Dear editor,
Gas is dropping, but groceries are still up. The cost of goods will skyrocket because of the president’s tariff plans. Shipping in and out of Los Angeles has already slowed down by a third.
It’s simple math; less cargo volume first equals fewer jobs for dock workers, then truck drivers, and then workers in small businesses. Without a steady inventory stream, small businesses will falter and fail, big industries will shrink, and we are all left holding the bag.
Americans are rightly worried, particularly those living paycheck to paycheck or working two jobs. Consumer confidence is down. President Trump’s 2026 budget request aims to make permanent his 2017 tax cuts, which primarily benefited the wealthy. Don’t forget that there’s nothing extra in it for the middle class. It just makes those 2017 levies permanent. But he wants significant increases for the Department of Defense and Homeland Security. He vows not to touch Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. Do the math. Our already massive national debt will increase, and we peons get to keep our current tax rate while prices for everything and unemployment explode.
To give the president the big, beautiful budget he wants, the GOP Congress must cut Medicaid and slash long-standing service programs that primarily help the least among us.
Bottom line: These plans will put most Georgians in a difficult position. We all deserve a government that works for all, not against us in ways that benefit the already-rich but hammer the rest of us into oblivion. Contact your District 10 Representative, Mike Collins, and ask him to look out for us and uphold his oath to the Constitution, representing all of us.
R. A. Smith, Athens