Wealth tax is pure nonsense

Kudos to the editorial board for their excellent editorial denouncing the Billionaire Tax Act of 2026. When will Democrats and their big money unions learn economics?

If economically ignorant states such as New York, Illinois and California tax their billionaires excessively, they will lose those billionaires to smart states such as Texas and Florida, who encourage innovation and wealth building with pro-business policies and low regulation and taxation.

The list of billionaires who have moved their businesses or residences already to Florida and Texas include Larry Ellison of Oracle, Carl Icahn of Icahn Enterprises and Elon Musk of Tesla. Waiting in the on deck circle are Peter Thiel of PayPal and Larry Page of Google.

Wake up California before the cupboard is bare. Middle-class California families cannot fund all the boondoggles and financial calamities our political leaders get us into.

— William David Stone, Irvine

This paper is too liberal?

I was amused by Mr. Rothi from La Habra Heights’s letter to the editor published on Thursday arguing that the paper was too liberal. For me it’s too right wing!

— Susan Delaney, Rancho Santa Margarita

Cutting school librarians is wrong

I recently read an article about cuts being made to the school libraries in Long Beach Unified School District.

There will be fewer librarians, and no media assistants. Especially at the high school level, it is the media assistants that decorate the libraries for a theme each month. They bring crafts and activities to the libraries.

This is what brings so many students into the libraries.

Students spend so much time on their phones and computers. Activities get them away from devices, they encourage interaction with other students, and while in the library they may decide to choose a book to read!

I constantly hear about budget cuts. Why are the cuts at the lower end of the pay scale? Maybe some of those at the district office or in administration making the higher salaries are where LBUSD could save money.

— Phyllis Metzger, Long Beach

Character should matter

Funny that some readers actually believe that this newspaper is controlled by an editorial staff devoted to Trump Derangement Syndrome! Laughable!

Trump is the “deranged” one.

I still can’t believe anyone could “admire” Trump as a decent, honest or caring human being. He’s full of hate and demeans anyone who doesn’t agree or lavish praise on him. He’s constantly seeking revenge.

Maybe you like his policies, but can you actually like and admire this repulsive ego maniac? Does character not matter anymore!?

We need more kindness, compromise and tolerance in America. We have to get along and work together. Not my way or the highway. Not bullying and punishing others to get your way.

— Eileen White, Mission Hills

Corporate greed and too many billionaires

How did we get into the affordability crisis we have today?

Politicians enacted trade agreements that sent good-paying manufacturing jobs overseas and replaced them with low-wage retail and service sector jobs.

Corporate America didn’t like giving employees double digit cost-of-living increases, so politicians convinced people that core inflation is the only reliable indicator of inflation. Since core inflation excludes food and energy cost increases that American workers have to pay for, it’s a phony number that is less than true inflation.

Every year when workers get a pay increase based on core inflation, they’re actually getting a pay cut. Workers have been getting pay cuts for over 40 years because of this nonsense.

Our nation doesn’t need to create more billionaires. Politicians need to address the ongoing disparity between wages and cost of living. If it takes restoring taxes on the wealthy to levels they formerly paid, I’m sure that most Americans won’t shed a tear for them.

— John Nagy, Whittier

Too many candidates

John Phillips is right in his article about the race for governor and the current possibility of two Republicans advancing to the general.

We have a jungle voting system where the top two in the primary will be in the runoff in November. The Republicans have two candidates and the Democrats have more than you can count.

Current polling says that the two Republicans are ahead in the race because the Democrats are dragging each other down.

The Democrats need to get together and come up with the candidate that has the best chance of being one of the top two in the primary.

Democrats beware.

— Paul Fiene, West Hills