How would we feel about a neighbor who MURDERS a neighbor child or our child? How would we feel about people who pay the neighbor to MURDER the kids? How can the U.S. send billions of dollars to Ukraine to kill Russian soldiers while the U.S. sends billions of dollars to Israel for their soldiers to MURDER far more Palestinian children in two months than Russia ever MURDERED in so short a time? Why is Russia’s MURDER of Ukrainian children EVIL but Israel’s MURDER of Palestinian children paid for with billions of U.S. dollars? Their blood is on our hands if we are silent!
Imagine how those MANY billions of U.S. dollars could provide all U.S. homeless people who want shelter to have a small, simple place. Over 500,000 people in the U.S. are now homeless. I voted for Biden in 2020, but I will NOT vote for Biden or anyone for Congress who refuses to demand Israel STOP NOW making HELL in Gaza. I will NOT vote for Biden or the lying dictator Trump in 2024 if they are the candidates and if I am alive.
I have paid NO federal income tax for 44 years. One third to ½ of federal income tax goes for U.S. WARS — past, present and future. I REFUSE to pay for U.S. MURDERS of MILLIONS in MANY nations for decades under BOTH Republican and Democrat presidents.
-Don Schrader, Albuquerque resident
Think of the Kids
For more than a dozen generations, my ancestors have called New Mexico home. There is no other place with such incredible landscapes and beautiful sunrises and sunsets. Truly the Land of Enchantment. However, I worry about what the future holds. I am a health-conscious, environmentally-minded person with elementary-aged children, one of whom developed asthma living in Southern NM’s poor air quality.
You’d be surprised to know that it’s not just heavy vehicle pollution impacting my daughter’s health, but living downwind from the Permian oil boom. The problem is growing rapidly, half of all onshore O&G leases issued nationally under Biden have been in the Permian.
For kids like my daughter, this is urgent. Her symptoms improve dramatically when we travel. It’s hard telling a kid they can’t read or play in the backyard on bad air-quality days, that where we live is hurting her health. Not to mention those who have traditional swamp coolers instead of central air, have to live with dirty air being pulled indoors to cool their homes, causing some to feel like they are suffocating in their own home, constantly smelling fumes, suffering from headaches or nose bleeds. Enforcing state and new federal rules will be critical in ensuring our communities’ air gets cleaned up so we can all live healthier, fuller lives.
Air pollution knows no boundaries. The new federal rules will improve life for communities bordering states lacking protections, like Texas. A recent report from IEA found it would cost industry just 2 percent of gross profits to retrofit all equipment nationwide to leak and emit less climate and health-harming pollutants. With year-over-year record profits, the time is now for industry to step up and protect communities from the social costs of business as usual. My daughter and I say action can’t come soon enough.
– Antoinette Reyes, organizer with the Rio Grande Chapter of the Sierra Club.
Just Say No to Nixing Rewards
New Mexico’s tourism economy brings millions of dollars—and thousands of people—to our state each year. But a bill before the U.S. Senate could jeopardize that.
At first glance, the Credit Card Competition Act is an arcane bill that deals with interchange fees and payment networks, but it will actually have a huge impact on our state—and small businesses like mine.
In tinkering with the credit-card payment processing system, the CCCA will do away with credit-card rewards programs, including points programs—an important part of how middle-class families pay for discretionary travel.
The impact would be huge. In 2022, 85,332 air passengers arriving in New Mexico purchased their tickets using points, miles and rewards, according to data from Airlines for America, the trade association of U.S. airlines. Between direct spending and tax revenues, those travelers generated a combined $114.6 million while visiting, and supported more than 1,000 jobs. New Mexico has benefitted from credit-card points programs with higher airport passenger traffic, hotel bookings, restaurant patronage, and local retail spending.
How do we know the impact of the CCCA will be so bleak? Experience. After Congress passed a similar debit-card bill in 2010, debit card rewards programs all but vanished. In Australia, when their Reserve Bank imposed similar regulations on credit cards, rewards-card fees skyrocketed and diminished the value of rewards points. There’s no guesswork here. Passing the CCCA will end credit-card rewards and dry up a key source of New Mexico’s tourism revenue.
Like many of my fellow tourism-based small-business owners, I started my business because I love my state. I’m proud of the thriving arts, culinary and, especially, craft-brewing communities thriving here. With New Mexico constantly at the bottom of so many lists, it’s exciting to see our state recognized as a top tourism destination. Our local breweries have been winning international awards for outstanding local beers. I love the reaction of the out-out-of-state clients who come on my tours when they not only realize what our breweries have to offer, but also when they tell me, with great enthusiasm, about the amazing sites they’ve already seen. Many of the people who come through my tours are first-time visitors to New Mexico, but they talk about coming back to see and do even more. Rewards points make it easy for first-time visitors to come to our state; all that New Mexico has to offer makes them want to come back. Our tourism economy is a success story we can all be proud of.
With the year-end crush of bills coming through the U.S. Senate and further prospects for congressional action on the Credit Card Competition Act in 2024, I urge Sen. Martin Heinrich and Sen. Ben Ray Luján to continue their records as advocates for New Mexico’s tourism industry and oppose this dangerous bill. Small businesses like mine depend on a robust tourism economy. For the good of small businesses around the state, the U.S. Senate must say no to the Credit Card Competition Act.
Gordon Monaghan, President and Chief Beer Guide of ABQ Beer Tours.
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War, What is it Good For?
