Mayor Wu

Josh Kraft is right when he says that Boston Mayor Michelle Wu has taken an ideology-first, results-second approach to governing. That’s the progressive playbook.  They’re forever inventing a solution in search of a problem.  But it’s revealing that Wu rebukes Josh Kraft and Tom O’Brien by asserting that their careers and backgrounds disqualify them from challenging her.  In my view, their careers and backgrounds are exactly the reason they should challenge her.  If she were truly confident that voters approve of her record on the issues, she should encourage both of them to challenge her on those issues as opposed to chiding them for being wealthy and successful.

Sean F. Flaherty

Boston

Public salaries

A recent Herald piece highlighted the salaries and bonuses of our state legislators and Boston city council members. In many cases, these individuals’ total compensation doubled their base pay. A significance of this, not usually highlighted, is that pensions for these public employees is based on their three highest earning years; the totals of which include both base pay and bonuses.

When I first entered the workforce, many, many years ago, the logic for state employment versus the private sector was there was generally a lesser chance of public employees getting laid off; an offset against the generally higher salaries in the private sector.

Also, there was a pension awaiting public employees who met service longevity requirements, not all private companies offered pensions.
Fast forward 50 years and the landscape has dramatically changed. Salaries in both sectors are now generally equivalent. Pensions for state employees in most cases are now 80% of the aforementioned highest three years. There is no private sector pension, where they still exist, that comes anywhere near 80% of the employees final salary. Generally, they are in the 50% range.

And to add insult to injury, public employees’ pensions in Massachusetts are not subject to Massachusetts state income tax. Private companies pensions are.

Lee Lessard

Dracut

Trump tariffs

I was totally shocked when President Trump placed tariffs on 180 countries and territories, mostly reciprocal. Trump is the only president that either wasn’t a politician or served in the military, so many executive orders the president has placed are common sense. No matter what’s the end results I’m all for stirring the pot. I  really dislike statements like “business as normal” or “this is the way we’ve always done it.”

Tony Meschini

Scituate

Editorial cartoon by Al Goodwyn (Creators Syndicate)