Sen. Schmitt's misplaced blame

In its weekend paper of Aug. 26, the Southeast Missourian printed an op-ed written by U.S. Sen. Eric Schmitt. He attacked the Biden Administration for the current rate of inflation and attributed it to what he called the Democrats' blank check spending spree.

Sen. Schmitt overlooks some salient points. During the last two fiscal years of the Trump administration the United States collected approximately 17% of the country's gross domestic product (GDP) in taxes and spent an amount equal to about 30.5% of the GDP. As a result the national debt increased from being equal to 76% of the GDP to 99% of it. In contrast during the two fiscal years which began under the Biden administration, the United States collected approximately 18.9% of the country's GDP in taxes and spent an amount equal to 24.7% of it. This has kept the national debt in the range of 98% of the GDP. These figures show that the so-called spending spree began with the Republicans.

It is interesting to note that the July Report by the Joint Economic Committee, to which Sen. Schmitt referred, states that Union workers earn an average of 10.2% more than their nonunionized peers. Unionized workers are also 18.3% more likely to have employer-provided health insurance. And employers for unionized workers pay 77.4% more per hour toward the cost of health insurance.

Instead of blaming Democrats for the problems of working people, it seems that the senator should support laws which will make it easier to unionize.

JOHN PIEPHO, Cape Girardeau