DEAR EDITOR:

AP writer Tom Raum’s article on Sunday’s Business Page belonged on the Opinion Page, perhaps as a replacement for one of your liberal writers Bill Press or Kevin Foley. Rather than a news article, it was an absurd commentary on the current sequestration issue and several events going back to Franklin Roosevelt’s time. He blandly presented as settled facts several matters on which economists disagree. His omissions clearly revealed his intention to disparage Republicans and the idea of reducing spending and taxes.

For example, he asserted that sequestration occurred because Republicans insisted on spending cuts only and tax increases were “out.” But he did not mention that the Republicans had already agreed to an $800 billion tax increase to avoid the “fiscal cliff.”

He said that Obama called the sequestration cuts arbitrary and stupid. But he did not mention that Obama proposed them and insisted on their being in the deal to raise the debt limit.

He stated that Reagan’s policies contributed to the burst of the housing bubble in 2008. But he did not mention that Democratic presidents and congresses pressured lenders into making loans to people who were poor risks, nor did he mention George W. Bush’s attempts to control the situation that were thwarted by Democrats in Congress.

As long as the AP continues to serve as a volunteer arm of the White House PR staff, at least you can put their political writings on the Opinion Page instead of giving them the status of news articles.

Warren Herron

Marietta