Our disabled veterans are grossly undercompensated. This travesty of justice is causing enlistments to dry up. In FY2023, a totally disabled veteran with no dependents is compensated at the rate of $43,463.40 dollars annually. The National Average Wage Index (NAWI) for 2021 was $60,575.07 dollars per annum and the median income for 2021 was $70,784. The per capita GDP in 2021 was $69,288 dollars, among the highest in the world. Veterans have been asking various Administrations and Congresses for fair compensation since the end of WWI in November 1918. That was 104 years ago. In my opinion, the basic reason for their gross under-compensation is because they are only compensated for projected loss of wages due to their disabilities. They are not compensated for their low quality of life which is the norm now in personal injury cases in court. This is done to keep taxes low. The people that had their assets and overseas business interests protected the most by our now broken former troops pay essentially nothing to support them in their brokenness. Congress must correct this now.
- Clay Wagoner, Dayton
In his Oct. 23 opinion, Ray Marcano writes that “Candidates who refuse to debate rob voters of the chance to hear them defend their positions and tell us what they would do during their term to improve our lives.” He is, of course, correct.
He also points out that, “Mike DeWine, the sitting governor, refused to debate his Republican opponents in the primary and won’t debate his general election challenger, former Dayton Mayor Nan Whaley.” When he was Ohio’s Attorney General in 2018 he also refused to debate Lt. Governor Mary Taylor in the Republican primary to replace John Kasich as Ohio’s Governor.
So far, DeWine’s refusal to debate has cost him nothing. If we really want the debates, there is a way to make them happen. Enough people need to vote against candidates who refuse to debate to ensure that they don’t win. Debates very quickly would make a comeback.
- Vic Presutti, Beavercreek
A recent opinion writer wrote about President Trump blowing his chances. What he failed to mention is that Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell were controlling congress at the time, and that those two RINOs are dyed-in-the-wool establishment members and as such would give minimal support to President Trump.
Despite that and in the face of Washington DC, the media, the education establishment, etc., President Trump accomplished some amazing things: a surging economy with hardly any inflation, border security, energy independence, record employment rates (including women, Black people and Latinos), reduced income taxes for all, increased permanent funding for Historically Black colleges and universities, NATO paying its fair share for their defense, re-built military, re-structuring the Veterans Administration, the Second Chance and Criminal Justice Reform programs and more.
Does President Trump deserve a second chance? While deciding, remember to compare today’s world to the world during the Trump years,
- Stephen L Chapman, Englewood