Before hammering the poor, Trump should pay his own bills

President Donald Trump’s administration wants to put new limits on federal aid to low-income Americans.

He says he wants them to have an incentive to work so that they can become self-sufficient. This from a “businessman” who has refused to pay his contractors, cheated workers out of their deserved wages and filed bankruptcy multiple times.

The Trump campaign still owes El Paso, Texas $470,000 for a February campaign rally.

According to the Washington Post, the new owners of the former Trump Hotel in Panama have uncovered records showing that the Trump Organization evaded Panamanian taxes. This is presented in a legal filing.

If Trump is going to insist that low-income Americans stop taking government money, he should look in a mirror. Here is a “rich” man who doesn’t pay his bills. Trump needs to practice what he preaches before he goes after others, especially those who don’t have influence and powerful friends to protect them.

Karen Wagner, Rolling Meadows

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Guarantee Chicago teachers a decent salary

I would like to thank the editorial staff of the Sun-Times for pointing out that Chicago teachers are not included in the once again looming pension problem.

As a former Chicago teacher, we contributed 7% to our pension in lieu of salary. This was on top of the 2.5% that went directly to the pension fund. And since Chicago teachers have control of their own pension fund, through good management and investments, are one of the more solvent pension funds in the country.

Teaching is a very demanding profession and I would be among the first to demand that teachers be adequately compensated, but at the same time it is hard to justify the way the rest of the state handles teacher pensions.

In Chicago, there were not these incentives (24% salary boost in last four years to augment their pensions) and then passing the fiscal responsibility on to the the state is irresponsible.

In many cases among the northern Illinois school districts, teachers have an average salary above that of teachers in Chicago and yet Chicago teachers, and their board, contribute to teacher pensions and suburban districts do not.

Maybe a partial solution to the problem would be to require these districts to contribute to the pension funds for their teachers. It’s always easy to spend someone else’s money, but you may have a very different opinion if the money is coming out of your own pocket.

As a mentoring teacher, I always advised new teachers that teaching was a profession that would never make them rich. If money is your motivation to choose teaching as a career, it’s time to rethink that choice.

Dan Pupo, Orland Park

City scooters are dangerous addition to our streets

It’s already difficult enough to drive safely in the city.

There are already too many flimsy, unstable vehicles with no safety features in the streets.

The idea of flooding the streets with scooters is unconscionable.

Their presence will never be safe, not because drivers aren’t careful enough, but because the product itself is inadequate for street use due to their unsafe design.

Every person who supports the use of scooters in the street should be ashamed of themselves.

C.R. Green, Uptown