Sen. Rubio is not making a new argument

Sen. Marco Rubio’s rebuttal to President Obama’s State of the Union address [“Obama lays out vision for economy,” page one, Feb. 13] was essentially the same-old, same-old principal GOP thrust: Raising taxes = bad Obama idea.

True translation: Raising taxes on the rich = terrible Obama idea!

If that’s the best he can come up with, you can write him off as a serious presidential candidate in 2016.

--Rod Belcher, Des Moines

More spending will not solve economic issues

Sorry, can’t feel bad for a man who wants to be blind.

The message from President Obama was “more government spending will fix the problem.” Isn’t that what we just had four years of?

What are the results? A workforce that has decreased in size since he took office (contrast that with continual growth in workforce under President Bush) even though he outrageously insists he has actually added millions of jobs. Tell me the math that gets a reduction in workforce with the addition of jobs?

-Massive amounts of bankruptcies and foreclosures.

-A shrinking GDP.

-A shrinking military.

But still he stays the course. I’m wondering what else has to happen before he admits he’s wrong?

--Kurt Hanke, Everett