Letters to the Editor | July 6, 2025

The Inquirer’s recent focus on mass transit funding serves mainly to highlight the latest victim of our country’s civil war over what our grade school teachers told us were “public goods.” Hindsight being 20/20, this was inevitable in a country with massively different rural and metropolitan needs. But America’s little teenage tantrum between selfishness and progress will not reverse civilization’s relentless increase in public goods, from disease prevention to paved roads to clean water and air. SEPTA’s annual budget is 1/20th of Comcast’s annual profit, and one-fifth of the University of Pennsylvania’s cash-on-hand. SEPTA, or even its successor, may come and go before we solve this problem, but if those great employers want to remain so, they can do the math.

Jack Bellis, Wyndmoor

SEPTA’s financial woes could be solved if the local sports teams would contribute funds. Consider the number of fans who use SEPTA from all areas of Philadelphia to attend games at the sports complex in South Philly. Come on, Eagles, Phillies, Flyers, Sixers — give up some of your money and help SEPTA. It would be a boon to the teams, the fans, and SEPTA. A win for all.

David Peterson, Philadelphia

In the recent Inquirer article, “Not just SEPTA,” State Sen. Joe Pittman, the GOP majority leader, indicated that the rural parts of the commonwealth need great roads and less money going to public transit. We all need great roads. PennDot covers 39,737 miles of roads in Pennsylvania. This coverage does not include the Turnpike system. The nearly 40,000 miles of streets and roads and byways that PennDot is responsible for are greater than departments of transportation responsibilities in New Jersey plus all the New England states. Pennsylvania has approximately 13 million residents in communities big and small. That compares with the 25 million people in New Jersey and the six states of New England who rely more heavily on local governments to fund their streets and roads. I say that the Pennsylvania urban taxpayer is generously subsidizing our nonurban/suburban neighbors. Public transportation matters across the commonwealth. We need funding, not cutbacks.

Paula Thomas deLong, Wayne

The GOP budget unfairly targets the personal liberties of Medicaid and Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program recipients. Fair budgets should equally target all personal liberties. The Social Security Administration was created in 1934 to address poverty of the elderly. In January, the average SSA check was $1,976, while the maximum check was $5,106. Recipients who receive SSA checks that are significantly larger than the average check are likely not experiencing poverty. Congress should consider the following program adjustments to more fairly distribute budget saving steps: increase employer and employee SSA withholdings to 6.6%, increase Medicare employer and employee withholdings to 1.6%, make earnings above $400,000 subject to withholding, reduce SSA old age benefit checks that exceed the average benefit check, and restrict cost-of-living increases to only checks that are less than the average check. Keep in mind that there will be an automatic 21% reduction to SSA checks in 2033 when the SSA surplus has been spent.

Craig McBride, Coatesville

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