To the editor: Millennials drive the economy

5/11/2018
Milliennials have been starting families, buying homes, and filling them up with purchases, thus driving the economy.
Milliennials have been starting families, buying homes, and filling them up with purchases, thus driving the economy.

The country can thank the Millennials for the second-longest economic recovery in U.S. history. Despite most people wanting to give credit (or attribute blame) to various presidents or Congress, most of the U.S. GDP (about 70 percent) is derived from consumer spending. The economy’s fluctuations are typically dependent upon the percentage of the population that is in their peak earning and spending years — age 35 to 45.

Over the last eight years, however, Milliennials — who are now the largest age group in the U.S. — have been starting families, buying homes, and filling them up with purchases, thus driving the economy.

Based on the available data, the trend predicts that positive GDP should continue another five to 10 years.

PETE SHAWAKER
West Toledo

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The right to offend

The Blade’s recent editorial on the White House Correspondent’s Association dinner and corresponding faux outrage missed the point entirely (May 6, “Cancel our reservation”).

The Blade’s comments about it being “unfunny, mean-spirited and crude” aren’t really accurate. If people read what Michelle Wolf actually said, rather than watching the video footage of the audience and targets of Michelle’s jabs, they’ll realize it was merely a comedian doing her act with “a bruising style of humor that, while funny to some, infuriates many others,” as The Blade’s Kirk Baird wrote in his own column.

This year’s event did not hurt credibility of journalism, as the editorial suggested. As a journalism graduate, I’d say the event reflected just what the country needs now more than ever: a free press undaunted by criticism, and willing to defend our constitutional rights even if some are offended.

CHRIS BOYER
Lambertville, Mich.

Limit pesticide use

I appreciated The Blade’s coverage of the April 26 forum on infant mortality rates with Dr. Arthur James, an obstetrician who has seen up close the anguish and expense incurred when infants didn’t survive their first year or even their first month.

Following the presentation, I asked Dr. James if deadly birth defects could result from maternal exposure to pesticides during pregnancy, since the EPA calls pesticides “reproductive and developmental toxicants” and states that “every year, thousands of children are poisoned by pesticides... EPA recommends non-chemical methods to control pests.”

Dr. James responded, “Pesticides could certainly be a contributing factor in infant mortality.” He seemed aware of studies such as a 2012 report from the American Academy of Pediatrics, which cited as exposure risks: pre-term birth, low birth weight, birth defects, asthma, childhood cancer, and cognitive defects including ADHD and autism.

Will Lucas County curtail its broad use of pesticides, not only to lower infant mortality rates but to improve the health and environmental quality of all its citizens? This is a human rights issue, a pro-life issue, and, as expressed in The Blade’s April 25 editorial “Lucas County must tackle infant mortality rate,” it is “a basic test of our humanity.”

SUSAN C. SEARLES
South Toledo