How would we feel about a neighbor who MURDERS a neighbor child or our child? How would we feel about people who pay the neighbor to MURDER the kids? How can the U.S. send billions of dollars to Ukraine to kill Russian soldiers while the U.S. sends billions of dollars to Israel for their soldiers to MURDER far more Palestinian children in two months than Russia ever MURDERED in so short a time? Why is Russia’s MURDER of Ukrainian children EVIL but Israel’s MURDER of Palestinian children paid for with billions of U.S. dollars? Their blood is on our hands if we are silent!
Imagine how those MANY billions of U.S. dollars could provide all U.S. homeless people who want shelter to have a small, simple place. Over 500,000 people in the U.S. are now homeless. I voted for Biden in 2020, but I will NOT vote for Biden or anyone for Congress who refuses to demand Israel STOP NOW making HELL in Gaza. I will NOT vote for Biden or the lying dictator Trump in 2024 if they are the candidates and if I am alive.
I have paid NO federal income tax for 44 years. One third to ½ of federal income tax goes for U.S. WARS — past, present and future. I REFUSE to pay for U.S. MURDERS of MILLIONS in MANY nations for decades under BOTH Republican and Democrat presidents.
-Don Schrader, Albuquerque resident
Think of the Kids
For more than a dozen generations, my ancestors have called New Mexico home. There is no other place with such incredible landscapes and beautiful sunrises and sunsets. Truly the Land of Enchantment. However, I worry about what the future holds. I am a health-conscious, environmentally-minded person with elementary-aged children, one of whom developed asthma living in Southern NM’s poor air quality.
You’d be surprised to know that it’s not just heavy vehicle pollution impacting my daughter’s health, but living downwind from the Permian oil boom. The problem is growing rapidly, half of all onshore O&G leases issued nationally under Biden have been in the Permian.
For kids like my daughter, this is urgent. Her symptoms improve dramatically when we travel. It’s hard telling a kid they can’t read or play in the backyard on bad air-quality days, that where we live is hurting her health. Not to mention those who have traditional swamp coolers instead of central air, have to live with dirty air being pulled indoors to cool their homes, causing some to feel like they are suffocating in their own home, constantly smelling fumes, suffering from headaches or nose bleeds. Enforcing state and new federal rules will be critical in ensuring our communities’ air gets cleaned up so we can all live healthier, fuller lives.
Air pollution knows no boundaries. The new federal rules will improve life for communities bordering states lacking protections, like Texas. A recent report from IEA found it would cost industry just 2 percent of gross profits to retrofit all equipment nationwide to leak and emit less climate and health-harming pollutants. With year-over-year record profits, the time is now for industry to step up and protect communities from the social costs of business as usual. My daughter and I say action can’t come soon enough.
– Antoinette Reyes, organizer with the Rio Grande Chapter of the Sierra Club.
Just Say No to Nixing Rewards
New Mexico’s tourism economy brings millions of dollars—and thousands of people—to our state each year. But a bill before the U.S. Senate could jeopardize that.
At first glance, the Credit Card Competition Act is an arcane bill that deals with interchange fees and payment networks, but it will actually have a huge impact on our state—and small businesses like mine.
In tinkering with the credit-card payment processing system, the CCCA will do away with credit-card rewards programs, including points programs—an important part of how middle-class families pay for discretionary travel.
The impact would be huge. In 2022, 85,332 air passengers arriving in New Mexico purchased their tickets using points, miles and rewards, according to data from Airlines for America, the trade association of U.S. airlines. Between direct spending and tax revenues, those travelers generated a combined $114.6 million while visiting, and supported more than 1,000 jobs. New Mexico has benefitted from credit-card points programs with higher airport passenger traffic, hotel bookings, restaurant patronage, and local retail spending.
How do we know the impact of the CCCA will be so bleak? Experience. After Congress passed a similar debit-card bill in 2010, debit card rewards programs all but vanished. In Australia, when their Reserve Bank imposed similar regulations on credit cards, rewards-card fees skyrocketed and diminished the value of rewards points. There’s no guesswork here. Passing the CCCA will end credit-card rewards and dry up a key source of New Mexico’s tourism revenue.
Like many of my fellow tourism-based small-business owners, I started my business because I love my state. I’m proud of the thriving arts, culinary and, especially, craft-brewing communities thriving here. With New Mexico constantly at the bottom of so many lists, it’s exciting to see our state recognized as a top tourism destination. Our local breweries have been winning international awards for outstanding local beers. I love the reaction of the out-out-of-state clients who come on my tours when they not only realize what our breweries have to offer, but also when they tell me, with great enthusiasm, about the amazing sites they’ve already seen. Many of the people who come through my tours are first-time visitors to New Mexico, but they talk about coming back to see and do even more. Rewards points make it easy for first-time visitors to come to our state; all that New Mexico has to offer makes them want to come back. Our tourism economy is a success story we can all be proud of.
With the year-end crush of bills coming through the U.S. Senate and further prospects for congressional action on the Credit Card Competition Act in 2024, I urge Sen. Martin Heinrich and Sen. Ben Ray Luján to continue their records as advocates for New Mexico’s tourism industry and oppose this dangerous bill. Small businesses like mine depend on a robust tourism economy. For the good of small businesses around the state, the U.S. Senate must say no to the Credit Card Competition Act.
Gordon Monaghan, President and Chief Beer Guide of ABQ Beer Tours.
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The Paper staff
This story is a staff report from The Paper. More by The Paper staff