Dear Editor,

Recently, dire predictions foretold an economic armageddon with tax reform passage in Congress. Internationally acclaimed financial gurus, left-wing “progressive” D.C. politicians — even a billionaire basketball team owner urged anyone with stock market holdings to bail out before “predictable” financial ruin hit our nation.

Fast-forward to today’s environment: the stock market is now at an all-time high; in its infancy, tax reform has produced an optimistic atmosphere of “sharing the wealth” unlike any in recent memory. More than 125 companies have to date either raised employee wages or handed out bonuses upwards of $2000 — with some doing both. Just this week, Walmart announced increases from its traditional starting wage of $9 to $11 an hour. And many employees will soon receive bonuses upwards of $1,000!

Liberal progressives known for their penchant to control our taxes are railing. They’ve been “left behind” during this glorious fiscal juggernaut; not one of them voted for American worker tax relief! Now, our middle class is benefitting greatly from burgeoning economic growth. Billions of dollars once parked overseas to protect company earnings from exorbitant IRS taxation are coming back to America. Stunning investment in jobs has already begun: this week, Fiat/Chrysler announced that it is moving its Dodge Ram truck production back: Mexico to Michigan, employing long-idle auto workers. In the process, 60,000 of them will be receiving $2,000 bonuses. Noteworthy in that process, auto executives will not be eligible for new monetary perks. Beyond these jobs, once winter releases its grip we can look forward to needed road and bridge repairs.  

Examining these dramatic developments, one can only attribute them to House, Senate and presidential initiatives — changes in an eight-year Washington beltway culture of economic decline. Here in Danville and Boyle County we will all soon profit from dollars wrested from Big Government and returned to the private sector. In turn, they will turn over many times as payroll and purchases. Restaurants, grocery and hardware stores as well as downtown mom and pop shops will be direct beneficiaries of tax reform.

Tom V. Ellis

Danville