The Lord Giveth...

letter

The letter above appeared in our local newspaper’s opinion section:

I am sure similar letters appear throughout newspapers all over our country. This is my response to the letter:

Socialist Regime? Socialism is when government (tax payers) pays for infrastructure that is used by the community like roads, bridges, police, fire schools, and colleges. So if you don’t like socialism would you prefer a toll every time you got on a highway? Would you like to receive a bill when fire personal put out fires in your neighborhood, like the devastating fires we have had her in California in the past 5 years?

What matters most to real Americans? Do you believe you speak for what most Americans want? Have you talked to most Americans? Most Americans want gun regulation. 64%, but we don’t have that. Only 34% of Americans want a wall built yet the president is going ahead with his plans (which is now going to paid for by US taxpayers and not Mexico as promised)

Wealth creators, not wealth takers? How do wealth creators create wealth? They generate ideas and policies and create business. But how do they run their business? Humans. People. Workers. There are few business that are made wealthy by the efforts of a single individual. Not Bill Gates, not Steve Jobs. Even Rockefeller needed people to amass his wealth just as Alice Walton does. In our county we have many people who are contributing to Ms. Walton’s wealth, yet many of them need SNAP to feed their family. Personal responsibility? How about paying workers a living wage so they can afford to purchase the products in the wealth maker’s own businesses? That was Henry Ford’s business philosophy. How about not allowing the wealth creator’s business to be dependent on the local county for SNAP to supplement the meager wages of their employees. And while we are at it, how about we don’t criticize these same workers for not being able to provide for the families and being compelled to accept meager wages and less than full time hours?

Wealth takers? Are people ‘wealth takers’ because they want a fair and living wage for their labor? These people work, often physically demanding work, to earn their pay. They can’t attend fancy luncheons (or their child’s school play or their kid’s athletic event) to discuss political events because they were not fortunate enough to be born into wealth. Who’s taking wealth? People barely able to survive? Seniors (many of whom had their life savings wiped out by the wealthy 1%)? Children? Disabled veterans? Are the wealth ‘givers’ paying their proportionate share of our roads that their trucks travel upon? Are the wealthy ‘givers’ paying proportionately for access to freight systems like, bridges, docks and airports? No. The answer is no. Tax havens by corporations costs the U.S. Treasury an estimated $90 billion a year — double the $45 billion in infrastructure spending the federal government cut this year.

“U.S. multinational corporations have gamed the tax system by lobbying for and exploiting accounting loopholes to shift more of their U.S. profits offshore in order to avoid taxes they would otherwise owe. Abuse of offshore tax havens by corporations costs the U.S. Treasury an estimated $90 billion a year — double the $45 billion in infrastructure spending the federal government cut this year. These loopholes hurt small businesses twice. First, they rob our nation of money for investments on the infrastructure businesses and our customers depend on, from roads and bridges to public transit and schools. Second, they tilt the playing field against American small businesses, who aren’t gaming the tax system, to move their jobs and profits offshore. It’s not that big businesses can’t afford to pay what they used to. Quite the contrary — corporate profits as a percent of gross domestic product are at all-time highs, while federal corporate tax payments as a percent of GDP are near 50-year lows.”

Are we really going to fall for more ‘trickle-down' economics? Or however the term is rephrased by the new administration? Again?

“Tax cuts will spur little to no economic growth and take money away from schools, universities, and other public investments essential to producing the talented workforce that businesses need,” the report contends. “This pattern of neglect of infrastructure by states — the primary stewards (along with their local government partners) of the nation’s infrastructure — has serious consequences for the nation’s growth and quality of life as roads crumble, school buildings become obsolete, and outdated facilities jeopardize public health.”

Stock market highs? Clinton @266 followed by Coolidge @164. Obama’s high was 122 and what is Trump’s? One of the lowest at 32.

I have an idea, how about we stop slinging mud, memes, charts, graphs, punches, torches and insults at each other? How about we stop allowing ourselves to be divided and conquered like we have been for millennial by the aristocracy, the wealthy, and the tribal bullies who have been redirecting our anger at each other instead of where it belongs- at them. How about we stop worshiping wealth for wealth for wealth’s sake and ask ourselves why we have allowed ourselves to become poorer while they laugh all the way to their investment brokers. The Romans played that strategy. The Church used that tactic. The oligarchy in the USSR manipulated people into believing the west was evil with that scheme. Politicians have been doing it since we came out of the cave. And we are still falling for it. We’re smarter than that. I know we are.