas tax last summer, which would have more appropriately impacted those most affected instead of waiting to start issuing the refunds just before the election.

While the Franchise Tax Board’s website indicates it does not need to be claimed on the state return, it’s unclear about the IRS. At least Turbotax has not yet caught up with this hitch.

Cheryl Parks, Templeton

More on debit cards

Just a tip about those middle-class California debit cards with the pale bear. Since I was worried it might get compromised I consulted the bank, where I have an account; they told me to register the card and set up a pin. Be sure to remember how much they say is on the card when you register it. Then go to that bank’s ATM, use the pin you set up and withdraw all the money on the card. Use it as cash or deposit it into your account. It’s that easy. Though they didn’t tell me this, two days later I also called the same registration number to make sure the card had a zero balance before I destroyed it.

R.T. Donnell, Morro Bay

Keep your hands off Social Security!

Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy said the Republicans would not vote to raise the debt ceiling unless cuts were made to Social Security. He’s since backed away from that threat, but that’s a frequent refrain we hear from Republicans.

Cutting Social Security would not reduce the deficit one penny, but it would harm millions of older Americans.

I’m sure Speaker McCarthy knows benefits are paid out of the Social Security Trust Fund, which is financed by payroll taxes. This is separate from the regular federal budget. Using the federal debt to call for cuts to Social Security is nonsense and an insult to every American, whether working or retired.

The current two biggest causes of the growing deficit are 1) The huge tax cuts given to the super-rich and to corporations passed by previous Republican administrations and 2) The Pentagon budget, which is impossible to audit and which both Republicans and Democrats have increased beyond what the Pentagon requested.

Shame on Speaker McCarthy and Republicans who want to make Social Security the scapegoat for the federal deficit they have done so much to create.

Jesse Arnold, San Luis Obispo

Is this a democracy?

Did anybody ever wonder if this nation is really a representative democracy? Do we have one?

In my humble opinion: No, we don’t. What I think we have is really an oligarchy with dark shades of authoritarianism and religious bigotry permeating all aspects of both our judicial and legislative systems, both at the state and federal levels. The Supreme Court, thanks to well-funded right-wing organizations, has become the “Supine Court,” and there are very limited options for fixing it. The rule of law has been replaced by the rule of blind ideology and the rule of my religion — separation of church and state be damned.

Unless we find a way to remove unlimited money flowing into national elections, we will continue with the status quo. In my opinion, all national elections should be funded by the federal government equally, with automatic disqualification of candidates receiving stealth money. Can this be done? I really believe it can.

Fabrizio Griguoli, Shell Beach