Posted Wed, Nov 9, 2:41 p.m.

I think that in his whiney piece, Mr.Valdez simply doesn't understand the range of reasons why Seattle voters rejected proposition 1. For many, such as myself, I'm tired of the increasing load of regressive fees and taxes that shifts more and more financial burden on less affluent people. We need ...

Posted Fri, Nov 4, 10:21 p.m.

The underlying fallacy in Mr. Brewsters scare piece is to lead readers to think that we in Washington are poor when in fact there is huge amounts of wealth in the state of Washington. With it regressive tax policies, Washington has become a tax shelter for the rich. If the ...

Posted Tue, Aug 16, 9:11 p.m.

I would have voted for $40, but doubt I'll vote for $60 and definitely would not vote for $80. My objections are as follows: 1) This is simply another regressive tax that falls most heavily on lower income people and I don't want to support the continued downward shift of ...

Posted Thu, Aug 4, 9:41 a.m.

I think Mr. Summers comments are the most lucid and accurate that I've recently read regarding the debt limit debacle and our long term economic malaise. It's absolutely clear to me that what we need is a vigorous government/corporate partnership to restructure a U.S. economy that has been drastically affected ...

Posted Fri, Jul 29, 8:52 p.m.

I think Mr. Royer raises a very valid point--the bottomline of the current debt debate is what kind of country we want to be. This question is as old as our republic and has never been and never will be finally answered. Every decade and every generation answers it for ...

Posted Tue, Apr 19, 9:08 a.m.

John's article reminds me of the day in November, 2000, when on a Friday afternoon I was told I was being laid-off. This was after 26 years of employment at a highly regarded Seattle recreational firm. I was 62 years old. My boss told me he could find other people ...

Posted Mon, Apr 4, 7:55 p.m.

Mr. Trahant is to be congratulated for pointing out the devastating impact of the radical right's proposed budget cuts on middle and lower income people. It's clear that not only is it a heartless form of politics, but that it also serves the interests of the radical right's masters, the ...

Posted Tue, Mar 1, 8:03 p.m.

What I see missing from the comments and discussion is the difference in how we value financial and human capital in the United States. We believe it is quite o.k. for owners of financial capital to swing their political muscle and wrest all kinds of concessions from government, often at ...

Posted Wed, Feb 2, 8:38 a.m.

I totally agree with Mr. Nelson's point of view. All state programs that have a revenue impact need to be subjected to critical scrutiny to determine if they are of sufficient priority to be continued. The burden of the current financial difficulties cannot in all fairness be placed just on ...

Posted Thu, Aug 19, 7:54 a.m.

Its really nice to read a level-headed piece about President Obama instead of the usual distortions from both the right and left. When he was a candidate, I predicted that a lot of people were over-expecting of him and were going to be disappointed because they were believing their own ...

Posted Thu, Jun 3, 7:20 p.m.

More and more I see attacks on public employees. To me this is just another example of the war the affluent have been waging on the middle class. Yes, we have class warfare in the U.S.--the rich against everyone else. The propagandists for Reaganomics have won the propaganda war--low taxes ...

Posted Wed, Apr 7, 10:30 p.m.

I think the obsession with light rail is going to lead to another financial boondoggle that we cannot afford and which will not solve our transit needs. Its doesn't make sense to spend billions of dollars on an inflexible light rail system when bus rapid transit can be done at ...

Posted Fri, Mar 5, 9:14 a.m.

I have this new nightmare, of being trapped in Seattle. All the ways out are gone--bridges demolished, the ferry system bankrupt. The wonderful, glorious mountains barely visible between the high rise, dense urban towers. This is not the Seattle I came to in 1973 or the one I want to ...

Posted Fri, Feb 19, 9 a.m.

Comparing government to business is a false comparison. Sure businesses cut staffing costs during a rececession. They do it because the demand for their products and services goes away. The same is not true of government services when the economy is in recession. Actually, in the case of government, the ...