At long last someone has risen to the challenge!  I had begun to think nobody was reading my letters to the editor.  I welcome the opportunity to engage with an intelligent, rational adversary.

Mr. Aberletain’s articulate and thoughtful comments, however, completely missed the point of my letter and failed to “refute my refutation” of Mr. Weil’s claims about  “The historic Obama-Trump recovery.”  Not once in my letter did I mention the economy during the period of 1990-2016.  I did not blame any administration for the economic conditions President Trump inherited in January 2017.  I merely refuted Mr. Weil’s ludicrous assertion that Obama’s policies had somehow contributed to the economic and employment successes that have occurred since President Trump’s inauguration, successes which have resulted from the Trump administration’s policies and actions.  (For example, tax cuts, slashed regulations, withdrawal from bad deals.)

Mr. Abeletain succeeded in changing the subject, but he did not refute my primary point:  We are currently living in the “Trump — not Obama-Trump — Recovery.”

Re:  “Partisan talking points…Fox News”  —  Mr. Aberletain intended this comment as pejorative snark.  However, since the viewership ratings of the Fox News Channel exceed the combined ratings of CNN + MSNBC + CBS/NBC/ABC News, it is safe to say the Fox News more accurately reflects the views and opinions of mainstream America than the vitriol spewed by its combined rivals.

FYI – I watch only one Fox News program on a regular basis:  “The Five”.  Panelist Juan Williams does an excellent job presenting the views of The Left on this show.  I highly recommend “The Five” to anyone.   My primary sources of news and commentary include The Journal Tribune, The Wall Street Journal, Rush Limbaugh, and the syndicated Armstrong & Getty Show (Sacramento, CA).  I also find Howie Carr extremely entertaining and sometimes enlightening.

Finally, Mr. Aberletain’s comments about the recent past completely omitted important events that affected our Economy:  9/11, the ill-advised wars and attempts at nation building in Afghanistan and Iraq, and the Subprime Mortgage fiasco and real estate crash of 2008.  Republicans AND Democrats (including HRC) share the blame for those debacles.  (For the record – Donald Trump openly opposed those wars.)