The LuLac Edition #4,391, September 2nd, 2020

WRITE ON WEDNESDAY 

Our “Write On Wednesday” logo.

This week we look to a good friend for her take on the Presidential campaign. Her points are valid, thoughtful and quote worthy. 

From Luzerne County Chairperson Kathy Bozinski and The Times Leader.

DON’T FALL FOR TRUMP’S BROKEN PROMISES

I did not support Donald Trump in 2016, but I know many of my friends and neighbors did.
Luzerne County and our entire region have been through a lot over the years. We’ve seen factories close, the mining industry collapse, and scandal plague our judicial system.
So when Donald Trump came to Pennsylvania during his first campaign and promised that he would bring back manufacturing, strengthen the middle class and take on a corrupt establishment, it’s no surprise that a lot of people here listened.
But since he has become president, he has broken those promises at every turn. And it’s a shame that Mike Pence will repeat the same broken promises in Luzerne County today.
Here’s the reality.
Trump and Pence didn’t cause COVID-19, but their terrible management of the crisis has wreaked havoc on the Pennsylvania economy. Earlier this year, unemployment in the commonwealth reached its highest point in more than 40 years. Every week, as many as 51,000 Pennsylvanians have lost their jobs. And Trump has given up on finding a solution — he spends more time tweeting and playing politics with the crisis than actually trying to solve it. It never had to be this bad, but because of the failures of the Trump-Pence Administration, it is.
Trump’s economic policies, however, were failing Luzerne County families long before COVID-19 hit. He ran as a different kind of politician, but he and Pence have governed like typical Washington Republicans who side with big corporations and special interests instead of workers and unions.
For one, there were fewer manufacturing jobs in Pennsylvania under President Trump’s pre-coronavirus economy than there were during the Obama-Biden administration. This wasn’t helped by the fact that Trump’s tax bill encouraged outsourcing across our state rather than new good-paying jobs for Pennsylvanians. In fact, Trump’s tax giveaway has only made it harder for working families to succeed: most of Pennsylvania’s share of Trump’s tax cut went to the top 5% of earners in our commonwealth. Ultimately, 1.8 million Pennsylvanians will see their taxes go up due to Trump’s policies, not down.
Trump is no friend of union jobs, either. He tried to cut programs that assist workers who lose their jobs to outsourcing, slash funding for workforce training, erode collective bargaining rights, and end federal assistance that would boost manufacturing in communities like ours. His trade war has been a disaster for workers and farmers, and time after time has sided with corporate interests against working people, unions, and the families of Luzerne County. For all these reasons, we know it will be a tremendous challenge for the next president to bring our economy back — but we must also recognize that it is a tremendous opportunity to build it back better. Joe Biden gets that — and he’s far and away the best choice to lead the charge.
Joe Biden understands that Luzerne County workers are part of the greatest economic engine in the world. He has a plan to create an economy better than before with the largest investment in economic growth and infrastructure since World War II. And he’s going to make sure that your family and Pennsylvania’s workforce benefit from that growth, not just the lobbyists and Wall Street CEOs.
Biden will invest $400 billion to ensure that we buy American products made by American workers. He will quadruple the government’s partnership with America’s small and medium-sized manufacturers. And he’ll work to pass a manufacturing tax credit to help revitalize and modernize manufacturing facilities in regions like Luzerne County. Biden will bring back high-quality, high-skilled union jobs that will strengthen the middle class in our community.
We all know Mike Pence is going to try to mislead our friends and neighbors across Luzerne County today, as the Trump-Pence Administration has done for four years. But we won’t fall for it. The Trump-Pence record is clear — they have always looked out for themselves
and their wealthy, well-connected friends, and never cared about workers or families in Luzerne County. They are the corrupt establishment.
But Joe Biden knows us, and he’s built an economic plan that will work for us and our communities. No matter who you supported in 2016, it’s time to support Joe Biden so we can rebuild our economy with Luzerne workers and families cut in on the deal.
Kathy Bozinski is the Luzerne County PA Democratic Chair.