Letters to the editor

Taxpayers’ burden

Some of our most notable liberal incumbents, Elizabeth Warren, Ayanna Pressley and Maura Healey are actively pursuing a plan by which monies owed to colleges and universities by students (who benefited from their experiences at these institutions) would be paid by the federal government.  This means by American taxpayers.

Whatever happened to personal responsibility?

If I want something (a house, college tuition, a car, etc.) and don’t have the necessary funds on hand, I apply for, and hopefully receive, a loan. At that time I know (or certainly should know) what its going to cost. I should be confident in my own ability (with family help, of course) to pay off that loan, even if it means some period of indebtedness. And, I should have the integrity to postpone that loan application until such time as other taxpayers (unknown to me) are not required to pay my bills!

Isn’t this what personal responsibility means?

— Paul E. Landry, Natick

Canceling debt

There’s nothing equitable, as Rep. Ayanna Pressley claims, about eliminating the legal debt obligation of an individual student loan borrower when non-borrowers are stuck with the tab. There’s no justice for borrowers who did the right thing and took their college loan debt seriously and worked and saved to pay it off.

What lesson are you teaching young people about personal responsibility? Do you seriously want to encourage them to borrow thousands of dollars, wipe it clean, and then send them out into the world with a credit card? What happens when their personal debt becomes unmanageable? Tell them, no problem we’ll just wipe it clean again and start over? That’s a costly lesson for a generation of young Americans to learn.

Debt should be taken seriously. Our total federal debt outstanding exceeds $27 trillion. We’re running up a tab of $30 billion a month in interest, which we’re technically paying only by borrowing more money from the buyers of our debt. The responsibility for paying off this debt will ultimately fall on this younger generation. Their lives will be most affected by it. Sen. Warren, Rep. Pressley and Attorney General Healey are clearly trolling for votes with their proposal to cancel student loan debt, but they’re only putting more future fiscal strain on those they’re claiming to help with this ridiculous idea.

— Sean F. Flaherty, Charlestown

Hydroelectric power

Rarely is the hypocrisy of the left more vividly showcased than with its current opposition to Massachusetts obtaining hydroelectric power from Canada. (“Sides Clash over 1B Hydro Project,” 3/31) While all forms of energy carry an ecological price to pay, hydro power is one of the greenest options. It would provide Massachusetts residents with reliable, low-cost energy, with a zero carbon footprint; however, the ecozealots are outraged over the cutting of a 53-mile long swath through the western Maine forests, to bring the power here. They say it would “forever damage” this land.  Really? Then why is it just fine with them to cover pristine mountain ridges in western Maine with wind turbines that additionally maim and slaughter hundreds of thousands of birds annually, nationwide?  And why is it OK to cover endless of acres of similar land with solar panels, which forever block the growth of vegetation beneath them?  Gee, could their rabid opposition to this hydro project have been stoked by Donald Trump’s support of it??

— Keevin Geller, Sharon

from Boston Herald https://ift.tt/2PxTFj2