Thomas column spouts outdated ideology

As I read Cal Thomas' Dec. 13 column, I felt like I was reading a rerun from 20 years ago. Thomas wrote, “The president would achieve real success by cutting taxes, eliminating unnecessary regulation. ...”

Good grief. Thomas is spouting the failed Republican ideology that created our financial mess in the first place. He still believes in that trickle-down mantra, which provided welfare for the rich and turned into a trickled-on reality for the rest of us.

What Thomas calls “unnecessary” regulations turned out, in hindsight, to have been pretty important. If only the Republicans had not gutted banking regulations and Wall Street regulations when they were in power. Capitalism is great, but it needs boundaries and, yes, regulations to prevent it from going hog wild and destroying itself.

Thomas also parroted the Republican line that government doesn't create jobs. Who does Thomas think builds American roads and bridges, hires university professors, delivers the mail, administers Social Security, and on and on? Government also creates all sorts of jobs in the private sector - for defense contractors, construction firms, the aerospace industry, medical-device makers, and so on.

John Andremar

West Branch