Letters to the Editor | May 17, 2024

On Wednesday, all three of the major stock market indices — Dow Jones, S&P 500, and Nasdaq — reached new all-time highs. While it’s true that this occurrence disproportionately enhances the financial well-being of the already wealthy, through retirement programs and 401(k)s, millions of us also materially benefit. Even so, there is a perception that Donald Trump is better able to manage the economy than Joe Biden. Biden’s tenure has delivered a record number of new jobs and continues to this day to churn out new jobs month after month. To think that people have more confidence in Trump, a failed businessperson who could not even make a profit from a gambling casino, and whose businesses declared bankruptcy multiple times, is simply remarkable.

Most of us Americans are financially better off today than we were at the end of Trump’s presidency, yet Biden, as comedian Rodney Dangerfield once said, “Can’t get no respect” for facilitating this. This unwarranted perception just might cause Biden to lose the upcoming election in November.

Ken Derow, Swarthmore

. . .

Former first lady Michelle Obama once famously said, “When they go low, we go high,” referring to Donald Trump’s bullying tactics during the 2016 presidential campaign. The catchphrase was a message for Democrats to behave differently than someone who treats others with disdain. Unfortunately, adhering to that maxim in the era of Trump is a recipe for political suicide. To the MAGA minions, including many Republicans in Congress, civil discourse is a thing of the past.

Despite a robust economy with 15 million new jobs and unemployment rates at record low levels, the electorate, particularly in crucial swing states, seems unimpressed with President Joe Biden’s accomplishments. A record of consequential legislation has done little to offset this lack of enthusiasm.

Can it be that “going low” is paying dividends? Trump, aided by the media’s lopsided coverage of his relentless assaults on Biden’s character and policies, is winning the messaging game. The time has come for the Biden camp to launch an overwhelming counteroffensive, replete with a highlight reel of Trump’s personal and professional failings, or risk losing in November.

Jim Paladino, Tampa, Fla.

As we commemorate the anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Brown v. Board of Education that struck down segregation in public schools, it’s sad that public schools in Philadelphia and across the country are more segregated than they were in 1954. To paraphrase Ronald Reagan, are students in public schools better off today than they were 70 years ago?

I say not. Seventy years ago, there was hope that integrated public schools would break down misconceptions of “the other” and lead to a lifetime of mutual respect and understanding. I’m clueless as to how to reverse these statistics, but I know that spending seven hours a day for over a decade in an integrated environment represents the best place for students from different races and national origins/backgrounds to learn about one another.

Paul L. Newman, Merion Station

Join the conversation: Send letters to letters@inquirer.com. Limit length to 150 words and include home address and day and evening phone number. Letters run in the Inquirer six days a week on the editorial pages and online.